IOSYS - Unlocked Girl - via BLEEPER! (a.k.a. System Speaker)

[ultragaming1993]

The Beep API Awesome i remember that good old time.. In my system they removed the beep fucntie :(

[NoFeaRLegenD]

Hey nice program you made i downloading it now as i write this.

But i still first need a case/system speaker to try it out. *doh*

I'm also into programming though I'm still learning.

[09fod]

my PC just joined in when my ram auto dfraged

[gavintravers2oo7]

That typin thin mavid beacon made sounds like that i allways wondered how with the speakers turned off

[DROCKERDGREAT]

Cooool!mannn!

[Lollipoper123]

That is really amazing, I am going to favorite this

[IzzyMissed]

now make it play TOHO mathematics :D

[dai1313]

Ah! I do this all the time on my linux compy! Theres a KDE app that lets you manipulate the system bell (that's what i've always called it), but it does not let you do anything as epic as this...

so i downloaded your pretty little app and satisfied all the necessary dependencies, and tried to run it under wine, but it fails to work with the libraries properly...

and nao im pissed off, grrrr

[SomethingUnreal]

I guess that Wine wasn't designed to interpret commands for such low-level things as the PC speaker. I suppose the people who made Wine were focussing on getting games like Unreal Tournament to work, rather than games with 1-bit audio. ;P

BMM (that is, the PC speaker part) doesn't even work with Windows 98 or earlier, so I'm afraid I can't begin to think about getting it to work on Linux on Wine... however, have you tried ticking the box to make FMOD (a sound system) make the sound?

[dai1313]

FMOD?

Is that a sound driver? The only sound drivers wine works with is... ALSA (wave in/out, MIDI in/out Mixer Devices) OSS (wave in/out, MIDI in/out Mixer Devices) JACK (wave in/out) NAS (wave out) and EsounD (wave in/out)

"ticking the box"? are you talking inside your app? I cant get it to run.. keep that in mind...

[SomethingUnreal]

@dai1313: I'm not sure it's a driver, exactly (on their site, it's simply referred to as a 'system').

Sorry, I didn't realise that the program never actually got as far as displaying the main GUI. By "fails to work with the libraries properly", I thought you meant that it just didn't act as it should, not anything as serious as not running.

[SomethingUnreal]

In case it is FMOD causing the problems, you can delete "fmodex.dll" to prevent my program from trying to load it at runtime (the "Use FMOD" checkbox will just be unavailable, if the program is then able to load that far).

[Fridelain]

@dai1313 apt-get install beep

man beep



[cybermaxpower]

Thats a Really cool APP :)

[hado123]

Hah, that's amazing. I'd give my life to have such talent how to do anything close to that.

[akirosette]

do most computers and laptops even have those anymore? I'd love to get a synthesizer for that old retro PC sound

[SomethingUnreal]

Yes, most computers still have a PC speaker (although usually a small piezoelectric thing rather than a full speaker with a paper cone) because if, for example, there is something wrong with the memory at the moment the computer is turned on, the speaker will be needed to beep out an error code. However, there are certainly not many programs for Windows which make use of the speaker.

[qwertyxf]

@SomethingUnreal OOHHW NOOOOOOOO :( i was bored today, and when i started up my pc it went Beep as usually THEN i suddenly remembered from a pretty long ass while back BleeperMusicMaker :P :D went googling it and :( NOOOO Site dead?

do you still have it and can you pm me maybe a good link?

or did you abbandon it or moved the site? i'll go looking for a download elsewhere now then :( :P

[SomethingUnreal]

@qwertyxf: ...*Answers now*

No, my server (and site) is still running, but it has always been unreliable for many reasons. This time, it wasn't actually my server's fault, but my ISP's. It's fixed again now. Thanks for letting me know it was down.

[holyguitar90]

lol tats awesome

[windi256]

It's fun to see some still do PC Speaker songs of new songs these years. :) That actually sounds very advanced because the player alternates between several virtual channels

[Darkbeatdk]

Wow that is very very cool. Chiptunes on PC!

[AutobotZerozip]

That was pure win!

