Jump to content

MIDIbox goes RTP-MIDI...


BEBDigitalAudio
 Share

Recommended Posts

Then 4 chips could be connected to a single IIC port, makes up to 16 IOs

 

Ideally with IIC line drivers for studio cable lengths, see http://www.nxp.com/documents/application_note/AN444.pdf

 

Ok, added this chip to my Reichelt shopping basket (I will order by end of this month... ;))

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

 

I volunteer to do a board layout for this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know the next gen CORE won't have USB host mode

 

The Discovery board on the MBHP_CORE_STM32F4 module has a Micro USB socket which could also be used for USB Host direction with a special adaptor.

It's on my long term agenda to support this, but don't expect it before summer... ;)

 

 

I volunteer to do a board layout for this.

 

 I will come back to your offer in February/March :)

 

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I am back from NAMM... and back to MIDIBox forum :smile:

 

By the way, I have been very surprized to see how RTP-MIDI is known now (many people already heard about it, and it seems that many projects involving it are on the way). It's also good to see how people are reacting when they know it's an open protocol. There is a clear feeling of rejection of anything proprietary. I can tell that a lot of news about RTP-MIDI will arrive this year on many new platforms (especially Android/Java)... and also new products from various manufacturers.

 

Back to our MIDIBox implementation, I am now working on an enhanced version of the firmware which should be able to work much faster than the current one. I should be able to send it to Thorsten in the coming days, I will let him announce when the tests will be done on his side.

I will also add the cable index support in this version, this may be very useful for any USB related projects

 

Benoit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

And here we are finally !!!

 

First of all, sorry for being away from the forum for 2 weeks, but we are running like crazy at KissBox since I came back from NAMM (crisis? What crisis? :rolleyes: )

 

Thorsten and me managed to get a reliable communication at 10Mbps speed between the MIDIBox module and the KissBox one. We just need to make a last check, concerning the synchronization of the two boards (in case you reset the MIDIBox without resetting the KissBox or vice-versa), but this should be done very soon (I will send the updated firmware today.

We had also to face a funny problem with Apple's Ethernet adapter on Thunderbolt, which decided to work only when it wanted to... But the problem was finally in the Mac, not in the MIDIBox nor the KissBox :shifty:

 

So, finally, we are now able to deliver the first "MIDIBox ready" CPU board with the best possible performances. In the coming days, I will announce here how you can get the KissBox OEM CPU under "MIDIBox special conditions", we are finalizing this

 

Benoit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Monokinetic,

thanks for reporting the typo... I will spank the guy in charge of the website :rolleyes: (ooops it's me)

 

As promised I will release the official firmware on the website probably today (I want to do that before the weekend), Thorsten will probably perform a final check.

The documentation will also be available for those of you who want to adapt the integration in MIOS to their own needs.

 

Benoit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, few days I read this forum, and this project is the most interresting for me :rolleyes:

I'm specialized in network embbeded applications for a big company. So I write my first question:

To open a single session, you need some resources like RAM for the sockets. You specify 128KB SRAM on your "OEM host integration manual". How you can opening upto 16 RTP sessions in same time :question:

Hugo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Hugo,

a session (in terms of RTP-MIDI) is just a set of informations about the partner (basically : the IP address of the remote device, the ports it uses, the session state (since there is a state machine for Apple protocol), and some other informations like the remote clock value (for clock synchronization). So it uses only a few words of memory for each session.

I think you are making a confusion with socket buffers, which are allocated on a socket basis (one socket = one set of buffers for RX and TX ). In the case of RTP-MIDI, we just need one socket for Session messages, and one socket for the Data messages. So we do not need a lot of memory to keep track of each session.

 

And to make things more clear : the reason we have limited to 16 sessions is simply because there is a four bits field in the protocol we use on the SPI, which are used to identify which session (or which remote partner if you prefer) is exchanging the informations in the message being received. And four bits gives 16 identifiers... hence the 16 sessions we are supporting.

 

Benoit

Edited by BEBDigitalAudio
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Some news from the project...

 

Thorsten and me are working on an enhancement in the firmware, which will allow the MIDIBox CPU to "talk" with the RTP-MIDI module (for now, the KissBox board acts as a "transceiver" : everything being received from the MIDIBox CPU is considered as MIDI and forwarded to the network, and vice versa)

We are adding a complementary protocol (based on a SYSEX format)  which will allow the MIOS to identify for example the remote IP address and port used by a session partner. Data exchanged over the protocol are not transmitted over the network.

 

A last for word (especially for Hugo106, not reachable in private message :question: ) : as explained, you can perfectly use the same local UDP port for thousands of different partners. For example, all web servers in the world are using port 80 for HTTP. All clients (Firefox, Safari, etc...) use the same port (and that's logic, otherwise, you would be unable to know to which port you need to talk), it's the job of the server to identify which sender's IP address has been used to send a packet. So there is "physically" only one port opened, and this does not limit the number of potential clients.

