*** NEW Cronosoft release LUMASCII - 23/02/2013
Not afraid of a bit of hype, Cronosoft proudly presents the
cassette release of Bob Smith's epic 'LumASCII' on cassette
on Saturday 23/02/2012 - priced at ?3.99
Will be available to order tomorrow (or tonight if I get enough copies made up and the website updated)
Other CRONOSOFT news....
We re-issued the Commodore 16 game 'Church of Death' last weekend, plus we're reissuing Egghead round the Med, Egghead Entertains over the next couple of weekends.
Also, the cassette release of BUZZSAW is imminent. There will be a standard tape release, plus also a very limited special edition in a large box with badge, sticker etc.
Oh... and in case you missed it, we've got lots of lovely copies of 'BATTERY'S NOT PRECLUDED' available too, which was out a few weeks ago.
got to www.cronosoft.co.uk (or keep updated by joining us on www.facebook.com/cronosoftgames)
Ta....advert over. I'm going to give my ferret a good lathering.
cassette release of Bob Smith's epic 'LumASCII' on cassette
on Saturday 23/02/2012 - priced at ?3.99
Will be available to order tomorrow (or tonight if I get enough copies made up and the website updated)
Other CRONOSOFT news....
We re-issued the Commodore 16 game 'Church of Death' last weekend, plus we're reissuing Egghead round the Med, Egghead Entertains over the next couple of weekends.
Also, the cassette release of BUZZSAW is imminent. There will be a standard tape release, plus also a very limited special edition in a large box with badge, sticker etc.
Oh... and in case you missed it, we've got lots of lovely copies of 'BATTERY'S NOT PRECLUDED' available too, which was out a few weeks ago.
got to www.cronosoft.co.uk (or keep updated by joining us on www.facebook.com/cronosoftgames)
Ta....advert over. I'm going to give my ferret a good lathering.
Post edited by chaosmongers on
Comments
Regards,
Shaun.
Bob is offering this direct from his website:
http://www.bobs-stuff.co.uk/download.html
You can get a digital version there.
Hehe..yeah, surely the whole point in Cronosoft is to buy games on actual cassette so you can use them on your real Speccy! :lol:
What would be nice though, would be access to a digital download of a title you've already purchased on cassette...as I don't always have access to my Speccy! But then I'm noticing that this is happening more nowadays anyway, with yourself having something like a special edition of a game that's available to download from here!
I like that idea, and maybe some other programmers of recent Speccy games not on Cronosoft could stick a few extras together to make a special edition for you to sell!
For people just wanting emulator versions alone ....
The existing problem is that the Paypal shopping cart needs to add postage costs on, depending on final order amount. There isn't a way to have variable postage - e.g. postage cost on tapes, but not on .tap files by email.
I might set up another Paypal account, solely for emulator versions.
:)
How much for the Ferret?
Regards,
Shaun.
Here's a freebie...
Bobs = winning.
Regards,
Shaun.
I might just hit the detonate button :)
Perhaps a free Thirsty Ferret with the 1,000,000th copy sold?
Regards,
Shaun.
Plus re-issues of EGGHEAD 4 - Egghead Entertains, and EGGHEAD 5 - Round the Med will be available from this weekend (or EBAY from now, if you can't wait that long)
What's happening with new Cronosoft releases? The titles currently listed in this page as "coming soon in 2013" are exactly the same announced 2 years ago (for instance mentioned in this interview from 2011).
I'm particularly interested to know if ZINVADERS is still planned for release. People frequently ask about this game in Brazilian discussion lists, because it's a ZX81 game developed in Brazil that is still waiting for an official release...
Sadly, I have major problems getting ZX81 games onto tape. I can get them mastered to a CD, which will load back into a real ZX81 (usually), but when I record a tape from the CD master, that won't load back in :(
I was really looking forward to releasing Zinvaders, as well as Bob's great stuff too, but until I can get them loading OK, it's a problem.
If you run anything off onto tape (Anything at all for 48, 128 etc) is it working?
If it is a standard tape deck you are recording onto how does audio playback sound, if it sounds a little muffled then it means the alignment is off.
I had this issue with C64 and Spectrum 128k games. To align it took a while, I used some of the original higher quality tapes I own that had good treble and adjusted by ear. Managed to sort it and now when I run tapes out using Tapir and Audiotap everything works fine.
Also, if you have the output volume set to high then it creates distortion which causes issues with the loading.
I put a Azimuth Alignment guide together for a friend, if you want it I can put it into a document and send it to you.
Thanks a lot for the clarification. I'm glad to know there's still interest in releasing these games, and I hope these problems can be sorted out soon!
I use a SONY Audio CD recorder (hifi type, not a PC drive) playing the master CD, output to multiple hifi tape decks - a Pioneer, a Yamaha and a Denon. I've had no problems using this setup for stuff like Amstrad CPC, Speccy and Dragon 32 (though I use a slightly different configuration for Speccy). However, the ZX81 is another matter. I have no problems copying the shorter 1K ZX81 games pack. However, when it comes to longer 16K programs, is where the problem starts. I've tried several ZX81s with several 16K RAM Packs too, just in case I had a problem with faulty memory etc. The program audio sounds very clear without any distortion, and loading 'looks' fine (going by the bars on the screen). It's frustrating as to why it doesn't work, especially when the CPC and Dragon stuff is fine, and it's at a much high baud-rate than the ZX81. Whether I'm getting some kind of hum, hiss or something in the background, I don't know.
Are you saving out from a real ZX81 or an emulator? Are you trying to load back into a real bit of hardware, or just an Emulator? Dolby settings? Recording levels? Recording bias? If you play your WAV files out through a PC, it can matter what program you use to play - for example, VLC will distort the WAV if the volume tries to go too high, so only put it halfway up. WMP will colour the audio with more bass or more treble, depending on the settings (as will VLC for that matter). Some sampling programs "process" the hell out of the signal whilst recording it - some form of ALC, rounding of square wave peaks etc. Have you got a batch of duff tape - CrO2 instead of ferric? I've had problems with Tapir playing .TAP files that simply will not load back in, the possibilities are legion and you have no idea how my OCD would get kicked off with this.....
Your recording may be fine, ever thought that the tape deck or indeed, the ZX81 may be at fault? For example, I have THREE Ferguson 3T31 tape decks here, none of them will record or playback a program, yet they sound perfectly fine until you use an external loudspeaker to monitor playback. You can hear how muffled the audio is and yet I cannot find a fault. All three decks do exactly the same thing.
If I had a ZX81 I'd offer to help, alas, I can only test Spectrum after duplication - I still have the Alchemist Software gear here :)
The Invaders game just wouldn't load, but I've got a new set-up now that may work.
I'm not sure exactly what'll fit on one of those tiny disks, but I'll try and add them. I've only ever seen the fluffy demon one so far...
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
Heya Joe. Discs should hold about 28megs. I'll see if I can lay my hands on the sticker artwork. Also the final cover art, which is slightly different to the art I've already uploaded here and there.
:)