Modifying a 45 Year Old SWTPC To Play Synthesizers.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

it goes without saying massive thanks to everyone involved in this, especially to robert for diving in and bossing the code and setup. make sure to say hey to him over on the github!

[@BloodBlight]

I am SURE the original designers would have LOVED to see this! :)

[@mf_rat]

You say you have no idea what you're doing but I have no idea how you do what you do? Does that make sense. Basically, I want to know what you know!

[@countzero1136]

Hey Sam, if the SWTPC has a serial I/O it may be possible to fiddle with the timings on it to make it work as a MIDI port, making it even easier to enter data into the sequencer from a MIDI keyboard. A bunch of electronics mags from the 80s have projects for MIDI adapters for all sorts of home micros, mostly based on the 6850 UART chip, which is probably very similar to any potential serial chip in that computer, so adding MIDI shouldn't be too difficult (at least not the hardware side anyway) Of course you could always hack an old organ keyboard to connect to the SWTPC's keyboard circuit for a proper, non-MIDI really old school approach :) So many hacking possibilities with this lovely old hardware :)

[@sojiro288]

Insert the "you dunno what you're doing" voice lol

[@AMPProf]

"Sam the Musical Time traveler" sounding really plausible now!

[@novoiperkele]

Hmm.. Mum, he does have a computer after all :)

[@MarquisDeSang]

Always has been

[@DjSubstain]

Telltale!

[@timbermicka]

Mum don't look !

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

Look Mum Got Computer although for a little while there it was Look Mum Computer Broke but then finally it was Look Mum Fixed Computer

[@AMOKIAN]

😂🤪😝🥳 Ok hahaha….

[@LFOVCF]

A man who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.

[@rag1206]

I agree, but it seems that these days, making mistakes puts you at risk of being cancelled...

[@LFOVCF]

@Ryan Gray Depends on the mistake. If you don't just straddle the line, but vault over it, like Jeremy Clarkson, then you should have your contracts removed.

[@KeritechElectronics]

"A master has failed more times than a beginner has even tried."

[@chromosundrift]

and if you're not making mistakes, you're not attempting to solve difficult enough problems!

[@praetorprime]

Oh man, LOOK MUM BROKEN COMPUTER, you're consistently pushing out mind-blowingly inspirational videos. Please never stop.

[@matts_official]

Maybe Changing the name would be good . LOOK MUM OLD COMPUTER! :D Which is awesome ofcourse! :D :D :D

[@Psythik]

His name is Sam

[@matts_official]

@@Psythik I meant the Name of the channel ofcourse 😁

[@mogemulation]

Small point of fact, the Fairlight CMI used a total of 3 Motorola 6809 CPUs - two on the main CPU card, one on the additional CMI-07 peripheral board. The music keyboard itself had a dedicated Motorola 6802, and the MIDI/SMPTE board had a dedicated Motorola 68000. Source: I emulated the Fairlight CMI IIx in MAME. :) The closet to 9 6809s would have been the III-series from 1985, where each channel card had a dedicated 6809 while still using the original CPU board, totaling to a whopping *ten* 6809s, plus a pair of 68000 CPUs for handling other duties.

[@scottwood1143]

IT TAKES A CREW TO KEEP THIS STUFF RUNNIN’, WELL DONE MATES!

[@jamesbruton]

I'm glad your PSU was PAT tested... in 2002 ;-)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

i take electrical safety very seriously..... in a past tense

[@seancharles1595]

Yeah, and Pat retired in '87

[@mjrippe]

As a huge fan of SWTPC, I have to say this is the most amazing thing I have heard from one of their products. I have a Psych-Tone and one of their stereo amplifiers which are both fantastic. If this software was available "back in the day" it would have changed music history.

[@EdEditz]

Absolutely blows my mind how you get these things to do what you want. Awesome to see! :)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Well with this one it was a lot of team work ! And talented people

[@EdEditz]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER True but it got done. Whatever or whoever it takes. You have the idea and it gets done. I really admire that.

