Commander X16

Just a quick note I'll be going on vacation for the next few weeks. Between prepping for that and the actual vacay, there aren't any visible updates to share to DreamTracker yet. I am working on the macro feature and folks can see a (very early) preview in the gitlab project. I thought about cutting a release based off my effects reorg changes but will hold off on that as I'll need to update the conversion tool to fix up the chunk of the misc RAM bank I'm not using for the macros.

I might work on it while on our (long) plane rides but expect to see updates and features starting in July.

The vacation was incredible of note! But I am back now with a really really fun feature I am excited about! I'll let the video explain it:



MIDI sync! A *massive* thanks to Kevin for allowing me to get my hands on one of the new MIDI cards. MIDI sync had always been a hopeful goal for me personally so that I can add the X16 (and DreamTracker) to our growing list of chip-synths for the band. It also is the first way to get arbitrary BPM other than by way of vsync skipping.

I still have quite a bit of work to do before it's fully ready to go but it's a huge leap forward and I'm very excited about it! Now that I am back from vacay I'll be working on the other beta features as well.

All the fancy stuff is currently in a feature branch am I'm not quite sure when I'll be merging that in and cutting an official release. There's still some incompatibility with the current stable release I'd like to have a fix for and work on the macros/tables features and lots of things under the covers. I had hoped 0.70 would be the first beta, but I might have a few more releases until I slap the big Beta banner on it but we'll see.

For now, yay4MIDIsync!

It's macro time!

It's not yet beta but went ahead and cut 0.70 which includes the macros, effect changes (and additions), experimental MIDI IN clock support, and a song-file converter for previous versions (which is ~90% good).

Now available on https://www.dreamtracker.org/

Changes from 0.69 include:

• Effects re-org
• Reworked PSG Vibrato/Tremolo/Pulsolo (see effects)
• Added Home/End to pattern editor shortcuts
• PSG Vibrato is now influenced by Pitch Speed Multiplier
• PSG Finetune pattern effect (48xx)
• PSG Note Delay pattern effect (10xx)
• PSG Legato
• Note delay for FM
• Channel attenuation effect column for PSG and FM
• Envelope Speed Pattern and Instrument Effects for PSG
• Block pat/chan/row info in pattern editor
• Macros Feature
• PSG Effect Pan (0E-x)
• Song file version converter

Beta hurdles include the tables feature and I think I'm going to rework the envelopes a bit. Not sure yet. Pondering just having uni/bipolar full 8-bits. If the thing using the envelope (such as, say, wave width) is <8-bits, it'll just cut the top. Kinda for future purposes where FM might benefit from envelopes.

Teaser of what to expect on 0.70:

I don't know enough to comment on the composing side, but it looks and sounds awesome!

Yazwho wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 1:08 pm I don't know enough to comment on the composing side, but it looks and sounds awesome!

Thanks! Yeah happy with how it's turning out. The macros feature has proven to be hugely useful. It's not immediately apparently by looking at the video as much but it's a pretty big feature, at least for me. I kinda knew it would be.

Semi-related, now that I found out the XOR stuff ended up in VERA, I've been using it quite a bit too! That'll be in the next version I send out. Working on the song helped me track down some bugs. I think I got those sorted but means there will be a 0.71 coming fairly soon I suspect.

Update to Dr. Wiley showing off even more of macros and XOR:



I am finding there are some sonic differences between the real X16 and x16emu. Ended up having to tweak some volumes though I don't think the issue is the volume lin/log changes in VERA as those should be on both the VERA firmware and x16emu. I'll have to look further into that maybe.

Importantly, 0.70 has an, eep!, save bug which I'm tracking down. Part of the reason I've been working on the song as it takes some time to manifest.

Another teaser showing off 0.71, which will be mostly a bugfix release. I'll release it soon as I'm confident I fixed the ugly save bug issue :/

DreamTracker 0.71 released!

This is mostly a bugfix release, though does add 2 new effects.

I also finished my cover of Dr. Wily - Stage 1 (from MegaMan 2) which showcases the new features pretty well. You can give it a listen here:



It's also included with 0.71, though you will need >512k RAM to play it properly and should use a recent (source) version of x16emu or the latest VERA is using real hardware. It makes use of the newer XOR wave features of the triangle and saw.

Download it from dreamtracker.org or check the initial post.

Silly video showing the improved MIDI Clock Sync handling in Dreamtracker. It's now using IRQ timing for both the engine and row advance. This means at least the PSG parts of the engine run at MIDI clock rate and remain in sync with the song. Also fixed some pattern corruption bugs caused by unsafe switching of rambanks likely when the ISR triggers.



I've got some additional MIDI features planned. Some I hope to do by the next release (MIDI CC out) and some may be after I finish the tables feature. While DreamTracker 1.0 won't turn into a full MIDI DAW, I have some clever ideas on how to use the first 16 channels for MIDI. The idea is you can flip a PSG channel to MIDI or Wavetable (WT) mode. Both at song start and while playing song, allowing you to still use all 16 PSG channels and up to 16 MIDI channels, just not at the same time. Because MIDI channels can support multiple notes, the macros feature can be used to make it easier to play chords. I haven't decided how I might handle channel mapping. I thought about making each PSG channel # the same as the MIDI channel, but instead I think I'll add to the instrument a MIDI Ch # option. So instead of having to use the macros feature, if one wanted to use 3 channels instead to play chords on the same MIDI channel, they could.

MIDI is getting a bit higher priority because I've had the privilege of getting to test the various MIDI cards and want to run the card through its paces as best as I can before they go up for sale formally on Texelec. By then it also means folks will have immediate apps they can use (DreamTracker as well as my keyboard app that Kevin had going at VCF).