Chip tracking on a speccy
hey. im a long time tracker. but new to the ZX spectrum, i just heard some AY riders music and i find it very good!
how would i go about tracking on the spectrum?..eg. which spectrum. which software, and how to copy to a cassette
any help great appreciated
Ben
how would i go about tracking on the spectrum?..eg. which spectrum. which software, and how to copy to a cassette
any help great appreciated
Ben
Post edited by Chipchip on
Comments
If you're going for a real Spectrum (me, I find emulators do the job perfectly well...) you want a 128K or grey +2. (Avoid the +3 - many of them have a hardware fault which completely screws up AY sound.)
Software-wise, your main options are Soundtracker and SQ-Tracker, both available here: http://tcg.speccy.cz/zoom/ay.htm . SQ-Tracker is slightly more advanced, but Soundtracker has the advantage that I wrote a tutorial for it in ZXF magazine, issues 8-10. Protracker (no relation to the Amiga one) is the most advanced of all, but only really works on Russian Speccy clones.
Re copying to tape: http://www.worldofspectrum.org/soundload.html
As an alternative to all the above, you can use Vortex Tracker, which basically gives you all the capabilities (and complexity) of Protracker but in a Windows application.
but being as young as i am (13)..i dont quite understand the copying to tapes bit...how would i copy one of those trackers to tape from a windows xp
thanks for any help
ive just listened to a 28 minute long..interveiw style thing with AY riders..and i just recognised YOUR in them :)..love the stuff dude :D.
Depending on which tape deck you choose to buy/borrow/steal depends upon the best way to go about things.
For a Hifi deck where you have phono sockets (left and right) for in/output. You need a 3.5mm stereo plugto phono sockets for this - the 3.5mm jack goes to the sound card, the phono's obviously go to the tape deck.
Start the tape deck recording and then start the audio playing in Windows XP. Consult the user manual that comes with the tape deck on how to actually start recording.
For a small mono tape deck, you'll need a 3.5mm mono to 3.5mm mono lead. Exactly the same setup as for a hi fi deck, only the cable is different.
Experiment, you'll soon get the heng of it....
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/soundload.html#back
There is another way of doing this since you are already using XP.
Let's say you have an emulator running with whatever tracker you have chosen to use. Let's then say you have created a song.
While playing the song in the emulator on your XP, you can record it via the built-in recorder in XP (START->PROGRAMS->ACCESSORIES->ENTERTAINMENT->Sound Recorder) or you can choose to use a different software for recording the sound/music. The Sound Recorder within XP is crap but does the job.
Anywho, whatever your choise of a recording software, you should make sure that you are recording from the audio card and not a mic or some other doo-hickie you may have attached to your computer.
Example:
You have made a song. You want to record it. You use the above-mentioned Sound Recorder. Go to Edit -> Audio Properties, under Sound Recording (middle of the window) make sure it has your audio card as the Default device.
If you are using a different audio software, then you will probably be faced with slightly different choices but the end result is the same, just make sure you are recording from your sound card.
Then after you have recorded the sound/music on your computer, then you can play it back via the Line Out on your soundcard/computer. Connect the Line Out to a tape deck, and record onto a cassette.
Questions, comments, concerns, etc???
Skarpo
:-)
Anyway ... Chipchip if you don't want to save it as an audio-file to share with friends, then you can of course just record it straight to tape-deck the way Death described above.
Skarpo
:-)
sorry to be a pain in the arse..but i really dont know what you mean
thanks for helping though :D
I misunderstood you. I thought you just wanted to copy the music to tape, as I thought you were using an emulator on your XP.
Seeing as you want to copy the program itself then your best bet is to follow the instructions Gasman and Death gave above.
skarpo
:-)
I have to admit it's been a couple of years since I last used Taper and have completely forgotten how to use it.
*Maybe* I'll take a look at it tonight and come up with a simple step-by-step to how to use it.
Not a promise and there might be someone who beats me to it as it's 16:40 over here (USA).
Skarpo
:-)
all i want to do is make music similar to AY riders. if that helps :)
Use an emu on your XP. Load the program/tracker the long way (i.e. no fancy speedloaders, etc), have your line-out hooked up to a tape-deck and record the program to tape while it's loading in the emu.
This may/may not work. I've never tried it this way. Anyone else have a comment on this procedure? (I.e. will there be data blocks missing etc?)
Skarpo
:-)
thanks skarpo ill give it a try..just as soon as damn spectrum gets here
which emu would you reccomend for this?
Skarpo
:-)
whats the website?:)
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/emulators.html
And also here (though for some reason the site isn't poping up over here) :
http://www.zxspin.co.uk/
Mr. Needle also has an excellent emulator (sorry Dunny ;-) ):
http://www.spectaculator.com/
Skarpo
:-)