[@SilentGloves]

People would really be surprised by what is possible if they would just start. Never in a million years did I think I would design my own PCBs for analog audio gear, until one day I entertained the idea as a thought experiment. About six weeks later, I had a populated, working PCB with my name printed on it. I'm still flabbergasted at how easy it was once I decided to do it. Carl Sagan said “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” The beginning is really difficult, the rest is pretty easy.

[@walterszarek2748]

@@SilentGloves it is an crazy feeling to have a weird idea and to make it happen. i did the same but with metal caasting and building a kiln

[@TR8o8]

It is crazy, no matter which hardware you used, i can cleary hear your unique style how you make music! like a signature of you.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

its cus i only know about 4 chords :D haha. never needed to figure out any more mind, mebbe ill add a new one to the repertoire in a few years

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER this is so funny to read since I’ve just been brushing up on my chords from a similar situation and now my brain is exploding with the possibilities (well over a dozen for every key). OTOH now I know which chords Daft Punk used in a bunch of tracks lmao

[@spazimdam]

Well that's a proper use for a SWTPC 6809 in my opinion. Well done Sam! Cheers.

[@McTroyd]

The funniest part... I've got calculators on my desk with more memory and processing power than that whole computer. Yet, they will never control a synthesizer with the swagger of that SWTPC. Really flippin' awesome, Sam & team! Thanks for sticking it out. Now I want to see if I can find one to try this! 👍

[@countzero1136]

Wonderful project Sam! This is reminding me of when I wrote a BASIC program on a Sinclair ZX81 to use it as a sequencer and drum machine back in the early 80s. For the I/O port I used the Maplin 8255-based 24-bit I/O port kit, with Port A used to drive a DAC0801 chip to provide voltage control, Port B to drive a set of analogue drum voices (twin-t and noise generator - similar to the one you buit a while back on the channel), and Port C to drive an analogue multiplexer (a pair of CD4016 analogue switch chips) to provide polyphony via the DAC - Sadly the ZX81 wasn't fast enough to give reliable polyphony on more than 3 voices, but at least it could play simple 3-note chords, but it was amazing as a monophonic sequencer/arpeggiator. Cool stuff - I think I still have most of the hardware in a box up in the attic (including the I/O board, though I know I don't have the ZX81 anymore), and now I'm tempted to dig it out and see about operating the I/O board from a parallel printer port on an old DOS laptop - that should be fun writing a more complex sequencer in QBasic or something similar :) Even in the days of MIDI, it's still great fun to mess around with this old stuff :)

[@RetroBytesUK]

Really great video, lovely to see Pete, everyone should know a Pete, or in fact that Pete. With Adrian, and Dave it was almost like having a retro fest in one video.

[@monsflorumdeus]

Dud ye're real ispiration for musicians. As a musician I start to building my own analog synth just because of your videos and a lot of times something doesn't work as it should, the only thing that push me forward to finish it is just project as this one, so nothing is unpossible, just keep going on good work ye're amazing talent!😊

[@sphelx]

Well done mate, you've done such an incredible thing here. It's so raw! Directly addressing memory banks like that! Wicked!

[@DennisGentry]

This is super inspirational. No one starts out awesome at hardware tweaking like this (board-level repair), but get good because they made a bunch of mistakes and learned from them. I love that you have all these super capable, smart, helpful friends.

[@dragonhed123]

Man ur doing things that people would only dream of doing this is so awesome in so many levels and the ending was epic!!

[@unsoundmethodology]

Wonderful! It's so great to see one of those magnificent old beasts learning new tricks.

[@spindlenine]

Really fun video. Loved the backstory to go with the walkthrough and the performance. Well done!

[@shieladixon]

This is a fantastic story, and it has turned into an amazing piece of equipment, I love what you are able to do with the combo of live and sequenced - all via a serial terminal. Brilliant! I know some of those people, what a great team - hello Pete, hello Adrian, hello Dave. Great work Sam.

