You would think that at some point, while writing programs for the Diamond GOS using the MAC/65 V1.01 assembler cartridge, I would have learned how to use DDT(Dunion's Debugging Tool). I was much to busy trouble shooting the programs to read the manual. It wasn't until reading Atari Roots by Mark Andrews that learning DDT seemed advantageous. Now that the manual has been read, DDT will be used. But the question remains, How many commands will be remembered when next it is used? (As often
The microKorg was plugged into the MIDIMAX. Then a few simple Atari BASIC programs to control the Pitch Bend Wheel were written for no other reason then I hadn't done it before. A couple of ideas did present themselves as the programs were written. As always, my list of possible projects increases.
For many of the adjustable parameters of a synthisizer, the Control Change command (176+channel # -1), Control number (0-127), followed by the set point value (0-127) was adequate. The P
A couple of days ago I grabbed the microKorg owner's manual to read on the throne. I happened to open to Page 61 - Assigning control changes(CC). It says you can assign numbers to the principal parameters. The edit menu section on the microKorg is shown with the principal parameters highlighted.
You can assign the CC# or just use the defaults that are assigned to those parameters. These are listed in the Table on page 56. The Control 2 values when OSC1-WAVE = DWGS are within the
I never really thought about it but a drummer has 2 hands and 2 feet; that's 4 percussion instruments that can be struck at the same time. But are they really?
I'm no drummer so the best place to start programming drum patterns was using a book of drum patterns. I chose to start with 200 Drum Patterns by Rene-Pierre Bardet and a chart of the standard MIDI note number for the percussion instruments.
MIDI Music System was loaded up and a drum pattern was entered. Two or th
Teenage Engineering's PO-33 K.O! is an 8bit sampler.
I've had mine for a few months and am just now finding the free time to play with it. The video is a first attempt at a loop using samples from the Atari 130XE. The MP3 is the same set of patterns looped 6 times.
atari8ko33 loop01.mp3
You may recognize where some of the samples are from. You may also want to see how many you can recognize before you read on.
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There were several issues left unresolved while programing the MIDI IN interface for the ATARI8 joystick ports. The first was to revert back to using the Cassette Motor Control pin on the SIO port for data flow control. This was accomplished with the AU2PORTA shield design.
The second consideration was the startup default joystick pin status. The joystick pins are set to high on startup and then grounded to zero by the joystick switches. There is some reverse logic
There I was, in garage sale heaven. Standing over a box of second hand XBOX controllers. I got a little less excited when I noted how second hand they were. I thought I would salvage parts and asked, "How much?". She said, "$2". I said, "OK." He looked like he just lost an old friend and his wife was telling herself, "I should have said 3!"
Fast forward 16 months and I'm sorting them into a box labeled "electronic recycle" because I was to lazy to open them up for salvage. One di
Back in January of 2015, I wanted of use a PING)) ultrasonic sensor to measure distance and send it to the Atari using the 850 - RS232 ports. I initially thought that I could move my hand in front of the sensor and the resulting change in desistance could be used to change the frequency of the sound command. This might have worked if the SIO port could be used to make sound .AND. transmit data to the 850 interface at the same time. It doesn't. So, I forgot about the sound and just got the dis
Over the years I've been using an Arduino UNO to setup data for transfer to the Atari Joystick ports. The first attempt was to read the data from a Wii nunchuk and translate it to joystick movements. Lately I've been experimenting reading midi data using an Arduino Midi Shield, along with using the Cassette Motor Control pin on the SIO port as feedback to the Arduino. You may have read some of these blogs.
During the "Switched On POKEY" music experiments, there were many modificat
I have spent a little time looking through some ATARI Assembly Language books for sound routines that I might find useful. I found several examples in ATARI Assembly Language Programmer's Guide by Allan Moose and Marian Lorenz. Chapter 5, appropriately titled "Sound", has 3 programs that I wanted to hear. BOX 31 - Envelope, BOX 32 - Tremolo, and BOX 33 - Vibrato. These are BASIC examples using USR routines. The ml programs were listed in BOX31A, BOX32A, and BOX33A. The first program was
Part 1 ended with the Arduino/RTC/RS232 shield able to send the time and date to the Dell. The next step was to hook the unit up to the 850 and read the data using Bob Term. Once the Baud rate, translation and duplex were set to 9600bps, ASCII and Full, the time and date were updated every second, just like on the Dell. As I watched the stream of data being printed to the screen I said to myself, "This is going much to smoothly. I bet the RS232 device handler and clock are going to use th
In the June 1985 issue of ANALOG (#31), the "ATARI CLOCK" by Jonathan Buckheit was published. It is a machine language program that added an extra text line to the top of the screen display and printed the time once per second. I remember typing in CLOCK1.BAS to create an AUTORUN.SYS file and CLOCK2.BAS to set the time. I also remember using it but soon tired of inputting the time for each REBOOT. Download ANALOG issue #31 for more information. http://www.atarimania.com/atari-magazine-analog
Having chosen Calc Magic as my A8 spreadsheet program, the next logical step seems to be to transfer the data into Calc Magic. Several of the files that are to be transfered started out as Visicalc files then migrated to Calc Magic, then to the ST, then to the IBM running Lotus 1-2-3, then to Microsoft Office, then to the iMAC running Microsoft Office, then back to an IBM compatible running Microsoft office, then to Open Office, then to Excel 2013, and now back to Calc Magic. I could have save
If capturing text from your Arduino to a terminal buffer is all you want to do, you are lucky. You may want to collect data and use it in your own programs. Unfortunately there are not a lot of example programs to learn from and the 850 interface manual can be cryptic for us mortals. Persistence does pay off. Usually the “let’s try this” style of debugging will eventually get you to the proper combination of port settings and program logic.
