Atari 400/800 Demo

[Tempest]

I was just toying around with my demonstration cart and I was wondering who did the music for it. The tune it plays is so freaky but catchy. I wanted to use it in my game or maybe do a remix of it, but I wanted to ask the programmer first. It's a shame almost no one gets to hear it unless they're lucky enough to have a demo cart.

 

Speaking of which, are there different versions? I saw one with a silver label instead of the regular brown one and I wanted to now if they changed anything.

 

Tempest

[Gunstar]

I've never even heard of the demo cart. What kind of demos are on it? Is there an .ATR image of it (obviously that would be a rom image turned into a disk image).

[Tempest]

There are no games on it, it's more of an adventisement for Atari computers. It goes through some screens tell you how wonderful Atari Home Computers are and how they can do all kinds of cool things. It lists some educational and technical programs that are available, and says that it also plays games (it shows a little Star Raiders ship shooting at you).

 

The cool thing is that at one point it asks you to type in your name and then calls you by name throughout the demo. The music going on in the back ground is really cool, I'd love to use it. The demo also starts out with a rainbow Fuji symbol similar to the 5200 start up screen. If I was a computer shopper in 1980 this would certainly get my attention.

 

Tempest

[El Destructo]

Ah, the song that lured me, pied-piper like, to the computer department every time I went to Sears.

 

It's called "Disco Dirge". I don't know who wrote it, but the player software was programmed by none other than Ed Rotberg, who worked on Atari arcade games like Battlezone and Tempest. (See the "EDR" entry in the high score table? That's him.)

 

I have this song, a few others, and the player on a disk image squirreled away somewhere. It displays the credits and asks you to choose a song. That's the only reason I know.

 

-El D.

[atari70s]

there are only 2 8 bit demos

 

teh CXL-4019 Brown label and silver label ( i dont see the difference in them )

 

and theres an XE Demo cart which i havent seen yet.

 

you have the XE one temp?

[Tempest]

No but I've seen it. It's not a rare as the CXL-4019 one.

 

Tempest

[atari70s]

do you think theres a 800series demo or 1200xl demo cart?

[Tempest]

Nope because they're essentially the same computers, just more memory. Nothing interesting to Demo.

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

Disco Dirge was written by Dan Pliskin. I found a reference in an old Atari article. Now I need to get a hold of the code for it.

 

Tempest

 

[ 09-04-2001: Message edited by: Tempest ]

[El Destructo]

If you can read APE disk image files (*.ATR), I will look for it in my archive and send it to you.

 

-El D.

[Tempest]

I guess that's a start. If you fidn it send it my way.

 

Tempest

[BoroPaul]

https://archive.org/details/Atari_Dealer_Demo_1980_-
In-Store Demonstration Program.rom
 

[+Stephen]

10 minutes ago, BoroPaul said:

https://archive.org/details/Atari_Dealer_Demo_1980_-
In-Store Demonstration Program.rom 16 kB · 1 download
 

No no no.  That version was a hack of the original:
In-Store Demonstration Program.atr

 

People need to stop spreading the hacked version, so we can properly preserve the original.

[_The Doctor__]

10 minutes ago, Stephen said:

No no no.  That version was a hack of the original:
In-Store Demonstration Program.atr

 

People need to stop spreading the hacked version, so we can properly preserve the original.

be careful folks, that 'orignal' might not be safe for work, children, and certain wives!

 

You just knew someone was gonna do it!

Edited January 28, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[+Stephen]

28 minutes ago, BoroPaul said:

https://archive.org/details/Atari_Dealer_Demo_1980_-
In-Store Demonstration Program.rom 16 kB · 3 downloads
 

Holy shit bro.  You win the record for longest AA necro-bump, coming in at almost 20 years.  Fantastic!

[BoroPaul]

Thanks!

[Mclaneinc]

Disco Dirge is part of the Rotbeg Synthesizer program...

Sound_Demo_Rotberg_Synthesizer_19xx__.atr

[rdefabri]

I loved the Rotberg Synthesizer program as a kid.  I was always frustrated that there wasn't an editor to do your own songs / sounds.

 

I've since come to learn that Ed Rotberg didn't have much of an editor (it was more "programmed") and once he saw Lee Actor's AMS he never got around to doing much with it.

[Scooter83]

@Tempest Funny you should mention this. I have both label variants on the Demo Cart. Also I have a prototype of it when it was a work in progress called "Pop Demo". At some point I need to get the program dumped. I wonder if there is anything in the code that might say who the programmer was. Since it says Pop Demo on the typed out label I wonder if there were other styles of music done for the Demo cart that wasnt picked to go further.

[Tempest]

41 minutes ago, Scooter83 said:

@Tempest Funny you should mention this. I have both label variants on the Demo Cart. Also I have a prototype of it when it was a work in progress called "Pop Demo". At some point I need to get the program dumped. I wonder if there is anything in the code that might say who the programmer was. Since it says Pop Demo on the typed out label I wonder if there were other styles of music done for the Demo cart that wasnt picked to go further.

POP means Point of Purchase, not pop music.  

[Scooter83]

3 minutes ago, Tempest said:

POP means Point of Purchase, not pop music.  

That makes more sense. Some reason i was thinking Music. I feel silly now

[Beeblebrox]

3 hours ago, Tempest said:

POP means Point of Purchase, not pop music.  

Or Prince of Persia 😜😁

[mimo]

2 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

Or Prince of Persia 😜😁

Or Piece of P**s