In the last couple of weeks, Thomas and I (well, mostly Thomas) have been working hard on a major upgrade for tiatune. The upgrade includes:

- Optimized waveform generation code, increasing the sample rate from 10.4 to 13.5 kHz.
- More compact player, freeing up ca. 700 bytes for music
- Support for all TIA waveforms
- More compact music data format
- Variable global song tempo
- Optional simple visuals

source code: https://github.com/utz82/tiatune
download XM converter for Windows: https://github.com/utz82/tiatune/releases/download/v0.3.0/tiatune_win64.zip

Waverider (tiatune v0.3 demo)

My slightly out of tune beeper entry for BotB Winter Chip IX. Made with ntropic, my new ZX Spectrum 1-bit driver.

Check out the massive load of BotB entries this year or participate yourself at http://battleofthebits.org



detunator (ZX Spectrum 1-bit)

testing some new styles for 1bit music ;)
believe it or not, this song was made using a simple monophonic beeper.
made with the new Tritone engine by Shiru (http://shiru.untergrund.net)
rendered on original hardware by Mister Beep (http://mister_beep.republika.pl)


endgames (1bit)

My submission to the Atari XL/XE GTIA music competition at Sillyventure 2014. Took 3rd place. Made with Tritone engine.

hyperdrive (GTIA 1-bit)

Track for the tribute compilation in memory of the master of ZX Spectrum beeper routines Jan Deak, who passed away unexpectedly last November. Made with ZX-16 engine (16 channels).
Download the compilation in ZX .tap format at http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=64543
or mp3 at http://z80.i-demo.pl/In_Memoriam_Jan_Deak_2014.zip

Crystal Realm (in memoriam Ján Deák)

Testing my new 1-bit sound driver for the Fairchild Channel F, an ancient game console from 1976. It's the first multi-channel driver for this system. Download the source + XM converter at https://github.com/utz82/SleizsaDuo.

Sleizsa Duo test1 (Fairchild Channel F)

Made a new soundroutine, this time for the Dragon 32/64 resp. Tandy Radioshack Color Computer and their 6-bit DAC. First time coding on a 6809 processor ;)

The routine features 4 channels of PCM WAV playback. Samples are 4-bit, fixed length, and looped.

Download, source, and XM converter at https://github.com/utz82/pcmplay

Picture by Liftarn (CC BY-SA)

pcmplay test1 (Dragon/Tandy CoCo)

This week, I'm doing a little project called 7days7engines. That means that for every day of the week, I'll release a new ZX Spectrum beeper/1-bit routine.

First up is QAOP, a two-channel routine that plays short, looped PCM samples.
Download (includes XM converter): https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/qaop.zip?raw=true
Source: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/qaop

7days7engines Day 1: qaop test1

A new day, a new ZX Spectrum 1-bit routine. This one features 4 square wave channels with variable duty cycle. One of the channels can also play noise instead of tone.

Download (includes XM converter): https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/quattropic.zip?raw=true
Source: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/quattropic
7days7engines release thread: http://randomflux.info/1bit/viewtopic.php?id=39

7days7engines Day 2: quattropic - test1

Another version of the Octode routine, this time with pulse-interleaving synthesis instead of pulse frequency modulation. It's quite noisy, perhaps 8 channels of square wave sound is a bit too much for the Speccy beeper...

download: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/octodepwm.zip?raw=true (includes XM converter)
source: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/octodepwm
7d7e release thread: http://randomflux.info/1bit/viewtopic.php?id=39

7days7engines Day 5: Octode PWM test1

Why settle for 2 channels of sample playback if you can have 3? Here's yawp, aka Yet Another Wave Player. Somewhat more rough sound quality than qaop, but hey, still better than SampleTracker :D

download: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/yawp.zip?raw=true(includes XM converter)
source: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/yawp
7d7e release thread: http://randomflux.info/1bit/viewtopic.php?id=39

7days7engines Day 6: yawp test1

It's time 4 da calculator!
HoustonTracker 2 is a music editor/sequencer for Texas Instruments graphing calculators. It outputs 1-bit sound through the calculator link port. HT2 features 4 voice polyphony, tons of effects, and a simple, tracker-style interface.

Downloads, documentation, and more at http://irrlichtproject.de/houston
source code at https://github.com/utz82/HoustonTracker2
dev thread at http://randomflux.info/1bit/viewtopic.php?id=46

HoustonTracker 2 Sound Demo (TI-82/83/83+/84+)

My submission for the ZX Spectrum 1-bit music competition at DiHalt Lite 2016, got 2nd place. Made with Quattropic.

frozen flames

Demonstrating the new HoustonTracker version 2.1 with a quick cover of Swedish House Mafia's "One". Recorded from a Texas Instruments TI-83Plus calculator.

Get the new HoustonTracker 2.1 here: http://irrlichtproject.de/houston

Swedish House Mafia - One (irrlicht project's TI-83+ cover | HT2.1 test)

Testing "fluidcore", my new 1-bit, 4 channel PCM wavetable player for the ZX Spectrum beeper.

Get fluidcore here (includes XM converter): https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/fluidcore.zip?raw=true

(picture by Bill Bertram, CC-BY-SA)

fluidcore beeper engine test

Testing QED68, my new sound routine for the TI-92 Plus graphing calculator. QED68 can play 4 channels of PCM WAV with a total of 24 volume levels.

Download the QED68 package at https://github.com/utz82/qed68/releases/latest (XM converter included)

Most samples in this track are from noisecollector's "guitar thrash" package on freeesound.org.

