1 (edited by utz 2018-03-23 17:06:39)

Topic: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

After 8 months of hard work, It's time 4 da calculator!


https://www.dropbox.com/s/ko94wcysurszl1q/tut1.png?dl=1 https://www.dropbox.com/s/lxmrb5otv8kydrz/tut3.png?dl=1 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayzdu231p4h5f83/tut5.png?dl=1


About HoustonTracker 2

HoustonTracker 2 is a music editor/sequencer for the Texas Instruments TI-82, TI-83/82STATS, and TI-83+/84+/SE. It allows you to compose and play multi-channel 1-bit music directly on your TI graphic calculator.


Features

• 3 tone channels
• 1 non-interrupting drum channel
• up to 128 note patterns
• up to 64 drum/fx patterns
• sequence length up to 255 pattern rows
• 16-bit frequency precision
• 8-bit speed precision, can be configured per step
• various effects, including:
  - L/C/R stereo hard-panning for tone and drum channels
  - 8bit duty cycle control
  - duty cycle sweep
• 2 user definable samples
• up to 8 savestates
• edit during playback

video introduction
sound example

website
download (includes 82p/83p/8xp binaries and docs)
source

Bug reports? Suggestions? Feature requests? Post them here!



UPDATE 2016-02-19

New version 2.1 released! Features several new effects, improved keyhandling, and a build for TI-82 Parcus models. Also, various bugs were fixed. The download links above have been updated accordingly.

Full list of changes:

NEW/CHANGES

- channel 1 now has variable duty cycle, too
- new effect: 4xx - set duty/noise mode ch1
- old 4xx (toggle duty cycle sweep) has been merged in to 5xx (set duty ch2)
- old Cxx (set drum mode) is now Dxx
- old Dxx (set vol ch1/drums) has been removed (no longer possible for technical reasons)
- new effect: 8xx - execute note table ch3
- new effect: 9xx - glitch channel 3.
- new Cxx effect: note cut ch1
- TI-82 Parcus/OS 19.006 support
- ALPHA mode is now one-shot, ie. it is turned off after an ALPHA mode action has been performed
- sound loop now has cycle-exact timing except if drum modes 2x-4x are used
- 3xx now uses inverse values (0xff = slowest setting), and is deactivated with 300 instead of 200.
  The old 300 effect can be achieved with command 9FF instead.
- 2xx/3xx no longer trigger on rest notes.
- "glitchy" drum modes no longer output sound on rows without a drum trigger
- AutoInc is now off by default


BUGFIXES

- fixed recovery from failed save attempt
- fx pattern 0x3f was previously lost during save, fixed
- note pattern 0x7f was inaccessible from sequence screen, fixed
- fixed broken loop point setting
- improved keypad debouncing on Plus models
- mode indicators were incorrect after loading/zapping a tune, fixed

UPDATE 2016-09-02

New version 2.20 released! New effects, improved speed control, and a savestate manager utility for importing tracks from older versions.

NEW/CHANGES

- new effect: 7xx - auto chord ch2
- Exx is now the "Extended" fx command - execute up to 5 fx commands at once (old E00..E03 is now E80..E83)
- Bxy now has added "loop section" function
- more fine-grained tempo control
- Copy/Paste keys are arranged in a more consistent/safe manner (check the manual for details!)
- (somewhat) reduced noise during row transitions
- improved fx handling

BUGFIXES

- fixed wrong Drum panning (was inverted)
- faulty executable checksum calculation fixed (was causing errors with TI-Connect)


UPDATE 2018-03-23

New version 2.30 released! New effects, new fancy manual, and some major bugfixes!

Changelog:

NEW/CHANGES
- note table tuned to ~440 Hz (and some notes produce more useful noise fx as a result)
- ch2 duty sweep (5xx, xx > 0x80) now has a configurable parameter (xx & 0x7f)
- effect 7xx (auto-chord) now has two modes: unsynced (regular) and synced (octave chord)
- channel volumes rebalanced
- slowed down ch3 slides, 3xx now works like 2xx (xx is no longer inverse)
- 9xx no longer disables 3xx
- new effect: ch3 grind (enabled with 6xx, xx>0x80)
- old Axx has been ditched
- new Axx effect: set phase offset ch3
- Synth Mode: hold current row
- add display of last used savestate
- add pattern loop playback mode

BUGFIXES
- fixed user drum input glitch
- fixed major bug in keyhandler
- reset player when clearing worktune

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Wow !

