951 Topic by utz

(12 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Here we go, the 1-Bit Forum Music Competition 2015 is open for submissions now! There are five categories, of course you're welcome to submit works to each of them.


General Rules

  • Any editor/routine is allowed, you can even write a new one if you like.

  • Works must be unreleased, and may not be published before the end of the compo.

  • Original works only, covers are not allowed.

  • Submissions must be anonymous (ie. no author names in source, binary, or mp3 tags).

  • Submit works in emulator format (.tap, .sna, .xex, etc.), and also provide mp3 renders for all your works.

  • For each entry, provide a seperate ID/readme file with info on author, title, tools used, platform, and how to run your entry on emulator/hardware.

  • Categories that receive less than 3 entries may be dropped or merged into the Wild category.

  • By submitting, you agree that your works will be made available for free download after the contest.

  • Only registered members of the 1-Bit Forum may vote.

UPDATE: NEW DEADLINE: Sept. 13th, 2015

Send your submissions to 1bitcompo AT randomflux DOT info.
Please don't send mp3 renders directly, but upload them to a file hoster instead and provide a link in your submission email.


CATEGORIES:

1-bit Classic

Write music for ZX Spectrum beeper and/or Atari 8bit GTIA. Maximum 2 submissions per author.


1-bit Alternative

Write music for any 1-bit platform of your choice, including but not limited to PC Speaker, Apple hooter, ZX81, calculators, Apogee, Channel F.
Maximum 1 submission per platform per author.


1-bit Wild

The category for "fake" 1-bit, made with VSTis, DSSIs, samples, etc. Anything goes as long as it sounds 1-bit. Max. 1 work per author.


1-bit 1K

Write a 1-bit tune that fits into one kilobyte. Works on any platform are accepted, maximum 2 submissions per author.
Maximum uncompressed binary size (ie. size of the player code + song data) = 1024 byte. Headers/loaders etc. don't count towards the file size.
Please submit an additional .bin file along with the usual tap/sna/xex.


1-bit Code

Write a new 1-bit routine for a platform of your choice. You can submit as many entries as you want to this category. Submissions don't need to be anonymous, in case you're worried someone's going to steal the code.
Submission format is plaintext .asm. Provide a short track demonstrating the capabilities of your routine (binary/emulator format + mp3 render). In the info file, state the specifications of your routine. Providing an editor/converter is not required, however it may positively influence your score if you do.

Go to forum: General Discussion

952 Reply by utz

(16 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Yes, that's indeed the point. Well, one of them at least wink

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953 Reply by utz

(1 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Yes, Jredd rulez. Even though this one is a bit too much on the happy side for me wink

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954 Reply by utz

(16 replies, posted in General Discussion)

So I take it we'll have at least 3 entries for the 1K category? Alright then, I'll add it to the compo!

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955 Reply by utz

(16 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I don't know if having several categories would be successful, but I'd like to give it a try wink I'd give a rather generous deadline, so people have enough time to dig a bit into the non-Spectrum tools.
Was even thinking about adding another category for 1K size limited tunes, so the "tiny" engines like Huby and ntropic get some love. Though that might indeed be overkill...

Go to forum: General Discussion

956 Reply by utz

(10 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Cool! And I should do some more conversions as well. I just never get around to it, my life is mostly code, eat, sleep, repeat these days.

Go to forum: Sinclair

957 Reply by utz

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

@Shiru, I'd say yours is less noisy at low volumes, though still more noisy than I expected. I'm also surprised that the timbre changes just as much as with the phase shifting approach. Seems with the right ratios, some very interesting timbre effects can be created.

@AtariTufty: I'd love to put it in ntropic, along with proper 16-bit frequency counters. However in order to do so I'd need to build a few new registers into the Z80... So it'll probably really just become a new engine eventually.