[HentaiChanMP]

Whoa, rockin', bro. It actually doesn't sound half bad like that. Spot on, too!

[stormragejunior]

Have you released the code? If not, do you plan on releasing it at some point? I'd be really interested to take a look at it.

[SomethingUnreal]

I'm honoured that you're interested, but I don't intend to release it any time soon. After the ridiculous things which happened when I released the 'source' of a song I made a while ago (people trying to steal my identity, etc) I'd hate to think what would happen if I released the code for this (which I've put months of ongoing work into). Sorry, but I hope you understand... =/

[stormragejunior]

No prob, I'd probably do the same if I were you anyway ^^

But was there any good information source that you used about programming the bleeper?

[SomethingUnreal]

Well, I made this in VB6, and the only call used to actually control the PC speaker itself is the Beep() function, within kernel32. You declare it like this:

Public Declare Function Beep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwFreq As Long, ByVal dwDuration As Long) As Long

Then dwFreq is in Hz and dwDuration is in milliseconds, usually accurate to only 15ms though. There's an upper and lower limit on the Hz too. Hope that helps! ^^

[DeathKandii]

I can make one beep and the program freezes. I'm running Windows XP SP2 If you need to know.

[SomethingUnreal]

That sounds very strange (I'm running XP SP2 as well (Home edition)). I've had a quick look at the code, and I can't see anything which could be causing it (it's also the first time I've heard of this symptom).

So, I'd like to edit the code so that a log file is produced when the program tries to play something, and then send you the modified program. Then you can run it and send me back the log file, so I'll be able to see at exactly what point it 'trips up'.

Would this be okay with you?

[DeathKandii]

Yes. Alright.

[SomethingUnreal]

Last night I released a new version of the program (revision 136) which has the ability to create log files for debugging (although that's not the only change in this version). You can get download it from the usual place, or see my blog for more info on what's different.

The info.txt included in the download explains how to get the program to make the log - if you just search for "DEBUG" within info.txt, you should find that section.

[DeathKandii]

alright =D thanks.

[produKtNZ]

I know this has been said down there ↓↓↓, but seriously LOL @ windows.

I liken the windows beep it made to the interupption of your retarded brother (figure of speech) during,hmm, lets say, the recording of an awesome song you just made lol.

[SomethingUnreal]

Haha, yeah, it was similar (except it was actually my mum rather than my brother ;P).

[produKtNZ]

lol ^^.

Song rocks too btw, oh and did you know it has bass? how'd that get there?

[SomethingUnreal]

If you're referring to really low bass (<~45Hz), that's because the original's playing in the background. ;)

[SxiaNXi]

Thats very cool man... I think ill try it..

[Strawberystar]

ha ha! sweet!

[utubeman0]

haha! Windows even wants to join in!

[kolyu2255]

good sound!

[JapanForSale]

You get the first ever "JP4S Seal of Approval".

[insanelysa]

Wow that's AWESOME! I wish I could get the song in that version!

I'd make it my ringtone too!

[SomethingUnreal]

You can - you can download my "Bleeper Music Maker" program, it comes with all music I've made for it so far. Check my profile to see my site, or check the video description for direct link.

This was the first ever Touhou BMM file I made though, and to be honest, it sucks compared to more recent ones I've done (and uploaded). I even added an extra rest by mistake near the end which makes it get out of sync if you play the original long with it.

[bosyosy1015]

I love you.  T_T

[blackcat138]

awsome! nice! hope to do that with Python :p

[Angeliclily]

You sound so awesome...

[HortonBoom]

How can you do the arpeggios?, I can't manage to make them

[SomethingUnreal]

Well, here I just put the base of the chord (e.g. B) down in the "Note 1" column (select "Add as Note 1"), separated by blank lines (click B on keyboard, then "Blank line", over and over). Then go back to the first note, select "Add as Note 2" and "Replace instead of insert", and insert the first note of the chord, B +1 octave , then click "Blank line" (which will just move on to the next line, since we're replacing, not inserting), then insert the 2nd note D#, "Blank line", 3rd note E, etc...

