Arkos Tracker 2 - Released!

[CyrilAmstrad]

Indeed , that was my problem regarding the file lenght.

Thanks for the possibilities , I will do in this way .
and also looking the Arkos pack Tools (and the ramlaid's example as well )

I will progress and come back to you  with the result or with some other coming questions
thanks for your kind support 

[Targhan]

But if want to make something quick, in Basic, load your 17k screen in #c000, load the MOD player binary in a low address (#800 or something like that, but I'm sure you can go below that even in Basic, I just don't remember) with a file that goes up to about &a000 (so, you'll have to use a MOD of 38k max) and that's it!

[Targhan]

Hi all,

I am very proud to present you... Arkos Tracker 2 alpha 8!

What's new?

• Play and compose your music in real-time on your CPC via any serial interface! The CPC client supports the CPC/Mini Booster, USIfAC and Albireo! And also the PlayCity! This means you can directly hear how your 3/6/9-channel music will sound on the CPC!
• A toolbox in the pattern viewer to transpose, swap, remap specific instruments.
• Instrument preview when loading them.
• A better MIDI import.
• MOD import can generate PSG instruments instead of samples. Useful for conversion to soundchip!
• New logo and splash screen .
• And many, many smaller features and bug-fixes.

For a complete changelog, click here!

Download the application here!

The next version will be mostly focusing on the simplification of the Linker at the top (no more tracks, only position, which will make the composition faster and the UI less daunting).

[tronic]

   
• A better MIDI import.
• MOD import can generate PSG instruments instead of samples. Useful for conversion to soundchip!

Amaaaaaziiiing !

[mr_lou]

I am very proud to present you... Arkos Tracker 2 alpha 8!

Nice!
So I guess that means I can record some of my tracks that caused a bug earlier? 

[Targhan]

'Your" bug is corrected, indeed. But nothing prevented you from recording them from a real CPC .

[sigh]

Is there a tutorial for this on youtube?

[mr_lou]

'Your" bug is corrected, indeed. But nothing prevented you from recording them from a real CPC .

There is noise I can't get rid of, when I record from a real CPC.
But I'd love to hear some advice on how to avoid that.
I think I already asked Bryce in the past though, and as far as I recall we can't really get rid of that, except in post. And then I'd rather use Arkos Tracker 2.

[Targhan]

Is there a tutorial for this on youtube?

For recording from a CPC? I don't know. But simply buy a mini-jack cable and plug it to your sound card (you may need a mini-jack/jack adapter) and start recording with any decent software.

[Targhan]

Here is a small video showing the real-time communication with a CPC! Enjoy

[Arnaud]

Great work !

I am playing with the mod import with some amiga musics and and we can recognize them without any problems.
Of course some samples are difficult to reproduce for CPC (electric guitar for example) but the result is very good.

[Sid_]

Thanks @Targhan
Very impressive work.
Just a question about the remote CPC control.
Do you plan to control the CPC by the M4 card ?

[Targhan]

Do you plan to control the CPC by the M4 card ?

Mmmh, probably not, because using Serial is universal and works for all machines, not only CPC. M4 would require, I guess, specific code. And there's plenty of cheap Serial interface we can use.

[tronic]

Hello,

I don't really know how fast/slow can be retrieve datas from wifi/PC to M4/wifi/CPC, also depending on your local wlan connection...
Some studies to get timings would be nice to be done with the httpget there :
https://github.com/M4Duke/M4examples/blob/master/httpget.s
+Maybe downgrading the wait_recv buffer (2048 bytes)
or even tcp :
https://github.com/M4Duke/M4examples/blob/master/tcp.s
But, well, it's quite another subject...

So, correct me if i'm wrong (anyone?) but i'm not sure that the combo M4+CPC will be able to get real time datas from AT2/PC+wifi fast enough to replay a music at real time on CPC (let's say 50hz...)

