Easier way to create Pokey Music?

[PacManPlus]

Hi guys:

 

Is there any easier way to create data for the Pokey other that keying in byte by byte? I actually play a little keyboards and I'd like to somehow get MIDI (remember that?) converted to Pokey Frequency bytes for a particular channel. It would make things SOOOOOOOO much easier for the current game I'm working on where there has to be a lot of background music. Beleive it or not, I still have a Korg X5D keyboard.

 

Even if it has to be converted more than once (i.e. MIDI -> RMT -> Pokey data)... I know there is an RMT player that Eckhard made, but I'm trying to get straight Pokey data. If I have to start writing a conversion program 1) I would most likely be reinventing the wheel and 2) It will put me farther behind than I already am at finishing this game.

 

Is there *anything* (even something else to play) that would make this go quicker / easier?

 

Thanks,

Bob

[mimo]

I think the 8bit forums would be a better place to ask. There are some very enthusiastic POKEY musicians over there

+ is someone going to add GUMBY (stereo POKEY) to the XM

Edited July 4, 2012 by mimo

[Rybags]

RMT or one of the other 8-bit trackers is probably the easiest at this point. RMT having the advantage being PC-based.

 

A hack I was planning for RMT was to get it to just spit out the raw data similar to what you want. The overhead of having the player resident in your code can be detrimental if you're pushed for space and are only using it to play intro tunes etc.

 

With the raw register data you could apply RLE or <whatever> algorithm to make it more space efficient. Also using simple envelopes and frequency sweeps would help keep the size down.

 

As for anything that takes a given format and spits out AUDF values to near-match the frequency, I don't know if such a thing exists.

[Stun Runner 87]

Someone should redue all the old atari 7800 games with the pokey.

[Jinks]

Well i think thats already going on. pokey kong and dig dug anyways.

I wonder if someone had a dx7 keyboard that uses the yamaha chip thats also used in the xm those same sounds could be used in a game(of course not answering question only to complicate things)

But i think its very cool you want to compose you own original music for your new game!

Edited July 5, 2012 by Jinks