[8monoxxx]

Thanks!, they arent exactly Spectrum/C64 arpeggios, but rocks my socks

Excellent program too, very easy to use

[justxaphase]

wow, really cool!

[Rockstarfool3]

woe! thats sounds REALY good! nice song and vid!

[PetevanGogh]

DUDE YOU ARE MY COMPUTER HERO!!!

[hkrw0mrgiggles]

Not loading

[hkrw0mrgiggles]

nvm got it to work.

[Dinujan360360]

for some strange reason i cant watch videos from a few certain uploaders ... yukisnowcraft and SomethingUnreal all the video expect for  Music using ONLY sounds from Windows XP and 98! which by the way is awesome

[Dinujan360360]

y cant i watch this my computer it pretty new but only watches some shows if it doesnt load or buffer instantly then it wont load how come i cant burr such small movies but i can watch 3hour videos over the net

[SomethingUnreal]

I don't know, but I had that problem some time ago and someone else I know does too. I think it's to do with exactly which of YouTube's servers the video is stored on. That said, it does sometimes load the next day. =/

(Maybe you should ask contact some YouTube staff about this)

[Werwolf2x]

Great

[Shukakulover]

Coooooooool...I love this song... x3

[tommarques]

FANTASTIC!!! 5 STARS!

[SolomonRacer]

Shame that my laptop play's the pc speeker beep's via the speeker's :(. got it working on here how ever (Win vista) Also got it working on an old desktop pc running windows xp, and it is FANTASTIC! good job! i love hearing the pc speeker :D

[trinitysora]

OMG this is freaken awesome!

[rebelyell220]

aww how cute<3

[ergoengan]

fuck :/ mine isn't working it sez something about msstdfmt or something. i downloaded the dll but its still not working

[SomethingUnreal]

Ergoengan, either you haven't put it in system32, or info about it isn't in your registry yet. Put the msstdfmt.dll in c:\windows\system32.

Then click Start-&gt;Run. Type and enter this:

regsvr32 msstdfmt.dll

If you get a message saying that it FAILED, you're probably running Vista. Please read info.txt which comes with the program download for info specific to fixing this on Vista (it's not much more complex). ;)

[ergoengan]

yeah and right after i posted this comment i got it working xD

thx anyway.

[DevotedAnimeSharer]

Wow even the beeper version of this sounds rad! ^^

[killthepixelnow]

Ah nostalgia! Old DOS games kicked ass!

[TaurenMellnium]

*laughs* That brings me back to school, we had to make some music through the speaker and programming... But now you have made a system instead... Damn it, three years to late for me, we had to learn the hard way, but good job I say.

From

Gehco (lvl70 Blood Elf Paladin)

[Gravedig00]

Aaaaaaa! Good old speaker! It was so annoying and now I miss it... ;)

This was great! :D

[xanas1baby]

thats sooo cool!!!

[KnightMovieFan1]

In the early/mid 90s I played a DOS game that used something called "RealSound" which would actually play music and voice samples through the system speaker, it sounded really good. I don't know whatever happened to it and I guess it never really caught on.

[TsurioProsper]

Awesome!This is very cool 5/5'd

I <3 smart Touhou fans

[karakenio]

5 estrellas AlgoIrreal

[mrkesik2008]

I downloaded your program off the net, it works beautifully. Before I would make an application in C++ for every sound I wanted to make, nice software!

[fiftycaliberfistfuck]

I wonder if its possible to bleep the PC speaker to speak human numbers 0-9 and A-F... so when a mobo fails to boot, it could speak out post codes or such. Also say the word "Error" or something first, and then read the sequence.

[SomethingUnreal]

It's possible to control the speaker directly (turn a pulse on and off), and if you do it fast enough you can drive the speaker to only mid-way, to play PCM. At least, that's what I've heard - but all I'm doing here is giving it a frequency and duration and it's doing it by itself. So it's possible, and I'd love to see it done, but I'm not the one who's able to do it. &gt;&lt;

[cannnobaL]

yer kool mate

[teamhorn]

Lol, nice work.

[aaopwner]

Way easier in linux.

[SomethingUnreal]

Although Linux itself has been harder to set up and find compatible drivers for devices, in my experience...

