Michael J. Mahon

With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger
of _8-Bit Weapon_, I've impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer
for the Apple II.

It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where
each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of
these patterns, any one of 8 percussive voices can be played at any
1/16th note boundary. In addition, the "pitch" for playing back the
percussion sample can be specified, which is useful for pitched drums,
like tom-toms.

Like RT.SYNTH (which Seth also offers as DMS Synthesizer) DMS Drummer
uses the DAC522 5-bit 22kHz pulse-width-modulation wavetable synthesizer
engine, driven by a sequencer that runs in real time. DAC522 represents
"silence" as pairs of 6 cycle pulses spaced 46 cycles apart, regardless
of whatever the code is doing--which subroutine it's calling or which
branch path it's taking. Executing "branchy" code while maintaining
a constant stream of evenly spaced pulses is pretty tricky, but it must
be done if the sequencer is to keep silent except for the desired
sounds.

Seth is offering the full version on his website:
http://www.8bitweapon.com/store.htm
for $15, but the demo version (downloadable both from my website
and his) is free for you to play with! It is limited to 8 distinct
programmable patterns and the Save function is disabled.

Listen to the sample song, created by Seth, on either of our websites
to hear the realistic rhythm line that an 8-bit Apple II can produce!
The melody and bass lines are being played on RT.SYNTH, so the only
non-Apple II-produced sounds are the "explosions" (which could also
have been played by SOUND.EDITOR on an Apple II!).

-michael

DMS Drummer for more rhythmic Apple II computing!
Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."

Marc S. Ressl

On Nov 29, 11:33*pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
> With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger
> of _8-Bit Weapon_, I've impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer
> for the Apple II.
>
> It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where
> each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of
> these patterns, any one of 8 percussive voices can be played at any
> 1/16th note boundary. *In addition, the "pitch" for playing back the
> percussion sample can be specified, which is useful for pitched drums,
> like tom-toms.
>
> Like RT.SYNTH (which Seth also offers as DMS Synthesizer) DMS Drummer
> uses the DAC522 5-bit 22kHz pulse-width-modulation wavetable synthesizer
> engine, driven by a sequencer that runs in real time. *DAC522 represents
> "silence" as pairs of 6 cycle pulses spaced 46 cycles apart, regardless
> of whatever the code is doing--which subroutine it's calling or which
> branch path it's taking. *Executing "branchy" code while maintaining
> a constant stream of evenly spaced pulses is pretty tricky, but it must
> be done if the sequencer is to keep silent except for the desired
> sounds.
>
> Seth is offering the full version on his website:
> * *http://www.8bitweapon.com/store.htm
> for $15, but the demo version (downloadable both from my website
> and his) is free for you to play with! *It is limited to 8 distinct
> programmable patterns and the Save function is disabled.
>
> Listen to the sample song, created by Seth, on either of our websites
> to hear the realistic rhythm line that an 8-bit Apple II can produce!
> The melody and bass lines are being played on RT.SYNTH, so the only
> non-Apple II-produced sounds are the "explosions" (which could also
> have been played by SOUND.EDITOR on an Apple II!).
>
> -michael
>
> DMS Drummer for more rhythmic Apple II computing!
> Home page: *http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/
>
> "The wastebasket is our most important design
> tool--and it's seriously underused."

My hats off to you!

Finally I have an argument against the C64 people :-DDD.

