Music software?

[Metz77]

Hey all. I was looking around at what software might exist for making music with the 4a. All I've seen so far is Music Maker, which seems pretty limited. Has anybody ever developed any homebrew software for this purpose?

[digdugnate]

my scope is pretty darn limited, compared to probably what a lot of folks have done on the board- but the majority of my experience with music programs has been with TI Extended Basic. I am currently working on a music demo right now that I'm hoping to use sprites in (so I'm still learning this piece of it).

 

You can find a list of frequencies in the EB manual, and what i've done is assign variables to the frequencies based on the notes and then i use Call Sound statements with the variables (the notes taken from the sheet music).

 

One thing I had considered was making a subprogram of the note variables to eliminate entering them in over and over since when i am messing with the TI i tend to use the computer itself and not emulators, even though emulators would be a WAY faster way to develop and test your stuff. I also have code to calculate half-frequencies, where applicable.

 

I have Music Maker, and it reminds me of using the Mario Paint cart on the SNES.

[PeBo]

my scope is pretty darn limited, compared to probably what a lot of folks have done on the board- but the majority of my experience with music programs has been with TI Extended Basic. I am currently working on a music demo right now that I'm hoping to use sprites in (so I'm still learning this piece of it).

 

You can find a list of frequencies in the EB manual, and what i've done is assign variables to the frequencies based on the notes and then i use Call Sound statements with the variables (the notes taken from the sheet music).

 

One thing I had considered was making a subprogram of the note variables to eliminate entering them in over and over since when i am messing with the TI i tend to use the computer itself and not emulators, even though emulators would be a WAY faster way to develop and test your stuff. I also have code to calculate half-frequencies, where applicable.

 

I have Music Maker, and it reminds me of using the Mario Paint cart on the SNES.

are you matching your variable names to the value? (A=A, Bb=Bflat, Cs=C sharp) you might also consider using arrays to handle your octaves (C(3) = middle C (in a 5 octave range)) . you can do it with simple variable with ascending and descending values, but I find using arrays makes the code easier to read later.

 

been awhile since I programmed music in basic (used to be pretty good at it). unfortunately, like most things I've forgotten more than I ever knew!

[digdugnate]

I hadn't considered arrays, but I was matching variable name to the values (like HHAS for 'A Sharp 2 octaves above middle C' or EF 'E Flat above Middle C'.

 

I had forgotten, too, that you can use double colons to separate them without a variable/note for each line. another thing I had been doing is using REM statements to mark measures/bars so i could read and troubleshoot it better.

 

that's really cool! I'll look at that with the next program i'm working on.

[PeBo]

of course the example I gave isn't an array at all...

 

(told you I forget more than I remember)

[Tursi]

If your target is assembly or similar, I've been pointing people at using the MOD2PSG tracker: http://www.smspower.org/Music/Mod2PSG

 

If you export in VGM, I have a separate tool to compress the VGM (Windows only ATM) and playback routines for same: http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/onesoft.cgi?88

[+Vorticon]

I should mention that there is a SID card available for the Ti here: http://www.dsapsc.com/store.html and it comes with a SID player and a collection of SID music.

It has not seen much love unfortunately which is too bad. I have a card, and I hope to eventually get around to using it with a project some day.

[+mizapf]

This looks like an unemulated card in MAME, and thus being a candidate for some later implementation. Can't promise when, though (always hoping to raise some interest in C++-capable people, maybe someone else would like to try).

[Asmusr]

DefleMask can also be used for creating VGMs for playback with Tursi's software, but as I read the question the submitter wants to create music on the TI rather than for the TI. I don't think any software running on the TI allows you to create music as advanced as what you can do with a PC based tracker (like DefleMask and MOD2PSG2).

[PeBo]

I should mention that there is a SID card available for the Ti here: http://www.dsapsc.com/store.html and it comes with a SID player and a collection of SID music.

It has not seen much love unfortunately which is too bad. I have a card, and I hope to eventually get around to using it with a project some day.

Really? I love my SID card (although I only have one disc of tunes for it - so far).

 

Granted, it's not like listening to a C64 (might have been better with direct output instead of using the 9919) but it does handle the playback of everything I've thrown at it.

 

Except for a too-bright LED, I've always considered it a great purchase.

[+Vorticon]

Really? I love my SID card (although I only have one disc of tunes for it - so far).

 

Granted, it's not like listening to a C64 (might have been better with direct output instead of using the 9919) but it does handle the playback of everything I've thrown at it.

 

Except for a too-bright LED, I've always considered it a great purchase.

 

The card plays pure SID files, where as the tunes you hear in most C64 games are usually direct 6502 machine language access to the SID chip and are much more involved. The SID MASTER 99 card cannot play the latter unfortunately, which essentially eliminates most of the cool C64 tunes we are familiar with. I think that is the primary road block to making that card attractive to the general public. Theoretically, one could do something similar using native 9900 code to interface with the SID MASTER 99 card's SID chip and create really cool music, but that's beyond my pay grade

[Metz77]

Thanks everyone! Asmusr had it right — I was looking for software to create music using the 4a — but I'm definitely going to look into this stuff you've all suggested. That SID card is especially tempting...

Edited July 6, 2017 by Metz77

[marc.hull]

Thanks everyone! Asmusr had it right I was looking for software to create music using the 4a but I'm definitely going to look into this stuff you've all suggested. That SID card is especially tempting...

The ASLP package allows you to create play and edit music via the ti99 console. It is written in 9900 assembly and is completely interactive. It is freely downloadable at the DSAPSC web site as a disk that also contains sample music. Docs are also available on the same tab.

[marc.hull]

 

The card plays pure SID files, where as the tunes you hear in most C64 games are usually direct 6502 machine language access to the SID chip and are much more involved. The SID MASTER 99 card cannot play the latter unfortunately, which essentially eliminates most of the cool C64 tunes we are familiar with. I think that is the primary road block to making that card attractive to the general public. Theoretically, one could do something similar using native 9900 code to interface with the SID MASTER 99 card's SID chip and create really cool music, but that's beyond my pay grade

The player plays .mus files of which there are about 12,000 of. .sid files are mostely PC tracker files and unique 6502 player files which the the player can't recognize.

 

And.... What do I need to apologize for exactly ???

[+Vorticon]

Marc, last time I met you in person several years ago at the Chicago Faire, you could not have been a nicer guy. And brilliant. And so is Tursi. I frankly don't recall the exact details of your dispute with him, and I don't think neither of you need to apologize for anything. I just hope you can both put this behind you and keep creating awesome stuff for our little community. My bad for opening up this old can of worms...

[marc.hull]

Yea your a good guy as well but again I'd like to know what I need to apologize for.

[Metz77]

The ASLP package allows you to create play and edit music via the ti99 console. It is written in 9900 assembly and is completely interactive. It is freely downloadable at the DSAPSC web site as a disk that also contains sample music. Docs are also available on the same tab.

 

Cool, thanks!