Foebane

I've made a couple of recordings of the audio from Altirra, and I'm shocked at the huge difference between and Atari800Win PLus: The Atari800Win WAV form is only above the centre line so is half the volume, and it looks much "neater", but I guess also a lot more basic. The Altirra sound uses the full WAV range and there's a lot of spikes in the sound, especially when music starts - it reminds me of C64 SID WAVs when I look at their waveforms - however, this sound looks more dynamic and neater and would be much less prone to the noise that is introduced during MP3 encoding. Didn't someone say that Altirra wasn't suited to games? What's its purpose then? Also, I'm assuming that the "non-linear mixing" in the Audio settings replicates a real Atari and is needed for some audio effects?

Altirra looks quite promising, although I had problems getting it to work at first, what with that crappy fake ROM that it uses - I thought for a second the whole emulator was bust! The sound is actually closer to how I remember my old Atari performing, but I'd forgotten the subtleties of it. I should also not stick to old software that is no longer updated! The thing is, with these recordings, I'd like to know if the audio will be degraded if converted to MP3? I've had problems with that in the past, mainly the square wave issue.

A while ago I spent a while recording a definitive (or so I thought) collection of A8 sound clips, mainly from the best games around, but now, having seen some YT videos of actual A8 hardware in action, I realise that my emulator's audio comes far short of what a genuine A8 should sound like. The emulator is Atari800Win PLus 4.0 and the settings are WaveOut 44,100Hz, 16-bit, with "1" for the Update divisor (whatever the heck that is) and "1" for sound quality as well. Comparing my recordings with genuine hardware, I find parts of the audio missing, mainly the "t-t-t-t-t-t" white noise that makes up the percussion in tunes like Warhawk and Zybex, and Demoscen prods like Numen - that essential noise does not exist on my recordings. It really annoys me that my sound emulation is so vastly distorted like this, and I don't look forward to totally re-recording everything. In any case, what are the most realistic A8 sound settings for this emulator? Please?

Thank you, CharlieChaplin, this is just what I was looking for! Sorry if I wasn't clear in my OP, but I simply wanted a whole archive of A8 games and demos ready to run, but just mentioned DVD as an idea, but these downloads are better! THANKS ONCE AGAIN!

Thanks, I've had a good look at Pantheon - nice front end and growing selection of games, even if the emulator is rather dodgy. But then I can use the files with Atari800Win, and what's more there are BBC Micro games there too!

Anyone tried to use this facility on this website? It seems you have to own the games you plan to put on this list already, but I don't own any A8 games anymore - not in their original media form, anyway. I just thought it would be a simple method of collecting all the games I ever DID own in one place on one website, but it's asking me questions each time about the media and the condition. Should I just abandon it?

Anything to hammer the final nail in the "A8 vs C64 colour debate" coffin Besides, it's not so much the limited colours of the C64 that bother me, but the choice of said colours - I've never seen an uglier limited set.

Yes, I read up on the subject. I'm just glad that the GTIA predates the Commodore 64 by almost a year.

Well, all the other 8-bit computers of the 1980s, the popular ones at least, have these DVDs or whatever filled with thousands of games and usually other software and the emulators to run them. And then there are the "official" releases, like Amiga Forever and C64 Forever by Cloanto, which are of course fully legal. I had a good look round but I can't find anything similar for the Atari A8 machines - is there even such a release? Legality issues aside, mind.

Really? I thought only the XLs and XEs had GTIA? That means the fabled 256 colours of Atari A8 were there back in 1979! Does it?

My first Atari was a 600XL, which with the GTIA modes (more colours) would be a good first choice, low memory issues aside - but then, cartridges didn't have a worry with memory. I've never tried to use a membrane keyboard like on the 400, but I did have a ZX81, and that thing was HORRIBLE for its keyboard!

Where can the pictures be found? I don't see any.

Thanks, Playsoft! That's brought back a few memories, would love to try and beat it once more like I originally did after I spent ages typing it in! And thanks to everyone else, who offered advice and programs.

I'm trying to run this old game, which was a type-in listing but which is stored as BAS files within an ATR: http://justyce.org/atari.html But, even knowing that the instructions are for an older A8 emulator (XFormer), it's still an ATR file and should still work for Atari800Win PLus. Try as I might, though, I cannot get the image mounted on D2: so that it can be run with the Atari BASIC "Run" command as shown on the page - it says the device does not exist. I heard that AtariDOS is also needed, but I used to use that back in the 1980s and I cannot for the life of me remember how to run BASIC programs from AtariDOS, if I even can. Can anyone help me?

Bryan, wasn't the Amstrad CPC an RGB system? The 27 colours I mentioned were combinations of RGB at zero, half and full intensity, I thought. It made for a colourful graphics system.

What bothers me about the C64's graphics is not so much the lack of colours, but the actual colours themselves - I've never seen a more ghastly palette for any computer system ever, in my life! How the heck did such a yucky collection of colours ever get chosen for the system? Why didn't they use a 3-bit palette (8 colours as on the Spectrum, BBC micro and many others) or even a 9-bit palette (27 colours as on the Amstrad CPCs)?? How were these horrible colours chosen? I suppose there was reason behind the madness, and the palette does uniquely identify the C64, which is a great overall system in other respects, very well indeed, but I really hate these colour with a passion. There is simply not enough for decent shading in images, and unfortunately because the C64 can always display its full palette with no restrictions, all the games generally look the same. As for the A8, I grew up with a 600XL then 800XL myself and I know these machines very well, and whilst the Atari sound is less versatile, even if it is distinctive, I do prefer the look of Atari graphics even with their "rainbow" looks. Screenshots of A8 games really stand out to me, as each one can look totally different to each other, despite the lower number of colours on screen and the restrictions compared to C64. If I'd owned any other 8-bit system, it would've been C64, but since I knew Atari first, I can't get over that dreadful limited colour palette.

Correct, there is no crash just very garbled graphics. I tried Blue Max tonight, with bombing my own hangar, and I got the same thing - garbled graphics with only my plane and the enemy planes visible. The next time I heard the "Land!" sound I tried landing but crashed.

This site is quite good. If only we could get rid of the watermarks.

FSK noise? What's that?

Thanks for that. Does that tape actually load, though? I thought I heard some dropouts, which can be a real pain.

BUMP Anyone know why the pitch of the chord used to vary? And is there an audio file of that actual sound somewhere? As I said before, you can hear it on some old obscure video clip on youtube for a few seconds, but I'm after something clearer.

Thank you ever so much, Mimo. I remember with fondness that particular pattern of blocks and gaps, preceded by the hgh-pitch tone of the "leader", as I called it. I do know that when an Atari 8-bit loads a program or file in such a format that it overlays a distinctive sort of musical chord which varies slightly between blocks, and which can turn sour just before a load fails. Anyone know why the pitch of the chord used to vary? And is there an audio file of that actual sound somewhere? As I said before, you can hear it on some old obscure video clip on youtube for a few seconds, but I'm after something clearer.

I've seen that thread, and I don't think CAS files are WAVs in any case. I'm only asking this because I came across the Atari loading sound on a YouTube clip a week or so ago, and it brought back such memories. It was from Micro Live, and it was some family who were trying out the Atari. I'm sure you'll find it under "micro live atari" or something.

WAVs will do, even better! Where are they, then?

Cos I love 'em! Beeeeeeeeeeep-Beeeeeeeeeeep-Beeeeeeeeeeep! For some reason, I can't seem to replicate them in Atari800Win.