Marc.-

Michael J. Mahon

"Marc S. Ressl" <mressl@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 29, 11:33 pm, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>> With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger
>> of _8-Bit Weapon_, I've impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer
>> for the Apple II.
>>
>> It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where
>> each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of
>> these patterns, any one of 8 percussive voices can be played at any
>> 1/16th note boundary. In addition, the "pitch" for playing back the
>> percussion sample can be specified, which is useful for pitched drums,
>> like tom-toms.
>>
>> Like RT.SYNTH (which Seth also offers as DMS Synthesizer) DMS Drummer
>> uses the DAC522 5-bit 22kHz pulse-width-modulation wavetable synthesizer
>> engine, driven by a sequencer that runs in real time. DAC522 represents
>> "silence" as pairs of 6 cycle pulses spaced 46 cycles apart, regardless
>> of whatever the code is doing--which subroutine it's calling or which
>> branch path it's taking. Executing "branchy" code while maintaining
>> a constant stream of evenly spaced pulses is pretty tricky, but it must
>> be done if the sequencer is to keep silent except for the desired
>> sounds.
>>
>> Seth is offering the full version on his website:
>> http://www.8bitweapon.com/store.htm
>> for $15, but the demo version (downloadable both from my website
>> and his) is free for you to play with! It is limited to 8 distinct
>> programmable patterns and the Save function is disabled.
>>
>> Listen to the sample song, created by Seth, on either of our websites
>> to hear the realistic rhythm line that an 8-bit Apple II can produce!
>> The melody and bass lines are being played on RT.SYNTH, so the only
>> non-Apple II-produced sounds are the "explosions" (which could also
>> have been played by SOUND.EDITOR on an Apple II!).
>>
>> -michael
>>
>> DMS Drummer for more rhythmic Apple II computing!
>> Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/
>>
>> "The wastebasket is our most important design
>> tool--and it's seriously underused."
>
> My hats off to you!
>
> Finally I have an argument against the C64 people :-DDD.
>
> Marc.-

;-)

Glad you like it, Marc!

It's great fun getting the Apple II to do things it "can't do". ;-)

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon

bloomer_au

Looking forward to trying this bigtime!

My goal is to take it to the next of my every-two-week laptop jams
with my friend. I might do the rhythm section while he runs Ableton
Live. Or maybe we'll both do rhythm. Anyway, we record each jam, so if
you're up for 1 hr of totally improvised electronic music partly or
fully provided by Apple II (emulators) I may have a track for folks to
check out a couple of weeks from now.

- Wade

Michael J. Mahon

"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote:
> With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger
> of _8-Bit Weapon_, I've impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer
> for the Apple II.
>
> It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where
> each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of
> these patterns, any one of 8 percussive voices can be played at any
> 1/16th note boundary. In addition, the "pitch" for playing back the
> percussion sample can be specified, which is useful for pitched drums,
> like tom-toms.
>
> Like RT.SYNTH (which Seth also offers as DMS Synthesizer) DMS Drummer
> uses the DAC522 5-bit 22kHz pulse-width-modulation wavetable synthesizer
> engine, driven by a sequencer that runs in real time. DAC522 represents
> "silence" as pairs of 6 cycle pulses spaced 46 cycles apart, regardless
> of whatever the code is doing--which subroutine it's calling or which
> branch path it's taking. Executing "branchy" code while maintaining
> a constant stream of evenly spaced pulses is pretty tricky, but it must
> be done if the sequencer is to keep silent except for the desired
> sounds.
>
> Seth is offering the full version on his website:
> http://www.8bitweapon.com/store.htm
> for $15, but the demo version (downloadable both from my website
> and his) is free for you to play with! It is limited to 8 distinct
> programmable patterns and the Save function is disabled.
>
> Listen to the sample song, created by Seth, on either of our websites
> to hear the realistic rhythm line that an 8-bit Apple II can produce!
> The melody and bass lines are being played on RT.SYNTH, so the only
> non-Apple II-produced sounds are the "explosions" (which could also
> have been played by SOUND.EDITOR on an Apple II!).
>
> -michael
>
> DMS Drummer for more rhythmic Apple II computing!
> Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/
>
> "The wastebasket is our most important design
> tool--and it's seriously underused."

I should mention that many emulators do a pretty bad emulation of Apple
sound at 22kHz--I recommend a real Apple II, but with a good amplifier
attached. The "treble" should be turned down, since any frequencies above
5kHz are just noise.

