Chema wrote:Don't want to get too off topic, so I'll start saying I have been playing with AYT over 10 minutes and it is VERY NICE indeed. Seems quite easy to use, such as AT was.
Thankyou, it is much appreciated when i hear people say this. btw, your cheque is in the post
Admittedly it isn't quite as easy as AT but what it offers over AT is much more attractive imho
Chema wrote:I only hope this time it is finished and we could get the compiler working so we can use it in our Elite Clone.
The compiler is currently being written. AYT has been packaged with everything on board (bar SID and Digidrums from original spec) so is a bit cpu hogging (Tests show irq uses a maximum of around 3K cycles). However a song need not use some of the higher cpu intensive bits like higher resolutions and 200Hz SFX. Also a whole load of optimisations can be done if cpu is required over memory use.
In fact the music compiler has already been coded and compiled but not tested yet. This compiles the music into a relative format so that it may be relocated anywhere in memory(conceivably $400-$FFFB).
The complicated bit is the player, since people will probably want this relocatable? which makes things a bit taxing.
Chema wrote:Talking about this it will be very nice to be able to export is as asm source (maybe with a PRINT function? inside the program).
Some of you may have noticed the disabled Print option in the File editor. That was originally intended for this, but i will add it as an external utility.
Chema wrote: I also hope the result is as easy to handle as it was the music for Space:1999 from the source code.
The SFX formats are almost identical to AT so inclusion into Game SFX should be very easy to implement.
Chema wrote:On the Windows-based tracker, I am really for it. If Twilighte finds it difficult to adapt Vortex, I can imagine it should be a nightmare, but it will be a really rocking solution.
Well i guess i may have overrun a bit there. I tried writing a player a couple of years ago but failed, mainly because the information about the PT3 format is scattered and what there is is either in Russian or unintelligable English (Sorry Bulba).
PT3 (as far as i know) is ProTracker 3 but for the Spectrum, not the old MOD/XM Protracker 3 format for the PC.
Chema wrote:Moreover if it can generate asm as I stated before. On the other hand I am, of course, biased, but I will prefer something easy to use, that could generate sfx and tunes to be used in programs (so compact and not CPU hungry) than something powerful but complex and fat. But that is my POV as a programmer
I personally think AYT is much better for SFX generation even though its format is similar to Vortex. AYT's SFX are programmable, with conditional branching, unlike Vortex sequential Effects.
Vortex would be much better than AYT for the production of music from someone like Baggio or other non-oricians. Vortex fortunately permits its AY to be changed to be compatible to other systems, like CPC or Atari.
But i definately agree that having a Vortex Player would be invaluable on the Oric. I know they got it working on the CPC. Although Z80, the CPC does run at 1Mhz like the Oric.