BSerial – SYNTH

A compact, feature-rich general MIDI synthesizer!

BSerial – SYNTH is a powerful general MIDI-compliant synthesizer designed to deliver high-quality audio in an ultra-compact package. Measuring just 26mm x 23mm, it integrates seamlessly with your projects, offering exceptional sound quality, versatile connectivity, and advanced features powered by the SAM2695 chipset.

Connecting the module to your system takes only seconds via the Bi2C port, and gives you instant general MIDI functionality!

You will need a Challenger board with a BSerial/Bi2C connection to use this board.

What is BSerial?

BSerial is a part of iLabs concept (BConnect that spans over Bi2C, BSerial and BSpi) of connecting devices together using a small Flexible Flat Cable (FFC) and an FFC connector. It is similar to the Bi2C concept but we have replaced the electrical I2C interface with an asynchronous serial channel instead. You can read more about it here.

Features

• General MIDI Compliance: Supports 128 instruments and percussion sounds, ideal for any musical application
• High-Quality Sound: Driven by the SAM2695, featuring 64-voice polyphony and built-in effects
• Compact Design: At just 26mm x 23mm, it’s easy to embed in any project
• Flexible Power and Connectivity:
  • Powered via a 3.3V supply from the BSerial interface (250mA)
  • Single 4-pin flex cable for power and data communication
• Audio Outputs:
  • Line-level or headphone-ready 3.5mm stereo output with integrated 100µF capacitors for direct headphone drive
• Integrated Effects: Includes reverb, chorus, and a 4-band equalizer for enhanced sound shaping
• Reset Capability: Reset the SAM2695 via the RX line of the BSerial interface for added flexibility
• On-chip CleanWave™: wavetable data, firmware, RAM delay lines

Applications

• Embedded music synthesizers
• Compact MIDI instruments
• Audio-enhanced IoT devices
• DIY musical projects and kits

Specifications

Resources

Getting Started

• Connect Power & Data: Attach the 4-pin BSerial flex cable to your host device.
• Audio Output: Plug in headphones or connect to an amplifier via the 3.5mm stereo jack.
• MIDI Input: Start sending MIDI data from your host application to bring the synthesizer to life.

Documentation

• Arduino example on iLabs website
  • A short Arduino example showing how to build a simple MIDI player that plays MIDI files from an SD Card. This demo was built on the Challenger RP2040 SD/RTC board and the example is taken from the MD_MIDIFile library and modified slightly to run on the Challenger.
• SAM2695 Datasheet
• Schematic

Package Contents

• 1x BSerial – SYNTH board
• 1x FPC cable