Having fun testing out a clone of a 1982 MB Vectrex games console newly built at Hideaway Studio aka Scopetrex by TubeTimeUS. As the name suggests, the new clone is  designed to drive an analog oscilloscope in X-Y mode instead of the original vector monitor.

The Vectrex was conceived by John Ross of Smith Engineering and ran on a 6809 processor at 1.5MHz.  What set it aside from the rest was that it was the only console ever to be released that natively ran in vector graphics and featured analog linear integration thus producing super smooth step-free vectors which was pretty impressive for an 8-bit platform released in 1982.

I have modified the unit to allow external noise-free mixing of the three output channels directly from the AY-3-8910 chip allowing for panning, EQ and even FX.

Here is a recording I mixed directly from the three output channels of the AY-3-8910 chip of the superb adaptation of Rob Hubbard's original C64 SID tune from Thrust (first released in 1986 on the BBC Micro) running on the Vectrex port of the game by Ville Krumlinde released in 2004.

Thrust made sense to be ported to the Vectrex as the original graphics showed outlines of objects imitating a vector graphic look. 

Original C64 Composition by Rob Hubbard.
Scopetrex 3-Channel Direct Recording by D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2023.

1982 MB Vectrex: Thrust Theme (3ch Mix Direct from AY-3-8910 Chip)

D.A.Wilson is an Electronic Engineer, Sound Designer & Vintage Synth Specialist with a particular interest in combining vintage tube, classic analog and modern digital technologies working as a synth engineer looking after a very considerable amount of vintage studio equipment for Will Gregory (Goldfrapp / Moog Ensemble) and a number of other internationally celebrated electronic musicians and producers.  Having undertaken several major restorations and produced custom electronic designs for a number of major artists including Jean-Michel Jarre, Dani is also known for fully restoring two out of the world's four remaining 1979 Crumar GDS and partially restoring 1938 Novachord 346 (the only known operational Novachord in the UK) to playable order along with developing and producing the new Elfin family of 8-bit polysynths and the popular MIDI Front Panel Animator (FPA), Filter Defeat Module (FDM) and XD-280 Drive Emulator upgrades for the AKAI S612 sampler.

Demos of the S612 Upgrades in Action: 

https://soundcloud.com/hideaway-studio/sets/hideaway-studios-s612-front


Hideaway Studio Kontakt Sound libraries may be purchased directly from: 
https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kontakt-instruments/hideaway-studios
 

..and a nice introduction by Cory Pelizzari to the Hideaway Studio Kontakt Libraries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-C7a3ChC9U&feature=emb_title


For more on releases from Hideaway Studio for Kontakt please visit the blog at:  www.hideawaystudio.net

New tracks tagged #TubeTimeUS