Jamming the TRS-80 - with a MIDI/80 and Orchestra 90 Sound Card

SundayJelly video upload by Joel Hilliard

This one is in via Michael Wessel [additional posts here] with some notes from him further below, but first the video description:

"Another tune using the TRS-80 Model 4(s) and the Orchestra 90, MIDI80 and classic analog tape!

Using the Technics 616 tape deck to capture audio, part 1 is composed using a TRS-80 Model 4P paired with the MIDI80, using TRACKER playing general midi drums from its onboard S2 module (Lower Computer)

The TRS-80 Model 4 is connected to the Orchestra 90 (reproduction) and George Phillips's newest update of the Orchestra 90 Organ (Available with the MIDI80 software). For the 1st part, the sound was routed through a EH BlackFinger, into a Bass Amp IR Cab.

The 2nd part is routed to a Boutique Amp IR setup, using the Mutron III as an added envelope filter for the 'jelly' sound.

Everything was fed to a digital mixer (Behringer X2222) and recorded directly to the cameras audio via USB. (No multitracking here)

I realize there are errors, clicks, hiss, pops, and all the other things we try to control from an analog perspective, but even with Dolby NR there is still some artifacts that accompany my terrible playing. Technically, you just watched me write this so, ENJOY! Thanks for watching!"

Additional videos:



Additional notes via Michael:

"A while ago, you posted about my MIDI/80 project for the TRS-80 - a MIDI sound card and MIDI interface. [posted here]

https://github.com/lambdamikel/MIDI-80

In the meantime, Joel Hilliard has been making some awesome music with his TRS-80 Model 4 and Model 4p, MIDI/80, and another extension called the "Orchestra" sound card.

He is playing the Model 4 using George Phillips' music synthesizer program for the Orchestra soundcard, "STORCH".

Back in the the day, the TRS-80s didn't really have great sound capabilities, other than their cassette interfaces which could be used for rudimentary sound output. However, this was extremely primitive in comparison to what the competition offered later (e.g., the SID in the C64, POKEY in the Atari 8bits, the AY 3-8910 in various other machines, etc.) Hence, the "Orchestra" sound card quickly became a popular add-on that added more advanced sound capabilities - basically, the Orchestra is a stereo DAC, but all the waveform generation had to be done by the CPU. Back in the day, the Orchestra was used in a "batch programming" mode where a music score was created in a textual special-purpose music programming language, that would then be "compiled" by the TRS-80 to be played back by the Orchestra sound card. Unfortunately, there was never an "interactive" music program that would allow users to use the card in an incremental way, as a musical instrument - until October 2024, when George Phillips released the "STORCH" Orchestra synthesizer program! This is what Joel playing in the video. Given that the Orchestra is a stereo DAC and all the sound generation heavy lifting has to be done by the CPU in realtime, the polyphony is limited to 2, and there are no filters, envelopes, etc. However, STORCH offers basic waveforms such as Saw, Triangle, and Sine. In addition, you can hear MIDI/80 for the the drum track - drums are coming from an S2 Waveblaster plugin, and he is using the TRACKER program on the TRS-80 Model 4p. You can find all the software in the MIDI/80 Github above."