Headphones are also good, unless you are one of the people who can hear
22kHz. ;-)

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon

Michael J. Mahon

Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote:
> "Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote:
>> With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger
>> of _8-Bit Weapon_, I've impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer
>> for the Apple II.
>>
>> It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where
>> each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of
>> these patterns, any one of 8 percussive voices can be played at any
>> 1/16th note boundary. In addition, the "pitch" for playing back the
>> percussion sample can be specified, which is useful for pitched drums,
>> like tom-toms.
>>
>> Like RT.SYNTH (which Seth also offers as DMS Synthesizer) DMS Drummer
>> uses the DAC522 5-bit 22kHz pulse-width-modulation wavetable synthesizer
>> engine, driven by a sequencer that runs in real time. DAC522 represents
>> "silence" as pairs of 6 cycle pulses spaced 46 cycles apart, regardless
>> of whatever the code is doing--which subroutine it's calling or which
>> branch path it's taking. Executing "branchy" code while maintaining
>> a constant stream of evenly spaced pulses is pretty tricky, but it must
>> be done if the sequencer is to keep silent except for the desired
>> sounds.
>>
>> Seth is offering the full version on his website:
>> http://www.8bitweapon.com/store.htm
>> for $15, but the demo version (downloadable both from my website
>> and his) is free for you to play with! It is limited to 8 distinct
>> programmable patterns and the Save function is disabled.
>>
>> Listen to the sample song, created by Seth, on either of our websites
>> to hear the realistic rhythm line that an 8-bit Apple II can produce!
>> The melody and bass lines are being played on RT.SYNTH, so the only
>> non-Apple II-produced sounds are the "explosions" (which could also
>> have been played by SOUND.EDITOR on an Apple II!).
>>
>> -michael
>>
>> DMS Drummer for more rhythmic Apple II computing!
>> Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/
>>
>> "The wastebasket is our most important design
>> tool--and it's seriously underused."
>
> I should mention that many emulators do a pretty bad emulation of Apple
> sound at 22kHz--I recommend a real Apple II, but with a good amplifier
> attached. The "treble" should be turned down, since any frequencies above
> 5kHz are just noise.
>
> Headphones are also good, unless you are one of the people who can hear
> 22kHz. ;-)

One more thing--DMS Drummer has a
command to "flip" the sound output between speaker and cassette output.
Although the cassette output is at microphone level, it is often more
convenient to connect to an external amplifier.

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon

bloomer_au

On Nov 30, 5:46*pm, Michael J. Mahon <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
> "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger
> > of _8-Bit Weapon_, I've impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer
> > for the Apple II.
>
> > It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where
> > each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of
> > these patterns, any one of 8 percussive voices can be played at any
> > 1/16th note boundary. *In addition, the "pitch" for playing back the
> > percussion sample can be specified, which is useful for pitched drums,
> > like tom-toms.
>
> > Like RT.SYNTH (which Seth also offers as DMS Synthesizer) DMS Drummer
> > uses the DAC522 5-bit 22kHz pulse-width-modulation wavetable synthesizer
> > engine, driven by a sequencer that runs in real time. *DAC522 represents
> > "silence" as pairs of 6 cycle pulses spaced 46 cycles apart, regardless
> > of whatever the code is doing--which subroutine it's calling or which
> > branch path it's taking. *Executing "branchy" code while maintaining
> > a constant stream of evenly spaced pulses is pretty tricky, but it must
> > be done if the sequencer is to keep silent except for the desired
> > sounds.
>
> > Seth is offering the full version on his website:
> > * *http://www.8bitweapon.com/store.htm
> > for $15, but the demo version (downloadable both from my website
> > and his) is free for you to play with! *It is limited to 8 distinct
> > programmable patterns and the Save function is disabled.
>
> > Listen to the sample song, created by Seth, on either of our websites
> > to hear the realistic rhythm line that an 8-bit Apple II can produce!
> > The melody and bass lines are being played on RT.SYNTH, so the only
> > non-Apple II-produced sounds are the "explosions" (which could also
> > have been played by SOUND.EDITOR on an Apple II!).
>
> > -michael
>
> > DMS Drummer for more rhythmic Apple II computing!
> > Home page: *http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/
>
> > "The wastebasket is our most important design
> > tool--and it's seriously underused."
>
> I should mention that many emulators do a pretty bad emulation of Apple
> sound at 22kHz--I recommend a real Apple II, but with a good amplifier
> attached. The "treble" should be turned down, since any frequencies above
> 5kHz are just noise.
>
> Headphones are also good, unless you are one of the people who can hear
> 22kHz. ;-)

ActiveGS (ergo KEGs) does the best job. There's a crackling, but the
sounds are still clearly audible, vs Virtual II and Sweet16 in which
they are awash with noise.

