8bitcollective

The Commodore PET didn't have any real-time playable music programs. Until now. PetSynth is software I wrote to play the Commodore PET like a 2-octave keyboard. It features distortion, vibrato, and pulse-width effects. However, even though it's only a 1-bit machine, I found a way to make drum sounds that sound nothing like the Commodore 64, NES, Atari 2600, or gameboy. It's loud. It has almost no noise. It rocks. I wrote this program last year, but recently release it as open-source software on the internet. It's probably the ugliest code ever written. But whateva, it's coded in the punk-rock spirit. I also didn't like the seemly few open-source programs written for retro computer and video game systems. I realize it's a niche market, and writing for old platforms is difficult and time-consuming, and products out there are truly great (when you can get them) but still... I feel like community was better served by me releasing this as open-source. Besides, maybe someone will take it places I wouldn't think of, and I think that's worth it. Nothing stopping me from selling it away, especially considering how difficult it can be getting the software off your PC or Mac and onto your Commodore PET disk or tape. I hope you like this demo song. This song was recorded using 6 tracks. All the sounds were built-up track-by-track by playing PetSynth on a real PET. The drums were also recorded on the PET. The only processing is a little compression, EQ, and reverb. I hope you like it! You can download your own copy of PetSynth and it's source-code at: http://www.petsynth.org/

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