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Play that Pokey Music: Computer Archeological Gaming with Vintage Sound Chips

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The Computer Games Journal

Abstract

The article discusses programmable sound generators (PSG) of the home computer era (1970s–1990s) and the problem of a historiographizing of them. An alternative way of examining and describing their features for scientific purposes will be suggested: computer archaeology with its methods of measuring, demonstrating, and re-enacting technical processes. The study tries to argue a non-discursive approach to both game history and game sound technology. In conclusion it will show that only a mid-range theory of actual historical objects can be possible, expatiated with PSG sound. Subsequent research could try to investigate such an approach to analyze one specific game and its sounds (by its algorithms and signal outcome), one specific PSG type, or one comparable feature of divers PSGs.

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Notes

  1. These kinds of sounds have been used for musical production, too (cf. Höltgen and Othmer 2013).

  2. The most popular examples for this are the early PCs from IBM, the Apple II, Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum home computer, and—by way of its cassette port (see Reed n.d.)—the TRS-80 Model 1.

  3. In 1961, the IBM 7094 was the first computer that, on the basis of this technology, spoke and sang a song: “Daisy Bell” (Norman n.d.).

  4. Each opcode of the machine code consumes a specific number of clock cycles dependent on its addressing modes and/or the size of its data words (Hugg 2016, pp. 213, 227–233).

  5. The frequency divider (an electronic component) receives its clock signal from the oscillating crystal and distributes it among the different time-based elements of the system (CPU, drivers, I/O components etc.).

  6. Paddle controllers are trim potentiometers (adjustable resistors) that transform the incoming 5 V into lower voltages (down to 0 V) continuously. These voltages are interpreted as controlling information by the game software. (Höltgen 2015, pp. 258–262).

  7. Pin 26 (“Ext in”) of the SID chip had been added to cascade several of these PSGs (e.g. in synthesizers). Later, its inventor, Robert Yannes, founded the Ensoniq company, a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, but never built a SID synthesizer. As such, pin 26 remains as a silent link between his different areas of work with Commodore and Ensoniq.

  8. To activate the tape recorder‘s motor on an 8-bit Atari home computer you just have to type POKE 54018, 52. Then a music cassette can be played back with it and will be heard through the TV speaker. POKE 54018, 60 stops the motor and the playback.

  9. Early microcomputers like the Sol-20 used commercially available music tape recorders as data storage. To control those peripherals, a 2.8 mm stereo jack is used for motor control. Some tape recorders also had a jack like this for external control.

  10. To prove that the sound is played without the soundchip, the SID can be unplugged from the board. The VIC-II chip does not send its sounds signals through the SID chip, but sends them directly to the bus wires which are connected to pin 26 of the SID. To avoid such unintentional ‘cross-talk’, several hardware add-ons are provided (see, for example, Toshi 2017).

  11. Programming PSGs in other systems often requires programming in assembly language or machine code which is less comprehensible and more difficult to implement.

  12. A video of the process has been recorded and uploaded to YouTube (https://youtu.be/k9DnbekSe-E).

  13. A video of the process has been recorded and uploaded to YouTube (https://youtu.be/FvBAwOqLryg). Neither this video nor the one above is sufficient to experience the real and live outputs from these experiments. We do not hear the original sound; we hear a repeatedly mediated sound: recorded with an iPhone, compressed by an algorithm, played back though a video software and the speakers of a modern PC.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Nikita Braguinski for some musicological explanations, Malte Schulz, Markus Hohmann, and the members of the VIC-20 and TRS-80 Facebook groups for technical hints, and Jana Pauls for her copy-editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Musikwissenschaft und Medienwissenschaft, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Stefan Höltgen

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  1. Stefan Höltgen
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Correspondence to Stefan Höltgen.

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All editorial decisions for this article, including selection of reviewers and the final decision, were made by guest editor Dr. Kenny McAlpline.

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Höltgen, S. Play that Pokey Music: Computer Archeological Gaming with Vintage Sound Chips. Comput Game J 7, 213–230 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40869-018-0068-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40869-018-0068-5

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