Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/21/listen-to-a-1980s-teenagers.html
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7 Likes
I did some music with built in music program on the VIC 20 the main song was Editions of You by Roxy Music. Unfortunately the video had priority over the audio and caused the audio to play some notes late. It wasn’t a huge offset in the audio but noticeable. I solved the problem by recording the song on all tracks of a 4 track and aligned the tracks using the speed control on the 4 track. By layering the tune 4 times and mixing I got a useable track. I learned a lot fighting that VIC 20 that was useful to me later. I sort of gave up on computer music until I got my Amiga 1000.
15 Likes
The original version of this program was written in 6502 assembly by a 15 year-old kid back in 1984. It played and animated polyphonic music without any noticeable timing hitches on the Apple II, a computer that created sound by clicking its internal speaker each time you accessed a particular memory location. As a software industry veteran with nearly 40 years of programming under my belt, this is all utterly inconceivable.
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Wow, that is a lot of C64 Huey Lewis.
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Yes, this IS a wonderful thing. Delightful, even.
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as a Huey Lewis fan from back in da day, this makes me happy.
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Sorry, kid, you’re just too darn loud.
12 Likes
Fond memories of that program…and when EA wasn’t quite the beast it is now.
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Man, this makes me miss my C64.
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Yet another reason to covet the C64. Music Construction Set?! YES!!!
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Track 1 The Power Of Load
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That’s probably going to make Huey grateful that he’s going deaf.
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Track 2 - I Want a New BRUN
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I knew I’d used that program! Back on my friend’s old Apple II. It’s like the first time I saw screenshots from the old Oregon Trail game as an adult. Computer nostalgia is a special kind of nostalgia.
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I always liked this version of “Flashdance”:
There was also “Maniac”, probably from the same source, but I can’t find that one on YouTube. It was even better.
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Huey has a new album out! True story.
2 Likes
The notation took a while to follow as it is slightly out of sync. But I liked it. A lot.
For “my generation” the FM synthesis of the Yamaha OPL series of ICs (Soundblaster et al) is glorious.
I’ve been slowly trying to wrap my my head around 6 op sin FM (which predates those) and it seems like you just end up wasting operators recreating waveforms available on FM synths with less operators but with more built-in waveforms.
But that is just sound design stuff nobody likes or cares about, because the glory will always lie in writing / recording / sequencing music
Why???
