301

(15 replies, posted in General Discussion)

A comprehensive archive of beeper music will be great smile

I agree with utz, there are lots of zx beeper tunes from botb that need including, many really great ones. I've been collecting them for a while now.

What format do you need them submitted in? .ay ?

I think Abrimaal has done work converting beeper tracks to .ay for his own archive so could maybe provide some of the missing tunes ?

302

(5 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Just noticed a very nice track uploaded to Winter Chip on BOTB using the new Phaser 3 engine:


http://battleofthebits.org/arena/Entry/ … act/20528/

303

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

I agree, a great compo with some great new ZX Beeper tunes smile

Garvalf - I thought yours deserved to finish a lot higher, some fine high speed tritone work there.

BTW, my tune 'Space Beeps' actually has an unfinished/unused pattern (9) in the source .bbsong  relevant to the title.
I tried to emulate the Apollo 'Quindar tones' or Space Beeps.  In the end I didn't have time to finish it so I omitted the pattern.

One Life Left played it on their latest show too:
http://onelifeleft.libsyn.com/webpage/2016/01

304

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Not working for me I'm afraid utz sad

I'm on Windows 8, 64bit

Just tried the xmtosqueeker.exe and downloaded a .dll it asked for but it still won't start up.
libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll

Net research also advised to copy this .dll to \windows\SysWOW64
libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll

305

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Just listened to them myself. Some great tunes and everyone using a different engine (I think), just shows the versatility of the ZX Beeper format smile

BTW, as I've never entered this contest before, do we vote on our own tracks (as in our 1-bit forum contest) ?

cheers

306

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Hi utz

I wondered how long it would be before you were itching to write another engine smile

Here are some ideas I have had, if any are of any use or spark debate.

I like the Qchan type engines but if more bass or better drums were possible this would be great. The best part of Qchan (for me) are the volume envelopes as I think this opens the door for interesting synth effects.

I would like to see an engine where different types are selectable from within the tune itself. A sort of multi-engine that can swap between (for example) a phaser sound to a basic rom beep sound to maybe a PFM sound in the middle of a tune. I think this would enable tunes to have sections in different styles and make them more interesting.

A useful feature would be for a tune to quit back to basic at predetermined points in the music (to maybe allow text to be displayed) and then the user could jump back into the tune at the point it left off.

OK, wacky idea. How about a drum and bass engine with basically mega bass and a selection of drums/hihats etc.  Maybe 2 mega bass channels or even just one with digi-drums ????

Just a thought.

307

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Got a reply to my 2nd email submission this morning smile

308

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Yeah I would have thought it would still be received.

You've got me worried now though smile  I emailed my submission at 1pm and have had no email reply yet. My email address sometimes gets filtered out as SPAM so I've just sent it again using my gmail address to make sure !

I've never entered this compo before so don't know how quickly the organisers get back to you about compo entries.

309

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Qchan sounding very nice smile

Will be interesting to hear how it copes with more bassy engines, as you say smile

I've just finished recording my entry for DiHalt Lite 2016 from my trusty 48K Spectrum.
There is still something about the sound when listening to the music directly from real hardware (using headphones connected to the mic socket) that can't be truly replicated though imo.

I agree, the real spectrum sound is somehow warmer.

310

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Hi guys

Think today is the last day to submit entries for DiHalt Lite 2016 (unless you are attending).

Hey hey, four ZX Beeper entries so far (I've just uploaded mine) smile
http://dihalt.org.ru/register_eng.php

Some nice new Beeper tracks on BOTB last night too. Very nice one from MovieMovies1.
http://battleofthebits.org/arena/OHC/2853/

311

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Sounds like a great piece of kit.

Garvalf - would be very interesting to hear a MiST recording of a Mechanistic track. I've still got the raw speccy recordings (without EQ applied) for comparison if you're interested. I've been meaning to record something directly from the Vega for a while but not had chance yet.

312

(6 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Haha

Thanks utz smile

313

(6 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Cheers Garvalf. Yes maybe a bit Daft Punk sounding too. I like making covers but I'm really trying to compose some original Beeper tracks atm.

