[Coco] Orchestra 90 playing the disk blues

[Bill Pierce]

Barry, if the "other" files were downloaded, I doubt they are Orchestra90cc files, as there are very few files on ANY archive that were actually made on the Coco version, but rather Orchestra80 or Orchestra90 for Model 1 or 3, or possibly "xx.orc" files from the "Orchestra Master" PD program, none of which will load into orch90 without modification. True Orch90cc file have NO extension.
If they are "Orchestra Master" files (xx.orc?), then remove the extension, and load with the "A" option (ASCII), then resave as OrchMaster uses straight ascii (IIRC). The others will have to be converted. Orchestra90cc will only display/load files with NO extension.

Also, ALL of the commands just use the first letter of the command.

The Orchestra90 file format is simple... It's "straight ascii" with the exception of the FIRST byte of each line has $80 added. There's no BASIC header or footer and NO extension. OrchMaster uses the "xx.orc" extension (IIRC).
One of the other formats (from Model X) adds $80 to the LAST byte of each line (I think). There's a third format which is the result of downloading from CIS that caused the file to be binary. There was a converter for that type (RTSI?)

I was going to convert all the files on my site (downloaded from RTSI) to work with Orch90cc but just never got around to it. I may just do this while I'm taking a needed break from coding, especially with all the renewed interest in the Orch90 :-)

All-in-all, of all the software based music programs for the Coco (and I've tried every one I could find), Orchestra90cc has the best, cleanest sound. Not to mention 5 voices instead of 4. As the Dragon guys have proven, the Orchestra90 software will work just as well through the DAC without the pak. All the pak adds is stereo/8 bit DACS capability VS mono/6-bit DAC 

 

 


Bill Pierce
"Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

 

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