Atari 2600 Hacks 107
olclops writes "Check out this guy's projects. He's an Atari 2600 programmer who's created, among other things, a cartridge that uses the 2600's sound generators to turn your atari into a full polyphonic synthesizer! The demos sound insane. Imagine being able to play console-perfect pitfall music from an atari hooked up to an amp. His other games look cool, too. Apparently, he'll be at the Classic Gaming Expo next weekend."
Re:Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 54 (Score:1)
What could be geekier? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What could be geekier? (Score:1)
good timing (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
The New Old School Band (Score:4, Funny)
On another note, if we put together a beowulf cluster of these, would we have a symphony? "Slashdot Symphony in AC Major..."
Re:The New Old School Band (Score:2)
Why? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why? (Score:1)
i don't normally quote users outside of a thread, but...
"Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away." - Rob Malda
(User #1 Info) [slashdot.org]
also, the musical style is very similar to something i enjoy immensely.
Re:Why? (Score:1)
I think "why" isn't as important as just accomplishing the goals you set for yourself.
Now what have you done lately?
Re:Why? (Score:1)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
For those who don't, no explanation is possible.
He's an Atari 2600 programmer ... (Score:5, Funny)
Now there's something that looks good on the 'ol resume.
Re:He's an Atari 2600 programmer ... (Score:2)
Demos are not JUST 2600s... (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, old sound chips do have many unique qualities. I'd love one of these. Now if only he'd sodder MIDI into one...
Re:Demos are not JUST 2600s... (Score:1)
Re:Demos are not JUST 2600s... (Score:1)
Re:Demos are not JUST 2600s... (Score:1)
Re:Demos are not JUST 2600s... (Score:2)
So in essence I didn't RTFA, but in my defense, the links provided should have been the "pure" links....
It's a minor detail, I still think it's cool. What's the point of having a synth you cant' drown in effects anyways?
very cool (Score:1)
A very interesting hack though. To think it runs in just 128 bytes in the RAM!
Re:very cool (Score:2, Insightful)
Can we really trust this? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Can we really trust this? (Score:1)
Although right after my
This is great! (Score:2, Informative)
I hope the guy that is manufacturing the carts [charter.net] doesn't get overly slashdotted so I can get mine!
Re:This is great! (Score:4, Interesting)
But, the terible part about this is that to make one of these, 2 C= 64's have to "die". Last I checked, noone was making the chip and since noone is making the C=64 now, this is sadly causing the destruction of the last "good" C-64's.
I truly think the SIDstation is kewl, but I'ld actually like to see them start making new chips for this purpose. Or, better yet, break the C=64 down to a single chip (more than do-able) and turn it into a PDA...imagine all of the applications for a handheld C= 64...this way they would also have some processing power with that SID chip...
Re:This is great! (Score:1)
Re:This is great! (Score:2)
I vaugely remembered hearing discussions about a C64 on a ISA/PCI card, but don't know if it's real or if one can even be found today.
c64 works without sid, too (Score:1)
Re:This is great! (Score:1)
Re:This is great! (Score:1)
Re:This is great! (Score:1)
Re: If ya like tha SID chip: (Score:1)
alex
YOU spoke TOO soon.... (Score:1)
You spoke TOO soon! Check out the CommodoreOne, [geocities.com] a re-creation of the famous C64, through the use of modern components.
(PS- Jeri, the lady making it, is a fine-looking female!)
Re:YOU spoke TOO soon.... (Score:1)
Kewl project though...(and yes, she does look good)
Re:This is great! (Score:2)
Plus it says you get a free SID chip with every purchase...
Are they actually making the new chips or just buying up old stock? I see the cards have a C= logo on them...so they're probably old stock. From reading that, it seems that you are only getting a card that can take 4 SID chips...not a card with 4 SID chips...and that's why they are giving a "Free SID Chip with every card"...
I wonder how difficult it would be for ppl to start making new SID chips...it sounds like there might be a market for em...
Wow! (Score:1)
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Re:Wow! (Score:1)
yes but... (Score:1)
Re:yes but... (Score:1)
hahahahahahahaha
At least pick good music (Score:3, Insightful)
If you want to talk real Atari 2600 music, then at least pick something cool like California Games [atariage.com] ('Louie, Louie' and 'Wipeout') or BMX Airmaster [atariage.com]. Heck, even Pressure Cooker [atariage.com] had a catchy freakin' tune that puts Pitfall to shame.
If by Pitfall [atariage.com] you really mean Pitfall II [atariage.com], then that wasn't really the Atari 2600 doing all the sound. That was a special chip on the cartridge (similar to the hack done with Ballblazer [atariage.com] on the Atari 7800) that was handlin the cool music. It was awesome, that I'll admit, but it really isn't the 2600 doing the work and the emulators that support it had to add specific support for that particular cartridge to make the music work correctly.
Re:At least pick good music (Score:1)
for those interested (Score:2, Interesting)
Strange place to find it... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Strange place to find it... (Score:1, Interesting)
Are you ready for complex, thought-provoking rock?, July 29, 2002 Reviewer: kwakerjak (see more about me) from Reinholds, PA United States
If so, you are in the wrong place, mister. Andrew W.K.'s first blip on the music scene's radar came in early 2001, when he became a darling of the British music press by not being Radiohead. For those who simply need a break from confusing concept albums that don't always sound like rock, Andrew W.K. is a lifesaver: his music is loud and catchy, and his lyrics are defiantly stupid, almost as if he were trying to get people to stop thinking while listening to his music.
Re:Strange place to find it... (Score:1)
But, then again, why do you think you have to berate other people's taste in music???
