pouët.net

Great to see that CPC demotools are still being released in 2004. This is simply the best tracker for the CPC. Now, all we need for CPC is a new gfx paint programm with overscan and interlace support..

I know quite little about CPC hardware. How do you crack the borders on that machine?

Dj Fistfuck: It's easier and more handy on CPC than on C64 (Where someone can only achieve to put graphics on the borders with sprites or rasters but not with regular gfx as far as I know). I haven't tried it yet but I know that someone has to change the values in 2 CRTC ports. One sets the maximum gfx screen on X (in bytes) and one on Y (in char lines I think). You can get this way, a 96(bytes) by 256(lines) or perhaps even more. But that's already 24kb of videoram and so if you do this on Basic, 16kb start regurarly from C000 and the rest 8kb repeat again from C000. So, you have to make a screen split exactly before (which need more CRTC regs perhaps and precise syncing) that point and set the rest 8kb to point to another ram address.

Pitty that I am not a hardware programmer on the CPC yet and I haven't tried hardware tricks, but theoritically I know that this is what I have to achieve in order to get an overscan (how we call border gfx on the CPC). I have already used the register for X, to change into a 64byte mode so that I can safely move on each line in the vram with INC L instead of INC HL and gain one cycle. Perhaps I must give overscan a try in the future..

Another CPCist could explain more perhaps, if I missed something..

Ah yes, the CPC uses the Motorola 6845, right? I've read about that one in Luxor documentation, and assuming you can get the rest of the video circuitry to play along, it seems like quite an agreeable beast.
Still, I've read that CPC coders suffer from incompatibilities between different CRTCs. Is this a thing of the past or still a problem?

Starkos rules !
Targhan you're the best... after me :)

>Still, I've read that CPC coders suffer from
>ncompatibilities between different CRTCs.
>Is this a thing of the past or still a problem?

It's still a problem if you have a rare hardware, but today's coders know how to detect and support diferrent CRTC types. Today's demos won't have any problems with at least 0 or 1 type, but I still can't run some of the good old demos on my CRTC1 machine.

Maybe the best CPC tool. I knew it since a french CPC site.

This tools simply rocks ! Support many feature for YM chiptune composition (the best of all possibility of old ST trackers ;)).
But best of all, you can compose and listen for Digit Drum inside the tool...
Targhan (the author) let me heard some composition done using 200hz timer and it's really brilliant ! (I like your work !)
For a few month of development, it's simply the best tracker on CPC !

Thanks Targhan !

www.julien-nevo.com ;)

DJ Fistfuck : there is 4 types of CRTC on Amstrad. Overscan is really simple, you can do this under basic without any problem (as well as some kind of splitting using interrupt, etc...)...

This tracker is the best available on CPC. Every musicians should use it.

cool tracker!

Best tracker on CPC of course. Get more informations and check the last version here : starkos.cpcscene.com

of course :)

(and v1.2 is out now :))

User-friendly !

Simply amazing!

I just found this today, from the game Beyond Good and Evil and it was funny to me.

Awesome tracker for your Amstrad.