My first full-length stereo POKEY / RMT composition

rdefabri · November 30, 2023

Although I prefer to keep my POKEY songs in 4-channels, I felt the need to challenge myself and try to do something in 8-channel stereo. I was prompted by discovering that the song I chose had been covered on multiple 8-bit or PC sound cards / platforms, including the C64 SID, NES, Yamaha OPL / YM, etc.

The song has a unique name, so I won't provide the full name. Rather, it has a sub-title - "Eek!", composed by Netherlands-based Surasshu. He does a lot of 8-bit type songs and this one is a fun little tune.

I originally wanted it to be faithful to the original (e.g., use a square bass tone, triangle clarinet, etc), but it was proving to be more work than I wanted it to be, and transcribing the song was no simple task.

Check it out, let me know what you think!

Rybags · December 1, 2023

That's pretty cool. Would be good to have others to do comparison.

We can do triangle and sawtooth on Pokey but I don't think RMT has any support for it - also the range and frequency steps available makes it a bit hard to do music using them anyway.

rdefabri · December 1, 2023

39 minutes ago, Rybags said:

That's pretty cool. Would be good to have others to do comparison.

We can do triangle and sawtooth on Pokey but I don't think RMT has any support for it - also the range and frequency steps available makes it a bit hard to do music using them anyway.

Yea I think I could have used more of a triangle-based clarinet, but wasn’t sure if the range of notes would work. I was thinking about analmux’s Instrumentarium, but couldn’t make it work.

Here is the original:

Here is a solid C64 version. This is what inspired me to do the song:

Edited December 1, 2023 by rdefabri

rdefabri · December 2, 2023

I created a 4-channel / mono version that can be played on an actual Atari 8-bit. The video is the .xex played through Altirra, and I've attached the .xex and RMT files for it. I've also attached the RMT files for the 8-channel version. NOTE: I create all my songs using NTSC format, so if you play it in PAL, it will sound slower. A few of my songs were posted on ASMA in PAL format, and they didn't sound right.