5 ms·

Music Studio: Windows-based C64 SID music creator software

69 points by sohkamyung 4y ago

warning26 4y ago
This looks cool! Would be interesting if someone could use wine and webassembly to create a version that runs in the browser.
- sirjaz 4y ago
  But why, Native is always better
  - Razengan 4y ago
    Mac/Linux users who loved the C64 would love a native version for their systems too, but would settle for a web app.
  - vintermann 4y ago
    If native is better, there's always the option of a program running on the C64 itself. I know Blackbird is good, and SID-Wizard is also quite popular. The ergonomics aren't as bad as you'd expect...or, not as bad as I would expect anyway.
bartread 4y ago
I'm a big fan of Deflemask, but this does look cool. Will have to have a play later. Sounds fantastic, and I really do love the low level looking interface. Hoping it allows "poking the pins" directly, but will need to have a proper look this evening. Great work!
- jeffalyanak 4y ago
  Have you ever checked out Furnace Tracker? It's very similar (with compatibility for deflemask modules) but with expanded PSG support and a lot of fixes to accuracy.
- 0xblood 4y ago
  I believe Deflemask uses exactly the same SID emulation, so it should sound the same? Haven't compared it because I don't have Windows
dmclamb 4y ago
Great memories.
owl_vision 4y ago
http://www.sidmusic.org/sidplay/mac/ http://www.sidmusic.org/sidplay/mac/ <quote> SIDPLAY is a Commodore 64 music player. It emulates the sound chip and other internals of the Commodore 64 home computer to play back music that was originally written on it. The sound chip of the C64 is called the Sound Interface Device or SID, and therefore this music is known as SID music. The SID chip is basically a three voice synthesizer on a chip. The unusual combination of digital and analogue circuitry is the reason for its distinctive sound. </quote>
thewebcount 4y ago
Can someone explain this to me? I recently wrote some music for a friend’s 8-bit video game. I did what any sane composer would do and composed it using a DAW and my synths. I then made a MIDI file and brought that into the tracker app that translated it into Z80 assembly. The app I used was Arkos Tracker 2[0] which appears to be a direct UI translation of an old Atari music app. I can understand it having such an obtuse interface back when you used it on an 8-bit Atari computer, but why on earth would anyone start writing music in such an app today when there are free tools like Garage Band (and I’m sure equivalents on other platforms) that allow you to work like a musician instead of a programmer. (And I say that as a programmer.) It would be like a word processor that required you to enter your text as the hexadecimal values for the ASCII characters you want. I get having tools to tweak the generated code, but why not have a musical interface as the main way of entering your musical data? That said, I thoroughly enjoyed working within the constraints of an 8 bit platform. It was a challenge and a joy! [0] https://www.julien-nevo.com/arkostracker/ https://www.julien-nevo.com/arkostracker/
- wellytopness 4y ago
  Usually to get the best out of the SID the music and the instruments need to be hand optimised to work within SID constraints. This usually means being able to edit the bits/values sent to the SID hardware, which is quite a low level task. This MusicStudio tool does allow MIDI files to be imported for final tweaking and optimisation.
- antiterra 4y ago
  Some musicians think like programmers and writing with characters in columns and rows is as comfortable as writing notes on a staff. That’s why there are trackers that output MIDI events and even a tracker based DAW (Renoise.) I’ve known musicians who considered their own use of trackers to be a kind of ‘cheating’ because it was so much more comfortable to use a tracker and churn something out vs say, performing and fixing it in a piano roll. For some platforms, tracking is also much closer to what is actually happening with how sounds are triggered versus the effects vs the event based aspect of MIDI.
  - 4y ago
terlisimo 4y ago
Here's a page that compares different SID trackers: http://chordian.net/c64editors.htm http://chordian.net/c64editors.htm It's no longer updated but still kinda relevant.
billfruit 4y ago
Is it made in Java?

69 points by sohkamyung 4y ago

This looks cool! Would be interesting if someone could use wine and webassembly to create a version that runs in the browser.

sirjaz 4y ago
But why, Native is always better
- Razengan 4y ago
  Mac/Linux users who loved the C64 would love a native version for their systems too, but would settle for a web app.
- vintermann 4y ago
  If native is better, there's always the option of a program running on the C64 itself. I know Blackbird is good, and SID-Wizard is also quite popular. The ergonomics aren't as bad as you'd expect...or, not as bad as I would expect anyway.

bartread 4y ago

I'm a big fan of Deflemask, but this does look cool. Will have to have a play later. Sounds fantastic, and I really do love the low level looking interface. Hoping it allows "poking the pins" directly, but will need to have a proper look this evening. Great work!

jeffalyanak 4y ago
Have you ever checked out Furnace Tracker? It's very similar (with compatibility for deflemask modules) but with expanded PSG support and a lot of fixes to accuracy.
0xblood 4y ago
I believe Deflemask uses exactly the same SID emulation, so it should sound the same? Haven't compared it because I don't have Windows

dmclamb 4y ago

Great memories.

owl_vision 4y ago

http://www.sidmusic.org/sidplay/mac/ http://www.sidmusic.org/sidplay/mac/ <quote> SIDPLAY is a Commodore 64 music player. It emulates the sound chip and other internals of the Commodore 64 home computer to play back music that was originally written on it. The sound chip of the C64 is called the Sound Interface Device or SID, and therefore this music is known as SID music. The SID chip is basically a three voice synthesizer on a chip. The unusual combination of digital and analogue circuitry is the reason for its distinctive sound. </quote>

thewebcount 4y ago

Can someone explain this to me? I recently wrote some music for a friend’s 8-bit video game. I did what any sane composer would do and composed it using a DAW and my synths. I then made a MIDI file and brought that into the tracker app that translated it into Z80 assembly. The app I used was Arkos Tracker 2[0] which appears to be a direct UI translation of an old Atari music app. I can understand it having such an obtuse interface back when you used it on an 8-bit Atari computer, but why on earth would anyone start writing music in such an app today when there are free tools like Garage Band (and I’m sure equivalents on other platforms) that allow you to work like a musician instead of a programmer. (And I say that as a programmer.) It would be like a word processor that required you to enter your text as the hexadecimal values for the ASCII characters you want. I get having tools to tweak the generated code, but why not have a musical interface as the main way of entering your musical data? That said, I thoroughly enjoyed working within the constraints of an 8 bit platform. It was a challenge and a joy! [0] https://www.julien-nevo.com/arkostracker/ https://www.julien-nevo.com/arkostracker/

wellytopness 4y ago
Usually to get the best out of the SID the music and the instruments need to be hand optimised to work within SID constraints. This usually means being able to edit the bits/values sent to the SID hardware, which is quite a low level task. This MusicStudio tool does allow MIDI files to be imported for final tweaking and optimisation.
antiterra 4y ago
Some musicians think like programmers and writing with characters in columns and rows is as comfortable as writing notes on a staff. That’s why there are trackers that output MIDI events and even a tracker based DAW (Renoise.) I’ve known musicians who considered their own use of trackers to be a kind of ‘cheating’ because it was so much more comfortable to use a tracker and churn something out vs say, performing and fixing it in a piano roll. For some platforms, tracking is also much closer to what is actually happening with how sounds are triggered versus the effects vs the event based aspect of MIDI.
- 4y ago

terlisimo 4y ago

Here's a page that compares different SID trackers: http://chordian.net/c64editors.htm http://chordian.net/c64editors.htm It's no longer updated but still kinda relevant.

billfruit 4y ago

Is it made in Java?