[@DanielGBenesScienceShows]

Good god man, this is awesome! You and the team are to sound synthesis what CuriousMarc is to the Apollo missions!

[@TonyGoacher]

I spent a none trivial part if my career coding for the 6809 so utmost respect!

[@8bitwiz_]

I spent a few years myself writing 6809 code to talk to gas pumps. I was already good at it thanks to the CoCo, but getting paid to do it was really nice.

[@citizenscientist1284]

Your tenacity and passion is contagious. A joy to watch and an inspiration!

[@misforyoutube8452]

Wow wow wow, what a huge effort to make it all work, kudos! Also thumbs up for all the detailed and vivid explanation on how it all works. Old computers are awesome :)

[@tomahzo]

Absolutely brilliant! The application is very interesting but you also explain it in such a way that I reckon that basically anyone should be able to follow along! Very nicely done! :)

[@althejazzman]

Considering the channel name, it's amazing how much Sam understands about computer coding and hardware! Maybe not quite enough though, as those 4 specialists really pulled together to make this work.

[@brujua7]

Incredible saga full of great work, thanks a lot to everyone. I love the way your sound design and control of your synthesis evolves over time!

[@klassisch3039]

Sam the jam at the end is sooooo good!! Love the kicks!!

[@p6nj]

Definitely one of his best projects so far

[@wtcamer]

man... this thing is epic! can't believe how functional/capable it is, with all your supplemental gear as well.

[@bettyleeist]

I think,my older sister(who lives in California,now)would be interested in this!I mean,how the whole synthesizer machine is set up,getting running,and working!I have a lot of respect for people who can do this!Cheer’s,here! 👍👍👍👍👍😮😮😮😮😮😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@dykodesigns]

Brilliant machine, it’s got dual 8” floppies just like the Fairlight. There is also something magical about these green phosphorus CRT’s with character based interfaces.

[@SuperWave86]

Wow!! The end result is so dope!!! All that to fix this lovely beast! ❤️

[@dcallan812]

There really are some very clever people kicking about. Great job 2x👍

[@Flavorwave_Turbo]

What a journey! I respect how much effort by multiple people went into resurrecting such ancient computing tech and teaching it new tricks. keeping old weird machines alive is important because there may not be many people soon that could even repair such things.

[@CaptainTedStryker]

That jam at the end is really cool. Probably my fave one so far, nice job Sam!

[@rogrevs]

I am currently building a retro 6502 computer and have been wondering what I might do with it when its finished. I think you have provided the answer -- this is way cooler than playing space invaders!!!

[@8bitwiz_]

There are minor differences in the bus signals of the 6800/6809 vs the 6502, but the basic principle is the same. It's classic I/O port stuff from the late 70s / early 80s, and it's good for the soul.

[@yurao718]

This vid is fantastic, combines the best of PC retrotech & synth scenes. Even has repair adventures! Just brilliant :)

[@keithsquawk]

Sam, I've noticed it too. A lot of the trouble can be traced to the nut on the end of the screwdriver 🙃

[@shadowkatto]

3:10 It is the letter I because 73 is the decimal version of 01001001 which is a capital I in ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Hexadecimal yes

[@TrebleWing]

MC6800L is an incredible chip. and this is an incredible system. Thank you for playing with it to such a degree and sharing it with us.

[@Guatdefook]

What a breathtaking jam!

[@wisterialosenge2546]

i love how the tuning is on the sequencer converter box. the off a little tuning makes it sound spooky futuristic. i switched to microtonal midi guitar 8 years ago and never looked back

[@kaitlyn__L]

7:30 Sam with his theremin!

[@volvodoc01]

Imagine taking this entire setup you (and others!) made back in time and showing it to the creators of that computer! 🤯

[@Kppot]

Prolly the most interesting vid for this month! Excellent - thanks!

