Coming Up 3 Projects For April
Added 2023-04-23 11:13:27 +0000 UTC
Comments
oh thats very helpful! im waiting for the sd card loader to turn up so i have everything infront of me before i tackle it but ill definitely be firing you an email then!
Look Mum No Computer
2023-04-30 23:05:54 +0000 UTCIf you get stuck give me a shout. I have written a python script that converts correctly formatted audio files to TZX files for loading into the SpecDrum software, as the block edit tool I used last time seems to have disappeared from the internet.
Matt Harrison
2023-04-30 22:42:42 +0000 UTCthanks matt ill be looking imnto this next week, great instructins you have made ill be giving it a go for the vid! cheers!
Look Mum No Computer
2023-04-25 14:45:42 +0000 UTCThere really wasn't much in the way of music software for the Spectrum, I think mainly due to its lack of hardware on the 48K versions. By the time the 128K versions came along with their AY-3-8912 chips the big developers were having the music written on different machines with matching chips and porting it over. Apart from Soundtracker the only self-contained music software that comes to mind is the mental "Wham! The Music Box" which I hated with a passion (but DID come with cheesy renditions of Wham songs). I just discovered that they did a 128K version of it minus the Wham license - no idea what it's like, seeing as I didn't know it existed until 5 minutes ago! Oh, in the twilight years of the Speccy there was Sampletracker as well, but I've never tried it. I've heard music made on it (and it sounded great) but given the complexity of Soundtracker and adding samples to the mix was all too much for my brain...
Irregular Shed ⾕ Steve Anderson
2023-04-24 13:38:23 +0000 UTCWow, cool! Glad I reached out. I started by dumping the memory of an emulator and looking for audio data. Once I found the format it used I recreated the audio block in audacity and dumped it back into the emulator’s memory. From there it was just a case of figuring out how the labels were stored and how to get the software to load it in from tape. I did a full write up at the time that was featured on hack a day, but my domain has changed since then and the link from there is broken (been meaning to fix that for a couple of weeks…) https://www.mjharrison.co.uk/loading-your-own-samples-into-the-cheetah-specdrum/ Something to watch is that the software does all mixing by just summing everything together, so if your samples are too loud the clipping will sound awful (the byte will overflow and you’ll get a big click). I got around this the first time by just making everything super quiet, but I’ve since written a python script to go through the exported audio block and look for clipping. https://github.com/mattybigback/SpecDrumTools
Matt Harrison
2023-04-24 06:27:49 +0000 UTCFunnily enough Matt I found your website ! Curious how you managed it. I was going to cover a couple of your kits in the vid! But also try load my own. Do you have any pointers?
Look Mum No Computer
2023-04-24 05:52:29 +0000 UTCAwesome! What other music programs am I checking out? Also got the soundtracker in the vid!
Look Mum No Computer
2023-04-24 05:51:51 +0000 UTCThe SpecDrum! I did some work reverse engineering the software and sample format that it used what I found out to produce my own kits for it. You can use them in the museum if you like. https://www.mjharrison.co.uk/specdrum-kits/
Matt Harrison
2023-04-23 22:53:35 +0000 UTCReally pleased to see the Specdrum getting your attention - in the early 90s I was writing for Your Sinclair magazine and have kept a flame burning for the Speccy for like 40 years now 😁
Irregular Shed ⾕ Steve Anderson
2023-04-23 21:54:24 +0000 UTC
