Holy smoke, and I thought that retro-collecting was a pain in the arse only here in Greece...
1 2018-05-31 11:41:42
Re: Philips Videopac/Magnavox Odyssey2... is it possible? (5 replies, posted in General Discussion)
2 2018-05-26 07:50:05
Re: Philips Videopac/Magnavox Odyssey2... is it possible? (5 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Thank you both for the answers, gentlemen!
I hope we'll see something on this machine too, in the future! I count on you! 
@Shiru:
The Videopac in the EU and the Odyssey2 in the US are usually dirt-cheap... and they are NOT heavy, even though they seem to be!! 
3 2018-05-25 16:25:13
Topic: Philips Videopac/Magnavox Odyssey2... is it possible? (5 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Hello 1-bit music wizards!
I was playing with my Videopac C52 (G7000) recently and became very curious whether this ancient machine could produce any decent 1-bit sounds...
Hardware-wise it's literally primitive, based on a Intel P8048 microcontroller (not even a "proper" CPU) and as sustain for producing video and sound it has the Intel P8244 (for NTSC Odyssey2 systems) or P8245 (for PAL/SECAM european Videopac systems and their variants)...
The RAM available to the user is 64 bytes inside the 8048 and another 256 bytes as external memory...
Do you know anything about this system?
Has anybody tried it yet or 1-bit sounds are for some reason impossible on this platform?
Cheers!!!
4 2016-04-11 13:42:47
Re: next gen engine ideas (135 replies, posted in Sinclair)
utz wrote:
A new breakthrough! Just implemented a low-pass filter. Check out the attached .tap - first pattern is without the filter, second with low-pass enabled.
The low-pass is implemented with this simple algo:
y[i] = a(x[i] - y[i-1])where y is the actual output volume level, x is the unfiltered output, and a is a (time-related) constant, in this case 0.25. Using a = 0.125 gives better results, but I'd need to implement more volume levels to use it.
I tried implementing a high-pass, too, but so far no luck on that, because the algo for that can produce negative values (unlike the low-pass one where the result will always be >=0). The high-pass algo I have is
y[i] = a(y[i-1] + x[i] - x[i-1])Any idea how to modify it so it'll always produce positive results? I could probably invert the output but that'd be too slow I think.
EDIT: Nevermind, got it. The current implementation is ugly as hell, but hey, it works
Great job, as always!! Well done!
Next step, to play .SIDs through an unexpanded 48k Speccy!!
5 2016-03-21 11:58:56
Re: Space Beeps (Part 2) - Real hardware recording (7 replies, posted in Sinclair)
Excellent!!!
6 2016-02-20 11:54:59
Re: Commodore 128 (2 replies, posted in General Discussion)
utz wrote:
Btw check this out: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=94238
Hahaha, at last, the 64 plays some good music!!
7 2016-02-12 16:39:19
Topic: Commodore 128 (2 replies, posted in General Discussion)
A few days ago, I discovered my long-lost C128 and fired it up for a while... it still works!!!
I played a couple of good old games (in 64-mode), then switched back to 128 and realized for one more time, that all the extra (and impressive for the time) features of this old monster were/are practically useless, because of the lack of special software...
Then I had an idea... I booted CP/M Plus, just for fun!! It started up fine and I wondered again, what was the use of such an implementation by Commodore into this machine, since there was no serious software support, even for CP/M?
Hey... wait a minute!! CP/M??? That means Z80!!
Yes, this machine bears a Z80B @4MHz, which was supposed to be there only for CP/M usage (i.e. never really used)...
Just thinking, would there ever be any chance of someone to give a new life to this poor Z80B inside the 128? 
It's been sitting almost completely idle for 30 years in its place, it would be an interesting idea if someone could program it to produce some nice 1-bit music! Of course we all know that the 128 already has the famous and mighty SID built in, but... so what???
8 2016-01-19 07:45:01
Re: ZX81 corner (3 replies, posted in Sinclair)
utz wrote:
Hehe, enough of the honey
NEVER enough, I really mean what I say, your achievement is mindblasting and I'd love to see (hear) mooooreeee!!!
utz wrote:
Well, if you have the time please do post some info about the ZX81 "loud tape" mod here, just in case someone wants to have a go at it.
Here it is, as posted before in the Zeddy forum:
http://sinclairzxworld.com/viewtopic.ph … 266#p16266
It contains all the pics and steps required to easily do the job! Any questions, please feel free to ask anytime!!!
9 2016-01-18 09:30:15
Topic: ZX81 corner (3 replies, posted in Sinclair)
Well, after our brief discussion with master utz here, I decided to started this special new topic, for all of you to remember that there another adorable Sinclair machine except of the Spectrum, called the ZX81 (not to mention the mighty QL, hahaha!!!).
Of course we all know already and we admired the unique programming masterpiece of utz, called 1k2b, which allows the humble Zeddy to produce 2 channel sound and clicking drums through it primitive MIC output.
This is historically AMAZING and EXTRAORDINARY (I mean it), just imagine uncle Clive listening to that back in 1981, when he was first promoting his no-sound-at-all machine to the british market!! He would simply pull (the rest of) his hair, hahaha!!
All the people out there, who know a thing or two about Z80 programming and about making music, should definately dedicate some of their time for producing 1-bit music for the Zeddy! It's really worth it!
On the other hand, I know a bit about hardware, so I would happily assist anyone who would like to enhance his Zeddy with the (very simple, indeed) modifications required, in order to produce some proper sound through its output! Just ask anything you like here, or in PM... I could even do the whole thing for someone if he wishes to send me his ZX81 PCB here...
10 2015-12-18 13:32:16
Re: 1-bit Mechanistic (Vega Remix) (10 replies, posted in Sinclair)
AtariTufty wrote:
Hi utz
OK, the bass line is actually based on Paranoimia by the art of noise
Paranoimia? Sounded like Axel Foley theme to my silly ears, haha!!! BTW, really nice work, and the screen is nice, too!!
11 2015-12-18 13:25:36
Re: Silly Question about Z80 (3 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Yo, thank you both for the answers, I discovered some amazing stuff from the links you gave here, I had missed them and now I'm quite happy to see them for the first time...
Indeed the poor Speccy has still a lot of hidden virtues and it's up to the talented and inspired programmer to reveal them!
So I guess I should keep on hoping to see such an amazing thing some time, eh?
12 2015-12-16 12:44:07
Topic: Silly Question about Z80 (3 replies, posted in General Discussion)
I know that the Z80 is heavily occupied when it comes to playing 1-bit music and it practically can't do much else simultaneously, but as a kid I was always yellow-faced of envy, as I watched the C64 tape-loading games and was listening to some great musical scores from the infamous SID (aaaargh) during loading...
So, I guess it's my time to ask:
Would it be possible (at least in theory) for the humble plain 48k Speccy who has no dedicated soundchip, to reproduce any kind of music while loading data?
I don't know much about this loading procedure, but just I suppose that the Z80 might be not extremely overloaded (e.g. no animations, no scrolling, no complex calculations etc.) during loading from tape, so it may have a chance (???) to play some kind of music at the same time...?
Sorry for being so silly to ask such a thing, but please before answering with a simple big "NO", I'd like you to explain a little about what exactly the Z80 has to do for playing 1-bit music and how many (if any) of its resources are free while doing that....
13 2015-12-16 12:31:10
Re: Z-Exemplar 1-bit music (4 replies, posted in Sinclair)
Great music, really! Nice melody and strong composition! Congratulations!!
And the game, it simply rocks!! I wish we could see it running on a humble bare speccy 48k, it looks as good as R-Type, Katakis, Denaris etc on the *nasty* C64!!