Could an LP or wax cylinder hold a supercharger game?

[Godzilla]

I was just thinking... I wonder if an LP or a wax cylinder could hold a supercharger game (or other converted 2600 rom,) that would play back well enough to work... That would be pretty cool to have 2600 journey escape on vinyl (or whatever else you felt appropriate to the media, (any house of wax hacks out there? put one on a wax cylinder!)

[Warriorisabouttodie]

I was just thinking... I wonder if an LP or a wax cylinder could hold a supercharger game (or other converted 2600 rom,) that would play back well enough to work... That would be pretty cool to have 2600 journey escape on vinyl (or whatever else you felt appropriate to the media, (any house of wax hacks out there? put one on a wax cylinder!)

 

 

In England some tape games (and or artist discography type apps) were released as bonuses on vinyl LP's for 8bit home computers, so I don't see why you couldn't do what you are asking. As long as the LP was in good shape and you had a good turntable the quality would be good enough. Not sure about wax cylinders, isn't that what Edison used? They might be a little too lo-fi.

Edited March 6, 2009 by Warriorisabouttodie

[godzillajoe]

I would TOTALLY buy one. Atari games on vinyl. Holy double hipster points!

[S1500]

A 45 record I have by the band "Mainframe" has 3 computer programs on the back. It's the same one for 3 different UK models. I've always wondered what's on them. Gotta dig em out someday for someone to try on here. There's a whole web page listing all the bands that released programs, ranging from The Stranglers to uh, other ones.

 

I also read in a magazine there was some FM station that broadcasted programs(ie what you get on cassette) to the public. Would have loved to learn more about that.

[Numan]

I was just thinking... I wonder if an LP or a wax cylinder could hold a supercharger game (or other converted 2600 rom,) that would play back well enough to work... That would be pretty cool to have 2600 journey escape on vinyl (or whatever else you felt appropriate to the media, (any house of wax hacks out there? put one on a wax cylinder!)

 

THIS is an idea I hope somebody will explore on this forum.

[tremoloman2006]

Supercharger games run from tape, CD, MP3... no reason records would fail that I can think of.

[Fangorn81]

Good Lord that is the best idea I have heard of in a while!! Someone needs to get on this!

[Snider-man]

Fascinating concept and completely feasible, I would think.

[Ian Primus]

Yes. You could do it. At least with an LP or a 45. A wax cylinder wouldn't work, for various reasons - but mostly because it has too much surface noise, a limited frequency response, and the output of the machine that plays said wax cylinder is purely acoustic - no electrical signal output.

 

I know that the magazine "The Rainbow" distributed a flexible soundsheet with computer programs for the Tandy Color Computer on it. That worked fairly well.

 

But... here's another snag. You need a preamp to go from a record into something like a Supercharger. The output of a standard turntable is simply the output from the phono cartridge - no amplification. You would need a preamp, or a receiver with phono inputs to boost the signal enough to go to the Supercharger. Also, the equalization of a record is different than a tape - you'd have to talk with someone experienced in mastering records to be sure that your signal would come off the record (and through a standard RIAA curve on a preamp) in such a way that the Supercharger could understand it. The above mentioned soundsheet came with explicit instructions to copy the record to a cassette first, and load it into your computer with the cassette tape.

 

And then there's the enormous cost of getting records produced. CD's and tapes are easy - everyone has that equipment at home. Record cutting machines do exist - but the records they produce are hardly "production quality" - they're acetate discs that wouldn't survive repeated playings. To get an actual record produced would be a rather expensive proposition, and you'd need to have a run of at least 1000 copies or so.

 

That said, I know that a lot of small bands have singles made up, after the mastering and set-up charges, a run of a 1000 works out to around five bucks a disc or less. But that would be a 7" single. LP's would be much costlier. How long are supercharger games (in minutes) anyway? I've never used a Supercharger - I have an EPROM programmer...

 

Unfortunately, the only advantage here is the "freaking cool" factor. The necessary setup would require a turntable, an amplifier, a Supercharger and an Atari - and it would all have to be operating properly. A turntable with a worn belt, or one with speed issues would screw things up big time.

 

How many of us even have a Supercharger, anyway?

 

-Ian

[godzillajoe]

I have one AND a working turntable.

 

Coincidentally, just received a pile of new 7"s today

 

Who would actually take the time to set it all up?

 

It WOULD look cool in a record frame though.

