[album] The Next Level by Jredd

Cheapbeats releases a new Jredd Megadrive/Genesis album, yay! If you've followed Jredd's work in the past (or this blog, as a matter of fact), you know what to expect... kind of. I don't think you're quite ready for this, because this truly is the next level of Sega FM music. Also, OMG that coverart.

[demo] Bee Together by Mahoney

Hiya folx, Ancient Wonderworld is back. Got a fair bit of catching up to do, as a lot neat demos and music releases happened over the course of the last week.

Let's start with a wonderful production from the master of SID vocoding, Mahoney. Released at X-Party 2014, it took 6th place in the heavily contested C64 compo.

Download and discuss here.

[demo] Particle Accelerator by Brainstorm

And another excellent entry from Function's 256 byte compo. "Particle Accelerator" took 5th place.

Download and discussion at the usual place.

[soft] YMDJ - Sega Genesis/Megadrive Tracker

After years of hoping for a native Sega Genesis/MD tracker, it is finally happening! Behold, YMDJ - an LSDJ inspired tracker that runs on actual hardware.

The tracker is currently at a very early alpha stage, but it already looks very promising.

You can download and try the alpha here. The development thread with latest updates and changes is here.

[demo] Function by Desire & Darklight

And another slick 256 byter by Mr. HellMood, with music by rudi. Scored undeservedly low at Function's combined 256b compo due to the fact that it wasn't shown properly.

For those who prefer things a little more upbeat, there's also a version titled "we ♥ acid" ;)

Download the orginal version here.
"Druggy" version is here.

[demo] Abductee by Baudsurfer

Baudsurfer strikes again. Building on his previous works Mayan and Wolf128, 'Abductee' is yet another prime example of what mindblowing things can be done with as little as 256 bytes of code (provided your computer is fast enough to render it). The prod took first place at Function 2014, by the way.

Download and discuss here.

[album] Fearofdark - The Coffee Zone

Fearofdark has released a compilation with his best .nfs works, spanning a period of almost 4 years. Contains tracks with and without expansion chips, and includes some previously unreleased material as well. True NES chiptune wizardry, and probably my favourite FoD release to date.

[demo] Superstructure by Transistor Core

A pretty eerie 256 byte MS-DOS intro by Transistor Core. Took second place in the combined 256b compo at Function 2014. Job well done!

Download and discussion here.

[soft] A New SNES Music Editor: SNES GSS

A new music tracker for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) has appeared. Made by Shiru (of VGM Maker and 1tracker fame), the tool is mainly intended for game developers. Focusing on code/data size efficiency rather than complexity, SNES GSS does not support the full SPC700 feature set.

As is to be expected from a veteran music software author like Shiru, the tracker interface is clean and intuitive. It uses same pattern-less method first explored in 1tracker.

Downloads and information on how to obtain the source are located at the project's own google code site. The google code site no longer exists, but the tracker is still available here.

CP/M Source Code Released

It's source code time again! On occasion of CP/M's 40th anniversary, the Computer History Museum has released the source code of the once hugely popular operating system. Several of the earliest versions, released from 1975 to 1979, are now available on the museum's website, along with an in-depth article on the history and legacy of the OS.