Commodore Free 12/Commodore_Free_Issue_12_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv stone pt3

Text File | 2007-01-01 | 10.9 KB | 346 lines

u
The SOASC= Project
http://www.6581-8580.com/index.htm

PART 3

Q - Are you able to keep up with
updates? Well, my system was based on
HVSC#45 which was released in April
2006. My system recorded 24/7 from
November 2006 through March 2007.
In between here came the HVSC#46
during January 2007. Seeing how the
HVSC updates was released,  I thought
I would be finished long time before
HVSC#47 hit the market in June 2007.
But,I had noted some problems with a
couple thousands songs from the
HVSC#45 collection & that was the
BASIC tunes & some really large SID
files which caused some aftermath
recording work. A lot of manual work
was done on these recordings. During
July 2007 I managed to fix 3457 tunes
that I had noted, or by others via the
forums as bad ones.The only remaining
bugs that still are "present" from the
#45 release is the issue with NTSC
specific tunes. I will have to
purchase NTSC models & additionally
fix & re-record about 2974 tunes for
that cause. As I recorded everything
on PAL machines & the fact that
PSID64 does not handle NTSC flagged
tunes correctly or not at all,I really
never got finished with the full
HVSC#45 release.And we are now in
August 2007 at this point of writing,
where I have recorded the 8580 version
of HVSC#47 already, the recording rack
is of the first priority (check our
forum

http://www.dirtcellar.net/phpBB3/view
topic.php?f=8&t=146 ).

Further, the HVSC updates are not just
recording the update for me, but also
own tools have to be created to filter
out what other updates the HVSC crew
had performed, like; songlengths fixes
copyright fixes, & information
stored in the SID. They also sometimes
delete files & remove dirs & move
files around. All of these changes has
to be either manually or half-
automatic be performed on my MP3
collection as well. So for each update
there is more than just hit record and
go : )Also, the HVSC crew has stated
that the there is a current increase
of SID being ripped etc, so that also
brings the HVSC releases faster out
than normally. During 2006 they only
had one release, but during 2005 they
had 4.In 2007 they already have had 2
releases, but I suspect a HVSC#48
release around Christmas or even
before. Anyway, I'm still catching up,
so hopefully I can release the updates
much faster than during this year. But
as I said, that is because there is a
lot of aftermath problems for the
initial recordings.

Q - On the site you can search the
tune or composer - can you take our
reader through the options

A- Yeah, the main site you'd start
from would be: http://www.6581
8580.com. Then on the top menu, click
"Download MP3s". You will enter the
database & the first page of "hits".
From here you can either click on the
insane bulk of numbers which represent
pages on the database alphabetically.
The options for searching are
"Songtitle/Composer/Releaser/Date".
I think the pulldown menu explains it
all.Hitting search & you'd find your
hits. You can download both the 6581
and 8580 versions but also as a bonus
the SID file from the HVSC collection
as well. This can be handy to quickly
find out "that" particular tune is
what you seek for. Of course you need
some kind of SidPlayer software to
play it. Also, the SID can be handy to
determine if you found a possible
damaged recording or a recording
filled with noise or something that
clearly differs from the SID file.

You will notice a GREEN "flag" on the
"MP3 xxx xxxxxx" buttons to the left
in the file table. This means that the
tune is made for that specific chip,
or is suggested to be the most
preferable version to listen to. This
flag comes directly from the SID file
itself, so it follows HVSC many years
of research :) Also, take notice that
sometimes there will be no GREEN "flag
" at all. That means nobody knows
(yet) what kind of chip that tune was
specifically composed on/for. In other
instances, you will see several GREEN
"flags", that should mean that the
track sound good on both models of the
SID chip. This is mainly to help
listeners to find "that" favorite tune
to download.

Q - Can we bulk download for example
if I search on "hubbard" Can I
download all the Mp3{SHIFT-*}s that are
retured in one go

A -Not via our database as it is
today no. I guess the smart people
with Download Managers have already
figured out an alternative way:) I
have an idea on hold which is the
SOASC= Downloader Tool which can be
used to mass download songs and
automatically create the correct
directory structure for you as defined
by HVSC initially. Today, the 6581 and
8580 files are named the same, we have
just filtered them on our HD's and
site as two different dirs with the
HVSC file structure intact inside. The
tool would be limited in how much you
could download during a day, or based
on amounts of data downloaded etc, but
I do not have the plans ready on how
and what to limit. The tool is a very
dangerous tool so it has to be limited
or else we would probably end up with
traffic as high as YouTube or
something:)

We thought about enabling FTP too,
but the hosting companies will not
like this. We have during 2007 only
used VERY cheap solutions, so they
must be bothered as little as possible
or they will...erhh.. HAVE thrown us
out!

So, today, there is only a straight
forward interface for people to
download some tracks...and not go
mentally crazy & download everything
they see. In our opinions,nobody could
be that mad?...or?

