From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V5 #69 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Thursday, March 23 2000 Volume 05 : Number 069 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: RE: Atari ST's and Midi gear [Chris Cracknell ] Alloy: Ain't I a stinker. ["Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Re: Alloy: RE: Atari ST's and Midi gear In article , you wrote: >Hey Crackers.. > >Any thoughts on software for midi work on the PC? ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ From what I hear the version of Cubase Audio for the PC is a pretty good combination of Digital Recording and Midi Sequencing. CRACKERS (Still not going to give up my STs from hell!!) - -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 02:42:07 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: Alloy: RE: Atari ST's and Midi gear In article , you wrote: >Crackers, you have just dated yourself! ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ Oh I could date myself even further than that. The first computer program I ever wrote was on punched cards. The very first computer I ever used didn't have a monitor, just a printer. The very first computer I ever owned was programmed through hardware by rewiring the logic circuits (AND, OR, XOR etc) and had an amazing 12 bits (yes bits.. not bytes) of memory. I used to play amazing games on it like "Get the cabbage, goat, and farmer, across the river". Lightbulb A and M represented the farmer, B and L the goat, C and K the cabbage. E meant a conflict on the left bank, G meant a conflict on the right bank. Gave me endless seconds of fun to play. I even designed an addition 12 bit memory upgrade for it. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ >Atari ST! 1040 or 520? I used one for >years and yes it was very reliable. Are you using the Hybrid Arts software >or what? >I ran the Hybrid Arts SMPTE Track with the quad MIDI box on a 520, 1040 and >Mega 2 >(2 MB RAM!!! WOW! - with all my 720K floppies!) and a 30 MB external hard >drive >- about $800.00 if I remember right! Glad to hear that someone is still >using one. >I've got a friend with a 1040 and was thinking about grabbing it cheap if >he'll sell >it. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ I started using an Atari 1040ST w/ Sound Designer for editing samples for my Mirage. CZ-Phoenix for as a patch editor/librarian for my CZ-101. Dr. T's K-5 Editor Librarian. And the main workhorse program MT-Pro for all my sequencing needs. It's a very intuitive and easy to use sequencer unlike Notator which is more powerfull but much more complicated and difficult. Cuebase is another good one but I'm just too used to MT-Pro. Now adays I'm using a Mega 2ST that I got at the Goodwill for $15. But I have about a dozen 1040STs in back-up which I pick up in thrift stores if they're priced at $10 or less (which they almost always are). It's a great machine for midi work and they're dirt cheap now. I can usually find a monochrome monitor for $5 or less (and if you're using it for MIDI you'll want the monochrome) and the machines are easily found for $10 or less in thrift stores and garage sales. Gotta love it. I paid $1000 for my first ST with a colour monitor and at the time I was getting it on a deal from Atari. They were selling STs to computer store employees for less than cost (the retail on a colour 1040ST at this time was $1800 cnd) in the hopes that salespeople would be more likely to recommend their computers if they owned one themselves. Now there's less than $10. Man, if only I had a time machine I'd be rich. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ > What are you using for MIDI software on your Pentium? I am looking to >gear up >again but need to get some info on what's hot, what's not. Thanks, ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ I'm not. All my sequencing and other MIDI work is still being done on the ST. The only thing I use my pentium for music wise is digital recording. But if I was, for some bizarre reason, inspired to start using my pentium for MIDI I'd probably go with Cubase for the PC. Easy to use and powerful. CRACKERS (Love my ST from hell!!!!!!!!) - -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 04:55:31 -0500 (EST) From: andyjmail@cheerful.com Subject: Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V5 #67 Hi all, (I don't know why the digests are taking a day to arrive even though they're on the website, maybe AltaVista mail is playing up again ??) CDR... I've known problems with this, but only with cheap-n-nasty discs. I always make sure the discs I use are gold and not even slightly see-through. Some of the really horrid discs (green or blue) you can easily see light through! Obviously the laser pickup in a normal CD player needs as much reflected signal as it can to get the data it needs. I use Kodak Gold Ultima, about 75p each. I burn at x4 speed, and use Easy CD creator even though for some reason the disc-at-once option is greyed out (unavailable). I do the burn in one go, closing the session at the same time. I've tried my discs on numerous gear, even an old portable of hilarious dimensions from about 1987 (it has a tuner too, why don't they all have one? It gives music for quite some time after the battery can't manage to spin the disc). I've never had a problem with my recordings so far, thankfully. It's all in the discs, I reckon. I wouldn't use slightly cheaper disc, it's not worth skimping. The gold ones are supposed to last longer - so long as they still play when/if I ever get my 100th birthday telegram from the King (!) that'll do me! +AndyJ+ - ---------------------------------------------------------------- Get your free email from AltaVista at http://altavista.iname.