August 11th, 2016
New ZX Beeper Engine: Phase Squeek
Phase Squeek is an unholy cross-over between Shiru’s Phaser engines and zilogat0r’s Squeeker, with loads of configurable sound parameters. Also known as TOUPEE, the Totally Overpowered, Utterly Pointless Extreme Engine. No XM converter this time, because there’s no way this engine can be simulated with an XM template. Demo tune + source code + download
August 1st, 2016
Combining AY and ZX Beeper
Been doing some tests with a music driver that couples the AY soundchip with the beeper. This might actually be the first engine ever to do a full sync between AY and ULA sounds. Not sure why it hasn’t been done before, there’s really no big magic required. Simply update AY registers once every 256 beeper soundloops, that’s all there is to it. I’m too lazy to make proper release of this, but if you like you can study the source code, which also includes a short demo tune.
July 31st, 2016
New ZX Beeper Engine: Squeeker Plus
Making an engine based on zilogat0r’s wonderful Squeeker engine (written in 2000, when the ZX beeper scene had almost died completely) has been on my to-do list for a long time. Now I’ve finally gotten around to it, adding per-tick channel-independant duty cycle control, a noise generator, and some percussion to the classic. Very pleased with this one! Demo tune + source code + download (includes an XM converter).
June 10th, 2016
Two New ZX Beeper Engines: zbmod and Beepertoy v0.1
Two for the price of one! Exhibit A: zbmod, a 3 channel MOD player. It’s meant to replace the notorious SampleTracker, which until now was the only engine to mix 3 sample channels on the Speccy beeper. I think it’s fair to say that zbmod sounds much better :D It also has a better tone range, and the ability to loop samples. Demo tune + source code + download (includes an XM converter).
Exhibit B: Beepertoy v0.1. Now this one is a beast! It brings together various different engines under one hood. So you can have the best of both the pin pulse and pulse interleaving world, as well as advanced wavetable synthesis with bleeding edge fx technology. Demo tune + source code + download (does not come with an XM converter, unfortunately).
May 26th, 2016
New ZX Spectrum Beeper Engine: Octode 2k16
Yes, it’s been pretty silent on here lately… but rest assured, any rumours about me quitting are completely unfounded. The past weeks I have been busy putting together the next HoustonTracker release, which will be out soon. Also, I’m learning C++ and cross-platform GUI programming with wxWidgets. Nevertheless, it was about time for some asm practise, so here’s my latest beeper engine creation - Octode 2k16. In short, it’s a re-write of Octode PWM with better sound and increased frequency range. Check out the demo tune on Soundcloud, view the source code on github, and most importantly download the package (includes an XM converter).
April 5th, 2016
Low-pass and High-pass Filters on ZX Beeper
Achieved a new breakthrough in 1-bit technology by implementing the first ever low-pass and high-pass filters on the ZX Spectrum Beeper. Not sure what to do with that yet, so for the time being there’s just this .tap with a little test loop for you to check out. First loop is unfiltered output, followed by low-pass and finally high-pass filtered output.
April 4th, 2016
QED68 - 4 Channel Sample Playback on TI-92 Plus
Got a new 1-bit routine ready that will play 4 channel modules with PCM WAV samples on the Texas Instruments TI-92 Plus graphing calculators. If you happen to own a TI-92 Plus, you can download the QED68 package (includes an XM converter), view the source on github, or check out this heavy metal demo track. Many thanks to 1ng for donating his TI to the good cause.