The Sega ST-V's MIDI Out: A Quick Examination and Failed Experiments

[zdw]

https://nicole.express/2022/midi-on-the-saturn-or-not.html

[tenebrisalietum]

This Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YMF292 mentions that an M68k was used to actually control the SCSP, and I see here https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sega-Saturn-Motherbo... that there's an MC68EC000 on what I'm thinking is a Sega Saturn motherboard's lower right corner (because hey, why the heck not add in M68K to this hodgepodge of chips).

So the SCSP probably just provided the UART for the MIDI port and it was up to the m68k to actually use that UART and respond/generate messages.

I guess it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for that code to output some type of debug MIDI message, but maybe it wasn't needed if the m68k had any other connection to anything else. Maybe Yamaha was going to put this chip in a synthesizer in the 90's.

[bartvk]

If nothing else, be sure to play the track in the middle of the article. Search for "Virtua Fighter Kids".