Making 8-bit Music From Scratch at the Commodore 64 BASIC Prompt
In this video, I make 8-bit SID music on a Commodore 64 without any software apart from the built-in BASIC interpreter. This involves poking numbers into memory and hardware registers and writing machine code in decimal.
The picture of Walt was masterfully pixeled by The Sarge.
Posted Friday 27-Sep-2024 08:28
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Anonymous
Sat 28-Sep-2024 10:45
Sat 28-Sep-2024 10:45
Proper feelgood computering.
Anonymous
Sun 29-Sep-2024 10:56
Sun 29-Sep-2024 10:56
I just saw your YT video about making C64 music without any tools. I dont remember when was the last time I was that much impressed by anything. The amount of skills I recognized during your live coding session made me cry out. I understand it from your earlier projects (like 8bit chiptune on AVR) but now I understand the process of making such stuff and its mind blowing. Thank you!
Greetings from Slovenia!
Greetings from Slovenia!
Anonymous
Sun 29-Sep-2024 14:03
Sun 29-Sep-2024 14:03
Som den lamer jeg er skulle jeg gjerne hatt listinga :-D men jeg regner med at jeg bare må skrive av YT videoen :-P
Dag
Dag
Anonymous
Mon 30-Sep-2024 12:48
Mon 30-Sep-2024 12:48
I did not made Music on the C64 yet (only code or GFX) but you gave me some inspirations now... thank you.
Anonymous
Thu 3-Oct-2024 13:03
Thu 3-Oct-2024 13:03
Great work
Is it possible to put the program online?
Thank you
Is it possible to put the program online?
Thank you
Anonymous
Wed 6-Nov-2024 21:54
Wed 6-Nov-2024 21:54
Is it possible to put the program online?
Or do what I did - watch the video and type it in yourself (with lots of pausing and resuming!) Very educational! :)
mikerofone
Mon 3-Mar-2025 23:30
Mon 3-Mar-2025 23:30
For those wanting to run the code on their own, I'm publishing a variant of it here with Linus' explicit permission. Thank you for, Linus! :)
Note that there are some minor differences to the code shown in the video, notably a check that skips re-initialization of the pitch tables on subsequent runs, and some minor line number changes.
My starting point was a transcription I found at https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1032829#p1032829, which I then cleaned up and made some additional minor edits to.
You can also find the following code on Github: https://github.com/mikerofone/c64stuff/tree/main/lftkryo-jam
Cheers, and have fun!
