Using the 1992 Olympic Dream Team game against Croatia to make Jesus & Mary Chain guitar sounds:

original song + basketball samples = *really* noisy guitar sound

also there is no guitar in this at all, it’s all FM synthesis. more later…

(note: I haven’t actually got anything to compile yet, these are just some notes, will update later…)

Steinberg’s free VST SDKs with bullshit restrictive license:
http://www.steinberg.net/en/company/3rd_party_developer.html

to bypass Steinberg’s required registration, which is currently broken:
http://www.bugmenot.com/view/steinberg.net

DEVCPP (free GCC IDE):
http://www.bloodshed.net/dev/devcpp.html

how to set up DEVCPP to compile VST (edit: or my easier-to-read PDF version)
http://www.u-he.com/vstsource/files/vst_with_dev_c.txt

VST.NET, open source implementation that does not require the Steinberg’s SDK (I think):
http://www.codeplex.com/vstnet

I’ve been working on the Atari 2600 Loopcart again, and I’m hoping to have it finished this summer. I’ve now got very elementary support for the Atarivox (speech synth/memory card) integrated into the Loopcart. Audio sample here:

http://www.qotile.net/temp/atarivox_demo1.mp3

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I’ve released a new version of my Commodore 64 synthesizer cartridge that includes several new features and some fixes. See change log below. The cartridge and EPROM upgrade are available from the Atariage Store and the ROM images and source are available on the Cynthcart page.

Cynthcart v1.2.4 changes:
- PAL and NTSC note tables and autodetection
- full-screen video mode
- second paddle controls pulse width, LFO depth, or pitch
- automatic activation for filter paddle
- improved keyboard layout
- onscreen help
- SID editor help and status display
- dummy SID register to edit 3 oscillators at once
- save an editor patch in memory
- fixed patch/sound change glitch when playing
- fixed bad notes in top octave

I’m working on new software for Tree Wave that is designed to create abstract remixes. It is a software sampler that loops portions a very large source sample, usually an entire song or songs, and allows many layers of loops to be played simultaneously. There is a performance mode and soon, a sequencer mode. It can be used with any source sample, but I’ve found that the aesthetics of contemporary Christian music work best for what I’m trying to do (more on this later…) Eventually it’ll also include a simple drum machine.

It incorporates a random generator to aid finding interesting loop points in a long sample. And it is designed with the idea that loops don’t need any relation to the original sample’s tempo as long as the loop lengths all fit a consistent tempo.

example sound output MP3 — source sample: Casting Crowns East to West

tech: Win32 app written in C++ using MinGW and the SDL library. Display is all text-based and input is all keyboard. Code should be reasonably portable.

update: I updated the screenshot. The program and sequencer are fully working now. I’m doing a remix for a band with it. I’ll post the program on my site when I get a few more bugs out and write up a basic manual

OMG!! Demo video of the Malgorithm modular synth module, which does various realtime sampling rate and bit reduction. The Boss-Heavy-Metal-pedal / punching-holes-in-your-amps of the future. This video is amazing in so many ways.

Then there’s the Zorlon Cannon module which generates audio in a manner similar to early Atari 8-bit machines — creating a stream of repeating on/off signals (bits) at a variable rate to generate sound that ends up being very distinct.

Both of these modules are such an awesome tangent of technology and are the best kind of geek punk. More about them on The Harvestman website.

Highly Liquid has a 2600 MIDI kit that allows you to control the Synthcart thru MIDI.

Sebastian Tomczak did a perfomance where he wrote some visual programs for the Vectrex and projected it with a video camera and video projector. And then also the video output was used to trigger notes using the Synthcart on an Atari 2600.

The video is cool, but it’s doubly awesome on my computer because Quicktime Player for Windows is a piece of shit and the sound always glitches. Quicktime is actually feeding glitched audio to the sound driver, so I was able to record it with Total Recorder — check it out.

Also he’s working on a Synthcart midi control using part of the same setup.

I’ve released a minor update to the Commodore 64 Cynthcart.

A few people had contacted after buying a Cynthcart complaining that they don’t get any sound from it, while other programs were producing sound fine. I finally had somebody mail me their Commodore and found that the SID’s analog filter wasn’t working. Since the Cynthcart leaves it on all the time, there was never any sound. So I added the ability to turn the filter on and off.

I also added a SID HEX editor that lets you edit SID registers directly. Using this you can make new sounds that are out of the scope of the standard Cynthcart controls. You can play around with stuff like ring modulation and sync which aren’t yet supported, and you can edit each voice independently.

And I implemented a minor fix of changing the key combos to adjust tuning. The way it was before, it was too easy to accidentally change the tuning setting.

I’ve sent the update to Albert at Atariage and so any orders placed now will ship the new version. If you already have a Cynthcart and want to upgrade, Albert will be able to sell you a new EPROM (not sure how much this will cost, probably a few bucks).

The SID HEX editor is the main reason to upgrade, but you have to have some in-depth understanding of the SID and know hexadecimal to use it. If this isn’t interesting to you, I’ll probably be releasing another update in a few months with more user-friendly features.

It was bound to happen, here it is. I was going to cross this off my todo list (it’s been there for years), but the implementation could still be better I think.

I’ve looked at the schematics for the S&S extensively, and my understanding is that it’s possible to talk directly to the speech chip, and create your own sounds and control the pitch accurately. You’d think so since there’s that TI piano keyboard toy that uses the same chip.

In this case all you can do is trigger sounds from ROM. It looks like it’s an elaborate implementation of standard circuit bending tricks through MIDI. Still pretty awesome, but I want to be able to play melodies using all those crazyass filters it uses to make the speech.