This is amazing smile

Great sound quality and editor, love the video too smile

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Lovely work, utz. Very, very impressive, esp. the improved quality due to the higher CPU clock. Once my crazy teaching load goes down a little, I will definitely read the player - it is interesting to see what style of mixing you went for here.

Do these TI calcs have a contention of any kind? Some of these calcs seem to come with a 15MHz Z80s; just think about the possibilities in terms of the beeper sound in that case! smile

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Cheers guys wink

Looking back, the sound quality of the engine in HT2 could have been much better, actually. But the player was written 8 months ago, and back then I didn't know a number of tricks I know now. And now it's too late to make fundamental changes to the core.

There's no contention in this series of TI calcs - the display is port-based, with the T6A04A LCD controller having it's own internal RAM.
I'm drooling over the 15MHz, too, but I need to obtain one of these models first. They're still being sold so they tend to cost more than I'm willing to shell out. However, recently someone donated a TI92+, so soon I'm going to have some fun with a 68k running at 12MHz wink

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

For early adopters, there's a quick HT2 contest running at https://codewalr.us/index.php?topic=765 smile

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Hello Utz, i just discovered your awesome tracker. I want to try loading it on an emulator (wabbitemu), but everytime i try to load it it gives me an error. I recorded the screen to help you understand what i mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ZPiUi … e=youtu.be
Is there something i'm failing to do? Can you please help me? I want to try emulating it before buying the calculator.
Thank you

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Hi there, you need to install a so-called shell in order to run HT2. Check http://irrlichtproject.de/houston/manua … quirements for details.

Also, be warned, sound emulation in wabbitemu is not very good. I recommend using tilem2. (To enable sound in tilem2: Right click -> Link Cable -> Connect to Speakers)

8 (edited by garvalf 2015-10-14 07:54:33)

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

yikes I didn't know it was possible to get sounds with emulator. In wabbitemu I can't see the option, and it's the same on tilem2 (http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tilem/pixs/sh … p_menu.png) (I'm using the TI-83 plus rom)

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

I finally realised what your "sound example" song reminded me of, utz!

The Cave Story soundtrack:
http://www.cavestory.org/download/music.php
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P … 8D3018B8C3

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

utz wrote:

Hi there, you need to install a so-called shell in order to run HT2. Check http://irrlichtproject.de/houston/manua … quirements for details.

Also, be warned, sound emulation in wabbitemu is not very good. I recommend using tilem2. (To enable sound in tilem2: Right click -> Link Cable -> Connect to Speakers)

Awesome, thank you!
Another question, i just bought a "ti-82 fr". But how do i connect it to the pc? Do i need a  "TI Connectivity Cable" http://www.studentcalculators.co.uk/TI- … hi_lrg.jpg or can i simply use a "usb to jack" cable like this one? http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/067/713/ … 67_521.jpg

Thanks again for your help

11 (edited by garvalf 2015-10-14 20:25:16)

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

ok I think I understand now...
for wabbitemu I only tried the android version. And for tilem2, I'd need the devel version, not the current version (released in 2012).

I've launched wabbitemu through wine, and while the display is not nice (wrong colors), the sound is not perfect but correct enough for me. I tried to compile the devel version of tilem2, but there are too many dependencies and no binaries, so I gave up.

@giakko: You can get a "greylink" usb cable for under 15€ on ebay, search for "USB transfer cable/link calculator Texas Instrument TI 83, TI 83plus, TI89" (the only annoying thing is they are quite short in length)

12

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

tilem2 win32 beta build with sound: http://tilem.sourceforge.net/beta/tilem … 130325.exe

@giakko: The answer to your question is in the same section of the manual I linked you to earlier wink

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

i just bought a TI-82 Stats. fr and installed HT2. I love it! I also hope you'll keep improving the tracker, thought it is still awesome anyway. I have another noob question. I'd like to compose songs using headphones (for example, when i'm on the train). unfortunatelly the volume with headphones is pretty low, is there any way to turn up the volume from the calculator?
Thanks again (also, it's "GiaKo", with one "K" tongue )

14 (edited by garvalf 2015-10-23 19:31:05)

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

@giako9000: no, I don't think it's possible unfortunately. Maybe you can try to find other headphones? The ones I have are a bit low, but it's still usable. It seems there are also some "headphones booster", with a battery to amplify the signal but I don't know if it's that great.