The Aftermath (TI-92 Plus)

ZBMOD is probably the most complex ZX Spectrum 1-bit music routine I've written so far.  It mixes 3 channels of arbitrary-length PCM samples. So it's like the notorious SampleTracker used in some tracks by Mister Beep, but arguably with much improved sound.

download (incl. XM converter): https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/zbmod.zip?raw=true
source code: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/zbmod

booom (zbmod test)

Testing my latest 1-bit sound driver. Beepertoy is a meta-engine, which supports a range of different 1-bit synthesis types. It can emulate the sound of popular engines like Tritone and Octode, perform complex wavetable synthesis, and more. Sadly, the complexity of this engine means there won't be an XM converter for it.

download: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/beepertoy.zip?raw=true
source code: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/beepertoy

Beepertoy v0.1 test

Testing a new sound engine for the ZX Spectrum beeper. Squeeker Plus adds several new features to the original Squeeker by zilogat0r, including drums, duty cycle envelopes, noise, and more. It sounds quite Metal, so a Metal demo track it is!

download: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/squeekerplus.zip?raw=true (includes XM converter)
source code: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/squeekerplus



Squeeker Plus Test (ZX Spectrum Beeper)

Testing my latest creation - an unholy abomination of a beeper engine created by mating Shiru's Phaser with zilogat0r's Squeeker. It features four operators that can either run independantly or be linked together to create more complex timbres. It also features FX tables and a load of other customizable parameters.

The intro and first part demonstrates the 4-channel mode, in which the engine basically acts as a Squeeker Plus clone.

In the second part, operators 1 and 2 are linked to create the phasing bass, while channel 3 and 4 make some use of the fx table feature.

In the first half of the third part, various different configurations for the two-op mode on ch1 are demonstrated, including the SID and Earth Shaker effects. The other channels are silent save for some occasional noise (this time without using tables, hence it sounds more rough).

In the second half of the third part, the single channel mode is demonstrated with 3 and 4 operators in use, and various different configurations of phase, detune, coupling mode and so on.

There's obviously no XM converter for this, so for the time being you'll have to hand-code the music in asm, like I did with this demo tune.

download: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/blob/master/phasesqueek.zip?raw=true
source code: https://github.com/utz82/ZX-Spectrum-1-Bit-Routines/tree/master/phasesqueek

Phase Squeek Test (ZX Spectrum Beeper)

A little promo for the new HoustonTracker version released today. Check it out http://irrlichtproject.de/houston . Made on a TI-83 Plus calculator.


Image (c) Soviyanto, CC-BY-SA

hrd 4 da money (HoustonTracker 2.20 Out Now!)

Spectrum version of my submission for the Atari GTIA music compo at Silly Venture 2k16. Ended up on 3rd place.

humtatari (ZX Spectrum Version)

After a long time, I dusted off my Fairchild F8 coding skills and made a new sound routine for the Channel F (aka VES, Grandstand, Saba Videoplay). Sleizsa Trio features 3 tone channels (one of which can play noise instead of tone), globally configurable duty cycles, and 2 interrupting click drums. It uses a mixing algorithm based on Zilogat0r's Squeeker engine for the ZX beeper, which does a somewhat better job with the Channel F's crude sound generator than Sleizsa Duo's pulse interleaving method.

Download (XM converter included): https://github.com/utz82/SleizsaTrio/releases/latest
Source code: https://github.com/utz82/SleizsaTrio/

Sleizsa Trio demo (Channel F)

This nice little tune took 2nd place in the Atari 2600 music compo at Silly Venture 2k17.

Made with my new TIA music driver called "tiatune", which fixes the horrible detune issues of the TIA chip. Get the driver + XM converter at https://github.com/utz82/tiatune/releases

tunabit (tiatune driver test)

Quick diddle made with HoustonTracker 2.30, demonstrating some of the new effects available in this version. Check out the introduction video at https://youtu.be/7TA4VeWiGVE , and grab the new version at https://github.com/utz82/HoustonTracker2/releases .

HoustonTracker 2.30 Demo (TI-82)

Original soundtrack for the Apple II port of Yerzmyey's new interactive novel "In nihilum reverteris". It's available for free here:
http://yerzmyey.i-demo.pl/in-nihilum-reverteris_APPLE_Version_ENG.zip

The original ZX Spectrum version (with music by Yerzmyey) is available at https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=32209

The music was made with the historic Electric Duet driver, written by Paul Lutus in 1980. It may be the first 1-bit sound driver to use the pulse interleaving technique. 2 tone channels with variable duty, no drums. The original source code is available at https://arachnoid.com/electric_duet/ .

Hardware recording from Apple //c by cybernesto (https://github.com/cybernesto).

In nihilum reverteris OST (Apple II)

My entry for the ZX beeper compo at DiHalt Lite 2019. Took 1st place. Made with the wtbeep engine. Recorded from ZX Spectrum 48K hardware.

transporter

A track from my new music collection/demo for TI82 graphic calculators.

warpzone (TI82 1-Bit)

A quick demo tune for Houston Tracker, a brand new music editor for the TI82 graphic calculator. 4 channels PFM 1-bit sound, 2 interrupting drums, pseudo-stereo.

This is a flat recording, no effects applied whatsoever.

Download the latest version of Houston Tracker at http://www.irrlichtproject.de/downloads/houston.zip

For more info and updates, check http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/10337/ti-calcs-houston-we-have-a-tracker/

Houston Tracker for TI-82 - Demo01

A short demo showcasing the possibilities of the new beta of Houston Tracker.

The first two snippets are made with TIM-FX engine, the last one is made with Mark-2 engine.

The beta can be downloaded at http://irrlichtproject.de/downloads/houston.zip


Houston Tracker for TI-82 - Demo02

1-bit fanatic, sound driver coder, calculator abuser, binary modulation researcher

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