DIGItized recording

[ac.tomo]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone new of a program & necessary hardware for recording digitized input on the Atari. I used to have a cartridge once upon a time which had a phone jack built into it, but as I remember I never got to upload anything. I've heard sound samples on our Atari and some it has to be said are quite poor, but I do know the quality that they can be & this is why I'm asking if anyone knows of uploading/making (so to speak) 'Quality' samples. Any help much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: I've no idea, but can sample files be transfered from the pc using SIO2PC?

Edited November 19, 2015 by ac.tomo

[fujidude]

Hi ac... I'm not full clear on what you are asking for? I think what you are saying is that you want to know of any hardware and software, for use by the Atari computer, which can digitize analog audio, and the relative quality/limitations of them? But that you also want to know, if you can digitize on the PC (or Mac etc.), create a file, and then transfer that file to Atari via SIO2PC?

 

Well, let me offer what help I can, though it is limited. I am not knowledgeable about what hardware and software is available for use on the A8 for doing this. Likewise I am not aware of what kind of file formats the A8 might need. I can tell you plenty about how to digitize on a PC, and how to save the data in various file formats, and also that yes, you can transfer files from a PC to A8 via SIO2PC very well. The trick is what kind of files those are and how the digitized data is stored in them.

 

Hopefully others will chime in about what the limits and uses for such data are on the A8 side. Once that is known, if you are interested in how one might get that done on the PC side I can probably offer some good tips.

[bugbiter]

Are you searching for that specific device or are you just looking for any way to make samples?

 

I always take a PCM or Wav file from the PC and convert it to 8bit (using a PC program called cooledit96) . Then I use a short Turbo Basic Program on an emulator to make it into a 4bit packed sample for use with the Atari.

Of course you can read any files into the Atari via SIO2PC.

[ac.tomo]

Thank you both for your information, I especially like the way you (bugbiter) go about this task, that's probably the way I would do it too. So I assume that when you transfer the .WAV file from its source to an 8-bit equivalent you transfer it into 2 nybbles, which occurs a question; I know the Atari uses 4-bit resolution, but how many bits resolution is a typical .WAV file?), also I know the Atari frequency's but not the typical PC frequencies that music is recorded at? Am I making sense?

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

 

afaik most common WAV files on the PC are 16Bit stereo (maybe newer ones use 24Bit or 32Bit ?). The first thing you should do is convert them into 8Bit (stereo or mono), which can be done with most WAV programs on the PC (cooledit, WAVosaur, etc.). Then you can either use a) a PC program or b) an A8 program to convert these 8Bit WAV into 4bit. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/123208-playing-samples/?do=findComment&comment=1496463

 

Most A8 .wav or .smp converters and players use 4bit mono (some only 2bit mono), but a few ones do also support 4bit stereo. There is e.g. "The Sound Utility" by Tom Hunt which can playback 8bit mono .WAV files on the A8 (input is 8Bit WAV, output is most likely only 4Bit). It will also playback 2Bit and 4Bit samples, alas the XRAM support of this tool seems to be buggy (if you choose more than 128k RAM, you only hear noise). http://atariage.com/forums/topic/123208-playing-samples/page-2?do=findComment&comment=3363808

 

Next there is also the "Audio Master 1.0" by MadTeam which can playback WAV and SMP files, most likely input is 8bit WAV and 4Bit SMP, output is 4Bit - but I never tested this. http://madteam.atari8.info/index.php?prod=uzytki

Then there are dozens of other SMP converters and players on the A8, that work with 2Bit or 4Bit samples... http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=3.%20Muzyka

or here: http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=3.%20Muzyka&tg=zestawy#zestawy

Edited November 25, 2015 by CharlieChaplin

[pirx]

Remember that simple sample conversion by removing least significant bits sounds really bad - much worse than it theoretically could. To alleviate it one needs to use "dithering" technique, it was discussed here once for sure.

[pfeuh]

Hello,

 

Concerning Atari, I think it's possible to add the 4 bits DAC of the 4 audio channels together, this makes theoretically 6 bits... But the algorithm should be very efficient to do this!

[Mathy]

Hello pfeuh

 

Something like that already exists, but I'm not sure who wrote the routine/demo. I might have been one of the Dutch software guys.

 

sincerely

 

Mathy