Are you French?

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

garvalf wrote:

Are you French?

Thanks, i think i will search for something like that. unfortunatelly i haven't much time to compose at home with proper speakers.
Nope, i'm italian. Just found that calculator on ebay for 15 € and it was the lower price available.

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

it's true with noise around it's sometimes not easy to hear clearly... Show us your work when you made something with HT2!

17

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Sorry giako9000, hope I'll spell your name correctly in the future.

I'm surprised that the output level is supposed to be quite low, on my TI-82 it's absolutely deafening! In any case, as garvalf guessed, there is no means of adjusting the level from the calc itself.

Also pleased to hear that HT2 works properly on TI82Stats.fr, as that particular model hadn't been tested yet (though it's really just a rebranded TI83, with French OS in this case).

Regarding further improvements, yes, of course! There's still quite some work to be done. Expect a major update within the next 3 months.

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Not really a bug report, just sharing my experience.
I was jamming in my car with the calculator connected to the stereo and i decided to pratice a little more with the fx channel. Iwas in "Row play " mode, 06 speed. I started adding many effects and while playing the song i used to click the octave button ("trace" on my ti 82) to hear a cool glitch sound. Then suddenly the claculator shut down and when i tried to restart HT2 it just freezed during the loading. I had to remove the battery to make the calc work again, but obviously by doing so i resetted the machine. I not only lost the song, but even the entire program! had to reinstal it.
Moral of the story:
Don't click shit and stuff kids and always backup your songs after every composing session.

19

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Oh, but making glitchy sounds by mashing random buttons is totally within the intended use case of HT2. So this is a plain, good ol'fashioned bug, and I'll look into this.

When your calc crashed, what screen were you on - sequence, note pattern, or fx pattern?

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

I was in fx pattern when it crashed

21 (edited by giako9000 2015-10-30 17:22:09)

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

real time crash report
I was adding some sweet notes in the channel 3. After i played/ stopped it for a while it suddenly stopped producing any sound. I tried to change the jack but nothing happened. Then i tried to turn off ht2 but  the "alpha + on" combination seemed to not work. Then i smelled the imminent crash, so i saved. After i confirmed the save, the program freezed. Before i remove the batteries, is there a way to ripristine the calculator or to save the song without going in "transfer" mode?

EDIT: I waited some minutes then i tried to connect it anyway to the pc, then i started button mashing and it somehow came back working but no sound. I made a backup and now is workin normally again. It's funy how a tiny calculator can give you so many emotions.

22

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Ah, glad you managed to get it to work again. Btw are you using the github beta, or 2.00 stable?
Also, please mail me that backup, so I can have a look at it.

Btw unfortunately you can't transfer from TI-82 in "passive" mode (ie without entering transfer mode).

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

utz wrote:

Ah, glad you managed to get it to work again. Btw are you using the github beta, or 2.00 stable?
Also, please mail me that backup, so I can have a look at it.

i'm using 2.00 stable.
Sure, just tell me your mail address! smile

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

you can find his address at http://irrlichtproject.de/houston/ in the "Questions? Suggestions? Bug Reports?" section.

Re: HoustonTracker 2 (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

Hello!

I just picked up a ti82 for 99cents at a thrift shop. I was hoping to be able to get Houston Tracker running on it. My problem is that all my computers are too new to have a serial port for the graph link cable.

Is it possible to set up a ti 82 emulator on my computer and transfer the program and software that way via the 2.5mm link cable? (system to system)

I've never used a graphing calculator for anything other than regular math stuff. If anybody could point me in a direction to get this up and running I would be SUPER HAPPY!

Thanks