Category: Atari ST

  • gwEm interview pt 1

    gwem2
    Pictures used with kind permission of Bit.Shifter

    I was lucky enough to chat a little to gwEm, author of Maxymiser, hell survivor, Hardcore rave tunesmith and International Rock Star.

    LB – Thanks most kindly for doing this.

    gwEm – No worries!

    LB – What came first for you, music or computers?

    gwEm – Hard to say… Today music comes first though, I don’t care too much for computers. I was very young when I had my first computer, so I can’t exactly recall. Maybe I had a musical instrument before then..?! No idea :)

    LB – What was your first machine?

    gwEm – It was an Oric Atmos 48k

    LB – Not the most popular of machines at the time, did you start coding on it?

    gwEm – Yes, but I was very young, and didn’t do much worth speaking about. It was all BASIC stuff.

    LB – Did you hop from that to the Atari series or was there something in between?

    gwEm – No, the Oric broke, and then our family got an Atari ST.

    LB – Did the sound chip capture your imagination right away?

    gwEm – I’d have to say no – that came much later. The late 80s demo scene didn’t attract me at all. Atari ST was based around the megademo format – which in retrospect is kind of cool but at the time I thought it was an ugly way to present screens. But it only took a couple of years to get into making music on the ST.

    LB – Which trackers did you start on?

    (more…)

  • AY8930 replacement?

    Awol writes:

    I read about this at dhs.nu:

    As I´ve got hold of some AY8930 PSG chips, I´ve resumed my old project to upgrade sound capability of the ST (while staying backwards compatible).

    All info about the project can be found at YMROCKERZ´ site, have a look at the recent entries on the board there.

    All chip musicians: To get the action started, I´m offering to modify your STs with the new chip for a small fee (the first samples of the chips cost EUR

    28,- per part). The work will be done for free!

    I hope to see feedback especially from programmers who adapt existing trackers/players to the new capabilities (and I think it will be worth the effort!).

    Now it´s your turn – contact me…

    And some more info from the YM Rockerz board:
    You might wonder: “What´s this all about with the AY3-8930?” (See previous postings)

    Here´s a short list of what the expanded mode has to offer (and it´s quite a bit, or two ;-)

    ——————————————————————————————————-

    * Independent envelope periods for all three channels (so you can set different envelope timers for each channel instead of one for all)

    * 16bit frequency resolution for all channels (instead of 12bit)

    * 8 bit divider for noise clock (instead of 5 bit). This gives much better drum sounds and deeper rumbling noise than the high pitched hisses we´ve been limited to

    * AND + OR Masks for noise polybit output (this will give Pokey-like effects, kinda “distortion” in the range of pure sounds to complete noise)

    * Duty cycle control for all channels independently (vs. fixed 50% previously). This makes flanger and filter effects possible

    Can´t wait to hear some of the above extra-effects!
    Interesting.

  • This is YM2149 II

    I took my STj, a Technics and my Vestax and recorded a second edition to the hit “This is YM2149” compilation series… I call it “This is YM2149 ii” :)

    Concerto For Acid Band – Jess/Overlanders
    Pacemaker – 505/Paradox
    No Sheep in Outer Mongolia – Mad Max/The Exceptions
    CPU Eater – 505/Paradox
    Funktion – Damo/Reservoir Gods
    Pea – SH3/Reservoir Gods
    Chu Chu Rocket – MSG/Reservoir Gods
    Tetris – gwEm/PHF
    dYManite – Stu/Drop Da Domb
    Killer – Big Alec/Delta Force
    Different World – gwEm/PHF
    Cassiopeia – Floopy/MJJ Prod
    Outlaw – Crazy Q/DHS
    Bubble Days – Dma-Sc/Sector One

    I took mostly hits from active sceners this time, with a couple of classics. Hope you will enjoy this mix.

    Download the mix here:

    http://files.dhs.nu/mpeg/this_is_ym2149_ii-mixed_by_gwEm.mp3

    or:

  • maxYMiser v1.29 updated

    maxymiser_dma_113a

    gwEm writes:

    • Improved buzzer arbitrage
    • ‘Fast As Possible’ SID and syncbuzzer routines – Defjam/Checkpoint request
    • Volume control on YM digidrums – an effect last heard from Lotus/Hotine back in the golden age
    • Pitch slide command

    You can download the new version at:
    http://www.preromanbritain.com/maxymiser/download.html

    But thats not all! Old skool YM wizard Excellence In Art has been using
    maxYMiser recently. He contributes:

    • A stonking new example track
    • A maxYMiser beginners guide, including a basic example track

    You can look at ‘maxYMiser a Musicians Guide’ and the basic example tune
    here.

    Don’t forget to look at the maxYMiser official homepage for cool
    additional resources :)

  • SNDH archive v3.0 released

    The SNDH archive is the biggest archive dedicated to Atari ST (YM2149) music. A few days ago the archive was updated to v3.0:

    To celebrate the biggest Atari party of the year (Outline in case you wonder), we have released a new update of the SNDH archive.

    v3.0 of the SNDH archive brings 35 new or updated SNDH files. It’s a mix of brand new (even from the Outline compo!) and really old game tunes.

    Enjoy!

    Recommended players are Jam for Windows users and XSC for OSX users.

    via