PetSynth II MIDI - Early Access Beta

PetSynth II MIDI for the Commodore PET!

The follow up to the original release of PetSynth from 2007!

PetSynth II MIDI aims to be the best fully MIDI capable solution for Commodore PET computers. You can use it to turn your PET into a monophonic synthesizer which you can play and control with your other MIDI keyboards, DAWs, and anything else that speak MIDI! The hardware gives the PET the ability to be easily expanded with new hardware, and the MIDI adapter plugs into this new PET Expansion System. The software then uses this MIDI hardware to control the internal VIA 6522 chip to create monophonic 2-channel stereo music! It's like having a crazy cool vintage computer as your own personal monophonic synthesizer!

This is a pre-order early-access pre-release beta version for people who are excited to get started with PetSynth II on the Commodore PET with the true MIDI adapter and the PET Expansion System adapter. 

Will contain early-access versions of:

• No modification or soldering required!
• Clip-on stereo audio adapter for the PET
  
• PET Expansion System
• MIDI Expansion Adapter for the PET Expansion System - Developer Edition
  
• Beta version of MIDI Monitor for the PET
• Beta version of PetSynth II MIDI
  

More information can be found in the video presentation of PetSynth II as first seen during Bitscape 2024 which can also be viewed on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTV7IPyfa0U

You can learn more about the history of PetSynth on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PetSynth

You can hear a demo that was made in part with an early alpha edition of PetSynth II MIDI by watching the video in the media gallery on this page.

Attention: There are many mock-ups, prototypes, and 3D renders on this page that show some of the prototyping work in progress. The final design, look and feel many change without notice. These images are intended to show the progression of the development process for those who are interested in how I'm putting this altogether. The product in it's final form will be fully photographed and displayed here when it's ready to begin shipping.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• The first beta versions of this product will ship in early 2025.
• This is early-access beta hardware and software and is sold as-is with no warranty or fitness for purpose of any kind.
• This is considered an appropriate product for musicians who are also power users, users who have experience with vintage computers and the Commodore PET, early adapters and developers, or other users who have experience with beta releases of vintage computer oriented hardware and software. It may contain bugs. Software updates will be available freely to purchasers.
• Media in this listing shows mock-ups, prototypes, and demos, and may not reflect the shipping early-access or final release versions of this hardware and software package.
• The software will come on a USB drive intended for a modern computer.
• Users are expected to have the ability to get software from a modern computer to their Commodore PET, such as the many SD adapters available, or via devices that allow the writing of software to original floppy disks intended to be used on Commodore PET compatible floppy disk drives. 
• If you really want a floppy disk for you vintage Commodore PET compatible floppy drive drop me an email and I'll see if I can figure something out. I don't have all the drives for the PET but I should have enough to put something together for most people who have a PET drive of some kind. This is a special request so for now just email me chiron@bramberger.com and I'll see what I can do. In the future I'll consider this as maybe part of a special edition. 
  
• The Commodore PET 2001 series of early mainboards are not like later editions. Turns out that developing the PET Expansion System for this platform is more involved. Therefore I have disabled purchasing this version for the moment. There is a prototype designed and you can see an early version of this in the photo gallery. However this version requires extra circuity and testing before I can feel confident in offering it here. I will make updates here when it is ready for it's first beta release edition. The edge connector on these early PET's do not have all the right signals, and additionally, it appears that these PET's do not block access to RAM above $8800. Therefore when an expansion card writes to somewhere in or above $8800 then the graphics RAM is also enabled and would get corrupted as well as causing a bus contention. Therefore my PET Expansion System for specifically these early 2001 mainboards plugs into the CPU socket and intercepts these kinds of access and additionally can create all the buffered signals needed for the expansion system. Other PET mainboards do not require this, and their expansion connectors enough signals, therefore only one chip is needed to provide this new PET Expansion Bus with all the extra signals it requires. Stay tuned to the area for more updates!
• This product does not come with a Keytar or musical keyboard of any kind. The end user is expected to provide their own MIDI capable keyboard.
• This edition only has traditional MIDI din ports. A future special deluxe edition will include a USB Host to MIDI din adapter for USB only keyboards and devices.