[@darkwinter6028]

Way back when that first video came out I whipped up a quick board layout to do just exactly this & emailed it to you… got no response, though - I figure it probably wound up in the spam bin. Nice to see it being pursued. I’m currently working on a similar project, but I’m building a machine from scratch with 6 each 68010 CPUs and a number of Z80s (how many I haven’t decided yet) as IO controllers. I’m probably going to hook up the NABU PC that I recently picked up as a front-end & pseudo-GUI for it.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Interesting! I never saw that? Mind sending again? Must have gone to junk. I check all of the emails but I sometimes forget to reply. However I do not remember seeing this at all

[@darkwinter6028]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER I’ve sent it; but I think I should do a board rev… my reading of the datasheets and schematics that are online indicates that I should be gating /CS with the system’s E clock… I think it’ll work, but it may exhibit high-frequency glitching (up in the megahertz range). Adding an OR gate should fix that…

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

@@darkwinter6028 thanks. I have my board layout nearly done to get fabbed. but I'll take a look! See if I can implement it at all. I'm intrigued to see what similarities there are! Sam. I'm off to bed now though not checked me mail yet.,,cheers

[@DarkTrickUk]

Sam - you've absolutely outdone yourself with this one. Fantastic!

[@OG_Mereles]

Hey, don't hammer yourself so much over it. You are living by your words of not being afraid to try. Which deserves much respect! I now you wont stop trying new projects, but if you call yourself an 'idiot' so harshly Im afraid others will misinterpret it and say 'well, if he's an idiot and I look up to him so much, then why would I even bother trying myself?' And you are not an idiot! ♥

[@pavz]

Amazing project :) Real fun to watch, must have been extremely satisfying finally seeing it working.

[@robertbruce7686]

SWTPC and pooters of that era have naff ic sockets and iffy bus connectors. I tend to replace ALL ic sockets and inspect/ clean bus connectors (male and female). Ensure you have copies of all EPROM/ ROM devices AND any removable media you have. Also have replacements for floppy drives.....

[@SP4CEBAR]

I'm planning to build an EEPROM + ADC DAC sequencer with multiple channels and tracks, binary address wires seem pretty easy to work with: four bits to the channels, three bits to the tracks, six bits to the time, I just need a whole lot of toggle-flip-flops

[@levifzephyr]

Just brilliant. As for the organ church, "YoU DoN't KnOw WhAt YoU'rE dOiNg" (well, maybe this time it was a bit true 😜😂), but anyway I happily listened to your diatribe as your end music with much pleasure. And don't worry, we wouldn't do any slice of what you're able to achieve. You're #1, that all you need to remember.

[@jasonwright6856]

Awesome! I've been thinking about designing a computer-controlled Minimoog to use as a sound card for the computer.

[@FUNKINETIK]

Absolute awesomeness - hats off to ya Sam and to those who helped - Yep it’s such a cool looking ‘sequencer’ and will look amazing with your set up when playing gigs. Great track to finish off with. P E A C E : )

[@jamesross3939]

Super cool! Dig the sound of that thing. 👏👏

[@StephenMcLeod]

So awesome.

[@Mcflurry420]

Brilliant job, I always love your videos. They are like nothing else I have ever found. Keeping doing what you are doing ❤

[@VLena_art]

The project is incredible but those jams!!!!! So good! I always come back for those.

[@midinotes]

What a fabulous story of collaboration between top enthusiasts via the power of the web and historic computing hobbies and passion. True community spirit and keeping the dream alive of this vintage technology.

[@grant_vine]

This was frikking amazing !! Awesome reuse of something so classic 😊

[@brnrds]

Someone needs to come up with a word for when "legend" no longer cuts it. Until then... YOU LEGEND!

[@makeart5070]

I loved watching those experts in old computers talk through the troubleshooting; it's amazing that people understand this black magic!

