Galaxian sound hack?

[Synthpopalooza]

So I found this:

 

I recently did POKEY sounds for a 7800 conversion of Galaxian ... and now, I was wondering, how feasible would it be to hack these into the 8-bit/5200 version?

 

[Rybags]

I should keep up with the 7800 scene more.  I had no idea.  I just grabbed Bob's latest release but it seems to have TIA sound.

Is there one with your Pokey sounds?

 

Even the TIA sounds are better than Atari's woeful A8 effects though.  It would be a worthwhile project but of course the inadequate gameplay would still remain.

 

ed - just tried out Uniwar S as well.  Very accurate conversion and just as frustrating as the original.  It wasn't a game I much liked, from memory a local tavern had it as one of few options in the area for a while.  I think most of the ones here were switchable with Ghostmuncher as the other game (which apparently was a bootleg of Puckman, later known as PacMan)

 

Bob seems to have a knack of capturing these games accurately, and making many of the original 7800 games of the day look somewhat embarrasing.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Rybags

[+MrFish]

2 hours ago, Rybags said:

Bob seems to have a knack of capturing these games accurately, and making many of the original 7800 games of the day look somewhat embarrasing.

In big part because he's working many of them out in the 320 modes.

 

[Rybags]

Have to wonder - could the sawtooth come into use for the opening tune with Pokey?

In any case, interested in what's on offer.

[Synthpopalooza]

Bob elected to make his TIA only.

[Synthpopalooza]

2 hours ago, Rybags said:

Have to wonder - could the sawtooth come into use for the opening tune with Pokey?

In any case, interested in what's on offer.

In fact, I used 16-bit $Cx mod 3, just for that.  I will convert to xex and post tonight, my 7800 executables are in Bob's thread if you want to hear them too.

[+MrFish]

13 hours ago, Synthpopalooza said:

I recently did POKEY sounds for a 7800 conversion of Galaxian ... and now, I was wondering, how feasible would it be to hack these into the 8-bit/5200 version?

 

Can you post the sounds your POKEY sounds here (or direct me to their location in the 7800 thread) ? I'm interested to hear them, but was having some problem locating them in the 7800 thread.

 

[Synthpopalooza]

right about here.  I also was in the process of working up a double POKEY scenario too.

 

I have an .xex though, will post tonight.

 

[Synthpopalooza]

So had a thought ... do any PC utilities exist to compile this code directly, without having to port it to MADS, DASM, or anything else?

[+Allan]

That would be a great compiler to write. Curt had posted a number of source codes for games over the years that were done on Atari's PDP computers.

[Synthpopalooza]

Here are the sounds ... some notes:

 

Intro tune and coin insert are AUDCTL=$50 16-bit using first two channels.

 

All others are AUDCTL=$60 as follows:

 

Alien deaths, extra life sounds:  third channel, C distortion at 1.79 mhz

Alien swoops:  First channel, C distortion as above

Background hum:  second channel, A distortion

Player shot:  third and 4th channel, C distortion and 8 distortion

Player death:  4th channel, 0 distortion

 

START key to cycle through sounds

 

I will do a double POKEY build next

galaxian.asm galaxian.bat galaxian.s galaxian.xex

Edited April 17, 2021 by Synthpopalooza

[Synthpopalooza]

Also .... The double POKEY version uses 3 16-bit channels plus two channels for player shot/explosion.  On these, I am able to use $Cx mod 3 distortion in 16-bit which makes the alien deaths and swoops sound less harsh and closer to the arcade.  Will have that up soon.

[Rybags]

Nice - though with the startup tune I think the notes are a bit short and possibly quicker than the arcade.

Have to wonder with Atari's version, were most of the sounds just placeholders until someone sat down and did a proper job, then they just said let's release it anyway.

[+MrFish]

Nice job; they're pretty accurate sounding.

 

[Synthpopalooza]

There are a few problems due to limitations:

 

1.  $Cx at 1.79 mhz forces us to use non mod 3 frequencies.  This makes the alien sounds and dives a bit scratchy

 

2.  The above setting only goes down to $FF=A#4.  The flagship death sound in the arcade dips below this, so I inserted silence for those parts

 

3.  On the dives, this setting has a coarse frequency range, so I had to do the old "play two frequencies quickly" trick

 

All of these will not be an issue with double POKEY which will allow for three 16-bit channels using $Cx at mod 3 frequencies.