Tools for the General Music S2/S3 Turbo synthesizer, including
s3midi, a MIDI System Exclusive interface programs3img, a program for handling floppy disk imagess3floppy, a program for formatting, reading and writing S2/S3 floppy disks
s3turbo uses python which should be available by default on modern Linux systems and Mac OS X. The s3midi script depends on additional python packages that might have to be installed manually. These are:
python-rtmidiRtMidi wrapper for Pythonpython-progressProgress bar for Python
On Debian, python-rtmidi is not available from the standard repositories, it can be installed with pip:
sudo pip install python-rtmidi
python-progress can be installed using apt:
sudo apt-get install python-progress
Python packages can be installed using pip. If pip is not installed already, use
sudo easy_install pip
to get it.
If easy_install is missing as well, it can be installed with
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/ez_setup.py -o - | sudo python
Install the s3midi dependencies with
sudo pip install python-rtmidi
sudo pip install progress
# Get the code from Github (https://github.com/jmechnich/s3turbo)
git clone https://github.com/jmechnich/s3turbo # or download ZIP file
cd s3turbo
# Install software globally (optional)
sudo python setup.py install
# e.g. list available MIDI devices
./s3midi -l
The General Music/GEM S2/S3 Turbo Music Processor is a synthesizer workstation from the early 90s. The Turbo version (larger ROM and updated functionality) has support for MIDI System Exclusive which is not well-documented. The manual includes only a rudimentary description of the available commands and data structures but the C development files are not available.
This tool provides an implementation of most of the commands from the manual. It is also possible to send and receive sample dumps using SDS to the synthesizer (not tested with other instruments).
- Send commands to the synthesizer, see s3turbo/S3Turbo.py
- Monitor MIDI messages and decode S2/S3 specific data
- Send and receive sample dumps
The MIDI device numbers can be given on the command line using -i/--indev and -o/--outdev. -l/--listdev lists all available MIDI devices. Defaults for command line arguments can be set using a configuration file ~/.s3turbo.conf, e.g. containing:
indev: 2
outdev: 3
Sending a basic status request to the synthesizer. The -e/--exit flag causes the program to terminate after one second of inactivity from the synthesizer.
./s3midi --command STAT_REQUEST
Data:
ActBankPerf: (2, 1)
FreeMem: 678632
FreeSampleMem: 1649774
ReadyFor: (255, 255)
TotalMem: 1650688
iClass: 1
iRelease: 2
iSubClass: 2
checksum: 0x57 (calculated 0x57)
Change to Bank 1, Performance 1 and print debugging information. Additional command line arguments are appended to the message body.
# Bank and Performance values in ASCII (0x30-0x39)
./s3midi -v -cBANK_PERF_CHG -x 0x30 0x30 -e
Send a directory request to the synthesizer. The order of commandline arguments has to match the signature of the command.
# List everything
./s3midi -cDIR_DRQ -f"*" -p"A:"
The first argument is the filename, second is the path. A: corresponds to RAM. B: corresponds to the current disk if loaded, to the RAM disk otherwise. C: is either empty if no disk is loaded or corresponds to the RAM disk.
The general directory layout is
A:-|
|-BANKS (type 32, format 32)
| |-'BANKNAME 0' (type 32, format 32)
| |-'BANKNAME 1' (type 32, format 32)
| :
| |-'BANKNAME 9' (type 32, format 32)
| |-PERF (type 32, format 32)
| | |-'PERFNAME 0' (type 2, format 2)
| | |-'PERFNAME 1' (type 2, format 2)
| | :
| | |-'PERFNAME 9' (type 2, format 2)
| |
| |-Song (type 3, format 2)
|
|-DATA (type 32, format 32)
| :_(e.g. screenshot from hardcopy program in HARDCPY/FIG_001 IMG)
| :_(e.g. text file from disk directory program in DISKNAMEALL/LIB/DIR etc.)
|
|-PROGRAM (type 32, format 32)
| :_(e.g. temporary files from disk copy program)
|
|-SETUP (type 32, format 32)
|-GENERAL (type 5, format 2)
|-EFFECT1 (type 6, format 2)
|-EFFECT2 (type 7, format 2)
|-SOUNDMAP (type 9, format 2)
|-SAMPLES (type 32, format 32)
| |-'SAMPNAMETXL' (type 8, format 2)
|
|-SOUNDS (type 32, format 32)
|-'SOUNDNAME F' (type 1, format 2)
|-'SOUNDNAME E' (type 1, format 2)
Sound suffixes:
E - RAM sound using RAM sample
F - RAM sound using ROM sample
File types:
1 - Sound
2 - Performance
3 - Song
4 - ?
