How to master an Atari 8-bit tape for release ?

[andy_bernstein]

TMR asked about it regarding the imminent release of Reaxion through Chronosoft so, if anybody has an idea about realizing such a "master", please reply here.

 

Another thought -> One method of testing would be to issue a set of master tapes and send them to, let's say, five to ten people who'd be ready to load the game. It would be important for each of these people to have a different tape deck: Atari 410 (the two versions), Atari 1010 (the two versions) and the XC11 & XC12.

 

AB.

[classics]

Put the data in CAS format then use the CAS2WAV utility to make a nice clean digital copy of the audio for each cassette.

 

Why release on cassette anyway?

 

Steve

[Heaven/TQA]

TMR, i can remember that we have packed reaxion... so it has several segments in the file... this will be harder to put on tape i guess as you need a boot loader etc... esp. for tape... and remember that you haven't much time between depacking and reading new block on tape as the tape does not stop...

 

so one way to solve this could be for the tape edition...

 

load reaxion completly into memory... save the whole memory block into one file (with atari800win) and then put this file into a tape bootable format... i am sure the polish & czech guys can help here...

 

as far as i can remember there are .com bootloaders for tape on the market but i am not sure regarding the depacking time lag issue...

[Schmutzpuppe]

... and remember that you haven't much time between depacking and reading new block on tape as the tape does not stop...

You can stop the motor ($d302) so with a loader you could avoid trouble here. But I have to admit that I don't see a good reason to produce a tape version nowadays (except if you allways dreamed of making a tape release...).

[andy_bernstein]

Hello Gang,

 

Thank you for replying. I sincerely thought this topic would get "flushed" so it's nice to hear from all of you.

 

@ Classics:

Put the data in CAS format then use the CAS2WAV utility to make a nice clean digital copy of the audio for each cassette.

 

I'm on Macintosh so I'll try to see what I can do from my platform. I'm looking for a way to have a "master" which could be used for manufacturing.

 

Why release on cassette anyway?

 

Here's the answer any why Cas2wav may not work. I'm using a tape because I need the audio (emanating from the tape) to run in the background while it loads and also while the program runs.

 

@Schmutzpuppe

You can stop the motor ($d302) so with a loader you could avoid trouble here.

 

Sounds good. What I'm the most afraid of is that all tape players (410, 1010, XC11, XC12) do not play at the exact same speed. There's definitely some leeway and, If I have my music play in the background while the program runs a certain function, I need the tape mechanism to be super reliable in terms of timing so that when we reach the conclusion of the music, the next step of the program starts (even it's been loaded way before as I'm looking at a single loader for now).

 

AB.

[Plastron]

I am not sure what you are tyring to do so forgive me if this is the wrong answer.

 

The stuff i sent to Jetbootjack for has the code for making a cassette from a source file.

 

Therefore you could rip that out and add it to your source then send people the source to make tapes.

 

Its in the countdown files and is called savecass.mac

 

Andy