 

So it would have to be a 12"

[Glenn Jupp]

Who would actually take the time to set it all up?

Me?

I know that the magazine "The Rainbow" distributed a flexible soundsheet with computer programs for the Tandy Color Computer on it.

...

How long are supercharger games (in minutes) anyway?

Ahh yes, "The Rainbow." Remember the issue with a text adventure that came with a scratch-and-sniff card for clues? Cool, odd stuff.

 

And I believe a Supercharger game should fit on a 7" single, even if you're not trying to store it in "quick load" format. Let me go time the "long load" side of Phaser Patrol, and we'll see.

[Glenn Jupp]

Let me go time the "long load" side of Phaser Patrol, and we'll see.

Two minutes and twenty five seconds, or near enough.

[Rom Hunter]

Fascinating idea.

 

[Godzilla]

I was expecting a lot of either (1) nothing or (2) what a stupid idea

 

I love LPs, laserdiscs, large format stuff. I love the jackets, the artwork it allows and the tangibility of the final product.

 

Aside from the obvious journey escape, I think the launch line-up would all be really cool on vinyl, their artwork would really fit the era too.

 

Here's a place that offers one-offs for 55 quid.

 

http://www.retrothing.com/2005/09/recording_your_.html

 

http://www.zenithrecords.org/vinyl-pricelist.html that looks like around $700 dollars to make 100 of em (about $7 per piece, not terrible.)

 

this seems to be the cheapest one off service I could find, at $59 for a one-off 7" http://www.customrecords.com/custom_made_4...ph_records.html

 

Now all we need to do make some sleeves & labels and pick a rom and try it out

[Glenn Jupp]

this seems to be the cheapest one off service I could find, at $59 for a one-off 7" http://www.customrecords.com/custom_made_4...ph_records.html

Oooo, red vinyl. For some reason I am imagining a Yar battling a Quotile on that label.

[Glenn Jupp]

Now all we need to do make some sleeves & labels and pick a rom and try it out

I've been having a look at the MAKEWAV readme files again, but I've had not enough sleep and too much whisky to figure out exactly which settings and flags to use to duplicate the "long load" version of a Supercharger recording. Anybody know the right numbers offhand, or should I just wait 'til tomorrow to wrangle this detail?

 

How about "SDI" on vinyl? Or maybe "Frame Timed Sound Effects?" Or even both, a game on side A and an application on the flip side.

[fiddlepaddle]

I was just thinking... I wonder if an LP or a wax cylinder could hold a supercharger game (or other converted 2600 rom,) that would play back well enough to work... That would be pretty cool to have 2600 journey escape on vinyl (or whatever else you felt appropriate to the media, (any house of wax hacks out there? put one on a wax cylinder!)

What about punched cards or paper tape?

[Godzilla]

I was just thinking... I wonder if an LP or a wax cylinder could hold a supercharger game (or other converted 2600 rom,) that would play back well enough to work... That would be pretty cool to have 2600 journey escape on vinyl (or whatever else you felt appropriate to the media, (any house of wax hacks out there? put one on a wax cylinder!)

What about punched cards or paper tape?

 

That would be awesome, too. But how would play it back into the supercharger?

[Keatah]

Barcodes and braile..

[kirin jensen]

The important thing would be to play it on a mechanical television.

[godzillajoe]

this seems to be the cheapest one off service I could find, at $59 for a one-off 7" http://www.customrecords.com/custom_made_4...ph_records.html

Oooo, red vinyl. For some reason I am imagining a Yar battling a Quotile on that label.

 

Colored vinyl and/or picture disc for sure!

 

OK really, someone do this.

[accousticguitar]

My parents used to have a phonograph with a crank on it. Would that work?

[phaxda]

I have a working turntable and love vintage audio stuff... what a neat thing this would be. I already play games from my computer through the Supercharger; this would just be one more way to play...

[shadow460]

I just wanna download them thru rhapsody, thanks.

[Glenn Jupp]

Ran into a bit of a stumbling block with MAKEWAV. I'm trying to get it to output a WAV around the same playing time as the "long load" version of Phaser Patrol I mentioned above (about 145 seconds). But there are some limits in MAKEWAV that are keeping it to about 1/10th the playing time I want. Time to go crawling about in the MAKEWAV source code, I guess...

 

Sooner or later I am going to get this to work, for the sake of pure stubbornness if nothing else