🎶 Krystone | Online Music Compo for Atari 8-bit | 4-8ch POKEY | due Dec 1, 2023 🎶

[Krystone]

Intro:

 

My name is Krystian, and I am not known here (or anywhere, but I will reveal more about me soon). I go by the nickname Krystone when I am in Atari mode. Atari 800XL was my first computer that I've owned between 1988-1991, and on. To this day, every few years, I have a phase when I pull out my Atari collection (many different machines) and try to do something creative with them. This year, I've been doing some assembly programming and music making using RMT. I've spent two weeks creating things until dawn. Nothing I could be too proud of unfortunately, but I've refreshed some of my memory and got to experience a lot of wonderful software that was created by the members of this community (for Atari and PC). And, then I got this idea: Why not start a music compo! So, here it is...

 

Rules:

 

Submit your Atari POKEY music to me for a competition. I would personally, in my biased opinion, choose the best work and put it up for voting here. I will load it, play it and listen to it on an unmodified Atari 65XE, 130XE and 800XL (PAL and NTSC variants, use of extended 130XE RAM is acceptable) connected to studio monitor speakers. There must be at least 6 entries suitable for voting for the compo to take place, otherwise it is a fail. All competitors must post in this thread their intent to participate, but should not post the music. Music in form of RMT module, other module, or Atari executable (XEX) should be e-mailed to me instead. Only POKEY can be used, or 2 POKEYs (stereo). Digital samples are allowed. The work must be new and original and previously not released. The words "Krystone Online Music Compo 2023" need to be embedded in the production, so that there's no doubt that the work of art was created for this compo. Asking questions here is OK. Each participant agrees for their work to be released in my production whatever it might be. My e-mail address can be found in something that I did about 20 years ago, which can be downloaded from pouët.net (https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=49982). This should verify the credibility of this post. The compo is open to participants globally. Personally, I am located in Poland. If you'd like to help with the compo, say it here. I can communicate in English, Polish and German.

 

Prizes:

 

1st place: 150 € + something tangible (to be mailed to and revealed by the winner)
2nd place: 100 €
3rd place:  50 €

 

Payable by PayPal or SEPA/IBAN wire transfer. Amounts are in Euro, but depending on the participant's methods of accepted payment might get converted to an equivalent into other currency.

 

The results will be posted here and in form of an Atari 8-bit executable (something like a music disc) that I intend to create, hopefully with the help of someone from the forum. The deadline for submission is December 1, 2023 (the time zone doesn't matter, depending on how things go, the deadline may be extended by several hours).

 

Good luck! And best wishes from an Atari fan from Poland. More info and updates are coming soon. Questions? Ask.

 

PS. Each received entry will get md5 calculated and posted here.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Krystone

[Krystone]

Hello All! I've worked day and night and then some more to put together an official invitation intro ("Invtro") for this competition. Forgive me but my programming on Atari is a bit rusty and I didn't remember a lot from my earlier years, so there might be some imperfections. Having said that, the intro loads on a real Atari and I've even loaded it from a cassette tape because I thought that would be more fun.

 

Check it out and let the contest begin. You are officially invited.

 

PS. Here's some trivia and additional info: I've programmed the intro in a text editor and used MADS to compile it for Atari on Windows 11. I've used Photoshop for the artwork and texts, and also AGS to convert BMP to bitmap data suitable for Graphics 8. The image is a 1-bit version of a much larger and much more colorful artwork I've once created with the assistance of AI. I've used Raster Music Tracker to (re)compose the song originally (re)composed by sack/cosine, which was an Atari remake of Rob Hubbard's Game Over music included in the game "Monty on the Run" for the C64 (for which I apologize). I've met Rob Hubbard in person a few years back and I had a chance for a quick conversation (not about this though). My version of the song has changes in the melody though. I also wrote lyrics for the melody (in Polish). It is intentional for music to play at the faster tempo on a NTSC machine. I've modified a public domain TSCBL cassette boot loader mainly for the aesthetics I've wanted to achieve and to shrink it to be exactly 3 x 128 = 384 bytes. I think some of you know why. I've used RLE encoding to keep the size of the bitmaps low. The routine I've used to unpack data was quite popular and a lot of people have made improvements to it over the years (Konop, Magnus, Probe, Seban, Tebe). I wanted RLE because it's extremely quick and with the artwork I've created, it was the best option at the moment to compress without the IMO "ugly decompression artefacts", waiting, and I also didn't want to load additional data after the intro starts. I was actually able to achieve around 50% compression rate. LZ4 didn't do much better and with the overhead, it was pointless. I've also used xex2cas, a8cas-convert, lame, and sox. The latter tools were used to manipulate WAVE audio to move data onto the right stereo channel and remove frequencies that are beyond typical Type I cassette frequency response. So, you can load this onto your Atari from an MP3 as well if you record it to a tape or use a cassette tape adapter. I wrote a small batch tool that converts Atari executable to an MP3 (it adds my custom bootloader, and allows for the baud rate to be specified for the bootloader and the rest). Included cas and audio file loads the bootloader at 760 baud and the program at 660, which is slightly faster, yet still reliable (IMO) than typical 600 baud. I will share more details if there's interest. The intro has a QR code hardcoded, which when scanned with modern devices would redirect the user to this thread on the forum. I was able to scan the QR code from a 14" CRT TV (PAL) with only minor angling and framerate sync problems. I have a small challenge for those who are interested. I've intentionally not optimized the code too much and have left room for better compression of the executable. Let's see if anyone can shrink it and by how much. More updates are coming soon.

invtro23.cas invtro23.xex

Edited October 6, 2023 by Krystone

[+JAC!]

Props for even making an invitation for this. I'm looking forward to the entries!

