8 replies to this topic

[sometimes99er]

Previously adamantyr suggested 2 different tools for music and sound effects respectively. I agree.

adamantyr also suggested adjustment of octaves to fit the TI, which is a great idea.

I previously saw 4 different styles of input, namely “event”, “tracker”, “matrix” and “score”. I’m now trying out a piano style approach with editing basically on the “keys”. A small control board with play, stop, rewind and stepping. This is often how you would do editing on a synthesizer (small display so one note/chord at a time), though I guess any “sane” person would edit using PC software.

“Event”, “tracker” and “matrix” could be done on the TI too. Trying to do “score” on the TI seems like a major project.

Well, the suggested “key” approach would be quite plausible on both the TI and in some lightweight Flash solution. I’ll start work on those.

The “key” solution would probably mostly be a convenient way to enter music, but you could do a bit of composing too. If you want to go from music sheet to TI, and don’t know how to read music sheets, then there is free software out there to show you the keys (like C#1 and A2 or which key on the piano).

Output would be TI internal eventlist and XB data statements.

[Opry99er]

Fascinating!!! Sounds like another part of the IDE you're building for us. . Hehehe

[The Codex]

sometimes99er, on Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:55 AM, said:

The “key” solution would probably mostly be a convenient way to enter music, but you could do a bit of composing too. If you want to go from music sheet to TI, and don’t know how to read music sheets, then there is free software out there to show you the keys (like C#1 and A2 or which key on the piano).

Coming off of a discussion in another thread, I've recently started looking at exactly that. I'm doing the data collection in order to build a "sheet music" style program for the TI. Only being able myself to edit music in programs like Deluxe Music and Melody Assistant, note tablature is a must for me. Output will likely be in XB format for this sucker, plus the prog itself is going to be XB too, at least in the first version.

It really is a renaissance for TI tool crafting.

[marc.hull]

Sorry I am stepping on your thread a little bit but you guys seem to have an aptitude here that I would like to tap. Some of you may know that there now exists a PEB card that incorporates a MOS 6581 SID chip into the TI memory. Mike is busy trying to get it melded smoothly into Cl99 and when he does he,a few fellows and I are going to try to write some software for it. There currently exists about 8000 songs for a player called SID Player.64. It is a somewhat documented file system but nonetheless needs some additional reverse engineering done. If anyone wants to be involved and is willing to help in several areas namely (6502 code conversion and reverse engineering, TI file structure, Music terminology etc) please give me a Private EM. Thanks and back to your regularly scheduled programming....

[Tursi]

The SID card is already in Classic99... it was part of the last release.

Did I miss that many places with my release announcement?

[sometimes99er]

I made a spreadsheet (ms excel 2003) containing information about musical notes and TI specific conversion to assembler data. Mostly for some sort of reference and workout. I would appreciate comments on layout, data, conversion, excel, vba (which I’m not using) or anything else relevant.



 musicnotes.zip   10.07K   8 downloads

[ti99userclub]

sometimes99er, on Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:18 AM, said:

I made a spreadsheet (ms excel 2003) containing information about musical notes and TI specific conversion to assembler data. Mostly for some sort of reference and workout. I would appreciate comments on layout, data, conversion, excel, vba (which I’m not using) or anything else relevant.



musicnotes.zip

Great !! ... I believe that this file will be very useful! ... Thanks....

[matthew180]

I found a really nice music tool the other day. I was at an estate sale and I found a Ensoniq SQ-80 sitting in the corner being ignored by the hordes flowing through the house. I could not cross the room fast enough, and when I got my hands on the thing I found they were only asking $25 for it!! The manual was with it to boot, and a cartridge with two additional banks of sounds! It was a good day. I didn't really know the specifics of the SQ-80 when I grabbed it, but I did know it was an 80's synth, I know Ensoniq makes good stuff, and I knew it is a programmable FM synth (I'm in the market for a DX7 too if anyone wants to sell.)

To make a really long story short, I fixed it (every 4th key did not work), updated the system EPROMs to the latest version, and broke it down to parade-rest to clean it from the inside out. It looks and works great!

Now, how is this related to the TI you ask? Well, it just so happens that some of the basic waveforms it can produce are a sine, triangle, sawtooth, and *square* waves. This means you can use a keyboard to compose music for the TI and it sounds just like the TI when you are working on it! The SQ-80 can easily do the 3-voices of the 9919, as well as the periodic noise channel. It also has a sequences built in, but also MIDI in and out, so a computer or external sequences could also be used.

Anyway, for me this is the way to go for coming up with sounds and music for the TI. If you want to see a nice example, check out this YouTube video:



Matthew

[sometimes99er]

Congrats ! Awesome ! A very good YouTube demo there. I’ve used a fortune on keyboards since the early eighties. Bought them new and sold them cheap. I’m setting up my current synthesizer to emulate the TI-99/4A right away. This is going to be fun !

A few years back I was working on a MIDI file to TI soundlist converter. Might have to dig that one out.

Edited by sometimes99er, Tue Nov 2, 2010 4:57 AM.