Music on game cartridges
I'm still not back to my usual level of ill health yet - but after regaining some hearing I've managed to edit together this project that's been sitting around on my hard drive for months.
You'll understand why I've been pushing it to the back of the queue - it's not the most enthralling topic, however I was just glad to be able to get something finished.
Once I'm back to normal I'll put together another Patreon update.
UPDATE:
I’ve changed the end of the video as I hadn’t adequately explained my requirements for a stand alone video visualiser on my first attempt. I also reworded the section about the Redeye audio content match to emphasise that this probably wasn’t their intention - it’s just automated nonsense.
Comments (61)
This one was borderline insane, Mat. But, as usual, you made it fun and interesting. Thanks.
Yes it/they didn’t really float my boat, but apparently it’s helped drive sales of both, so someone out there liked what they saw, which makes me happy.
I was wrong, it looks like both the line-in and speaker output jacks are stereo. https://i.imgur.com/X2CIvCY.png Only slight issue is getting video out of it, because I'm not sure yet if the original DAC pins are used for other things. It would probably require a minor modification to hook up the jack for composite output, though. (the ESP32-A1S module is the combination of an ESP32 and "Codec AC101" chip in one, hence why the module is longer. It adds proper audio DACs / ADCs alongside the original ones on the ESP32 chip.)
The thing I was thinking of was a video visualiser. Just like you got on many of the old CD games consoles, Jaguar, Xbox, PSOne, also Milkdrop, VLM, iTunes Visualiser, Atari VideoMusic etc - these all generate interesting patterns that react to the audio. Spectrum analysers and oscilloscopes aren’t the same thing- there’s no artistry involved.
Wow. Only just saw these... https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33007006872.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.1e4e4071PrWYXN They're mainly meant to run things like Google Assistant / Amazon Alexa, which is a neat project in itself. They have a line input, too, but I think it's only in mono, unless the board was modified slightly. Looks like the speaker outputs might be in mono, too maybe? (ie. the same content on both channels, but I could be wrong.) I think the newer ESP32-A1S module does support BT A2DP as well, so it could in theory allow a Bluetooth connection from a phone. I know you're not a fan of all the added complexity, though, so I'll give the simpler project a try first. lol
Somebody else did a fork of that project, so it can do the FFT stuff on a stereo signal, too... https://github.com/G6EJD/ESP32-8-Octave-Audio-Spectrum-Display/blob/master/ESP32_Stereo_Spectrum_Display_01.ino I'll definitely have a play with this later. bitluni's code just hooks up directly to the Composite input, and hooking up audio to a generic ESP32 module should be the same. Probably a good idea to add some resistor dividers to the audio input, though, just in case. And maybe a small series capacitor to the video output.
OK, I think I found the perfect chunk of code to use alongside bitluni's colour NTSC/PAL code... https://github.com/G6EJD/ESP32-8266-Audio-Spectrum-Display/blob/master/ESP32_Spectrum_Display_02.ino Each band of the EQ could be used to trigger some basic pattern animations on the screen, and more complex patterns added later on.
Or, just build something like the Pixelmusic that MVVblog posted. lol And, as others mentioned, the ESP32 is capable of generating full colour PAL / NTSC directly, and probably VGA, too. It might even be possible to do some basic FFT filtering stuff in software, to allow the patterns to follow the frequencies better.
Hope you're feeling better now. I was wondering about the "Music Video" device, and have a few questions... Would it have to output colour? NTSC, PAL, or both, Composite or RGB? ie. what type of input do the devices have that you're intending to use it on, usually Composite? I think this would be quite a fun project to try. It's relatively easy to generate NTSC or PAL video from an ATmega / STM32 / Arduino, especially if the resolution doesn't need to be too high. The question then is, would a very simple display that reacted to the average volume be OK, or would you ideally want it to work like a graphic EQ display as well?
