lastfuture
Offline
Freiburg, Germany

Hi,

I have a fully functioning C128 with disk drive lying around in my parents' basement and I'd like to try my hand at making music using a real SID. Now I'm looking for the cheapest way of getting started. It should be noted that I don't own a TV and I'm using a Mac as my computer.

I see two possibilities right now:
Making music on the C128, which means I need some way to display the image and also a way to run music software.
Harvesting the SID and putting it into a hardware solution that I can use with the Mac or standalone.

What do you think would be the cheapest way for me to get started?

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan

Probably this way.

http://www.sidmusic.org/goattracker/mac/

dl0rd
Offline
Australia

hi leastfuture.  a video cable and a capture usb will plug so you can see video with your mac.  it has phono cable for plugging to the mixer too.  you should get MSSIAH cartrige which also work in 128.  turn power on and it work and it has midi on it too.

i read this website a lot http://www.prophet64-forum.com/

i would not take the sid out because they brake very easy
your diskdrive is hard to get disks onto without a old pc and transfer softrware.  thankyou.

Last edited by dl0rd (Nov 12, 2012 9:07 am)

martin_demsky
Offline
Bratislava, Slovakia

Buy  cheap miniTV (20 EUR), find someone who can give you (for free) some 5,25 DD disks with trackers like Sid Duzz It.

Jellica
Offline
England

Before you invest money, you should try and figure out what the fuck is going in goattracker on your mac. Or use Vice emulator and one of the many music programs available for free.

You dont say if you are happy with trackers or not, but i think that its definately worth the effort learning, rather than using Prophet or Mssiah.

You could use your SID in a HardSID or similar divice, but i dont think its worth tearing it out of your C128 as SIDs are only 15 euros with the device. I dont know if HardSID works on Mac though?

Also you should be able to pick up an old tv for free these days. Everyone is chucking them out for flatscreens and they work fine.

Last edited by Jellica (Nov 12, 2012 10:59 am)

irrlichtproject
Offline
Nomad's Land

I have loads of TVs that I could give away for free. But you'd need to pick them up in Berlin. PM me if you're interested.

ant1
Offline
uhajdafdfdfa

it isn't acceptable to tear a c128 apart to build a synthesizer!

learn goattracker or sid-wizard in an emulator and if you like it, find someone who will send you a flooopy disk

Lazerbeat
Offline
Tokyo, Japan
Jellica wrote:

Before you invest money, you should try and figure out what the fuck is going in goattracker on your mac. Or use Vice emulator and one of the many music programs available for free.

I'd second this, tracking on c64 / c128 is far from easy, especially if you are new to tracking. Goattracker is a perfectly acceptable way to give it a try and see if you like it or not. Don't buy hardware unless you are sure you need it!

lastfuture
Offline
Freiburg, Germany

Thanks for all the tips. I'm very comfortable with tracking, been using trackers since at least 1996 smile Goattracker is a great piece of Software as it seems though and I'll definitely give it a whirl first.
Should I feel ready to move on to the real thing I'll think more about it.

Definitely saving the C128 when christmas rolls around then.

@irrlichtproject: Thanks for the generous offer! Unfortunately traveling across the entire country for a free TV isn't feasible for me smile