[Krystone]

Tip: When composing and playing on emulators, please keep in mind that the volume of 4 channels per pokey should not exceed 32 ($20), even though it is possible to assign higher values. When not respected, the music may sound distorted on real ATARIs. My goal is to have all submitted and valid entries played on and recorded from a real Atari before putting them up for voting. Of course, exceptions are allowed if you intend for the distortion. I've learnt this tip from @JAC! and experimented with it. Thank you.

[ivop]

The combined 32 rule is not set in stone though. It also depends on the frequencies. Higher frequencies tend to distort earlier than lower frequencies. At 64kHz, four 8-bit channels, you can easily get away with a combined maximum volume of 36-40 for an average song with bass, drums and melody. Using two 16-bit channels at 1.8MHz though, one for bass and one for a melody, the melody starts to distort a lot quicker, at around 20-24 combined (maximum would be 30 with both channels at 15, which distorts heavily). So, it all depends. But Altirra emulates it quite accurately.

 

About the compo, how about covers of other platforms or artists? Would that be allowed, or does it have to be a new composition?

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by ivop

[Krystone]

7 minutes ago, ivop said:

About the compo, how about covers of other platforms or artists? Would that be allowed, or does it have to be a new composition?

Sadly, no. For example the song in my Invtro would not qualify. The work must be new and original and previously not released. In a real world, covering a song without changing the basic melody or primary character of the original usually requires a license, specifically a mechanical license for recording and distributing the cover. Having said that, you can use music that is within the public domain, or music you've been granted permission to use from the copyright owner directly.

[Marius]

Is using Chaos Music Composer allowed? That is the only composer on Atari 8bit that I can use (a bit). I won't win, that is not a problem. Chaos Music Composer is simply too limited to make something that will help me win. But joining the contest might be a good motivation for me to start writing music again for a8.

[Krystone]

3 minutes ago, Marius said:

Is using Chaos Music Composer allowed?

Yes, of course. Back in the days it was actually quite good. I remember trying it a little then.

[Krystone]

Update: The first entry has been received a few days ago. Keep'em coming (though you have the time). 

[+MrFish]

CMC can make some great sounds. I'm pretty sure @Poison still uses CMC Double for all his compositions.

 

Tons of well-known Polish games used it for their soundtracks... Koniec Gry...

 

[Krystone]

Update: I've only received 2 qualified entries so far. We're 4 short for the compo to take place. I am guessing they will come in time, but wanted to take this opportunity to bump up the post 🙂

 

[Krystone]

Update: You can submit your entries via PM as well. Thank you and good luck! I will update you soon.

[Krystone]

Update: We have only about a week left before deadline. I would like to ask everyone willing to participate in the compo to send me a PM indicating that they are planning on submitting their work. You have time to work on your masterpiece, but I would like to (and I need to) know how many entries can be expected and in what format so that I can plan the playback, voting, the form of the release of the works, and arrange for the tangible price, which will depend on the number of entries received. There's a good chance this will be an interesting compo. I don't have many entries though. Even if you do not feel like you can compete, you should probably try for other than monetary reasons. I will be attending Silly Venture 2023WE in Gdańsk, Poland this year (December 7-10), and by then we should have the results of this compo as well. This may the subject to change though, but it is all up to you now! Good luck and I promise you that Krystone Online Music Compo 2023 will be something to remember for generations to come. It is probably one of the last moments in history before POKEY music is largely generated by Deep Generative Models / Generative Artificial Intelligence , a.k.a. AI.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Krystone

[Krystone]

Synthwave Dreams in a Pixel Parade

 

Here's a synthpop tune I did with AI. This was about 1 hour of work. The words are mine, the style and arrangement was a result of a text prompt, the vocal is AI, and I only did the final mixing and mastering. Soon, everyone will be making music by typing text prompts only. The world will be flooded with so much s--t that most of us won't be able to tell what was human made or what wasn't. In fact, this has been going on to a certain extend for a number of years now. This is why I strongly encourage everyone to participate in my Atari music compo, because your creativity, regardless of the results you achieve, will remain a human artform. Next year, many tunes will be "composed" by prompts by people who don't know what an octave is. That sounds like a bold prediction, but I assure you I can do this already. Years into the future, people will regain interest in music made by humans, including the POKEY sounds, and will re-appreciate an experience that comes from a human playing an instrument whatever it might be. The same goes for the properties and limitations of a human voice, which will be rediscovered and reappreciated again.

 

Nonetheless, here it is:

 

Verse
Neon lights flash, in the digital race,
Atari's beats pulse, in cyberspace.
8-bit rhythms, in a high-speed chase,
Competitors clash, in this retro space.

 

Chorus
Synthwave dreams in a pixel parade,
Atari's legacy, in the modern arcade.
In this online battle, where the old meets new,
Retro hearts beat, in every tune.

 

PS. Feel free to use and copy this song in any way you please, just don't forget to mention me.

PS2. The song is imperfect as intended, so that at a later time I can show you something that would be perfect.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Krystone

[Krystone]

2 days left...

[Krystone]

If you didn't have the time to work on something, but you have something that wasn't previously released, it is better to submit anything than nothing!  Anxiously awaiting your tunes!

 

[Krystone]

There's still time left. I will wait until midnight in the last time zone on the planet. I only have 5 qualified entries at the moment. We need 6 for the compo to take place. After that, I will record everything on a real Atari and put up here for voting.

[Krystone]

The compo will take place! I have 6 entries as of now.

It's not too late to submit for those who are still working or haven't even started.

 

Your songs are going to be released on a music disc. It's a great time to preserve your spot in history.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Krystone

[Krystone]

The compo is on! Cast your vote here: