RED REDUX by Virtual Vision Group
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RED REDUX 256 byte intro - a contribution to Multimatograf 2025
by Virtual Vision Group.
for ZX Spectrum 48K+AY
and also ZX Spectrum Next
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This 256 byte intro refers to Red Supremacy,a 4KB intro released earlier this
month at Speccy.PL Party 2025 (https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=103873).
While the visuals here convey the basic idea, calling it a "redux" is of course
tongue-in-cheek, as the 4KB intro has much much more in it - go watch it if you
haven't.
The intro is supplied both as a 48K+AY and as a ZX Spectrum Next binary, but
it had been entered in the classic (48/128K) compo. I decided to pay respects
to the original platform (plus it doesn't benefit from the Next capabilities).
HOWEVER, this means that unlike many 256 byte intros for 48/128K, this intro
does not use any ZX Spectrum ROM routines.
I think this is the first ZX 256b intro that plays a Protracker (or simply
non-trivial) music. I haven't extensively checked all of them, so feel free to
correct me if I'm wrong.
Credits
============
- Code - RCL
- Music - Kenotron (with modifications by RCL).
- The intro is using ZX2 compression algorithm and code by Einar Saukas
How to run
============
For the 48K + AY / 128K version:
- Just load the provided .tap file that contains the BASIC loader
or
- Load the separate code block at 24576 and run it:
CLEAR 24575: LOAD "" CODE: RANDOMIZE USR 24576
Note: if you don't turn on the sound or don't have the AY, you will be rather
disappointed.
For the ZX Spectrum Next version:
- You can run the .dot file anywhere from the SD card using NextZXOS browser.
Under the hood
================
This was born out of my music compression experiments while working on Red
Supremacy. I noticed that the beginning of the (excellent) Kenotron soundtrack
(originally from Voodoo invtro from 2000 by the way) had a rather simple
structure and stood a chance to be redone to fit a 256b intro format.
Of course it wasn't that simple. The music structure wasn't regular enough
to rewrite it in the code, so I decided to compress the register dump. A
pattern of music (64 notes) with tempo 4 takes 256 bytes per AY register, so
I was looking at compressing up to 3584 bytes into <= 256. Gladly, as I said
Kenotron's track was somewhat simple in the beginning so it only needed values
for 12 registers, one of which was a constant. That simplified things but still
the result compressed to about 200-220 bytes, not leaving much space for the
player or the decompressor routine (I used ZX2 with some minor mods).
I had to make compromises and reduced the AY register update from once per
frame to once per 4 frames, effectively bringing the dump size to 1/4. Most
of the track was regular enough to allow that with minimal differences for
the ear, but the kick in the beginning noticeably suffered. However I still
wanted to have at least some visuals so I had to leave it at that.
First version of the code ran fine and was ready for submission, but when
doing a soak test on my real Spectrum 48K+AY, I noticed that it would stomp
the memory and lock up after several minutes of running. While I judged that
practically unimportant as no one would leave it running for that long, it
didn't sit well with me. I rewrote the code so it can now run indefinitely long
without any ill effects.
As I said above, due to the code being able to run both on 48K/128K and the
Next (within the same 256 byte limit), it is self-contained and free from
any ZX Spectrum ROM use. Ded aka Unbeliever aka MMA would approve of this :-)
Expect the sources on github shortly after the party.
-RCL, 2025-04-26
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