The sound was actually just from the .wav export option on Beepola. I put it though the usual EQ and Bass settings I always use on Open MTP. When I get around to recording it from my 48K Speccy I expect the output to have a bit more bass.

314

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Looks good.

Are you getting one of the new versions?

315

(6 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Cheers Garvalf  smile

I wasn't sure if people would have heard the original as I don't think Robbie is very well known outside the UK.

I made this version over 12 months ago and have been using some of the Beepola techniques I learnt (pitch slides / synth FX) in some of my own Qchan tunes since.

Thanks a lot for your comments smile

316

(10 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Cheers kokkiklhs.

Now you mention it, it does sound a bit like the Axel Foley theme smile

317

(6 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Happy Christmas Everyone.


Here is a version of the Robbie Williams synth-pop track taken down to 1-bit.

As usual I've used the Qchan sound engine and Beepola, I'm still not totally happy with the drums so may continue to work on it a little and I also haven't had time to record it from real hardware yet.

The original has quite a heavy chiptune feel to it so I thought it was fun to make a Speccy version.

Here is the link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/112 … liams).mp3


I hope you like it smile

318

(3 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Hi kokkiklhs

I think it would in theory be possible to play short beeps as the speccy is loading due to the fact there are short gaps in the loading process. I'm not sure if it is possible to turn off the actual loading noise itself on a 48K speccy though??

I remember seeing a demo where graphics are displayed during the loading process by atebit, it's here:

Demo while loading
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ01EDhL0VM


I found these too:

Screen$ music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScKKkVtB2lc

Loading noise tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLWEy59lUhc

319

(10 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Thanks a lot for the info Introspec.

I wonder which Odin tunes use this technique.

So, they could potentially sound different on different hardware ?

320

(10 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Cheers Garvalf.

The Beeper sound on the Vega seems very accurate compared to a real Speccy, maybe a bit more 'rough' for the lack of a technical description.

I made the 'Vega-mix' purely to post on the Vega forum as I hoped a few Vega users might like to create some Beeper tunes.

After I posted it on that forum I got this reply from one of the Vega users:

" I'm listening to it, although I'm not currently using the Vega. I'd like to ask if these 1-bit music engines use the dual level output of the speaker (you know the Speccy beeper outputs different levels depending on the combination of MIC and SPK bits from port #FE, working as a rudimentary, non linear 2-bit DAC)"

Is this correct?

When recording from my Speccy 48K there are large differences in sound quality/volume when recording from either the mic or ear sockets. In fact if recording from the mic socket and plugging a lead into ear socket I also get a different sound (particularly noticeable with Qchan) as it is slightly more Bassy and missing some of the very high frequencies.

Any comments guys?

321

(10 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Hi utz


The speech synth is TAVZX (I think). Mister Beep posted the link to the file ages ago. It's a Spanish one so it can be difficult to get the sounds I want, quite often ends up sounding Scottish smile

After further experimentation it appears that sounds can be selected at three pitches e.g  o- o o+  so potentially the speccy can sing a little smile

OK, the bass line is actually based on Paranoimia by the art of noise smile

322

(10 replies, posted in Sinclair)

I've made a little sound demo to try on my ZX Spectrum Vega which is basically a slightly different version of my '1-bit Mechanistic' tune with a few new bits of Speech.

There is also a little intro tune (press 1 when the .z80 file is loaded)  - an unfinished tune from about a year ago.

Can anyone guess which 80s synthpop tune the bassline is based on ????????

smile


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/112 … c_Vega.zip

323

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Thanks lvd.

I'll also try to write something for the compo smile

324

(5 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Welcome aboard, great to see you here smile

Love your Full Throttle 2 tune. There's a very good recording of included in the ZX music bank.
I played it recently in the retro section in one of my 1-bit radio broadcasts on the wonky FM radio station.

The spectrum related stuff you uploaded to soundcloud is great too smile

325

(65 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Cheers utz  smile

I'll give it a try when I've got some time.

Btw, does this convertor work with .xm files created with Open MTP or does it have to be milkytracker?