Q - What is the largest mp3 file on
the website

A - Hold on... I need to create
a tool for that... Now, yeah, the
largest file is 57815168 (57.8mb)
MOS6581R4\MUSICIANS\B\Bjoernerud_Seba
stian\Psykolog_end_T07.sid.mp3. It
seems to be a "mix-up" of tune 1-6 in
the SID file the STIL entry states,
although  would rather call it a
"messed-up mix". The track lasts for
about 34 minutes.

Q - I think its great to be able to
download the Mp3{SHIFT-*}s you like stick them
on a small MP3 player & listen at
work/or on the bus etc people ask
"what are you listening to" & I can
say "sid music" then they just blankly
gave at me tapping my foot away

A - When people catch me they ask to,
what is this? CBM64 music I
tell them, then they smile & think
it sounds cool. For those who already
know what it is, they say..do you have
Commando & ....and...what was the
name of that game where you..blah.blah
and so it goes:)

Q - You have a real recording studio
"w w w . stone-oakvalley-studios.com"
can you tell our readers about this

A - Its not a real recording studio,
really. I used to call myself Demonoid
Productions(!DmD!) during my Amiga
years & long into the 20's or 00'
s or whatever we gonna call this
decade. The zeros, I guess. Anyway,
since  I do so much different stuff
within editing, graphics, audio and
file treatment all my life I decided
to call it just Studios & use my
real name as a igniter for my new
"brand" so to speak. So, I created
the Stone Oakvalley Studios name and
environment in 2003. Today I do have
a fully equipped music studio with
just physical musical instruments. I
can't stand softsynth, they do no good
for my fingers. Like, have you tried
using your mouse on a TB-303 software
emulator....thought that was cool?
Yeah?, well... try the real physical
thing & you'll never go back to that
lame way of making basslines:). Since
I also had a full editing equipment for
doing at least DV movies & before
that S-VHS movies the Stone Oakvalley
Studios name just sounded appropriate.
Its also a creative studio where not
just movies & music can come to life
but generally all that I like to do
and spend my time on. Creative
projects for the eye & ear & stuff
that people don't do & wouldn't do
even if they said they gonna. I wish I
could have a proper music studio, but
I don't have my own house & the need
is not there either, as I have been
doing so much else than making music
since 2003. I promised myself to get
back into the composing music through
MIDI & all during 2007, but now....
I guess we end up in the next year.as
always :). Someday, I will be back on
the keyboards & trancing out some
cool tracks again. And, oh.. if you
are curious about my music, they're
all downloadable from my music section
on the Stone Oakvalley Studios site.
And, if you got the time, check out
some of the other projects beside the
CBM64 project.

But...please make sure you have
a couple of hours to spare...you gonna
need it, it that much to go through:)

Q - Do you run the studio commercially
and have you had any famous people
record there

A - No, just for my own music. If  I
get famous some day...than at least
I can count one.

Q - I cant find anywhere to donate to
the project are you going to accept
paypal or similar

A - Donations....donations. We had
some questions about this, but I have
stated that no donations will be
accepted as it would interfere with my
belief in the words FREE and
NON-PROFIT. However, serving 300+ of
GB does not come without a price we
would think. Well, we did have all the
files available for download through
some really cheap webhosters for some
months. The price was so low,I could
not believe...and as you may already
know.... such a cheap price does have
its "small text" written somewhere
and the keyword is "SHARED HOSTING"
sites which falsely advertise about
300GB webspace & 3000GB of monthly
transfer. We took them up on that
offer & was used about 10% of this
"allowed" traffic during 2 months and
that was it. We had to move the files
away, they couldn't take it. We did
get refunds though. So, what if we
accepted dontations? I guess I could
pay for a couple of months, but sooner
or later it would crumble down.
So, our wish is that the other well
established sites out there that rely
on donations & even possible banners
could host the SOASC= collection
instead. So that we can stop being
business men with the hosting
companies. Also,I guess to set up an
network for accepting banners etc
would require some additional ground
work something that I do not wish to
do. I just wanna record the music and
give it out.Continuing to improve the
current sites we have is not really
something we want to do. As the sites
stand today, they are more than
sufficient to provide users with the
files they need. I'm also not too
interested in having to deal with
other peoples money & almost making
a side-business out of this and
dealing with the donations. There will
quite possible be some work involved.
I have so many other things to do, and
if I one day can't hold the site up,
the people who made recent donations
would just throw away money & maybe
even be disappointed & we don't want
that responsibility on our souls.

So, for the time being we will try to
provide the files using cheap hosting
solutions, while I will record the
HVSC#47 & fix the NTSC errors and
even record the MOS6581R2. Heck, we
might just go offline until I can get
all this fixed, why not.I like to have
a complete project to pass on to  a
mirror site.When that happens, we will
contact our interested people that
would like to provide a mirror or at
least make it possible to bring the
SOASC= collection through a streaming
radio solution.

Regards
Stone Oakvalley Studios
http://www.6581-8580.com
http://www.stone-oakvalleystudios.com