mikerofone
00001 INIT=PEEK(194*256):IFINIT=40GOTO10
00002 PRINT "PRECOMPUTING PITCH TABLES..."
00003 F=40:FORI=0TO116
00004 POKE194*256+I,FAND255
00005 POKE195*256+I,F/256
00006 F=F*1.0595: NEXT
00010 PRINT "LOADING PROGRAM..."
00020 READV:IFV>=0THENPOKEA,V:A=A+1:GOTO20
00021 IFV<-1THENA=-V*256:GOTO20
00030 PRINT"{clr}LIST80-89"
00080 REM +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
00081 REM Q : : R Q : : M O
00082 REM T VT:RQMO T XVTQ:M YXVTQ:M TQ R
00083 REM AM AMA MHT HTH TJV JVJ VFR FRF R
00084 REM
00085 REM B D G I K N P S U W Z
00086 REM A C E F H J L M O Q R T V X Y
00090 SYS192*256
00099 LIST80-89
00100 DATA-212
00110 DATA0,0,0,0,0,0,239
00120 DATA0,0,0,4,0,0,224
00130 DATA0,0,0,0,0,128,232
00140 DATA0,0,0,15
00200 DATA-192
00210 DATA169,127,141,13,220
00220 DATA169,0,141,20,3
00230 DATA169,193,141,21,3
00240 DATA169,1,141,26,208,141,18,208
00250 DATA169,33,141,4,212
00290 DATA96
00300 DATA-193
00310 DATA169,1,141,32,208,141,25,208
00320 DATA173,162,0,74,74,74,168
00324 DATA169,14,153,86,216,141,118,216
00325 DATA169,1,153,87,216
00330 DATA185,127,4,72
00331 DATA185,167,4,72
00332 DATA185,207,4
00340 DATA162,14,32,0,196
00341 DATA104,162,7,32,0,196
00342 DATA104,162,0,32,0,196
00390 DATA169,14,141,32,208,76,49,234
00400 DATA-196
00405 DATA201,32,144,3,76,0,197
00410 DATA125,0,198,168
00430 DATA185,0,194,157,0,212
00440 DATA185,0,195,157,1,212
00450 DATA189,1,198,157,4,212
00490 DATA96
00500 DATA-197
00550 DATA189,2,198,157,4,212
00560 DATA16,3,157,1,212
00590 DATA96
00600 DATA-198
00610 DATA82,17,16,0,0,0,0
00620 DATA70,65,64,0,0,0,0
00630 DATA46,33,128,0,0,0,0
00999 DATA-1
Note that there are some minor differences to the code shown in the video, notably a check that skips re-initialization of the pitch tables on subsequent runs, and some minor line number changes.
My starting point was a transcription I found at https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1032829#p1032829, which I then cleaned up and made some additional minor edits to.
You can also find the following code on Github: https://github.com/mikerofone/c64stuff/tree/main/lftkryo-jam
Cheers, and have fun!
mikerofone
00001 INIT=PEEK(194*256):IFINIT=40GOTO10
00002 PRINT "PRECOMPUTING PITCH TABLES..."
00003 F=40:FORI=0TO116
00004 POKE194*256+I,FAND255
00005 POKE195*256+I,F/256
00006 F=F*1.0595: NEXT
00010 PRINT "LOADING PROGRAM..."
00020 READV:IFV>=0THENPOKEA,V:A=A+1:GOTO20
00021 IFV<-1THENA=-V*256:GOTO20
00030 PRINT"{clr}LIST80-89"
00080 REM +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---
00081 REM Q : : R Q : : M O
00082 REM T VT:RQMO T XVTQ:M YXVTQ:M TQ R
00083 REM AM AMA MHT HTH TJV JVJ VFR FRF R
00084 REM
00085 REM B D G I K N P S U W Z
00086 REM A C E F H J L M O Q R T V X Y
00090 SYS192*256
00099 LIST80-89
00100 DATA-212
00110 DATA0,0,0,0,0,0,239
00120 DATA0,0,0,4,0,0,224
00130 DATA0,0,0,0,0,128,232
00140 DATA0,0,0,15
00200 DATA-192
00210 DATA169,127,141,13,220
00220 DATA169,0,141,20,3
00230 DATA169,193,141,21,3
00240 DATA169,1,141,26,208,141,18,208
00250 DATA169,33,141,4,212
00290 DATA96
00300 DATA-193
00310 DATA169,1,141,32,208,141,25,208
00320 DATA173,162,0,74,74,74,168
00324 DATA169,14,153,86,216,141,118,216
00325 DATA169,1,153,87,216
00330 DATA185,127,4,72
00331 DATA185,167,4,72
00332 DATA185,207,4
00340 DATA162,14,32,0,196
00341 DATA104,162,7,32,0,196
00342 DATA104,162,0,32,0,196
00390 DATA169,14,141,32,208,76,49,234
00400 DATA-196
00405 DATA201,32,144,3,76,0,197
00410 DATA125,0,198,168
00430 DATA185,0,194,157,0,212
00440 DATA185,0,195,157,1,212
00450 DATA189,1,198,157,4,212
00490 DATA96
00500 DATA-197
00550 DATA189,2,198,157,4,212
00560 DATA16,3,157,1,212
00590 DATA96
00600 DATA-198
00610 DATA82,17,16,0,0,0,0
00620 DATA70,65,64,0,0,0,0
00630 DATA46,33,128,0,0,0,0
00999 DATA-1