Another idea, "CPC specific and easier because things exist", would be to be able to send the whole datas/music via wifi from AT2 to M4/CPC (saved to memory ? SDcard ?) then play on CPC while done, but in this case it would not be real time, but nice too because it avoid manual transferts and cables for lazy people ^^
In fact, like xfer does :
https://github.com/M4Duke/cpcxfer
Or @sid, what you've done in martine/m4 (or even the GUI...) for the gfx transferts

+++

[Targhan]

@tronic Unless I didn't understand, Wifi is really fast can top the 115200 bauds I'm targetting (which is fast enough for a 50hz music).

As for the other idea of transfer, this is off topic, but in my devs, I use XFer to transfer a SNA containing the assembled music, player and tester, and XFER+M4 automatically resets and runs the SNA. But this is no business of AT2, which "only" provides the sources to compile.

[TotO]

WiFi is for wireless LAN, Bluetooth is for wireless serial. If both had the same usage, only one still exist on our modern smartphones / laptop.

[tronic]

@Targhan
As you were speaking of it there :
"However, one feature I could add would be to use, on medium-long term, the Wifi ability of the M4 Board to send the data directly to the CPC"
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/applications/arkos-tracker-2-released!/msg161892/#msg161892

I meant and was simply wondering if on the CPC side with M4, a M4 dedicated z80 code (like some given for examples by Duke) could get, fast enought (i mean to fit less than 1 vbl), a stream of bytes (how many & till how many ?) from PC using wifi.

Maybe not a clever question (sorry ^^), but finally doable or not ?

[Targhan]

Thanks for finding a compromising quote .

Like I said, I *could* use the M4 board Wifi. But now that we have serial communication in AT2, I'm reluctant to do it because:
- It would need a CPC-M4 specific code, BOTH on Z80 (not a problem), and on PC (more problematic (must be cross-dev, in C++, etc.)).
- We have many serial interface on CPC, and what I do with AT2 is exactly what they're needed for.

Basically, why use the M4 when any serial interface can do the job?

But yeah, this is technically doable and would work very fine.

[tronic]

Thanks for reply !
Didn't know what was in fact this "USIfAC" serial (and so wifi) device you talked about and we can see in the video.
Reading its documentation data sheet from @ikonsgr thread, i understand more things now and completely understand what you mean regarding the M4!
+++

[Targhan]

The USIfAC works great, but you can also use the Albireo or CPC/Mini Booster, which the Z80 client supports. And if other serial interface comes up, it is very simple to support it too. And no need to change anything on the code of AT2 itself!

[ikonsgr]

Here is a small video showing the real-time communication with a CPC! Enjoy

That's awesome!   
I really enjoy seeing such wonderful usage of USIfAC!
Btw, 115200 is not the fastest you can communicate, USIfAC support speeds up to 576000bps  through direct serial/bluetooth connection or 460800bps through wifi module! 

[Targhan]

Yes, but 115200 is enough to have a low latency and be able to compose. And anyway, AT2 can use any frequency, and the client can be easily modified to adapt this frequency too, so...
Anyway, thanks for your great USIfAC, it was very simple to use, and also very reliable!

[mr_lou]

Yay, it's CPC tracking time... and I'm diving into Arkos Tracker 2. But having issues.
Right now, for somes reason, I can press Q, W, E, R, T, Y etc to play notes - but only white keys. Black keys seems to all trigger some shortcut function instead. Like e.g. pressing 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 etc doesn't insert a note like Q, W, E, R, T, Y does, but instead jumps to different position in the pattern or toggles channel on/off.
I've looked for some settings but can't find any. Maybe I'm not looking alright.
Also tried the Num Lock key, but no change.

Any ideas?

[Targhan]

Maybe your keyboard is not a "standard" QWERTY like the one I expect, but more exotic one? Go to File > Setup > Keyboard. At the bottom, select QWERTY and "change layout".
If not better, you can still reprogram the "virtual keyboard" keys in the list above. A bit tedious, but once it's done, it's done. Maybe I can add this "qwerty variation" to the dropdown if that was the problem.

[mr_lou]

Going to Setup -> Keyboard and resaving QWERTY setup seems to have fixed it.
Thanks