About the Atari Video Music, i went over some dead link but now i had find everything to build a very little device that act exactly ( more or less ) as the Atari , plug and play. Is an old project called Pixelmusic 3000 ( https://makezine.com/projects/pixelmusic-3000/ ) Now i only need the components, and i will put it together. I hope it will work. Thank You so much. Marco.
That’s one of the ones I found using a google search over the last year or two. As I’m not a maker and many of the links seemed to be dead I dismissed it. Is there enough information left there to be able to construct one?
Yeah, the request reminded me that my Windows Media Player still has a visualizer, which I hadn't used since I installed it on my Win 10 laptop. Not bad with a Bluetooth speaker.
Great video, as always. Can't help you on the visualizer, but seeing that reminded me of the old WinAMP visualizer from the days of Windows 98. It would be cool if you could feature that in a video sometime.
Hey Mat, on the music visualizer for boombox crt thing, I agree all this business with raspi and projectm is a bit headachy. How about you get a miraacast wireless display dongle, a hdmi to composite adapter, and a 3.5mm to bluetooth adapter, and wire it to the boombox. Then, you can project a computer screen running windows media player, winamp, or the like to the dongle/crt , while piping in audio from the bluetooth adapter connected to the boombox audio.
Of course it won't be the most convenient thing to use day to day, but I'm assuming you just want it to work once or twice for a video.
The blurriness as you're showing the Remute cart as actually a bit apropos of the subject matter :) Kind of gives it that long lost VHS feel.
Funny how music works, I liked the music of the DubCrt cartridge better than Remute. It also does more with interactivity. It's a pity it sold out a long time ago. As for visualizers, there doesn't seem to be anything quite like the Atari Video Music. I know Jeff Minter created the Virtual Light Machine programs, versions of which were built into Nuon DVD players, the Atari Jaguar CD and the XBox 360. Of these the Nuon could be considered the most "stand alone", I guess.
I like the way you went with the content ID match...well played.
Visualization: Someone made a port of projectM running on the Raspberry Pi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA8s0SUhOHM It's basically a remake of the Milkdrop plugin from Winamp. Seems very close to what you need. However it's not that easy to put together based on the GitHub readme: https://github.com/sirspudd/projectmofo Maybe you can mail the owner of the repo and ask for a ready made image which you can flash on an SD card.
Many thanks for the link. I've decided to redo the end of the video to better explain my requirements as it turns out a Raspberry Pi isn't the most suitable device. I'm really looking for a modern day Atari Video Music.
Feel better.
I don't have a Raspberry Pi 4, but as far I can see in the specs there is no line input available. Will you attach a USB microphone or a USB audio converter to the Raspberry to analyse the music of a boom box? Or should the Raspberry deliver local or streamed music over its line out to the boom box?
I honestly don’t have a clue - I was hoping someone else would figure all that out for me.
Sorry to hear you are still under the weather, Mat. Try not to stress too much about getting videos out, it will only delay your recovery.
avant-garde music can be great after a certain alcohol intake. Try it :)
Wow, get better. As I get older, I notice it takes longer to get over illnesses
Take care of yourself man, and don't worry about posting somewhat later, we will wait!
Regarding the visualizer, you may want to check whether or not ProjectM works on the Raspberry Pi. If should be available in the package manager if so. It can require some fiddling, but might give you some pretty nice results if you get it working!
At the moment I don’t have a Pi, and when I have in the past they’ve left me totally befuddled. I was really just hoping to stick a SD card containing a ready-built image in one, turn it on and voila...instant headache.
Hmm, well let's just say I shan't be rushing pout to buy either of those any time soon. Interesting and well presented video as always. Hope you start to feel better soon, Mat. Have you seen those colourful but very pricey interactive wall art lights from the Lametric people? I think they're called 'Sky'?
They’ve been sending a lot of emails about them - I haven’t really looked at any of them though, every wall in the house is already accounted for.
