FAQs for all Atarians

[David Etheridge]

Here's a french site with a host of Atari MIDI applications:
http://membres.lycos.fr/falkweb/p-audio.htm

Dave.

[David Etheridge]

Here's a site with free downloads of Cubase Audio Falcon (CAF) for anyone whose disks may have gone phut:
http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/cubase/caf20/

Note that this is not a hack, but the genuine article which will only work with the CAF dongle....

Dave

[David Etheridge]

Here's another Yahoo group Atari MIDI site:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/atari-midi/

Lots of useful stuff here, and the files section has a terrific range of apps:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/atari-midi/files/

with synth editors, sequencers, programming and a whole bunch of useful stuff

Dave.

[David Etheridge]

Hi gang,
I noticed in recent days that my Atari was starting to do an impression of a PC on bootup!
Problems with not seeing the hard drive, locking up when trying to load Notator, selecting 'Load Song' and a blank list of drives comes up, or 'Save Song' and the same thing happens.
Okay I thought, maybe my Atari needs a service and it's Barrie time. Easy -I can just use one of my spares. Guess what -the same thing happened!
Now there's no way that several Ataris all go phut at the same time (that's PC country ).
So I rang Barrie and asked advice.
What happens is that the C drive on your HD system gets a right caning over the weeks/months/years and eventually things start to get a bit untidy and the boot system starts playing up. Even though I'd suspected a virus, running UVK revealed no dodgies, plus I had some fun even GETTING UVK to load -more boot problems.
So: the fix is to wipe the C drive and reinstall from backups -you do have a backup, don't you?
Luckily, I have my infamous tower drive system with complete backups for my Syquest drive, so I reformatted the whole drive using ICD format, then repartitioned the drive, and then copied everything across from my backup files.
Now, I'm up and running again (yay ).
So every few months or so -depending on how much work you do- reformat your C drive and restore the files to it. Everything will run as smoothly as an Atari can do and is renowned for.
If you're using floppies exclusively, make sure your boot disk floppy is a happy bunny and reformat and load as necessary to keep things running. You'd be amazed at the strange things that can happen with a slightly corrupted bootfile!

Best wishes,

Dave.

[David Etheridge]

Hi again folks,
just browsing through some more Atari MIDI sites I can across Studioson, a Falcon based DSP program, now in it's latest incarnation (well, from 2007).
Here is the latest txt file from the creator, Yvan Doyeux:

