Sound monitor
| Sound monitor
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 Main screen of the sound monitor |
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| Basic data
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| developer | Chris Huelsbeck |
| Publishing year | 1986 |
| category | Music software |
| German speaking | No |
Soundmonitor is software for the Commodore 64 home computer that was very popular in the 1980s. The program was programmed in 1986 by the computer musician Chris Hülsbeck as part of a music competition for the computer magazine 64'er . It was published in 10/1986 in 64 as listing of the month.
With this software it was possible to use the sound possibilities of the sound chip MOS Technology SID (also known as "6581" or simply "SID") integrated in the Commodore 64 , which was difficult to achieve with the "standard tools" of the C64.
Pieces of music created with Soundmonitor can be provided with an independent playback routine, the so-called MusicMaster , when they are saved . This makes it possible to play a piece of music outside of the sound monitor in parallel with another program. In fact, Chris Hülsbeck programmed the MusicMaster routine before the sound monitor. He took part in the above-mentioned music competition and promptly came first with his piece Shades . Then, given the possibilities of this playback routine, he decided to program an editor around it, the sound monitor. MusicMaster is also an integral part of the sound monitor.
Since the sound chip of the C64 only allows 3 physical voices at the same time, Chris Hülsbeck implemented a special technique in the sound monitor, the so-called arpeggios . With this technique, successive tone sequences can be set very quickly using only one voice channel and thus chords can be simulated. The tones are mostly rotated to the rhythm of the music. Such arpeggios can be heard very often in C64 games.
With the sound monitor, pieces of music can be edited and played in / recorded simultaneously. So you can play audio tracks that have already been created and play another one on the keyboard at the same time.
After the sound monitor, Chris Hülsbeck worked a little longer with the C64 and managed to play more acoustically than the three actually only possible voices on the C64 through the clever use of small sound samples . Sound samples are digital recordings of recorded sounds. This made it possible, for example, to integrate real drums into a piece of music. Of course, several instruments can sound at the same time in a sample. Since the main memory of the C64 is very limited by today's standards, such sound samples have to be used very sparingly - especially if they are also to be integrated into a game. A prime example is the C64 game To Be On Top from 1987, which set new standards in the sound area on the C64. Chris Hülsbeck was responsible for the sound and part of the programming.
The use of sound samples is not possible with the sound monitor, but fans have written many other music programs based on the sound monitor that have this feature. The Rockmonitor series should be mentioned here in particular .
The sound monitor is the origin of the tracker software that was later very popular on the Amiga and PC .
Some musicians still use the sound monitor today, e.g. B. the band Welle: Erdball .
Web links
- Information on music editors of the C64 in the High Voltage Music Engine Collection (HVMEC)
- Official webpage of Chris Hülsbeck