
The complete C64 music collection                            Jens-Christian Huus


Tunes in my DigiPlayers, 1991.

One of the last things I ever did on the C64 was of course my experiments with
SID music and samples at the same time. So many other musicians had done tunes
with this combination and I felt like giving it a try as well. Although I
managed to program the NMI routines and sample from Commodore's own hardware
sampler, I must confess that the sample routines was not as brilliant as the
ones from Geir Tjelta and Maniacs of Noise. Mind you, I only did four digi tunes
before leaving for the PC - after having just begun exploring the NMI system.

I've had quite a hard time rewriting the digi routines especially for SidPlay
and PlaySid using the new $D41D-$D47F SID registers, so I really hope you'll
appreciate this! :)  Originally I didn't want to do this but on the other hand
I wasn't satisfied with the way Miha Peternel's emulator played them. The digi
he emulates using NMI is impressive, but his SID emulation lacks ring modulation
and hard synchonization. Unfortunately, this is exactly what I've chosen to use
more than usual, because of the extra voice! Since I modified these tunes you
cannot download them to a real C64 and play them. However, I made a D64-file
for the emulator in spite of the questionable playback quality - those versions
are fully C64 compatible. Concerning the SidPlay versions, I also want to say
that my original digi routines made it possible to use 16 different volume
settings. The SidPlay/PlaySid registers only offers 1/1, 1/2 or 1/3 of the
original volume, so I had to use a few approximations in the new digi routine.
It doesn't sound too bad though, and the quality certainly is a LOT better than
a real Commodore 64! :)



BETTER.DAT      Better later than never

                My first ever digi tune I've ever composed (No, I never tried
                the "Rock Monitor" or any other editor before this!) - since
                this happened in 1991, I thought the name would suit the tune
                nicely! ;)  This is a strange prototype version where the
                SID player and digi player was in fact totally seperate. The
                other three tunes uses a real, merged SID and DIGI system.

EASY.DAT        Easy Does It

                Cute little tune using a very simple "minor" skeleton model.
                Notice how I put real synthesizer chords into the digi voice.
                That was not done very often on the Commodore 64 - musicians
                normally used this channel for bass and drums only. The tune
                makes extensive use of ring modulation and hard sync. This
                piece was in fact used in a "Pretzel Logic" demo - as far as
                I know this was the only digi tune that was ever used.

LITTLE.DAT      Little Test

                The second tune I did after "Better late than never". Most
                samples were sampled from the Korg M1 using Commodore's own
                hardware sampler that plugged into the cartridge port. Note
                that this digitune uses filtered hihats in the SID voices.
                This was also uncommon since the filtering was normally used
                to control the volume of the digi voice. The music also makes
                VERY extensive use of ring modulation and hard synchronization.

SHIFT.DAT       Shift

                A worktune that wasn't finished. Due to the fact that we have
                reached 1991, my Korg M1 was a reality. This tune was totally
                composed on the keyboard first, apart from the digi voice which
                was added later using the editor alone. The digi voice doesn't
                appear until 01:16 - it was supposed to be a "surprise" tune!
                This was also the last digital tune I did - and as far as I can
                remember, the very last C64 tune as well.


