TSC wrote:
I have no idea what you are even talking about anymore.
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IL, US
Invisible Robot Hands wrote:
TSC wrote:Amiga.
Approximate relevant answer to thread question.
nope, commodore 64/128 is very very different than amiga (just made by the same company).. what you did is the equivalent to saying you use lsdj on an emulator when someone asks who uses the NES
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hardcore, Australia
TSC wrote:
There are ways to modify/bypass this circuit (maybe I'll post these directions one day?)
I think I've still got this if you lost it. But I've yet to buy a soldering iron since my last one destroyed itself.
Last edited by godinpants (Apr 24, 2013 12:13 pm)
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New York City
*sigh*
Last edited by akira^8GB (Apr 24, 2013 5:37 pm)
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I'm not in the whole Amiga scene, so I have a question.
Like the Gameboy has a flashcart, the C64 has SD driver emulation. What do you need for the Amiga?
What kind of hardware is needed to run a 'new' tracker?
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Milwaukee, WI
W4LKR wrote:
What do you need for the Amiga?
A google search is highly recommended.
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Milwaukee, WI
And I don't say that to be a dick. There are too many variables to break down here, such as model, floppy, ide, pcmcia, tracker etc etc etc. There's even a problem with two different versions of the original .mod standard, which as luck would have it wasn't completely documented from what I understand.
The odds are against new users. I still suggest emulating a 1200.
Last edited by TSC (Apr 24, 2013 3:05 pm)
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Milwaukee, WI
Which reminds me, why the f*ck isn't Octamed open source yet?
edit: live set link removed
Last edited by TSC (Apr 24, 2013 4:14 pm)
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Montreal, Canada
W4LKR wrote:
I'm not in the whole Amiga scene, so I have a question.
Like the Gameboy has a flashcart, the C64 has SD driver emulation. What do you need for the Amiga?
What kind of hardware is needed to run a 'new' tracker?
The 600 and 1200 have a 2.5" IDE port so you can directly hook up an HD without any mods. Of course you still need to transfer shit to it. I've tried it all on my 1200 back in the days and the fastest/cheapest way is to buy a 4xEIDE adapter. That will give you 3.5" IDE connectors without having to really mod anything. You can get the ribbon cable out of your Amiga through the PCMCIA slot. You can then hook up a run of the mill CD drive (you'll still need to power it up however, so use an old PC PSU for that). Then all you have to do is burn your shit on CD and transfer that way. I was able to move about 8gb of data from PC to Amiga in about a day using that method.
There are also adapters that will replace the 2.5" IDE connector with a Compact Flash. It's a bit faster and much more silent, but also a bit more expensive.
If you've never used an Amiga before, you can get started quickly with a decently configured OS here: http://classicwb.abime.net/
Some must-have software for music: ProTracker 2.3, ProTracker 3.15, StarTrekker, AudioMaster 3, Audition 4.
There's really no reason to go for anything other than a 1200 these days. Unless you plan on running original games, in which case you'll definitely run into compatibility issues with the older ones. But in this day and age, pretty much every game every made has been ported to WHDLoad and it's really the only way to go unless you're hardcore retro.
It's suggested to get some kind of accelerator for it too if you can find one cheap. The main point isn't really the acceleration you'll get from them as much as the extra ram slots they offer. My last Amiga had 33mb ram running at ~40mhz with a Cobra accelerator.
But, unless you come upon a good deal, this will cost you a fair bit of money. You'll need a decent monitor unless you can shell out even more cash for a decent scandoubler (which are always out of stock....always) cause most software you want to use doesn't display on a VGA screen.
WinUAE is damn near perfect in every aspect and it's the reason why I eventually sold all my Amiga machines. There really is no reason to use old computers for "serious" computing so when all you need is a gaming rig and some old art/music software, emulation is definitely as good as the real thing in 99% of all cases. The 1% being if you want to use hardware like old sound/image digitizers for added authenticity..in which case I say: fuck you hipster, go listen to more skrillexcrement and get another 7$ latté 
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Milwaukee, WI
Oh, and prepare for some serious MIDI lag if you do go the emulation route.
...do yourself a favor and use Octamed instead of protracker. I'll give a list of reasons if I have to.
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New York City
*sigh*
Last edited by akira^8GB (Apr 24, 2013 5:36 pm)
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Milwaukee, WI
akira^8GB wrote:
Well I'll chip in again because the Amiga is usually (with some reason) pictured as this humongous unreachable elite beast, but it doesn't need to be that way, specially if your interest is music tracking.
n00bstar wrote:stuff...