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:33:17 -0500 From: "D'Arcy Salzmann" Subject: Alloy: OT: Request for esoteric MP3's (was: Latest CFNY Top 1002 List of What's Still Needed) Hey folks, This is a little off topic, but there highly focused team that I work with is compiling a set of CDs to map against the Top 1002 playlist from a local radio station. Should you be able to add to the collection, you would be welcome to a complete copy (you need to cover costs to the blank CD and shipping, but it might be worth it for such a rare anthology). This list of the want songs (in 128 KBPS, 44khz or better) is below. I can mail anyone interested the complete listing of 1002 songs should you be interested. Thanks in advance, Otto - -------------------------------------------------------- D'Arcy Salzmann Strategic Partner Manager KL Group Inc. 260 King St. East Toronto, ON, Canada M5A 1K3 e: darcy@klgroup.com v: 416 643-3593 f: 416 594-1919 w: http://www.klgroup.com The mysteries of Partners explained, mailto:partnerQ@klgroup.com Software Development Productivity! - --------------------------------------------------------- - -----Original Message----- Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 8:44 AM Subject: Latest CFNY Top 1002 List of What's Still Needed Thanks to the efforts of a number of people, the list of what's still needed is significantly whittled down. I've actually got enough songs to cut Disc #4 in the set, and all of you can expect a copy of this soon. Here's the latest list as to where things stand: (BTW: if anyone can find a good Web page/FAQ telling me how to do a good rip from vinyl let me know. I tried over the weekend but got too much line noise to make a good recording). Disc #1 - 1-135 (Complete) Disc #2 - 136-280 (Complete) Disc #3 - 281-425 Disc #4 - 426-570 (Complete) Disc #5 - 571-725 Disc #6 - 726-849 Disc #7 - 850-1002 What's Missing (Disc #3) 371 The Colourfield I Can't Get Enough Of You Baby 376 54 40 Love You All (Disc #5) 591 Chalk Circle April Fool 612 Gene Loves Jezebel Motion Of Love 715 B.B. Gabor Nyet Nyet Soviet (Disc #6) 738 The Odds Truth Untold 757 The Colourfield Pushing Up The Daises (Disc #7) 856 I Mother Earth Not Quite Sonic 860 Chalk Circle This Mourning 862 Images In Vogue Lust For Love 876 The Chameleons Up The Down Escalator 877 The Style Council My Ever-Changing Moods 886 The Beloved The Sun Rising 901 Heaven 17 Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry 906 Lloyd Cole & The Commotions Brand New Friend 923 The Parachute Club Rise Up 924 The Wonderstuff Unbearable 930 The Wild Strawberries Life Sized Marilyn Monroe 938 Furniture Brilliant Mind 967 Meryn Cadell The Sweater 973 Doughboys Shine 989 The Pursuit Of Happiness Hard To Laugh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 02:42:13 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Alloy: Ain't I a stinker. Heheheheheh!!!! I was telling a friend of mine (lead guitarist in the band I play with, actually) about my new CD-RW and my delight at being able to save all my old out of print cassettes from the 70s and 80s by burning them on CD. He was pretty amazed that I could do this and asked how it's done because he's only been copying audio from CD to CD-R. (I guess he's overlooking the obvious of sampling the audio off your stereo with your sound card). Since he knows what a hardware hacker I am (he was impressed with the file server I built for my old Atari 2600 videogame machine out of an old 386) I decided to see if I could pull his leg a little and concocted this explanation for how to dump a cassette tape onto a CD. Heheheh. What do you think? Do you think he'll fall for it? I guess it seems believable if you don't know much about computers and don't actually check the pinout of an RS232 port (I'll pulling it all out of my ass. I'm not going to spend that much time on a prank). Figure it'll make a good, early April's Fool joke. I'll be sure to tell him the actual way it's done incase he actually attempts to do this and blows his computer up. Can't wait to see his reaction. CRACKERS (I make my own fun from hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!) - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >Crackers, I havent been at the burning game very long, but I have only done >CD to CD-R. How do you connect a cassette player to your computer? Do you >need special software/hardware or am I just dumb? ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ Well I used a modified Commodore 64 cassette drive that I picked up at the goodwill but if you can find an Atari 1010 cassette drive it's even easier since it's already stereo. First replace the head in the C-64 cassette drive with a standard stereo tape head (you can buy one at radioshake for $6 or scavange one out of an old walkman/ghettoblaster). You will notice on the C-64 datasette circuit board that it was originally set up for stereo but this was scrapped to cut costs. It's too bad because the Atari 1010 was set up this way. The program would be on one track and they'd include regular audio on the other. The regular audio would be piped directly to your monitor so you'd get to listen to a song while the tape was loading. Back then some games would take up to 40 minutes to load so it was nice of them to include music to listen to. Made the wait go by quicker. There were also some educational programs that took advantage of this feature to incorporate speech into the program. Anyways, swapping the head is easy. Unscrew the old one, and unsolder it. You'll notice one lead goes directly to the unit's shield and the other goes to a junction on the board labled R. There is a wire bridge from this junction to another one labled L. Those are your Left and Right head feeds. So just remove the wire bridge, mount the new head and then solder the leads from the left and the right head feeds to the L and R junctions on the circuit board. You're done modifying the inside of the drive itself (like I said, you don't have to do this if you use an Atari 1010 cassette drive). Now don't put the case back on the datasette just yet, you most likely will have to align the heads (depends on how well the heads match the C-64 one to begin with. There's a screw on the mounting bracket that you adjust and it raises and lowers the head) but for now we're finished inside the machine. Now we take the data cable from the drive and modify it. What you need is a female DB-25 or DB-9 connector (depending on what type of serial port you have on your computer). The data from a datasette drive is serial data so that's why you hook it up to your RS232 port. You'll also need a regular silicon diode to put on the sync line. Cut the connector off the datasette cable and solder the wires to the appropriate pins on the DB connector with the exception of the sync line which you solder to the cathode of the diode and the anode of the diode goes to the sync pin on the DB connector. It sounds complicated in text but when you see the diagramme it'll be much easier to understand. Just match the coloured wires to the appropriate pins on the serial port. C-64 | Atari RS232 port Green Grey ------------ Ground Yellow Brown ------------ +5v Red Red ------------ Data 1 White White ------------ Data 2 Blue Green ----|<------ SYNC (diode) Bingo, you're done with the hardware hack. The pins are as follows on the DB connectors... DB 25 DB 9 RS232 1 1 Ground 12 6 Data 1 14 7 Data 2 25 9 SYNC 11 2 +5v Easy as pie. Now the software part is even easier because all we're dealing with is serial data but because of the protocol of these ancient datasettes you'll need a terminal program that supports X-Modem protocol. You can download a program called Delrina Freecomm off the internet. It's a DOS programme so you'll have to run it under the DOS window. What you do is select download and X-modem as the protocol but DON'T enable the CRC error correction because those old Atari and Commodore datasette drives were invented long before CRC error correction was. When you select download the terminal program will ask you for the file name. You can name it anything you want but make sure the file extension is .RAW (eg. let's say you were saving a Cheap Trick song you might nake it "CHEAP1.RAW"). Next the software will say "Waiting for file transfer from host". At this point press PLAY on the datasette. When it reached the end of the song (there must be no silence in the song at all or the transfer will be ended so any artsy songs with periods of silence in them will have to be saved as seperate sample files). Then just do this for every song you want to have sampled. Now if your CD Audio software supports the .RAW format then all you do is make your Audio CD as if you were making it from .WAV files on your hard drive. If it doesn't (and most do as far as I know, but you never know) then use any number of sample conversion programs on the internet to convert the .RAW sample into a .WAV or whatever your CD Burner software will accept. If you're using a C-64 datasette and the stereo seems messed up or unbalanced then adjust the screw on the head mount and raise or lower the head (if the balance seems heavy on the right then lower the head, if it seems heavy on the left then raise it) Tada! A relatively easy way to copy your audio cassettes onto CD. - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 22:52:12 -0500 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Ain't I a stinker. CRACKERS, God, that was funny! You are an evil evil man - and I love it!!! Oh. And you also have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on your hands. In appreciation of your good natured wickedness, /\/\iles ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V5 #69 **************************