Plogue's chipspeech is going to give you the most flexibility if you're using it with a DAW. They also have a free singing synth as well here
2 Dec 19, 2020 3:08 pm
Topic: dj tool (wip) (2 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)
I recently started working on a DJ tool that can link 2 c64's together via serial cable. Here's a video of my progress through November:
As well as sync the running tracks can be manipulated by an fx chain with snapshots, if you've used VSTs like Stutter Edit you'll get the idea. When a track has been setup it can be saved with the config back to disk so you don't need to redo your work when playing a new set.
I did have previous demos using multiple SIDs to run tracks on the same machine, however from my research most people's dual SID setups don't have indivudal outputs. Instead if a second SID exists it can be used for echo effects or routing FX out of the chain early.
3 Oct 13, 2020 5:46 pm
Re: defMON (438 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)
Hello, I used the tutorial here to get two copies of Vice 3.1 talking. Though I set them both to 2400 baud because the Vice docs said to.
I haven't tried running two copies of Defmon with that method. In that video I'm opening a file on device 2, sending a byte over and then checking if it's arrived at the other end with the kernal routines. Not very useable in audio but I'd been messing around with settings for an hour by then. (my fault)
The first byte that gets sent looked broken to me but the rest were fine, again that could well be my doing.
; ON BOTH
LDA #NAME2-NAME
LDY #>NAME
LDX #<NAME
JSR $FFBD ;SETNAM (SEND BAUD RATE)
LDA #2
LDX #2
LDY #0
JSR $FFBA ;SETLFS (SET DEVICE #2)
JSR $FFC0 ;OPEN
NAME .byte $0a,$00 ; first value is baud rate.
NAME2
; FOR TALKING COMPUTER
LDX #2 ;LOGICAL FILE #2
JSR $FFC9 ;CHKOUT
LDA #$41 ; SEND BYTE OVER
JSR $FFD2 ; CHROUT
; FOR LISTENING COMPUTER (HALTS MACHINE UNTIL BYTE ARRIVES, BAD)
LDX #2 ;LOGICAL FILE #2
JSR $FFC6 ; CHKIN
JSR $FFCF ; CHRIN 4 Oct 10, 2020 12:57 am
Re: defMON (438 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)
I can show you a couple of videos of earlier tests. The idea is tracks run from a master tempo (from one of the songs) with other tracks syncing to that, then channels can be mixed and matched and have some software effects applied to them. Instead of using the drive I'd probably go with a 'record bag' approach, where there's a tool to build a set of songs compressed with the editor and then you can unpack them into memory for playing as the set goes on.
5 Oct 9, 2020 6:46 pm
Re: defMON (438 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)
Thanks, will do. I'll try this out.
6 Oct 9, 2020 11:21 am
Re: defMON (438 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)
slightly offtopic but, Frantic do you have any info on how you implemented that defSync feature with the serial cable? I'm looking at options to add this in my mixing tool rather than using dual sids on the same machine. Did you do a serial talk and listen setup or did it need more work to get beat matching?
7 Oct 3, 2020 5:48 pm
Re: where did all the thousands of 8bc users go? (62 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Surely it's good that people feel comfortable enough to post their music on any site though? It's nice to not feel the need to put a bunch of context up with tracks or lump chipmusic together in one place, regardless of style or genre within it. It's just on music sites like anything else now.
8 Jun 21, 2020 11:28 am
Topic: Mini SEQ (minimal visual sequencer) (3 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)
This is a minimal sequencer with live play functions that combines editing text screens with the SID chip. It is inspired in part by 100 Rabbits' "Orca", EKO ComputeRhythm videos and the fact that the c64 screen rows and SID register counts match.
By changing the petscii characters on the screen you set values into the SID registers or add to existing values for each beat
of the sequence.
Knowledge of the SID chip is a plus, but there are various demo tracks to experiment with included.
9 Apr 4, 2020 11:10 am
Re: GB Tracker which outputs MOD (14 replies, posted in Software & Plug-ins)
Is the old Milkytracker still supported? Anyway that might be another option. If the Protracker/FT2 modern remakes don't work for you the originals run just fine under emulators. (I've been using FT2 in Dosbox for years) One extra note on OpenMPT: If you're trying to beat sync your track against a sequencer this has a super-accurate BPM mode included, some of the older trackers tend to drift over time.
10 Feb 7, 2020 8:40 pm
Re: the future of chiptune? (29 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Most people moved over to social media rather than forums, follow a couple of the bigger chip artists on Twitter for example and you'll see there's plenty going on. I don't know about the US scene but at least in Europe there's still live specific events, though a lot of people are getting along fine playing 'normal' gigs with other types of artists.
11 Oct 25, 2019 3:17 pm
Re: How does it work live? (12 replies, posted in General Discussion)
A few years back a lot of people were using the old Behringer 802 mixer. It's cheap (40 quid last time I looked), reliable enough, has a decent set of jack and mic inputs for the price and gives you either the RCA stereo or jack outputs that any front of house mixer is looking for. There's no fx though, it's just an input/output box with some basic EQ. Seeing as a lot of chip gigs have multiple artists, giving the stage crew a single output from your rig is a lot easier for everybody.
12 Aug 18, 2019 10:54 am
Re: Adding more patterns on Goattracker (3 replies, posted in General Discussion)
You can also use the [ and ] keys to cycle through patterns in the main window, though you'll still need to type the numbers into the order list to have them in your song.
13 Apr 13, 2019 9:13 pm
Re: c64 sid + midi driver (and demo) (3 replies, posted in Releases)
This now has a quick tutorial:
14 Apr 1, 2019 9:43 pm
Topic: c64 sid + midi driver (and demo) (3 replies, posted in Releases)
I've just uploaded an Ate Bit demo using my new sid + midi cartridge driver. This allows you to use probably any tracker to make
12 channel music. (3 x sid + 9 x midi channels simultaneously, but all 16 midi channels are available in your song)
Here's a demo of it working:
Sourcecode, docs + demos are in the download at CSDB here
For the demo track I used two Goat Tracker songs together (one mono, one stereo) but probably the easiest way is Sid Wizard's 3SID mode so you have all tracks editable at once. 
15 Mar 25, 2019 7:01 pm
Re: The Chiptune Blog (7 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Surely a podcast would be a better idea, seems a more modern approach especially if you're going to do interviews
16 Dec 25, 2018 7:29 pm
Re: defMON (438 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)
Yeah, $08 on the first frame before you set the gate will give you a solid start. Have the gate set for two frames to give it a really solid start before switching it off. (eg: $08,$41,$41,$40)