Aquarius program featuring the AY?

[Intelligentleman]

Would it be theoretically possible to write a program in which the player could send inputs via the hand controller that directly speak to the dual sound chips?

 

If each sound chip has three channels, then maybe a one player game lets you use buttons 1-6 to "program" a sound and then use the 16 direction disc to finesse the melody.

 

In a two player game, each person gets three sound channels so it's almost like a duet.

[+MattelAquarius]

There aren't 2 AY sound chips in the Aquarius.  There's a fairly simple sound generator built into the main unit that has a single channel.  The Mini-Expander adds one AY chip, providing the 3 channel sounds.

 

The 1541 rom (perhaps BLbasic too) does let you send values to the AY, but I've never dabbled with that myself.  Otherwise, machine code is needed to drive the AY.

 

I like the way you are thinking, though!  Looking forward to see (hear) what may come.

 

[Intelligentleman]

3 hours ago, MattelAquarius said:

There aren't 2 AY sound chips in the Aquarius.  There's a fairly simple sound generator built into the main unit that has a single channel.  The Mini-Expander adds one AY chip, providing the 3 channel sounds.

 

The 1541 rom (perhaps BLbasic too) does let you send values to the AY, but I've never dabbled with that myself.  Otherwise, machine code is needed to drive the AY.

 

I like the way you are thinking, though!  Looking forward to see (hear) what may come.

 

Oh thank you for the heads up on the sound chip in the main unit. I think I was confusing it with the Intellivision + ECS. Thanks for the patience with these "what if" posts, but I'm only asking you guys because I want to have a basic (no pun intended) understanding of what kinds of experiences might even be possible.

 

I feel like there are lots of people out there making cool games on the Aquarius, so I have in my head a different kind of experience. I hesitate to call it a game, even. But it would be interactive in some way. But I digress... I'm just looking for the boundary boxes.