Go to forum: Sinclair

958 Topic by utz

(16 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Yeah, it's about time and I'm intending to launch it shortly, but before I do that I'd like to hear if you folks have any special requests/ideas for it.
My idea is to have 3 categories - Speccy+GTIA (think it makes sense to combine it into one category due to similarities in sound), Alternative Platforms (bascially anything that is not Speccy or Atari 8bit), and Code (aka write a new 1-bit engine). Well, that's the plan so far. What do you folks think? Considering Shiru's recent release, maybe we should add a "fake1bit" category as well?

Go to forum: General Discussion

959 Reply by utz

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

@garvalf: It's an entirely new engine. Or rather, it will be eventually, as it still needs quite a bit of improvement and I don't really have the time to work on it these days.

@Shiru: Hehe no, this is quite different. Imagine you have two output states per channel. Now, if you inverse the phases of those outputs, you will hear - nothing. Which is logical, because one of the outputs will always be low and the other will always be high, so in combination the output state for that channel doesn't change. Well, I guess you can already deduce where this is going wink Shift the phase for one of the ouputs (ie start counting not at 0, but at #4000 or whatever) and voila. It also works with duty cycles other than 50:50, though then volume control gets more limited.

Overall I think the method you propose might be better sounding, but I somehow like this little trick wink

Go to forum: Sinclair

960 Topic by utz

(7 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Trying to tackle the good old "volume control" problem. Think I might have found something...

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961 Reply by utz

(117 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Now now, 2nd place, not bad wink Congratz!

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962 Reply by utz

(3 replies, posted in Sinclair)

wink Iirc it might have been based on Skyscrap, but if so it's a heavily modified version. That .FZX is probably one big mess though.

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963 Reply by utz

(27 replies, posted in Other Platforms)

Whoa, that was unexpected. Well, I stopped using VSTs many years ago and I don't even have a host installed anymore, but I still think it's a neat idea. Looking forward to hear some sound examples made with it.

Go to forum: Other Platforms

964 Reply by utz

(7 replies, posted in Other Platforms)

Isn't there also a maximum to how fast the sound registers can be updated? I have it somewhere in the back of my head that access was quite slow.

As for beeper engines on the thing, I think the closest there is is still nitro2k1's "mystery rom", which uses the battery save function to flip the output state.

Go to forum: Other Platforms

965 Reply by utz

(117 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Yeah, there were beeper tunes submitted to that one in the past, so that should be possible wink

Go to forum: Sinclair

966 Reply by utz

(117 replies, posted in Sinclair)

To quote the boss:

puke7 wrote:

You can use any format for any year. Try to earn a badge!

I think that means you can do all beeper if you're so inclined. Thinking of also doing a few YM2149s myself, though.

Go to forum: Sinclair

967 Topic by utz

(0 replies, posted in Calculators & Pocket Computers)

Below you will find a list of multi-channel 1-bit sound routines available for various calculators. If you know of any other, please post them below.

Texas Instruments Z80

AudaciTI by Hayleia
- TI-83+/84+
- 4 channels
- OR/AND sound
- basic on-calc editor available
download
Editor is not quite finished and can't create new songs yet. To take full advantage of the routine you must manually write song data into an 8xv appvar. Documentation on the file format is here (in the spoiler).

CalcMod 2.2 by Paul Marks and Dhordain Florent
- TI-83+/84+
- 2 channels
- square wave sound
download, manual

HoustonTracker by utz
- TI-73/82/83/83+/84+
- 3 engines in one on-calc editor
- 2-4 channels, PFM (pin pulse) and pulse-interleaving (square wave) sound
- has been discontinued because of critical bugs (especially on 83+/84+) and bad interface. You might still be able to squeeze a tune out of it though.
download

QuadPlayer by Ben Ryves
- TI-83+/84+
- 4 channels
- pulse-interleaving (square wave) sound
download
mobileTunes 3.2, a QuadPlay player by KermMartian

rawp-ti by utz
- TI-82/83/83+/84+
- 2 channels + interrupting hihat
- 13 different instruments, limited volume control
download

TI 1-bit pack by utz
- TI-82/83
- build Huby, LSEngine, The Music Studio, Octode, Qchan, Wham!, and ZX10 tracks from music.asm source
download


Sharp PC-1403(H)

Osaka 2 by utz
- 2 channels + interrupting click drums
- pulse-interleaving (square wave) sound
download (includes XM converter)

Go to forum: Calculators & Pocket Computers

968 Topic by utz

(117 replies, posted in Sinclair)

It's summertime, and as usual it means there are several chances to submit your beeper works at competitions.