Re:Is this really relevant? (Score:1)
i like it... (Score:4, Insightful)
most of the comments on this story have been trolls, or sad people on about why does this belong here. it belongs because it's cool.
slashdot may be news for nerds and stuff that matters, but stuff appears on slashdot also because of it's encentric appeal or sheer coolness. don't forget it.
btw, i had a 2600 with star raiders back in the early eighties. it came with one of those 'keyboard' pads, which i tried to plug into my spectrum and monitor the outputs so that i could use it with a game i was writing. i got nothing out of it that the machine could read, so i'm actaully glad that someone used them for something else apart from the one or two games that needed them.
Re:i like it... (Score:2)
And he sells them. Enough people think he's on to something that it's a paying proposition. He sells enough that in April he dropped the prices. I'm surprised the trolls haven't been complaining about /. using the front page for advertising, even though that's not at all what the story's about. It's impressive as hell, and the fact that it's totally useless doesn't really matter.
Sound insane... (Score:1, Interesting)
They don't sound much more impressive than C64 demos (and probably less so, in fact), they just have nice postproduction!
GRONK PISSHA PI-GRONK GRONK PISSHA! (Score:3, Funny)
as mentioned above, the sidstation [sidstation.com] uses SID chips from the commodore 64 to generate all sorts of crazeh beeps and gronks-- the site also has a ton of demos [sidstation.com] as well.
for all you crazeh c64 SID toon fans, be sure to check out the High Voltage SID Collection [freeuk.com]! tons of great SID toons from your childhood, including, but not limited to:
- Contra! bew bew bee boop ba boodaboop!
- Commando! chikkachikkabowgronk!
- Ultima IV! ba blinng! ba da bling! ba da bling. ba da blonng...
- and who could forget the cutting edge voice synth of Neuromancer? SSSHOMM SHINNGS MMEEEVVERR CHANNNSGE!
you'll need the SIDPlay plugin [geocities.com] to listen to these things with winamp. don't forget you can move the slider doohickey to choose from multiple tracks within each SID toon! WOOHOO!
Off Topic? (Score:2, Informative)
My Brother, who is an Insane Genius©, Has been using Atari systems, mainly the 800 [atari-history.com]'s and the Mega ST [atari-history.com], since around '87 I think; He's got them hacked all to hell, built a scanner head into a printer, Parallel processing with random mutated code, good stuff like that.
These machines are incredible for their era, which is not surprising considering they pretty much lost all the best talent in the company to Amiga [atari-history.com].
Enjoy Freenet [freenetproject.org] & Frost [sourceforge.net] while you can.
Result of profound research (Score:1)
Underuse of Technology (Score:2)
It really makes me think of how underused most technology is before we discard it and "upgrade" to the next better thing.
I think we need more people like this who innovate new ideas into old technology and use it in ways it was never thought of to be used in, even if it is just for a hobby or personal employment. (Did I just say we need more hackers?)
Also, check the songs he made with TWO ataris, wild.Synthcart Beat Programming Contest (Score:2, Informative)
Len Charest even created a web-based Synthcart Beat Data Generator [cogent.net] for the contest to assist people in generating the beatdata.h file necessary to recompile the beats binary that you could then run on an Atari 2600 to listen to your creations.
Doom for the 2600 (Score:1)
Sound Quality And Commercial Use (Score:2, Interesting)
However i would have a few questions. First, what is the root device acting as the synthesizer. I believe that Atari was only capable of creating monophonic sounds from its own synthisizer. It is not possible to force and old synthesizer to create something it was not designed to do. Howver what i think that this guy did was create a synthesizer in a box, and used some good electronic engineering techniques to use the same electrical lines as the sound and control input/output, circumventing any microprocessing from the 2600 root board. Also i do question what type of sound quality the machine produces. If the lines inside the 2600 (soldered on a circuit board) are in good condition then he could transfer CD quality music through them. However impedance differences might create problems using noncommercial sound equipment. I applaud the man for creating a device that does indeed hack the Atari 2600, but maybe its not as cool as we thought
And if you really like that kind of music... (Score:1)
Sorry, I meant to say Nintendo Teenage Robots (Score:1)
Yeah
Someone hacked my Atari 2600 once... (Score:2)
I scratched my head in wonderment until I notice Pitfall Harry stop in his tracks, give me the finger, and a crudely-drawn voice bubble appeared above his head with the words "1 0wnz0r j00R VCS, fagit!!!"
Right away I knew I had been hacked, so I immediately lifted the phone cradle off my modem. Fortunately, it was only a 300 baud connection, so the culprit only made of with a K or so of the Pitfall! ROM that was inserted into the cartridge slot at the time. And simply cycling the power on the console wiped any malicious code he might have entered directly into the 2k of onboard RAM...
Phew! Close calls...
What about those sticks? (Score:1)
See how long you can DJ for before your hands fall off!
Synthcart (Score:2, Informative)
Programming the Atari 2600 is pretty unusual. I had never programmed anything else like it. The 128 bytes of RAM and crazy cycle dependency is really satisfying to conquer. For in-depth info on Atari 2600 programming, check out The Dig [neonghost.com].
I've always had fun getting music out of devices that weren't really intended for it. One day I whipped together a really simple music program on the 2600 and it sounded so neat that I just kept adding features.
The Synthcart does just use the Atari 2600's built in sound circuits. The only modification I did to my Atari was to get the audio before it goes to the RF modulator, but this was just for convenience. The 2600 has two independent oscillators. It's basically got 8 different waveforms, 4 bit volume control, and 5 bit pitch. The biggest limitation is the pitch since it's just divided down from the system clock, so you don't end up with many in-tune notes.
There are a lot of other great Atari 2600 homebrew authors out there doing some neat stuff. You'll find most of their works on Hozer Video [hozervideo.com] and you can find info on works in progress on Atariage [atariage.com].
See you at CGE!
-Paul