You don't need a 4 way IDE interface (expensive), you should use a CF-IDE adapter (2 dollars) with CF card (15 dollars). Don't block your PCMCIA port because you can get a (cheap) PCMCIA CF or Multicard (SD) reader, great for transfers. You can connect your Amiga hard drive (or CF card) to your PC and read it with WinUAE (free) and install everything you need that way, easily and painless.
Accelerators (extremely expensive) are overpriced and useless for tracking. Speed makes no difference and Fast RAM CANNOT be used for samples, so they are absolutely pointless. Never get one.
Scandoublers (very exepensive) are also NOT needed. Amiga connects to ANY television set (cheap) just fine . Tracking works fine through composite video on any LCD/LED TV, and if you wanna go fancy you get an RGB cable (cheap). Everyone has a TV set at home, no need to mess with a VGA monitor (more expensive)Software wise, ClassicWB is a bloated install for Amigas with accelerators. Vanilla Workbench install is always best. No bloat. Go straight to AmigaDOS and then run Protracker for best results, no Workbench involved.
To sum up: if you want an Amiga, get it. Get the stock A1200 or A600. It will work great for Protracker, Octamed and many other programs. You can cheaply make it a bit better by adding a CF IDE device but it's not necessary. You can connect it to WHATEVER TV you have at home. And all this is rather accessible price-wise.
WinUAE is fantastic and I love it, but I like the sound output of the AD/DAs of the Amiga. also the keyboard is unbeatable.
I completely agree with this. There was a point when I went through the motions noobstar mentioned (1997/98?) but it's MUCH easier now, with cheap technology widely available. It's still a bitch, but less of one.
I second ClassicWB being bloated as hell. Go with the vanilla install like akira said.
I will add this:
Amigas are expensive (in the US anyway). It wasn't always this way. It has gone from "junk" to "antique." This is a huge part on why I am pro-emulation.
WinUAE is an absolute fuckstory to get working when dealing with CF harddrive cards on actual Amigas. Once you jump through the hoops though, it's passable. Sometimes. At this point you've probably realized you're a sadomasochist anyway. You should be ok if you're just emulating.
akira^8GB wrote:
Accelerators (extremely expensive) are overpriced and useless for tracking. Speed makes no difference and Fast RAM CANNOT be used for samples, so they are absolutely pointless. Never get one.
Fun fact: Octamed Soundstudio allows you to store/play all samples in fast ram. This effectively bypasses all of the sample length limitations found in other programs. You'll need an A1200 (or accelerator) to run it with decent results anyway. Unlimited sample length, 64 tracks of audio, 14bit playback and MIDI. It's software mixed, but you can change screenmodes mid-tracking to "f-o-o-l" it.
Last edited by TSC (Apr 24, 2013 4:43 pm)
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Milwaukee, WI
Why does "f-o-o-l" auto correct to "cat"? Try it!
fool
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New York City
*sigh*
Last edited by akira^8GB (Apr 24, 2013 5:36 pm)
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Montreal, Canada
*sigh*
I guess you all missed the "If you've never used an Amiga before" part of the recommendation about ClassicWB.
And even if an accelerator won't change dick for ProTracker, it will for Octamed, it will for AudioMaster/Audition and it will for the OS in general.
Glad to see however, that Amiga users haven't changed a bit in all those years. Still cherry picking about ten words in a page-long post just to try and piss farther than someone else 
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Milwaukee, WI
@akira: Ha! Yeah, I see your point. It's something I ask myself every day.
The software mixing isn't as bad as it may seem. It's nothing like the horrible 5-8ch modes found in some previous versions of Octamed/other trackers. You can adjust the mixing frequency during playback, so it's still just as "dirty" as a stock 4 channel sound...just a little different.
@anyone: As far as the version, the lineup is something like this:
Med1/Med2/Med3/Octamed4/Octamed5/Octamed6/Octamed Soundstudio/Octamed Soundstudio 2 (beta...fucking sucks)
On limited memory machines (A500), Octamed4 is generally what you want to use. On machines where you have a bit of memory to spare (A600/A1200) Octamed5 is preferred. For accelerated machines Octamed Soundstudio is unmatched. This is if you want to go the Octamed route, of course. Protracker is by far superior to Octamed when dealing with memory limitations.
Another fun fact: You can use Arexx scripts in Soundstudio to basically write your own plugins.
People can/will argue about this, so take it for what it is. 
@noobstar: Who's having a pissing match here? A first time amiga user shouldn't have a bunch of unnecessary bloat in their OS. Just sayin!
Last edited by TSC (Apr 24, 2013 5:49 pm)