Damn, I seem to be getting more problem reports about TiLP than the actual HT2 lately hmm

Ok, let's see about this one. You definately need that .dll installed, wonder why it won't let you. You probably need to be admin to install it (and the other libti* dlls), but I guess you've tried that already?

As far as the scanning goes, just don't scan, I think it doesn't really work with TI82 anyway. Just set the right combination in the "change device" popup or via command line.

As a last resort, you could try an older version of TiLP (or newer if you don't have the latest 1.17). Make sure you uninstall everything that came with TI Connect (especially the USB drivers), as TiLP can't coexist with an existing TI Connect install without some major hassle.

827

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

And another build attempt. Same download link as before, hope it finally works now!

828

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I made this thing some years ago. Timestretched 1-bit sounds. It's more drone than ambient though.

Aside from that, I don't think there's much "real" 1-bit ambient out there. Which is very unfortunate, I think somebody should definately give it a try!

829

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Hehe, thanks wink It's all due to how great this engine sounds, though big_smile

Ah, glad you were able to work it out. Once you get over the initial hurdle, it's indeed pretty simple wink Most of the trickery is getting your routines up to speed and getting the timing stable, but that should be less of an issue with ATmega. Anyway, keep us updated about your project, will ya?

831

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Yes, and that's also what the template is based on. It seemed like a good compromise, as the engine started to overload at around 40.

832

(65 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Fixed yet another bug in the quattropic XM converter, and made a new Windows build that might actually work on Windows, unlike the last one yikes
download

833

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Yesterday's release had a botched XM template. Fixed that and also improved the loader code somewhat, so please re-download.

834

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Got a first beta of the XM converter ready. It's functional but highly unoptimized, so I'll probably make more changes to it later. Anyway, it's using the original core of the 2012 version of Squeeker. Per-row speed control has been added. Data format and loader have been changed completely.
The converter is standalone, no Perl required.

download (win/*nix binaries and source included)

835

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

One thing I don't understand about this routine: It seems the buffer has to be cleared before every row, otherwise there will be random drop-outs. Any idea why that is? I would much prefer not to spend ~74 t-states on that.

Edit: Ah, I get it now, it's because the "add counters" from rested channels will cause a continuous overflow, thus keeping the output high at all times. Still looking for an elegant solution to this though.

Hehe, sorry for the current lack of updates smile Rest assured that stuff is happening behind the scenes. Most likely version 2.1 will be ready in a couple of weeks.

There isn't really any central spot for HT composers afaik. A number of HT users are hanging out on chipmusic.org, but it appears there are also quite a few who are not connected to the chip or calculator scene.

About soundcloud tagging, I dunno... I always thought it's best to use a range of different tags. "calculator" seems to be the one people mostly use right now. What's your soundcloud, btw?

i'm working on a "lsdj manager" type utility, but it hasn't progressed very far. I'll put out a public beta soon-ish, though.

837

(22 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Btw the "squeekf6.z80" version is obsolete - there is a more current one with a slight modification:

mxb  exx
     xor a
     ld bc,#0400
     ld sp,#80c4
mxa  rl c
     pop de
     pop hl
     add hl,de
     push hl
     pop hl
     ld a,40
     add a,h
     djnz mxa
    
     ld a,15
     adc a,c
     out (254),a
     exx
     dec hl
     ld a,h
     or l
     jr nz,mxb

838

(130 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Ah, so those were the final results after all. Weird, I don't remember them ever combining online and party votes before.

Anyway, agree with introspec, strongest beeper compo in quite a while, everybody involved has all the reasons to be proud!

839

(130 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Online voting results are in (on the votepage), congratulations Shiru for the well-deserved win!
Now waiting for party results...

840

(130 replies, posted in Sinclair)

AtariTufty wrote:

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

I think so, yes. The online voting is more of an on-the-side thing anyway, as those votes don't count towards the "official" results.

841

(130 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Online voting is open smile http://events.retroscene.org/dhl2016/ZX_Beeper

Also... OMG, is that a new Shiru tune I'm hearing? In any case, very strong competition, me likey!