[@matthewseymour8972]

This is tremendous... great to see so many people involved in this project, even if you'd rather that hadn't been entirely necessary

[@nullmeasure6155]

Oh my God this is so flipping cool this is the coolest thing I've ever seen anyone do with a commodore and I grew up on commodore

[@cabe_bedlam]

This community is so wild and brilliant.

[@jameshunt2141]

you could have carried on for another 25 mins with your musical demo. brilliant!

[@nidgrv1946]

Whoosh. Is the sound of this info flying over my head ! Still brilliant to see.

[@zoundsic]

What a brilliant project and brilliantly done.

[@treelineresearch3387]

If you're not using the clear input on the 74x273, a 74x574 may make your PCB layout quite a bit easier because all the D inputs are on one side of the chip and all the Q are on the other side. Other than the clear being replaced with output enable it's the same edge triggered D flip flop array with a more convenient pinout.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Cheers I'll look into it and see if it'll help! Thanks

[@low_rise5030]

OH MAN this whole setup has such a strong cold war aesthetic - I absolutely love it!!! :D I think it's my favourite project of yours so far.

[@low_rise5030]

bad bot!

[@GalileoAV]

"LOOK MUM I GOT A COMPUTER" For real though, thanks for all the work so that the old thing got to see some use again. Killer stuff as always

[@tonydotnottingham]

Fantastic collaboration - respect to all involved for making it a reality!

[@jmcarp0]

I need to like this 20 times!!! Thanks Sam! I love it!!

[@bpark10001]

Do you know about Rockwell AIM-65 & Micro Technology Unlimited? MTU wrote DIGITAL synthesizer for 6502 1 MHz KIM/AIM/PET computers. Hardware required was only more RAM, & up to 4 small D/A boards (1 per instrument). It could do full synthesis of instruments (they got data from MIT project that analyzed 100's of instruments). Synthesizer could do 4 instruments simultaneously, synthesis up to 128 harmonics (with each harmonic having separate envelope vs time). Output sample rate was 8K samples per second, allowing audio up to 3.5KHz to be generated. 3.5K "brick-wall" filter was included on the D/A board.

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

ive heard of it yes! but no experience of it as of yet. i prefer to use computers of this era to control analog synths as i think control is where they shine, but i can appreciate when they were used to play music themselves. for instance there is even an audio sample card for the swtpc 6809 to play sounds. similar to the item you mention. cheers

[@ednasdiscomachine6049]

What a brilliant team effort. Make that sequencer as an iOS app! Would be great for improv riffs on the fly (I use an iPad with my modular for sequencing). The SWTPC has a little bit of Fairlight in it. Each voice card on a Fairlight has two 6809s for the audio processing [two channels per card]. Great video, and hats off to the others that helped. Awesome.

[@countzero1136]

I remember when the Fairlight first came out, and how only the super-rich and successful musicians could afford it - nowadays the original Fairlight sample library is available free online and the entire system is massively outclassed by free DAW apps that we can run on our phones :) Technology has come on in leaps and bounds in the last 40 years, but I'm still waiting for the flying cars they promised me when I was a little kid back in the late 60s :)

[@Nf6xNet]

I love this! My first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer back in 1981. It was also based on the 6809. I still have it, and now you have me thinking that I should make a cartridge for it to turn it into a sequencer for my Eurorack gear.

[@DrewMarold]

That's so cool, congratulations on getting it working. Don't be too hard on yourself for the mistakes, everyone who has ever put a bunch of socketed ICs in has put one in backwards, it's a really easy mistake to make.

[@CrisBlyth]

EXCELLENT EPISODE !!! - really really love it !! mistakes and all !

[@hydrolisk1792]

Great job Sam!! The sounds you were making just then were awesome!

[@Jonas_Aa]

25:12 is a nice sound. Mega job done.

[@indiegrab360]

Wild stuff. Resurrecting old computers is hard enough but this is next level.