5 - General Setup
6 - Effect1 Setup
7 - Effect2 Setup
8 - Sample
9 - Soundmap Setup
32 - Directory
TYPE = [ 0x0, # Sound
0x1, # Sample
0x2, # Soundmap
0x3, # Effect1
0x4, # Effect2
0x5, # General
0x6, # Song
0x7, # Performance
0x8, # Global (untested)
0x9, # StylePerf (untested)
0xa, # RealtimePerf (untested)
0xb, # Riff (untested)
]
BANK = ASCII Bank number (0x30-0x39), only used for TYPE 0x6, 0x7
PERF = ASCII Performance number (0x30-0x39), only used for TYPE 0x7
# List directory contents
./s3midi -cDIR_REQUEST -x $TYPE $BANK $PERF -f"*"
# Dump 'file'
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x $TYPE $BANK $PERF -f"*")'
# Dump Sound ("SOUND E" from DIR_REQUEST)
# F_DREQ does not seem to work at all
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 0 0 0 -f"SOUND E"
# Dump Sample ("SAMPLE TXL" from DIR_REQUEST)
# F_DREQ only dumps a few bytes if dumping from RAM but seems to work for RAM disk (e.g. C:)
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 1 0 0 -f"SAMPLE TXL"
or
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"SAMPLE TXL" -p"A:\\SETUP\\SAMPLES\\"
# Dump SOUNDMAP (filename argument ignored)
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 2 0 0 -f"*"
or
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"SOUNDMAP" -p"A:\\SETUP\\"
# Dump EFFECT1 (filename argument ignored)
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 3 0 0 -f"*"
or
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"EFFECT1" -p"A:\\SETUP\\"
# Dump EFFECT2 (filename argument ignored)
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 4 0 0 -f"*"
or
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"EFFECT2" -p"A:\\SETUP\\"
# Dump GENERAL (filename argument ignored)
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 5 0 0 -f"*"
or
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"GENERAL" -p"A:\\SETUP\\"
# Dump Song 1 (Bank 0x30-0x39)
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 6 0x30 0x30 -f"*"
or e.g.
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"Song" -p"A:\\BANKS\\Bank 1 0\\"
# Dump Performance (Bank 0x30-0x39 Perf 0x30-0x39)
./s3midi -cDATA_REQUEST -x 7 0x30 0x30 '-f"*"
or e.g.
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"Perf 0" -p"A:\\BANKS\\Bank 1 0\\PERF\\"
# Dump hardcopy created with 'HARDCPY PRG'
./s3midi -cF_DREQ -f"FIG_001 IMG" -p"A:\\DATA\\HARDCPY\\"
# Trigger RAM dump, takes ~20min (sends first STAT_REQUEST, then F_ACK)
# if dump is not aborted, a reboot is necessary
./s3midi -cRAM_DUMP
# User program format, variable length
6 bytes header 01 01 01 0b 02 01
see doc/format_userprogram.txt
# Performance format, possibly constant length 252
6 bytes header 01 02 02 03 02 01
remaining unknown
# General format, possibly constant length 1127
6 bytes header 01 02 02 05 02 01
remaining unknown
# Effect2 map format, variable length
6 bytes header 01 02 02 07 02 01
34 bytes map entry, see Effect 1 map
# Sound map format, variable length
6 bytes header 01 02 02 09 02 02
18 bytes map entry
bytes 1-10 Sound Name
byte 11 unknown, c0 - ROM layer, c5 - RAM sound, c6 - RAM sample sound, else c2 or 00
byte 12 unknown (00)
byte 13 Bank
byte 14 Program
bytes 15-16 Date (1b 23 for factory presets)
bytes 17-18 Time (70 00 for factory presets)
# Effect1 map format, variable length
6 bytes header 01 02 02 06 02 01
34 bytes map entry
bytes 1-10 Effect name
bytes 11-12 unknown (00 00)
byte 13 Effect number
byte 14 unknown (7f)
bytes 15-16 Date (18 c8 for factory presets)
bytes 17-18 Time (70 00 for factory presets)
bytes 19-21 unknown (00 00 00)
byte 22 Effect type
bytes 23-24 Level
bytes 25-26 Effect param 1
bytes 27-28 Effect param 2
bytes 29-30 Effect param 3
bytes 31-32 Effect param 4
byte 33-34 Effect param 5
# Clipboard format, variable length
6 bytes header 01 02 02 0a 02 01
The S2/S3 exports 14-bit encoded mono samples. When receiving a sample dump, the program creates the following files:
- sample_TIMESTAMP.sds: original stream of MIDI messages
- sample_TIMESTAMP.txt: sample information (loops, samplerate, etc)
- sample_TIMESTAMP.dmp: sample data dump (7-in-8-bit chunks, big-endian: .dcba987 .6543210)
- sample_TIMESTAMP.wav: PCM sample data (s16le mono)