Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 16:30:16 +0100 From: christian-oliver windler Newsgroups: rec.games.video.classic Subject: Compumate - the REAL "Music Machine"! (was "What's a Spectravideo Compumate keyboard for ? ) On 20 Mar 1997, achim stIndT wrote: > I just bought a keyboard, it has the brand Spectravideo in it's case > and is labeled Compumate (I think, don'T have it at hand). > It has three cables, two with a connector for the standard joystick > port and one for the 2600 cartridge slot. Sadly the latter cable has a > defect, so I have to repair it before I can test it. > In the meanwhile, could you tell me in advance some infos on this > thing? I assume it's for Basic programming? And it has the > Do,Re,Mi,Fa,... labeled on the keys so it seems to be for making > "music" as well? > > For some people(like me!) the Compumate is one of the greatest thing ever made for the VCS 2600. It features BASIC programming(unfortunately only 100 lines and no "pokes", "peeks" or assembly calls :( ),a keyboard-operated paint program(2 selectable colors,ca. 40x40 pixels,2 pretty ;) built-in pictures("snowman" & "world map"),the possibility of saving your work onto cassette and(the best thing!!!) a 2 voiced squarewave style music sequencer with a very unique tonescale and 4 beautiful 2 voiced built-in squarewave melodies(Twinkle Little Star,Jingle Bells,My Bonny Is Over The Ocean,???) those turn your VCS into a lovely elec- tronic music box. For friends of avantguardistic electronic musics the sound of this sequencer is a really great thing to experiment with. Tips & Hints: The Compumate seems to adress it's memory(has own RAM?) via the joystick cables and it needs a VCS with working paddle ports;some clones with paddle pins not connected won't work(7800 works fine). My Compumate is a PAL one(I live in Germany) and I don't know if there was an NTSC version.(Was it made in GB? The background in sequencer mode is blue on my machine;yours may turn green when operating at the wrong TV norm.) Use the [func] key together with [paint] or [music] to select the paint prg. or the sequencer.[func]+[basic] switches back to BASIC mode. (WARNING: Every mode change(and playing with built-in pictures or melodies?) deletes the actual contents of the RAM,so save to cassette before doing so whenever you programmed/created something interesting.) [func]+[save] and [func]+[load] seem to save to and load from cassette(haven't tried this yet).After saving it plays the tones Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do. Number keys in sequencer mode start the built-in melodies. Pressing [Autoplay] while in paint mode causes the machine to repeat playing all 4 melodies in a fixed order at reduced speed while the screen is flicke- ring.(Is this a pug in the prg.?) I have neither the box nor the manual,so I don't know much about the BASIC or specialities of the sequencer,although I found out how to use them. In sequencer the [piano] and [organ] keys switch between 2 sound envelopes. [replay] replays the entered song.(I can't remember more here,because I write this in a college while my Compumate is at home.(No,I don't always take it with me ;) I only remember that note length can(must?) be entered seperately by using the bottom row of keys.(Cursor keys scroll through the song?) It may be that in far future I may carefully take my Compumate apart to figure out some schematics to make it possible to emulate it,because the unique arta- rian music it produces must be preserved for future generations. (The Compumate contains a masked ROM(no EPROM),so I hope I have time to wait with this project without being endangered that it's software will fade away forever.) MAY THE SOFTWARE BE WITH YOU! *============================================================================* I CYBERYOGI Christian Oliver(=CO=) Windler I I (teachmaster of LOGOLOGIE - the first cyberage-religion!) I I ! I *=============================ABANDON=THE=BRUTALITY==========================* From: CYBERYOGI =CO= Windler Newsgroups: rec.games.video.classic Subject: Re: Systems with multiple designs (2 different COMPUMATE versions?) Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 18:04:22 +0200 ... I saw the photo of the Compumate computer keyboard for VCS2600 on a homepage at: and it looks much dif- ferent from mine.Mine has no label on its rear part,has a more rectangular case and the printing on the plastic keyboard looks much different.2 black cables plug into the joystick ports while a 3rd one leads to the Compumate's cart.(The thing on the homepage seems to have the cartridge connector directly on the bottom of the keyboard.)My Compumate is the German Quelle "Universum" version,although there is also the Spectravideo logo on its keyboard. ... MAY THE SOFTWARE BE WITH YOU! *============================================================================* I CYBERYOGI Christian Oliver(=CO=) Windler I I (teachmaster of LOGOLOGIE - the first cyberage-religion!) I I ! I *=============================ABANDON=THE=BRUTALITY==========================*