Is there a way to convert tunes made with arkos tracker to the protracker3 format?
I have a hard time using vortex tracker and I need pt3 format tune so I can use a converter to port the music to the enterprise...because there is only one tracker for the ep and it's horribly hard to use (at least for me)... And guys at the enterpriseforever forum told me about making an ay tune in pt3 format and using a converter tool that's available...
Can someone help?
Or maybe no such tool exists?
ps: Didn't know where should I post this question..., probably wrong sub-forum - sorry...
Why not modify the sound player to work on the enterprise itself?
I am assuming the pt3 files are ay the same as arkos are ay?
Skip these extra conversion steps entirely.
Download the arkos tracker and take a look at the msx playback.
On AY these are the registers:
0,1 = channel a tone - 12 bit
2,3 = channel b tone - 12 bit
4,5 = channel c tone - 12 bit
6 = noise
7 = mixer
8 = volume channel a
9 = volume channel b
10 = volume channel c
11,12 = hardware envelope period
13 = hardware envelope shape
if you ignored noise and hardware envelope in your initial conversion you could map these directly onto dave registers.
a0/a1 -> 0,1
a2/a3 -> 2,3
a4/a5 -> 4,5
ignore noise
a8/a12 -> 8
a9/a13 -> 9
a10/a14 -> 10
and stop here ignoring hardware envelopes.
;; code looks a bit like this:
PLY_SendRegisters
if PLY_UseEPMachine
ld b,a
ld hl,PLY_PSGRegistersArray
ld a,(hl)
out (#a0),a
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#a1),a
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#a2),a
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#a3),a
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#a4),a
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#a5),a
inc hl
;; skip noise
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#a8),a
out (#ac),a
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#a9),a
out (#ad),a
inc hl
ld a,(hl)
out (#aa),a
out (#ae),a
inc hl
;Restore Interrupt status
PLY_RestoreInterruption nop ;Will be automodified to an DI/EI.
ret
endif
Totally untested and I didn't touch Dave R7.
It could work ok.
You may need to put in a different tone table; but it's there in the code already. The enterprise guys have experience with converting ay sounds so should know how to do that.
After modification your player should run on Enterprise and send tones to Dave.
You can have tones and volume control.
Avoid using hardware envelopes in Arkos tracker.
You now have a choice. You could use the special channel to turn on ring modulation, filters and noise.
But this would require additional code to handle the "special" channel. Normally it's used for triggering samples.
Now you have good control, the problem is that the playback sound in arkos will not be authentic, but may be close enough.
For Balloonacy on the CPC, I noticed that one CPC player (can't remember the name) followed the same tune structure as DMC on the C64. I converted the tune over from C64 - omitting the effects and got a fairly reasonable tune out.
No, such tools don't exist. One possible way is to compose your song with Arkos Tracker and when you're satisfied with it, "copy/paste" the notes into the other tracker. Even if this tracker isn't user-friendly, simply having to put notes is easier than composing with it.