hi i am new here and keen to get on the case with VIC, help?

[thecommodore]

hi all, awesome forum
i got rid of my vic about 97/98 just before discovering ebay and internet resources like that, it was broken and the wrong time etc
now i have one again and have been doing some music on it, buying up some carts etc
it is the best, makes me feel 10 again (got mine xmas 82)
i wondered if anyone can help me out finding out about these things...
voice/speech synths: software/hardware - intense googling has uncovered 5 or 6 different types, has anyone got them, care to post info/pics/soundfiles or want to sell them to me for top dollar to be kept functional and archived for posterity
also lightpen, can anyone recommend which one/what software
and also, music making software
i'm getting my vic midi'd- set to make a comeback bigtime then
i used to play this old 16k tape game called star warp II, like a primitive elite or something, anyone else ever have this, think i kept it - if i encode it as a wav will i be able to share it.
there is an lp by a guy called bochum welt that has vic packaging graphics and program on the back, anyone seen it?
basically i am not in a position to be much use to you right now but i'm working on it and i hope i will be in the future
respect to you all for keeping the coolest computer ever alive
g

[vic user]

glad you are into Denial!

there are a large number of members here that are very musically inclined, so you are going to feel right at home.

[thecommodore]

cheers, well let's start here... I've read alot of stuff but seems best to start afresh...
who has these - and does anyone have any others...
strictly audio-related
some sort of wepage is required for this stuff I reckon, there are few more important issues to the future of the human race, let's start a definitive list:

periph:
Talktronics Text-To-Speech Vic Talker
Currah Chatterbox
Broderbund Multi-Sound Sythesizer
Magic Voice
VoiceBox speech synthesizer
VOTRAX SC 01 synth

soft:
Synthesound
Epyx Fun with Music 8k
Thorn EMI Vic Music Composer (education) [THC 22002] 8k


rsvp, don't be shy, knowledge is power (& fun)

[vic user]

I have both of these:

Synthesound
Thorn EMI Vic Music Composer (education) [THC 22002] 8k

I also have the manuals for them.

I am pretty sure that both are available as ROM images, so if you get the appropriate memory expansion and a disk drive, you will be able to load these up from floppy.

of course way simpler just having the actual carts.

you might want to check out these members' web pages or past postings for music related info:

Schema
carlsson
Boray
Schlowski
aneurysm

i am sure i missed a few other music members, so i apologize in advance.

[Schlowski]

Hehe, please delete me from that list as I'm totally non-musician, as some of you might remember the only sound my programs make are from Boray

Björg/Schlowski

[carlsson]

Add tlr to the list, as he is one of the few who has made a competitive (but perhaps difficult to use) music program in the last few years;

VIC-TRACKER

There are a few threads on this forum about it, if you search around. You'll need a 16K memory expansion, but probably you already have one.

I don't know about speech cartridges.. they have been mentioned several times in the forum, but never to much conclusion. Rather a lot of question marks, as few people have documentation anymore.

[thecommodore]

thanks for the comments, exciting to have my first thread.

i saw that tracker but i have forgotten almost all my vic knowledge and also am rubbish with pc's - please would someone tell me the easiest way for a leyman like me to get the victracker mentioned from the internet onto my computer. by the way, if you encode a program as a wav file and copy it onto a tape will it work?

also, can anyone tell me... the vic has a transformer on, if i plug a european tranformer into an american vic, will it break it? the voltage is sorted by the transformer right?

another q, how well tuned in can you get a vic, signal/noise/tv wise. what;s the best way. the rf modulation thing only does so well, and my red/white/yellow lead that goes straight into the tv is slightly better, what about those scart connectors, are they better. just want to get the best quality from my vic.

i have a 1020 docking station, is there a way to toggle which cartridge you want to use? imagine a vic 1001 in a 1020 docking station, maximum hard drive and internet capability, midi'd... anybody with more knowledge care to elabourate on this wet dream?

sorry if this bores you, maybe someone finds it interested. not many vic enthusiasts in the south west of england?

respect is due, all the best

[Boray]

Hi!

>please would someone tell me the easiest way for a leyman like
>me to get the victracker mentioned from the internet onto my
>computer. by the way, if you encode a program as a wav file and
>copy it onto a tape will it work?

Do you have a diskdrive? There are cables that allows you to connect a 1541 (etc) to a PC and then you can use a program like "Star Commander" to copy the files to the disk. There is also a PC program called 64HDD that emulates a commodore diskdrive, so you plug the PC and vic together and use the PC as a diskdrive... but that is a lot harder to setup.

>also, can anyone tell me... the vic has a transformer on, if i plug
>a european tranformer into an american vic, will it break it? the
>voltage is sorted by the transformer right?

That should work, but your TV has to be able to display NTSC. The european (PAL) vic-20 is also faster than the american. And there are also a bunch of quite recent and impressive demos out there that only works on a PAL vic-20.

>red/white/yellow lead that goes straight into the tv is slightly better,
>what about those scart connectors, are they better. just want to get
>the best quality from my vic.

I guess your "red/white/yellow lead" is a video cable, and that is what a scart cable is too (only a different connector), so those two would give exactly the same quality.

>i have a 1020 docking station, is there a way to toggle which
cartridge you want to use?

No. Everything you plugin will be mounted into the memory at the same time. In mine I have:
-A switchable 16K ram, set to blocks 1 and 5
-A 8K ram set to block 2
-Programmer's Aid
-Schema's disk util cart (set to block 3)

If I want to plugin a game cart for example, I just switch off block 5 of the 16K ram cart (with an external switch) and plugin the game cart as well...

Be sure to power off the 1020 when you plugin/remove cartridges. You should have your vic-20's power switch always turned on and use the vic-1020 as your new power-on/off switch so that the whole thing is like one computer.

How many are we now here with a vic-1020? Three? You, Schlowski and me?

/Anders

[tlr]

i saw that tracker but i have forgotten almost all my vic knowledge and also am rubbish with pc's - please would someone tell me the easiest way for a leyman like me to get the victracker mentioned from the internet onto my computer. by the way, if you encode a program as a wav file and copy it onto a tape will it work?

This works, but it can be tricky to get the levels right.
In the latest release on the page, victracker-20041023.zip, there is a .tap file included which may be converted into a .wav, or played directly through the sound-card.
Try using Wav-prg for this.

If possible I suggest you run it from disk. It is much more convenient.

[Boray]

You should have your vic-20's power switch always turned on and use the vic-1020 as your new power-on/off switch so that the whole thing is like one computer.

...provided that you use ONE transformer to power both machines using that "thru"-lead...

/Anders