13/01/91 21:32

G'day Reader,

Here I am, on about the wonderful sound capabilities of the Commodore 64 computer!

I have been working for the last few days on a program called "The Music Machine". I wanted to create some instruments for the C-64, and found that I didn't have, nor could attain, a suitable (Public Domain) program to do this. So, I decided to make one myself. As of this time, it is not yet completed, but I will detail the workings of it later on. I can also edit a previous program, which is used t ochange normal text into Dwarf Runes (as in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit"), allowing it to make separate character sets, and then write them to files. Then, a shorter program could load them into memory, thus changing the normal character sets into user-defined character sets. This smaller program would stop the program from being used less often, as loading time would be shorter than that of the normal large program needed to create the characters in the first place. A quick summary of these two programs are as follows:
 
 

Name:	The Music Machine
Language:	Commodore BASIC v. 2.0
Length:	Unfinished, but is currently 4080 bytes long (3.9 K Bytes)
No. of PRGs:	One .PRG file (main program) and one .SEQ file (instructions). (Also music and instruments will be written as .SEQ files.)
Capabilities:	Creation of  custom-designed instruments and music.
Description:	The Music Machine is made to create musicial instruments and pieces of music on the C-64. It is not yet finished, but I expect the instrument writing part to be quite easy. I have had a set-back, though, as my graphic editors (which have been ARCed), have proved to be faulty (will not unARC), meaning I have to write the graphics manually.

 

Name:	Character Editor
Language:	Commodore BASIC v. 2.0
Length:	Not yet started.
No. of PRGs:	Two .PRG files (one to create/edit/load characters and one to simply load them, to take less time). Character sets will be in .SEQ format.
Capabilities:	Custom design characters for normal use with BASIC, or other operating systems. Also the .SEQ files can be read directly into the user's own program, to make it easier for characters to be used in different programs.
Description:	If anybody wants me to make this program, I will be happy to do so, as it only requires me to edit a previously made program.

Note that all programs will be compressed before release. This means they take up less disk space, and less time to load. Hopefully, when I get enough of these utilities together (Music Machine, Character Editor, Sprite Editor, etc.) I will put them all onto one disk, complete with fastload menu, autoboot, COLOR directories, and a whole lot more!

I'm also designing a DataServe logo. However, I can't think up what to do with the letters "r" and "v", so I have done DataSe...e C.S.D.

Anybody wishing to study the Sector Snatcher virus (for the IBM), I would be pleased to give it to you <Snigger!>. Please note that I have not found any program to get rid of it, or detect it, for that matter, so it's considered an "Unknown".

Seeya!