Hi there,

Rather than sitting on it I've decided to release an early beta version of the Beacon utility. Please note that this is a work in progress and there are still a number of areas needing attention. Check the Dev Tools page for the download link and for future updates.

Please also note that the BBC playback routine still needs to be finished.

Kind regards,

Francis

cheers Francis, will have a go over hols!

Goodness, how did I manage to miss this?

I've just tried a few samples and they sound great, but they cut off after a couple of seconds. Is this supposed to happen, or could there be an issue with the format of WAVE files I'm using?

Also, if I use the SAVE facility, will it be possible to play the sample back on a Beeb?

Hi Dave,

I can't remember if this was included in the beta I released, but the samples should cut off when the sample size limit is reached. The idea being that the sample should fit into the confines of the BBC's memory space. In order to get a longer playtime you would have to reduce the quality of the sample.

Failing that it is probably a bug.

If there is a problem with the format of the original sample Beacon should tell you so.

Once Beacon is complete you will be able to save the sample into a format that can be played by a program on the BBC side. I was also toying with the idea of have executable samples as well so you could just do something like *SAMPLE1 to play a sample.

Kind regards,

Francis

Thanks for the reply, Francis. Definitely like the idea of executable/stand-alone samples!

Any chance you could add an option that removed the restriction on sample length?

I guess in the long-term you could offer different options for permissable length of sample e.g. all available memory on a 32k Beeb, on a 64k B+, on a 128k Master (including the 64k sw/ram) etc

That shouldn't be a problem, but as I have said previously I am concentrating on getting the image converter out the door first.

Kind regards,

Francis.