Ah, glad you were able to work it out. Once you get over the initial hurdle, it's indeed pretty simple 
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?
851 2016-01-15 13:34:39
Re: Combining Software Channels to Single Hardware Pin Output (5 replies, posted in Other Platforms)
852 2016-01-14 21:35:02
Re: Squeeker by zilogat0r (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.
853 2016-01-14 14:33:52
Re: 7 days, 7 (new) beeper engines (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 
download
854 2016-01-14 12:04:13
Re: Squeeker by zilogat0r (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.
855 2016-01-13 22:23:50
Re: Squeeker by zilogat0r (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)
856 2016-01-13 13:13:25
Re: Squeeker by zilogat0r (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.
857 2016-01-13 01:01:52
Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+) (130 replies, posted in Calculators & Pocket Computers)
Hehe, sorry for the current lack of updates 
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.
858 2016-01-11 13:29:44
Re: Squeeker by zilogat0r (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,mxb859 2016-01-11 12:22:34
Re: upcoming beeper compos (136 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!
860 2016-01-10 11:57:57
Re: upcoming beeper compos (136 replies, posted in Sinclair)
Online voting results are in (on the votepage), congratulations Shiru for the well-deserved win!
Now waiting for party results...
861 2016-01-09 23:11:26
Re: upcoming beeper compos (136 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.
862 2016-01-09 18:11:33
Re: upcoming beeper compos (136 replies, posted in Sinclair)
Online voting is open 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!
863 2016-01-09 14:15:39
Re: next gen engine ideas (135 replies, posted in Sinclair)
AtariTufty wrote:
I wondered how long it would be before you were itching to write another engine
Always itching, just don't always have the time 
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 ). 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 So +1 for your idea!
864 2016-01-09 13:18:03
Re: Combining Software Channels to Single Hardware Pin Output (5 replies, posted in Other Platforms)
The mighty Protodome! Welcome to the board
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
865 2016-01-08 15:38:14
Topic: next gen engine ideas (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.
866 2016-01-08 15:12:42
Re: MiST FPGA and ZX Spectrum (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.
867 2016-01-08 14:15:35
Re: Looking for Beepola music for 48k Spectrum productions (1 replies, posted in Sinclair)
hmm, crazy Fins, huh?
I actually joined wanted.scene.org very early on, and I certainly do keep an eye on it But sadly I went on vacation without my scene.org password. Missed a couple of things there in the past weeks, grrr.
868 2016-01-08 13:41:37
Re: upcoming beeper compos (136 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.
869 2016-01-07 23:21:05
Re: upcoming beeper compos (136 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.
870 2016-01-01 14:49:23
Re: MiST FPGA and ZX Spectrum (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.
871 2016-01-01 14:46:34
Re: Difficult For Weirdos - New Tune (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
872 2016-01-01 14:28:31
Re: "Procrastination Polka" on the Palm Treo 180 (1 replies, posted in Other Platforms)
Very nice find, garvalf!
Still got an old Palm laying around somewhere, but so far I hadn't considered making music on it. Maybe I should think again...
873 2015-12-17 11:56:45
Re: Silly Question about Z80 (3 replies, posted in General Discussion)
There's also this: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=30929
They even released an editor for this, can't find it right now though.
Generally speaking, loading on the ZX is costs quite a bit of CPU, since it all the timing has to be done software. So it's not an ideal candidate for combining with 1-bit music, though I don't think it's impossible. It's certainly far more complicated than updating some soundchip's registers once per frame though
874 2015-12-12 11:14:21
Re: upcoming beeper compos (136 replies, posted in Sinclair)
No, you don't need to anonymize your entries. Usually the music works are presented anonymously though (ie screen$ will not be displayed).
875 2015-12-10 11:17:53
Re: Unnecessary question (8 replies, posted in General Discussion)
The spambot questions are done via a plugin in punBB, and it appearantly that plugin isn't very customizable at all. But afaik it still shouldn't ask questions except when signing up. Iirc we had the same setup at the old place, and it wasn't a problem there, right? I guess the problem is rather that the plugin isn't communicating properly with the punBB API.
In any case, let's wait for the update (thanks already d0x10) and see what happens.