Today, it is not a day of bad luck because there is the new release of Studio Son for your Atari Falcon. Studio Son 2.093b is available in the wonderful french language: http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/studioson/std2093b/STD2093F.ZIP The english version can be found here: http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/studioson/std2093b/STD2093E.ZIP You can, of course, find the classic 68030 and 68030+68882 versions in these archives. I have performed a lot of hard tests to check the quality of my algorithms. I have written a lot of different DSP and C programs to obtain correct results. But, it is still a beta version, so be careful with your samples ! This version has been tested with an original Falcon 030 with a 68882 coprocessor. The CT60 card is not officially supported. ----------- Bugs fixed: ----------- - Better WAV, AIFF and AVR formats implementation. - Space disk remaining bug fixed. ----------------------------- New features and bugs fixed: ( since 2.09b version ) -----------------------------
- Rewritten "Apply Effect" function. Studio Son does not need a temporary file any more. - You can now create with "New Sound File..." blank AIFF, WAV, TRK, SND and AVR files. WAV files created are always 8 bits unsigned and 16 bits signed with little endian format ( Intel ). Either are always big endian format ( Motorola ). - You can create you own sample frequency. - New management of external DSP effects. - New useful alert boxes added. - AU/SND files header write error fixed. - Several loop errors. - The approximative hi-speed play has been disabled. - Icons draw bugs. - Intempestive play. - DSP effect restore bug after effects changes during a play. - Reverse stereo with Invert function. - Block undraw after a Scrub. - Undo after the "Replace" function. - Reverse stereo of echo-delay DSP effect. - Record from cursor. - Pause with SPACE while recording under Magic. - Crashs when filtering under Magic fixed. - For a resample process under Magic, internal file management fixed. - Significative noise reduction of plopping sounds as long as you use Studio Son. - Management improved of AIFF files compatible with Cubase Audio. These files are now saved with a physical size rounded to 1024 bytes multiples. Useful to prevent crackling noise when you import your AIFF files with Cubase Audio. - Buggy "Scrub" function rewritten. No crash occurs. - Reverse stereo bug for a "Scrub" fixed but still in beta test mode. - Buggy "Cross Fade" function improved. Autocorrection for wrong parameters. The UNDO is also correct. - Cut, Copy, Paste, Insert and others have their UNDO bugs fixed. - Bug of the current working folder fixed. ( After an Insert for example ) - DSP effect after a Resample and Filtering is now restored with no problem. - Overall settings saving are now re-enabled ! Up to date, you MUST keep the STUDIO.SYS folder. - Rewritten "New Sound File" function. You can now create a file with the fileselector, choose a frequency, ... - Rewritten "Apply Effect" function. Sample gap subtly fixed. Due to the DSP real time application of this function, it is obvious that it remains a very small gap into your final sample. This gap is usually filled by zero values as it has been thought for this rewritten function. So, it's not recommended to apply an effect to a block selection. - Markers management bugs fixed. ( Delete, saving and loading procedures ) - There was play error with "Preview Cut" function. It's now okay. - Block selection with SHIFT+TAB to the next marker has been debugged. - Sample time length is now updated after any UNDO. - Little bug fixed during a play actived by the space bar with an exported sample from Studio Son. - Resampling function added ( Linear Interpolation ). - Resampling function includes a filter and linear interpolation code in only one DSP program. - You can resample from 2 Khz to 192 Khz. - WAV files opening issue fixed. - Huge undo bug fixed. - Huge bug of the volume of mono samples filtered fixed. - FIR filters ( Low Pass, High Pass, Band Pass and Band Reject ) up to 2048 coeefficients. - Resample process can be followed by a LowPass filter up to 1024 coefficients. - DSP Filter algorithm improved. The speed of the treatment have been increased. Now you can enjoy a good optimization of the filtering process. - The end of the sample is now truly filtered. - Vu meter clipping problems fixed. - The cursor running is now correct when sample frequency is not the same as the system frequency. - Desktop background pattern modified to improve the work in monochrome. - Redraw bug of the desktop in monochrome corrected. - Several dialog boxes fields bugs fixed in monochrome. - Crashs at very high zoom levels fixed. - You can now really select all the sample with the mouse. - You can now really place the cursor at the end of the sample with the mouse. - Wrong size of the blocks at the end of the sample corrected. - You can now create a block with a "one sample" size when you make a long click on a part of the sample. - New alert boxes for the Filtering and Resampling function. - New internal undo for the Resampling function. New function "Resample..." allows you to change the frequency of your samples with a linear interpolation and an optional Low Pass filter. The "Filtering..." function enables you to carry out FIR filters ( Low Pass, High Pass, Band Pass and Band Reject ). This is performed by the DSP 56001 and with Direct to Disk process. ------------- Known bugs: ------------- - No sound when playing very high frequency samples. - Slowly WAV files opening. - Selected block after a resampling task is not deleted. - Sample duration and time counter are wrong when the system frequency doesn't match with the sample frequency. - Unable to reduce physically the size of a sample when you cut blocks. - In the time counter, the value 99 is followed by 10. - Several little bugs into the sample window. - The icon of the function "Generate Low Frequencies" differs with the colour of the resolution. - Little bugs of sample drawing. - Random error messages when filter steepness is very low. - Minor bugs. Up to date, you MUST keep the STUDIO.SYS folder with Studio Son program file. If you are using Studio Son on a single TOS, I strongly recommend the launch of ARROWFIX.PRG in the AUTO folder: http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/studioson/std2093b/arrfix15/ If you are using NVDI, just run ARROWFIX.PRG after this. Otherwise, GEM must be copied in RAM with the program GEMRAM.PRG before running ARROWFIX.PRG: http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/studioson/std2093b/GEMRAM16/ If you have troubles to run Studio Son under Magic, you can use the patch DSPSLOW1.PRG by Centek included into the package or you can find it here: http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/studioson/std2093b/DSPSLOW1.PRG Don't run DSPSLOW1.PRG if you launch Studio Son under TOS otherwise you might have display or DSP locked issues. You can also use the nice DSPXBIOS patch by Didier Mequignon: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/didierm/files/dspxbios.ziphttp://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/studioson/std2093b/dspxbios.zip If you use an external clock, run FDI_INIT.PRG into the AUTO folder: http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/studioson/std2093b/FDI_INIT.PRG FPATCH2.PRG is now included in the package. You can also download self-extracting STZIP unpacker: http://doyeuxyvan.free.fr/stzip26/STZIP26.TOS Have fun ! Yvan Doyeux

Try it and see!