Obviously I look forward to hearing it on my IIGS, but it's down atm.

When I listen to Seth's sample, the bass tone coincidentally sounds a
ton like the bass synth in IIGS Music Studio.

- Wade

Antoine Vignau

Congratulations, Michael, keep up the good work.
Congratulations, 8-bit weapon, your sleeves are fantastically
astonishingly flabbergasting (ahem) beautiful.

antoine.purchaserof8bitdrummer.com

Michael J. Mahon

bloomer_au wrote:
> On Nov 30, 5:46 pm, Michael J. Mahon <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>>"Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>With inspiration and musical mentoring provided by Seth Sternberger
>>>of _8-Bit Weapon_, I've impemented a percussion sequencer/synthesizer
>>>for the Apple II.
>>
>>>It allows a user to create sequences as long as 255 patterns, where
>>>each pattern is one of a set of 16 musical measures. Within each of
>>>these patterns, any one of 8 percussive voices can be played at any
>>>1/16th note boundary. In addition, the "pitch" for playing back the
>>>percussion sample can be specified, which is useful for pitched drums,
>>>like tom-toms.
>>
>>>Like RT.SYNTH (which Seth also offers as DMS Synthesizer) DMS Drummer
>>>uses the DAC522 5-bit 22kHz pulse-width-modulation wavetable synthesizer
>>>engine, driven by a sequencer that runs in real time. DAC522 represents
>>>"silence" as pairs of 6 cycle pulses spaced 46 cycles apart, regardless
>>>of whatever the code is doing--which subroutine it's calling or which
>>>branch path it's taking. Executing "branchy" code while maintaining
>>>a constant stream of evenly spaced pulses is pretty tricky, but it must
>>>be done if the sequencer is to keep silent except for the desired
>>>sounds.
>>
>>>Seth is offering the full version on his website:
>>> http://www.8bitweapon.com/store.htm
>>>for $15, but the demo version (downloadable both from my website
>>>and his) is free for you to play with! It is limited to 8 distinct
>>>programmable patterns and the Save function is disabled.
>>
>>>Listen to the sample song, created by Seth, on either of our websites
>>>to hear the realistic rhythm line that an 8-bit Apple II can produce!
>>>The melody and bass lines are being played on RT.SYNTH, so the only
>>>non-Apple II-produced sounds are the "explosions" (which could also
>>>have been played by SOUND.EDITOR on an Apple II!).
>>
>>>-michael
>>
>>>DMS Drummer for more rhythmic Apple II computing!
>>>Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/
>>
>>>"The wastebasket is our most important design
>>>tool--and it's seriously underused."
>>
>>I should mention that many emulators do a pretty bad emulation of Apple
>>sound at 22kHz--I recommend a real Apple II, but with a good amplifier
>>attached. The "treble" should be turned down, since any frequencies above
>>5kHz are just noise.
>>
>>Headphones are also good, unless you are one of the people who can hear
>>22kHz. ;-)
>
>
> ActiveGS (ergo KEGs) does the best job. There's a crackling, but the
> sounds are still clearly audible, vs Virtual II and Sweet16 in which
> they are awash with noise.
>
> Obviously I look forward to hearing it on my IIGS, but it's down atm.
>
> When I listen to Seth's sample, the bass tone coincidentally sounds a
> ton like the bass synth in IIGS Music Studio.

Any resemblance, as they say, is completely coincidental. ;-)

I suppose one electric bass sounds pretty much like another...

I just realized that I didn't emphasize that DMS Drummer runs on
any Apple II with 64K and a lower case keyboard--no sound card
of any kind required. Its wavetable synthesizer is all software
with no help from, say, a IIgs Ensoniq chip. ;-)

-michael

NadaNet 3.1 for Apple II parallel computing!
Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."

winston19842005@yahoo.com

How did we evolve from only having the ability to make beeps and door-creaking noises to this?

Never thought I'd hear something like this out of an Apple II+/e