I wanted to hook up a sensor to the Arduino
My first opportunity to go retro was when I wanted to build a spreadsheet to calculate wheel rpm and pulse duration for the bike speedometer project. At about 12mph the computer readings start to become erratic. So I started at the beginning and booted up VisiCalc. VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program I ever saw. I had talked the company into purchasing an image analysis system that used an Apple II. Of course the finance people saw this as an opportunity to try out VisiCalc without
Needed one more list for my Book of Lists. I looked through the Analog issues and made one of the machine language games written in Assembler. Now to organize the programs I have and find those I don’t. If I remember, Harvey Wallbager was the first I typed in. Planetary Defense got the most play time. I’ll have to play then again to be sure the files haven’t been corrupted. Analog ML GAMES # TITLE
I wanted to get my collection of SAM programs organized on the PC using my new Atarimax SIO2PC. I’m not sure how large the collection was but some of the disks were unreadable. SAM worked fine with DOS 2.5 and got RECITER working after remembering to boot with a translator disk. I guess at some point while running SAYIT.BAS I decided a better phonetic word editor would be nice. Once started I just couldn’t stop.
What I did was put the phonetic spelling chart on the screen. The dictionary s
Analog published a column dedicated to teaching assembly language programming. Boot Camp appeared as 42 articles spanning a wide range of topics with many tips, tricks and example code. If Boot Camp was compiled into a book, this might be the table of contents or at least I’m hoping that it helps the next time I’m looking for information or code examples. PDF of following table Analog boot camp index.pdf Chap Issue Author Subject 1 72 Hudson
Fender’s GVOX Guitar interface has a DB9 serial connector that would fit nicely into the rs232 port on the Atari 850 interface. I wasn’t able to rule out the possibility of getting the two to communicate, its just that I can’t justify the time, effort or value to find out.
The GVOX Guitar interface connected your steel string Guitar to a Win95 computer with a MIDI sound card through a COMM: port. The interface would monitor the pickups mounted under the strings for frequency and volume da
The WICO Ergostick was my joystick of choice during the ST days. In those days the mouse was getting more use then the joystick but it did relieve the wrist pain. I can use the left or right hand for the mouse but never became ambidextrous with any joystick.
The ergonomic design of the rubberized housing allowed for a solid grip without a lot of pressure and cleaned up nicely in the dish washer. I feel I should mention that you should remove any parts you don’t want to get wet. WICO used
The Computeck joystick was very similar to the Quickshot 2 in that it used the same spring-flipper switches and it had a pistol grip. The base contained 2 extra trigger buttons and a sticker that said, “MADE IN TAIWAN”.
It has no auto-fire circuit but the PC board has the traces to implement one. One might assume that the on-off switch would have been placed in a notch on the bottom.
An emery board, borrowed from my wife’s manicure kit has found a permanent place in the tool box for cl
What can you possibly say about the WICO Command Control Joystick that hasn’t been written? Not much. I was able to clean the leaf spring switch contacts and restore the continuity but never could figure out how to dismantle the bat stick.
There was little difference between the two joysticks that were rebuilt. Inside, one was marked 2/7/83 and the other 11/??/82. The color of the plastic changed but the design was similar. There are lots of posts and stops in the base that hold its inner
Looking through some disks I found some more unfinished business from around 1993. I had been writing articles for the Western New York Atari User Group (WNYAUG) newsletter, POKEY, for a couple of years before I started running out of things to write about. The newsletter was a good place to hone my writing skills and decided to try my hand at fiction.
The story, “Data Coup” was written as a serial to appear in POKEY over 5 issues. The first chapter was published in the last paper edition
What percentage of your electronics spare parts have been salvaged with the hopes of using them someday. I began to see that putting the rest of the lights on Spinax was going to be an opportunity to rummage for items to use.
I wish I could remember how many years ago I walked into a casino and was given a gadget. Pull the tab and a number would be back lit. If the number as a match, you could have won $$$$. (I would have remembered the amount if I had won.)
When I got it home and p
I’m assuming that everyone has hooked up an LED to their computer and made it blink. I’m also assuming that most everyone said, ”That’s cool. Now what?” I'm going to be running lights to a LEGO Bionicle and then using the Atari to control the light show. This could be accomplished with any programmable controller but, since this is an Atari Age blog, an Atari 8-bit computer seemed to be a logical choice.
The Bionicle kit #8924 is the embodiment of Maxilos and his four legged friend,
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