Edited by BEBDigitalAudio
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry for the long silence, but I am awfully busy with a big project involving RTP-MIDI... :rolleyes:

A new batch of CPU is being manufactured, we have already reserved a part of them for those interested in the MIDIBox/RTP-MIDI project (I could not answer to all of you who wrote a private message about the next availability of OEM boards, that's why I post a global message here). If the supplier keeps his promises, the boards will be ready for end of April.

Meanwhile, I hope that I will have finished to code upgrade discussed with Thorsten, so the boards will be delivered with this new firmware

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Dear Thorsten,

 

Acc. to your Message #46

 

If more than 4 IIC_MIDI based IOs are desired, it makes sense to think about a redesigned version of the MBHP_IIC_MIDI module, which gets use of a microcontroller with more UARTs.

 

E.g. the PIC18F25K22 comes in a small 28-pin DIP package, contains 4 UARTs and is available for 2.55 EUR at Reichelt: http://www.reichelt.de/PIC-18F25K22-ISP/3/index.html?&ACTION=3&LA=446&ARTICLE=109911

 

That looks quite interesting and leads me to some questions:

  1. You mentioned 4 UARTs per chip, but I can only find 2 EUSARTs in the documentation. How do you intend to implement 4 UARTs?
  2. Is it possible to access each of the 2 UARTs with a dedicated IIC 7 bit adress with the aid of the SSPx Mask register?

As you may remember I already started an enhanced IIC -> MIDI implementation some years ago. I will not define a new IIC protocol again, so accessing the 2 UARTs with separate IIC addresses would minimize the protocol changes.

Thanks in advance for your answers
Best regards,
Jo
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear Benoit

Do you have any news on availability and price of OEM RTP-MIDI modules.

Best regards,

Jo

Hi Jo,

 

yes, here are the latest news : a new batch of boards is leaving the factory today, so they are now available for sales.

Concerning the price, let me check today with my business partner if we keep or change the price (we have made a slightly bigger production this time, so the price can be readjusted)

 

Benoit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear Benoit

Hi Jo,

 

yes, here are the latest news : a new batch of boards is leaving the factory today, so they are now available for sales.

Concerning the price, let me check today with my business partner if we keep or change the price (we have made a slightly bigger production this time, so the price can be readjusted)

 

Benoit

Thank you for this infromation.

Do you intend to inform about availability and price:

1. Here in this Midibox thread or

2. under Midibox bulk orders or

3. at the Kissbox.nl site ?

 

looking forward having the RTP-OEM boards in my hand :rolleyes:

Best regards,

Jo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hello all,

 

do not worry, I did not stop to work on the RTP-MIDI extension for MIDIBox, but these last weeks have been an incredible rush (a lot of projects to develop in parallel, the production to follow, etc...)

 

One of the reason I was a bit away from MIDIBox forum for such a long time is that I have been discussing a lot these last weeks with other manufacturers offering RTP-MIDI products in their catalog to define a possible common set of commands especially for the tools. The consequence is that there is a big, big update of the OEM firmware, including the results of these discussions (plus some options in the protocol which were suggested by Thorsten)

I am now finalizing the tests, and the complete software package will be ready next week normally.

 

I just had a discussion with Thorsten about the best way to provide the OEM boards to MIDIBox members. For noiw, we go in the direction of the MIDIBox bulk site. Thorsten is in vacancies for now, so I will arrange everything with him when he comes back. Everything should then be ready in one or two weeks maximum (including the new firmware)

 

And to finish, an interesting link : http://www.midi.org/aboutmidi/rtpmidi.php... Yes, RTP-MIDI is now presented as a standard, recognized as is by the MIDI Manufacturers Association.

 

Benoit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I finally found some time to achieve the next step.... :smile:

 

In order to help members to include the OEM board in their design, I have created a "core" board based on STM32F4 design from Thorsten, with a few changes (mainly to include SD card and the OEM connection, plus four MIDI I/O)

I am now in routing stage, I should be able to send the PCB files in production this week if I am able to keep the pace...

You can already find the schematics of this board here : http://beb.digitalaudio.free.fr/RTP-MIDI.html

 

I plan to make the board available as a complete kit (including components and the OEM as an option). Just note that these kits will be sold by me, not by KissBox (so contact me directly for any question related to this board)

The only thing I am not able to provide with the kit now is the STM32F4DISCOVERY board, but I have some contacts with ST, and I may be able to provide them.

 

The KissBox OEM board will however remain available directly from KissBox, for those who want to make the PCB by themselves

 

I will keep you informed when everything will be available, but I plan to be ready for the end of July/first week of August. Next step now for me is to make the OEM boards available for the members who do not want to wait until the CORE board is ready :rolleyes:

 

Benoit

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...