[@NonEuclideanTacoCannon]

I love old computers. In the late 90's, our family computer died. I probably could have fixed it, but parents wouldn't let me. So I bought a Commodore 64 at a garage sale. I learned so much from trying to get it to work, and coding my own shitty games. I ended up with a Sinclair 1000, a Texas Instruments TI 1000, and later a commodore 128 which I never got working. I'm feeling nostalgic now, maybe I'll peek on ebay for a C64

[@ukzoinks]

Brilliant video, well worth the 2 year wait.

[@vinylarchaeologist]

„Postdecessor“ sounds like a perfect word, Sam. Everybody should start using it.

[@calags]

Simply beautiful!

[@wetryanycheesedotcom]

I love listening to you bend old tech to your will!

[@strangersound]

I recently watched a video about "tracker" type programs that were used in the early days of computer audio and this seems like a similar paradigm in the way you read it and play it. Super cool and nice jam, too. :)

[@valdir7426]

it's very different than a tracker (and way more primitive) but it's a real feat of engineering to be able to program a playable live sequencer on a terminal interface like this. I think Sam has other videos with an actual tracker (also they're still quite popular; look at the polyend tracker hardware or renoise on pc/mac)

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

@@valdir7426 Yes it's different than a tracker, but the basics is very similar. This is like the a proto tracker. And the way he uses it is very similar to how early trackers worked. I remember playing with trackers and having fun creating bass loops and instrumental sequences. Then once I felt happy with it I'd save it only to load up some mod released by someone with actual talent only to feel how inadequate my efforts were. The way he works this system with minimal training and a lot of musical talent is quite inspiring. The simplicity makes you feel like "Yea, I could do that!" and yet I know I could spend months and not manage to get anywhere near as smooth. But yea, if you have any kind of musical talent something like this is actually quite interesting. It's a bit like playing Go. The basics are so simple it seems you should be able to master it in no time, but in reality it turns out you can spend a life time learning it and there is still going to be someone who creates music using it and you can't imagine how he did it.

[@59withqsb12]

Look Mum No Computer can sure talk about computers! Fascinating, compelling viewing as always Sam. Seems you do know what you're doing!!

[@nonesocruel]

EPIC AF!!!! thank you for the video

[@JenkinsUSA]

Ok cool - I think I got it. It’s a analog synth, no midi here, computer binary to a digital to analog voltage chip to the input of the synthesizer. 😊 Well done, I’ve learned a lot!

[@jessicope]

Thoroughly enjoy seeing "retired tech" find new life. Thank you for sharing!

[@Rhythmicons]

Loving the fact that you fired up the Moog in this one. The 15 is my dreamsynth, though I have a 10. Cheers!

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

sadly not a moog but a club of the knobs copy! but still great :D

[@Rhythmicons]

@@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER to be honest I'm surprised Kazike delivered it. COTK is one of the least reputable builders in 5u and super selective about his clientele. The sound sure fooled me though from the intro. I thought you had a Moog.

[@TR8o8]

BRILLIANT WORK! Like you always do. I LOVE this Channel! Also a big high five for Robert!

[@Colin_Ames]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!

[@mick3950]

Apart from being slightly bonkers,you really are a gifted person,thanks for sharing,

[@ScottsSynthStuff]

That memory mapped I/O is how the old 8-bit Commodore (PET, VIC-20, C64, etc) computers worked as well.

[@8bitwiz_]

Ah, the troubles that can be caused by a tiny short. I was making a 2708 EPROM reader a few months ago, and a momentary stray touch from a (live) +12V wire I was holding burnt out an output pin on my blue-pill board. The chip would still program, but that blown output made it run hot. Fortunately I had more, and I also have some lesser-spec STM32 chips that I could put in place of the fried chip if necessary. Anyhow, that's a nice example of memory-mapped I/O you've built there. D/A was always the best kind of sound output back in the day. I also love how you were banging on the drums by typing into the memory modify command of the monitor. And I blame the designer for that upside-down chip you had!

[@garrykanter5773]

Teamwork - and some smart dudes - makes the Dream work. Lovely!