GenMDM is rad but there’s no polyphony, I bought it from Catskull when he had a manual posted that advertised polyphonic mode, found out it didn’t actually exist once it arrived. Kind of crap tbh, would never have purchased if I had known. I put it away after using it for a few weeks. Just wasn’t that fun with the clunky way it operated and no polyphony was a gigantic letdown. I hit Catskull up and he was super nice but said that it was a dead end and the firmware would receive no updates. The latest version of the interface cannot be updated, so polyphony is never coming. I suppose someone could rewrite the Arduino code to include a polyphonic mode, but that person isn’t me and why would anyone bother with the new version of the interface being locked. The MegaFM looks MUCH more fun.
Do you already own a Genesis/Mega Drive? Is it a Model 1 early version? If not, do not bother. The $80 gets you the interface only, not a synth.
This is tempting me! I like the sound and controls, and I really like the price. Might sell my Reface DX to justify it.
Have the physical dimensions been posted yet?
ill buy it from you becauase i know how to plyphony, takes some routing , his manual is just a revised version of the original that was made by my friend Sebastion Tomzac , i got mine back in 2012 on the second batch and helped him work out soem firmware kinks , i have some source code for the projhect because it will help me save presets to the ram for use with hardware , sorry to hear you were disapointed thats just how chords where made back in the day one channel at a time, kinda like programing a chord in a tracker thats a single tone sample…
heres a newer Genmdm album that has lots of chords!
but yeah MEGAfm is going to be super dope i already wanted two GenMDMs now i dont have to go thru the hassle of all the tedious programming ^~^
p.s. if you have ableton live and max for live i can help you route polypohny to GenMDM
or you can use it as a mac app
Thanks my dude, I know how to route polyphony in the DAW and have an RK-002 cable to do it that way too if I want to sequence from DT or whatever, it’s just weak sauce when it would just be a matter of implementing it in the interface firmware. I understand how chords were made back in the day with layered monosynth lines since I still do it that way myself sometimes. However, back then it was done due to hardware limitations. The Genesis can play multiple notes at a time no problem, it’s not a hardware limitation. The genMDM firmware just never had a poly mode implemented for whatever reason. If you’ve got the source and you’re down to party with genmdm, why not add that poly mode? I guess my point is that it could be much cooler. I appreciate you being so helpful though.
To my point, the DMG has three mono voices and a percussive voice, but mGB has a poly mode where it round-robins each note to the next voice like any normal polysynth and you get to play triads. Why wouldn’t GenMDM have that EXACT same function? It’s a limitation that doesn’t need to be there.
That’s why this megaFM looks so appealing!!!
Do not. I need to hold off on GAS either way so thanks haha
Still quite excited to see more about the MEGAfm. Seems like good kit
yeah but for now you can dust off your genmdm and try out that polyphony app/max for live patch its free and works for making power synths , get your hands dirty with the sega until you get your MegaFM 
im pretty close friends with the original developer of genmdm but im not a good programmer i actually broke my original genmdm teensy and had to skype with little-scale to help me solder the new parts xD …
so maybe we can figure something out with the firmware at some point, but yeah my biggest thing is saving my Genmdm patches with hardware since i never coded my patches into the source, so the 50 slots for patches on the MegaFM is a dealmaker for me!
yup i personally need to hear more demos because of how many sega synths ive patched out and programmed, one nifty thing would be the ability to load the .TFI files (FM preset pacthes) from every sega game for the megaFM. this is how the genmdm works tho it doesnt load the same modulatiuons used by the original game music programmer!
From their fb page in an answer about multitimbrality : “it’s really intended to be a one-part synth with all the available voices at the disposal of the player.”
I suspected this given the names of the voice modes and lack of buttons to select voices to edit. Pre-ordered yesterday anyway
I have one, great synth! Kasser should be dropping a sweet update soon, to give it a full midi cc spec. I have the YM3438 version basically the same chip as the YM2612 just lower noise floor version. If you’re on a tight budget it should definitely be considered, there’s also Plogue’s chipsounds MD which is a crazy spot on accurate emulator of that chipset.
I’m becoming more and more tempted by this, I can get over the lack of multitimbrality, I could just hook genMDM up side by side with this to have my cake and eat it too… 18 voices of YM2612! Maybe I should wait until Korg talks about their opsix…
That’s rad man, it would be really neat to figure out a way to get a genMDM firmware up and going that includes polyphony! I should bust it out again. Actually, I have an Analogue Mega SG and I know that genMDM is supposed to work properly with it, in fact you can just load up the genMDM rom without even bothering with the cart, the interface is still necessary of course. The Mega SG has an exact repro of the YM2612 built in the FPGA, but the dev kevtris has made improvements to the rest of the circuit which gives you huge flexibility over how you want the filter etc to behave versus the OG Genesis. I haven’t even tried it out yet with genmdm, but I should!
Love this!
After letting my PreenFM2 sit for quite a while I’ve recently been spending tons of time with it and so very happy. Having said that, this is going to be very hard to resist even with my new found PreenFM2 love. Just beautiful.
Thanks for the update, I will also get the 3438 I think. Did you get the green PCB? There was another forum user who recommended getting green because it has an updated controller.
PC messages would be great as well, but that’s awesome that he’s going to update it to receive midi cc
Chipsounds MD is really nicely done.
Anyone interested in emulating old sound chips should also check out http://deflemask.com/
It’s free, emulates lots of old chips and includes ROM builders.
Gliding a bit off-topic
Nice. Have you tried defMON for the c64 with the real hardware? I found out now that TAL also makes a DAC emulation plug-in. Haven´t tried it out yet. Chipcrusher 2 is otherwise a favorite for DAC emulation.
Hadn’t seen Chipcrusher, the vocal encoders seem particularly fun, thanks for the tip
I have a little story that I think is relevant now that we are seeing a project like the MEGAfm get so much buzz, and FM experiencing a resurgence in general. I worked at a retro game store for quite a few years starting in 2007, and my co-worker and I were both enormous Sega fans. We collected so much Sega hardware over those years, driving all over the state for cool finds.
Naturally, we were singing the praises of the sound effects and music from Master System and Genesis games to anyone who would listen. We knew that there were people out there with niche projects with the chip and trackers etc.
Bizarrely, the thing we heard repeated on what felt like a daily basis in the shop was how much better the SNES sounded versus the Genesis! I head customers say things like “Oh yea Genesis rules, audio is terrible compares to SNES though, great shooting games on it though.” so frequently that I began to develop a kinship with the people of the future. I knew that people would start to appreciate it again!!! I want to see a 4-YM keyboard synth with analog filters and effects!
Chip crusher is amazing, it’s literally the Eventide of lofi processing, seriously a must have. I use it to some degree on everything, I pair it with my two Eventide H9’s being controlled by my octatracks (x2) I’m not a chiptune guy per say, but gravitate to older tech, as it for me has the character I need.