Tell us about yourself! How do you use your Atari?

[Awol]

So... are you here for the chip music or the MIDI apps or Cubase or what? If you're here for chip, are you a YM2149 fanatic or a sample-tracking MOD-maker? If you're here for MIDI or sampling, what other gear do you use? And whatever you're here for... what machine are you running? ST? Falcon? What's your preferred software? Can you link us to any music you've made? Do you do anything else with your Atari? Are you into any other retro computers? Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you use your Atari!


I'm a chip music fanatic. I've played a little bit with MaxYMiser, but haven't made anything I feel like sharing yet! However, this site has inspired me to maybe try and get into MIDI and other stuff a bit too... I've got a box full of Atari ST MIDI software (with manuals and boxes - some even shrinkwrapped!) that I got off Craigslist a while ago for free. I'm using a 1040STE that I upgraded to 4mb RAM and TOS 2.06. I've also got a 1040STF that I haven't touched since I got my STE. I suppose I'll sell it, or maybe I'll use the STE for chip and the STF for MIDI, and use them together since MaxYMiser has MIDI sync. Actually my brother and I did some garage rock stuff (not worth sharing yet) where I controlled the YM2149 through MaxYMiser with a MIDI keyboard. I could even sync up my C64, which I'm also getting started with. By the way, I've got a 16mhz STF accelerator that I managed to snatch off eBay for pretty cheap, but I plan to put it in the STE as soon as I build a DIY CPU adapter. And I got an UltraSatan as a birthday present, so I'm gonna fill it up with demos, games, the SNDH Archive, and everything else!

And maybe tell us where you're from and your age, etc:
I'm 21, and from Miami, but in Brooklyn for college.

[BitPusher2600]

I think the people who will immediately see this already know who I am, but, fun thread, so why not?
I'm not here for the MIDI because I know nothing about MIDI, nor for the YM2149 (beautiful chip I might add). I rock the TIA from the Atari 2600. This was the first very game console i'd ever touched as a toddler, and it was either the start of a beautiful relationship or a damaged mind (remember how they used to tell us "too much video game playing will rot your brain!").

Suffice it to say, I'm either braindead in a lab somewhere dreaming all of this or an overly nostalgic grownup. I had several consoles growing up, but I've always treasured my Atari and, pathetic as it sounds, felt emotionally close to it, like it was a brother or something, just an important part of my life. I have no explanation that sounds either normal or sensible, it is what it is. Over the years, i've lost interest in video gaming because they've become a little too much like an interactive movie as opposed to a game. Side note; the most recent game I've ever played that I truly enjoyed was Final Fantasy VII.

So, flash-forwarding to the now, I got into the chiptune scene just a couple years ago. Totally loving everything it stands for, and of course, the idea of using vintage hardware that was not intended for producing complete music. It wasn't until a short while after having discovered chiptune I was floored when I found a way to make music on my beloved Atari 2600 platform. I hadn't really touched mine in years, as I don't play games near as much as I used to (though I fire up console emulators on my laptop from time to time). Don't worry, I've always taken good care of my console(s); it may not have been used much but is always kept clean and shiny Chances are likely i'll be buried with a 2600.

Now, with Synthcart, it is limited in what it can do at one time. I actually use two 2600's modded with a 1/4" direct audio out. Still, I've had to learn my way around the audio editor Audacity to mix and sequence my final tune. I perform different parts at a time, then into Audacity it goes.

For the curious, my website is
http://www.BitPusher2600.net
To see my setup, go to the bottom of the "about" page, or to hear my music, the "music" page respectively.

I hope to someday learn (and afford) a MIDI keyboard and an ST/STe. I've never seen an Atari computer in person, but I really enjoy the sounds I hear from other chippers who use these. My affinity for the Atari corporation stems, obviously, from the video game deck aspect.

Yours truly resides in Massillon, Ohio. I'm 27 years old and an affectionate and loving daddy to a 3 year old baby girl named Evelyn, who yes, i've made sure has played the 2600. She has her portable V-Smile and a couple other cheap kids TV consoles (like a paint game called Splat), but her favorite 2600 game at present is Maze Craze

My final statement:
I believe that if we ever see World War III, we could win it with a couple Apple //e's and a network of Atari 2600s!