DiHalt - July 4th-5th
rules (general), rules (zx)

ChaosConstructions - August 29th-30th
website (rules not published yet, but will most likely be the same as on DiHalt)

DotB's Decadent Decade - till September 5th or so
Not exactly a beeper compo, but there's nothing stopping you to submit up to 10 beeper covers of BotB tunes wink
rules

Also, there'll be a big fat compo happening here at the forum very soon. Stay tuned wink

Go to forum: Sinclair

969 Reply by utz

(8 replies, posted in General Discussion)

The database might still be on Yerzmyey's server, for all I know. However, for the time being the chances of retrieving it are... not so good.

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970 Reply by utz

(5 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Uh... at the end I didn't even know myself anymore what is going on in this mess of code. Mind you most of it was written at the party big_smile

The basic trick is that it's using a pentatonic scale. So the output will sound more or less harmonic regardless of the combination of tones.

Go to forum: Sinclair

971 Topic by utz

(1 replies, posted in Other Platforms)

I'm curious what happened to Kakos_nonos' ViTracker for the Apogey BK-01. Latest build I could find was this one, from February 17th. Are there any newer ones? Perhaps someone could redirect Kakos_nonos here?

Go to forum: Other Platforms

972 Topic by utz

(1 replies, posted in Atari)

Below you can find a list of all available 1-bit routines for Atari 8-bit computers and their GTIA chip. There are currently no native engines for this platform. All the available ones were originally developed for the ZX Spectrum beeper, and were ported to Atari by XXL. For tutorials on usage, refer to the ZX beeper list.


LSengine by Lyndon Sharp
- 2 tone channels + non-interrupting sample drums
- custom synthesis
XM converter

Octode by Shiru
- 8 tone channels + interrupting click drums
- pulse-frequency modulated (pin pulse) sound
XM converter

Qchan by Shiru
- 4 tone channels + interrupting click drums
- pulse-frequency modulated (pin pulse) sound, volume control, envelopes
XM converter

Tritone by Shiru
- 3 tone channels + interrupting click drums
- pulse-interleaving (square wave) sound, variable pulse-width
XM converter


XXL has also ported several other engines including Music Studio, Octode XL, Phaser1, ZX-7, and ZX-10, but there are currently no converters available for these.

Go to forum: Atari

973 Topic by utz

(5 replies, posted in Sinclair)

Oh this horrible emptyness... better fill up the board with some useless crap tongue

http://content.pouet.net/files/screenshots/00065/00065674.png

So, here's a little 128 byte beeper demo I made for Outline a few weeks ago. Basically what it does is play back the Spectrum's ROM as a 3-channel beeper tune, and also produce some glitch visuals on the side. Unsurprisingly, it couldn't really compete with the all the mindblowing stuff that other people made for the compo. But considering it was my first 128 byte prod, I'm nontheless proud of it wink

You can download it here, or watch it on youtube.

Go to forum: Sinclair

974 Topic by utz

(41 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I think we need a new forum header background... Would anyone of you honoured members be willing to design one?
Optimally it would be lightweight in terms of file size, and would tile (so it doesn't look crap on mobile devices.

Also I was wondering if we should officially expand the forum's scope to include 1-bit art and design. Black and white pixel stuff, basically. Not that I know of any people who actively produce this kind of stuff, but it would great to have some fitting visuals to complement the music, no? What do you folks think? We'd probably need to set a few examples ourselves for people to follow suit, though...

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975 Topic by utz

(8 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Yay, the 1-bit Forum is back! A big round of applause for d0x10 for providing the server space, and installing the board system, please.

Go to forum: General Discussion