842

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

AtariTufty wrote:

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

Always itching, just don't always have the time big_smile

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

AtariTufty wrote:

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.

Yup, same here. It would especially be great to have a (pseudo-)white noise channel along the pin pulse channels. Well, as I mentioned I've got an enhanced Qchan version in the works, which will feature full envelope control similar to Stocker. It should have some more bass, too, using introspec's technique from Octode XL. Though perhaps I should start studying Zilogat0r's Squeeker code more closely, as that would allow for even more bass.

AtariTufty wrote:

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.

Yeah, been longing for something like that as well. However, my conclusion is that this is a problem to be solved at the editor end of things. If I'm not mistaken most of Shiru's engines could already be used in that fashion, as they are tuned to 440Hz (unlike mine cause I suck at math yikes). So it's basically Beepola and/or 1tracker that would need to support this feature.

AtariTufty wrote:

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.

A few engines, like Wham and Music Studio already support this feature. Nevertheless it's a good point for other/new engines, and it isn't even that difficult to achieve.

AtariTufty wrote:

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 ????

qoap and yawp would be capable of doing that. But again, the problem is that there aren't any editors yet that support the full feature set of these engines. And unfortunately the whole editor business is a bit over my head, can't even figure out how to do plugins for 1tracker.


garvalf wrote:

I seriously got the idea to record a (black) metal album with drums only from a ZX spectrum...

Hehe, I do my live performances with some black metal vocals big_smile So +1 for your idea!

The mighty Protodome! Welcome to the board smile

Atmega is a very nice chip, and it's certainly capable of outputting polyphony on a single pin. Provided you're willing to program it in assembly, that is. A pin pulse routine might even be feasible in C, but I think what you'd rather want is a tight, timing-stable loop that alternates between the various software outputs (aka Pulse Interleaving). I suppose you have read the tutorial thread? That contains pretty much most of the known tricks, and should be applicable to Atmega as well.

If not, please specify a bit more what you want to do, I'm sure we can work something out smile

844

(135 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Feeling the itch again to write some new engines, but I'm in need of some fresh ideas. So, if you have any suggestions for features you'd like to see in a beeper engine, please drop them here, no matter how crazy!

Aside from making a converter for Zilogat0r's engine, and hopefully finishing Qchan FX, there are a few things I've got on my list. One thing is to do more with wavetable synthesis. I've been playing around with a new trick I learned from one of the Dragon/CoCo guys, which helps to speed up the code from qoap/yawp by quite a bit, but I'm not terribly thrilled by the results so far.

Another thing is to do more research into volume control. Alone Coder has done some test implementations of my phase shifting idea, but that actually generated a range of new problems that need to be solved.

Furthermore, I really would like to make an engine that mimicks the sound of an overdriven guitar/bass with variable sound characteristics. In theory, that would require a method of outputting band-limited noise. However, I have no clue how to pull that off so far.

In general, I somehow have the feeling there must be more ways of manipulating sound over time. The Phaser engines are certainly a good start, but that can't be everything.

845

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Seems to me that the MiST version has a tad too much high end/fuzz. And yeah, it does sound somewhat colder. I suspect the emulation of the ULA and it's auxilliary components isn't totally accurate yet.

hmm, crazy Fins, huh?
I actually joined wanted.scene.org very early on, and I certainly do keep an eye on it smile But sadly I went on vacation without my scene.org password. Missed a couple of things there in the past weeks, grrr.

847

(130 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Hmm, normally the organizers react pretty quickly, so it was probably a good idea to resend it.
If you don't hear from the guys, you could also try mailing your entry directly to lvd.

848

(130 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Oh shi.... I thought the deadline was tomorrow. Just came back from Germany a few hours ago, hope my submission will still be received.

849

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Glad to hear about the improvements in the MiST core. I'm not into fpga devices myself, but the MiST certainly seems like an excellent choice given the range of platforms it supports. Please do upload some recordings if you have the time, I'm curious how well it performs.

850

(6 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Neat! Totally not a Robbie Williams fan, but you managed to make even this music sound pleasant to my ears smile