Hope you feel better soon mate! Just a side note: I noticed the music from the C64 one was by 4-Mat who was legendary in the Amiga demo scene. Seems to have gone backwards to me. Here's an example of his earlier work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY1bt9864sU I was really into the amiga demo scene (and still am via emulators). Best regards, Kelv
Maybe they only gave him 3K and and half an hour to come up with something.
You beat me to it. I have one of those Remute cartridges as well. I had been planning to start a video on that along with some other newly released games after the video I'm working on currently. I have had it sitting around for months. I didn't even realize you had one. I haven't heard of the DUB CRT, probably since it requires PAL and I live in NTSC land. But after watching your video, it doesn't look like I'm missing out on much. To be honest, the music on Remute cartridge doesn't really do much for me either.
Sorry about that. It’s not the most thrilling of cartridges to demo as there’s little to show, other than the ‘video’ and the audio for that hit a content match. While I’ve got a few other new(ish) C64 carts around the house I don’t have any plans to show them as I don’t really cover games.
That was.... odd... cool idea, but like you say, shame that there wasn't more usable interactivity
Cool to see my name in the credits though :D
We went from BBC Radiophonics to Kraftwerk there. Interesting concepts, not quite realised in my opinion. But thanks for showing them to us and get well soon!
When you played the first track, I thought your SX-64 video chip was broken and after the second even the SID chip. I am glad it isn't. But I like the case of the cartridge do the LED only light up or is there an interaction with the noise, I mean music? By the way, you made an excellent tune choice for the Red Eyes video. I hope they learnt something. ;-)
I’ll admit to double checking their promotional videos, to see that something wasn’t wrong at my end - that’s never a good sign. The LEDs just light up - well that’s all they do on mine - perhaps they would do more if I were to unlock hidden features by listening to more music that sounded like a fax being sent.
Mat, hope you are feeling better soon.
Thanks. It should just be a matter of time.
Content match? Seriously, YouTube? Oh, wait. I think I have your content match music right here -- (plays clown music).
Yeeeah ... not my type of music (not allergic to ALL electronic music but ...) BUT ... 1) it's not about me and 2) it was a cool use of the technology!
PS - Sorry you are still under the weather, Mat.
We wish you good health, Matt - and soon! When I heard "Eine Demokratic", I thought you might be playing Kraftwerk's first LP.
Oh noes... another format I have to put my music on? It's getting expensive for me to sell my music now, Mat! LOL! :D
I think the market for these might be quite limited - you might want to give it a miss. ;-)
Thanks Mat. I really enjoyed this video. I never thought music would be released on cartridges, especially for the Commodore. I think YouTube should allow playing 30 seconds of a copyrighted work for fair use demonstrating (and free advertising) of their work without claims being made. You get 30 second second previews on Amazon and iTunes. Anyway, you get yourself better which is the most important thing. Best wishes.
It’s all automated. I suppose the chap doesn’t want people sharing his music everywhere without getting paid, and I fully appreciate that as a fellow ‘content maker’. On this occasion the exposure could have helped him out, but that’s impossible for an auto match system to take into account.
When did you get the Sega CDx? Those thing are expensive... and fragile
Only a couple of years ago - It was bought with a video in mind that I still haven’t got around to making.
Get well soon Matt.
*snorts at substitute track* - excellent use of an up-tempo circus style rendition of "Entrance of the Gladiators".
What do you know, Mat's human. Really, hope you get to feeling better soon. Not just for the videos, but because you feel like a friend. And we always want the best for our friends. Keep the faith, Brother Mat.
I am very jealous of your Sega Multi-Mega. Lovely piece of kit.
Good to see the SX-64 in action again!
hope you feel better
Reminds me of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w8atFA2fk0
Yes there have been a few of these. I avoided that one though as I don’t have NES.
Personally I find these videos about different (or in this case unexpected) formats quite interesting, and don't see this as a "lesser" video or anything remotely similar! If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't even have batted an eye :) Can't wait to check it out! Take your time, rest, and get well soon! Have a great day!