VIC-TRACKER COMPO 2005 official thread!

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:59 pm

The raster bars scroll around a lot on Aneurysm's song. Is that due to it is multispeed or something else? It scrolls around even worse if I run VICE in NTSC mode (which I presume he composed for).

It sounds very much like a "data" tune. Some people in the C64 scene having that particular taste would approve it, methinks.

aneurysm · Post by **aneurysm** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:16 am

actually - i composed it in PAL emulation
i still haven't figured out how to get my 64hdd cable system to act as drive 8
the NTSC version stutters bad on my PC
but it works fine on my VIC
well, it sounds different from emu but i figured it would

'data track' eh?

the demo track i like, tlr, is the one that plays when you start the program
Carlsson's track sounds great - i like the middle part especially

tlr · Post by **tlr** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:41 pm

carlsson wrote:The raster bars scroll around a lot on Aneurysm's song. Is that due to it is multispeed or something else? It scrolls around even worse if I run VICE in NTSC mode (which I presume he composed for).

It was composed in "LEGACY" interrupt speed, which is the same as PAL on PAL-systems, but the same amount of cycles on NTSC-systems. As it was composed on an NTSC-system I set the speed on PAL to the interrupt interval you will get with "LEGACY" on an NTSC-system.
Weird explanation, correct result...

Edit: I didn't read Aneurysms post fully. You composed it in PAL on VICE. I assumed NTSC, so the speed is slightly wrong. I'll correct that tomorrow.

tlr · Post by **tlr** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 2:33 pm

Voting has started... (until Sunday December the 11th)

Go here to listen to the entries and for instructions on how to vote.

@Carlsson: Could you please post this on comp.sys.cbm?

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 2:48 pm

Sure. I composed a few seconds onto a new piece, but I didn't have time to finish it, so it has to wait until another time.

tlr · Post by **tlr** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 12:58 pm

The voting has ended.

The winner is Anders Carlsson with Sjamembi 8, congratulations!

Results: here.

There were just two contributions, and only a few voters, but I am pleased with the results.
Both entries are good, but Carlssons piece stands out as a brilliant composition.
The songs will ofcourse be used as demo songs for victracker.

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:27 am

I wanted to enter the competition, but I just didn't have the time

I hope I can come up with something for next year's competition.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 12:51 pm

I just found out about this composition and must say that I would like to compete in the 2006 incarnation.

aneurysm · Post by **aneurysm** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:26 pm

Is this going to go annual? I apologize profusely for not including the VIC in my Winter Chip I compo but I wanted to keep things accessable...

Which leads me to a whole series of questions? Does anybody know exactly what a .SID file is? I've done a lot of hunting and came up with two types PSID & RSID. The psid is just a sidplayer file while the rsid requires real c64 emulation of all memory registers and interrupts. But nowhere did I find in plane text - a rsid file is a c64 program with a 128byte header.
But if that is the case how hard would it be to strip down winVice and convert it to a .VIC player?
I ask just because I still want to make a tracker of my own for the unexpanded vic and if we could create something like a .VIC player that would be incredible.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:30 pm

Ah! Maybe I will enter one of the MOD categories. It was ages since I made a mod...

/Anders

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:35 pm

All SID files are C64 programs with an additional header. PSID is the old type, where samples had to be converted to a non-native format, whereas RSID plays samples like the C64 would do. At least it is how I understood it. Basic compatibility also was added with RSID.

Since all files are executable programs, it means that the music player is different depending on who wrote the music - you can not convert a SID file to another format like e.g. MIDI without analysing every note being played (which is what SID2MIDI does).

To make a VIC player, you would need musics with a player, like vic-tracker, Fisichella or some custom player like mine or any of the other demo groups. Then you attach some header containing all credits, start addresses etc. The actual player tool would then be an emulator of the VIC-I sound part together with 6502 execution and perhaps VIA etc. The sound emulation in VICE is decent, but not up to top standards.

aneurysm · Post by **aneurysm** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:00 am

carlsson == guru

I think such a player would be very important for the VIC community. Who has the best VIC audio emulation?

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 2:28 am

As far as I know, there is only one audio emulation, and that's the one in VICE. I don't know how modular e.g. sidplay2/w is, so it could be a basis for a first VIC player.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:46 am

I've posted this elsewhere, but it's probably more relevant here:

Sort of related: is there any way to interface a VIC-20 to a MIDI setup (i.e. sequencer, controller keyboard)?

I would like to use the VIC-20 with my home recording studio (controlled by an Amiga running Bars & Pipes) and sync it via MIDI Time Code with my multitrack machine.

Basically I'm interested in two things:

1. Controlling the VIC-20's voice chip via external MIDI note-on/note-off signals from a keyboard or sequencer.

2. Being able to have VIC-Tracker perform a song, and having the VIC-20 transmit time-code pointers so that my Amiga's sequencer can "slave" to it, (or have the VIC slave to the Amiga's MIDI Time Code).....so I can add parts from external synthesizers/drum machines to play along with the tracker tune.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:44 am

aneurysm, I sent you a PM about your contest...

/Anders