Dave

[David Etheridge]

Here's another link to various fun programs that you might like to try:
http://www.atari.org/links/Midi/Software/

Dave.

[David Etheridge]

And for those of you who would like to try Atari programs under STEEM and even use them live, here's some interesting info with links:
http://livepa.blogspot.com/2008/04/past-gets-futuristic-again-atari-steem.html

Dave.

[David Etheridge]

Here's another U.S. Atari company, Best electronics, who have been going for 25 years!

Respect, guys!

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/

Dave.

[Neo-Classical Guitar Man]

Recently the Atari ST emulator SainT was updated after a long gap and now supports the use of Atari ST floppy disks with the PCs floppy drive.

SainT web page

NCGM

[David Etheridge]

Hi folks,
I've been speaking to Barrie this morning (my Syquest drive mech is doing strange things -not bad after 8+ years of trouble free use) and he's now offering PC mice with the PeST interface, which offers great reliability and increased performance compared to the now aging Atari ones.
01925-823334 will put you on to the man with the fax'n'info.
Remember that Barrie has just about everything you need to keep chugging along -without him we'd have to give up!

Best wishes,

Dave.

[Neo-Classical Guitar Man]

I put in an order with Alison for a PeST a week or two back, and I she tells me it is nearly made I asked for her to make me the old version with the PS/2 socket, but recently she has started hard wiring some Microsoft Optical Wheel mice onto the PeST interface. I don't care for the Microsoft mice and hence why I asked for the old PS/2 version, which works with optical mice anyway.

NCGM

[David Etheridge]

Here's another Atari forum with lots of info for all Atari models. The ST section's not that large compared to the more game oriented lists, but there's some useful stuff here:
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php

Have fun!
Dave.

[David Etheridge]

Hi folks,
here's the link to MyAtari, the online magazine, with downloadable zips of issues from 2000 to 2005:
http://www.myatari.net/

You'll find articles and workshops on all aspects of atari use, including music articles.

Best wishes,

Dave.

[David Etheridge]

There are links galore here:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/atari-midi/links

with just about all you need to keep adding and expanding your Atari knowledge!

Dave

[David Etheridge]

And of course there's always the Atari notes on the SOSwebsite!
Do a search under Atari and you'll see lots of past hints and tips come up, like this one:
http://www.soundonsound.com/search?url= ... esults=yes

This is a good one for newbies:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr01/a ... inotes.htm

Best wishes,
Dave.

[David Etheridge]

Here are some links for the more advanced Atari user:
http://www.seimet.de/atari/en/hddriver.html

the home of HDdriver for your hard disk operations, and
http://www.application-systems.de/atari/produktefuratari.html

which includes MagiC (an alternative desktop system) and
http://freemint.de/en/

MiNt, which offers all sorts of fun and frolics for systems, networking and tools.

You can find some details on these from the Atari notes columns from SOS on the links in the above posts.

Best wishes,

Dave

[David Etheridge]

Hi folks once again,
it's seemed rather quiet on the Atari Music front recently.
However, appearances can be deceptive, as this new link will show that Atarians have been busy behind the scenes:
http://www.atarimusic.net/

This looks like it may be a biggie for the Atari music community!


Best wishes,
Dave.

[Neo-Classical Guitar Man]

Nice one Dave I will have to sign up with that.

NCGM

[David Etheridge]

The latest update is that AtariMusicNet will be going live in October.
I'll give you a heads up when it's fully up to speed.
You may find it surprising!

Best wishes,
Dave.

[David Etheridge]

As of today, there are 1186 members on the Atari MIDI users group!
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/atari-midi/

Onwards and upwards with Atari!

Dave