[LHoody]

Could you upload your other works to Rapidshare/Megaupload too? I assume they were on the same (dead) server. Thanks! :)

[SomethingUnreal]

I've tried to revive it now (1 and a half minutes ago). I'm also working on my Windows XP/98 music at this very moment on the server computer, so if something goes wrong from now on for the next few hours, I should be able to catch it. Sorry about the downtime, thanks for the interest. ;)

[Teeed1]

WINApi C++ or PHP (yes!) and i have the same ;)

[SomethingUnreal]

If you're asking what I made it with, it's VB6. What do you have the same of? &gt;&lt;

Sorry, I didn't really understand you...

[YinYangX55]

It says I need "msstdfmt.dll" though the file is there. I even copied it to the system32 folder. Any help?

[SomethingUnreal]

I've no idea why that happens - sounds very strange to me. BUT, there's a new version available (I've updated the link in the description). This new version doesn't even use that DLL any more. ;)

(I didn't realize before - it just demanded the DLL even though it never actually needed it. No more.)

New version also contains useful Info.txt. :D

[SomethingUnreal]

Hi again. Just to let you know in case you were still having problems, I've discovered your problem (which others have also had), and the straightforward information for fixing it is now in the info.txt, which is included with the download. ^^

[RandomShitProduction]

omg that was incredible i bet it took forever XD

[SomethingUnreal]

Thanks! :D

I've been making the program for many months. The program's what lets you make and play music.

However, it only took about 3 quarters of an hour to make this music. Still, I was feeling lazy so I decided to stop it there. :P

[liliascarlet]

Halp it says i need COMDLG32.OCX! Please help =3

[SomethingUnreal]

Sorry, and thanks for letting me know.

I've included that (and other files) in the ZIP download now. Please download it again, (extract all files) and try to run it again.

It's pushed the file-size up to 1MB though. =/

[sibladeko]

Needs to play this song on IO SYS errors.

[Rhue2]

Touhou 8 bit you are my god

[SomethingUnreal]

Haha, thanks...

Wouldn't this be 1-bit though? (zOMG)

Since it's only ever on or off - no fancy different volumes...

[GigaOmelet]

OMG! This is so awesome! ('3')b

[SegamericanK]

only a programmer could appreciate this as much as i do....best ive done with system beeps is english to morse code.

[entertainme151]

wow, this goes on my top ten most awesome things whitnessed list...

[Anders1org]

I made something similar for Linux, it's nowhere as good, but it's possible to write songs to play on the PC speaker. You can't play 2 notes at the same time though :(

[masterpj55]

LOl i tried with vista and a notebook XP

and doesnt work says: MSCOMM32.OCX is missing or invalid!

[SomethingUnreal]

Whoops, that's since I made the mod to make the motor sing. Haha, I hadn't tested that on other computers. &gt;&lt;

I've included that in the ZIP file now. Please download it now and try it again - thanks for letting me know! Since I haven't tested it on other computers, there may be more files which your computer needs which I don't know about yet. Please let me know if there are any more problems. :)

[masterpj55]

man this awsome you did a great job i am going to try!

[ChaosMissile]

This is actually not half-bad, which I kinda expected it to be(sorry:P) and don't worry. nWhen I first saw their name, I also pronounce it the same way you do. Still do, actually, even after I've studied a little bit JP(though my katakana's still bad as I didn't read IOSYS's JP name until you pointed it out)

[LulzRaymoo]

Nice mind if you do other songs?

[SomethingUnreal]

Well I've made a couple of others (songs), but they were only really tests for my program. So I lost inspiration after a while and left them unfinished.

If you have any ideas for other songs, I'll try them as long as I can get hold of the original. ;)

They do need to have quite an obvious tune to sound good though.

Or you can download the program yourself (see description) and give it a go. ;)

[t3hkirbz0rz]

Don't worry, I pronounce IOSYS the same way. And this is awesome, by the way.

[SomethingUnreal]

Haha, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I was expecting comments more along the lines of "Now I have a headache, and you can't even say IOSYS right." &gt;_&lt;

Thanks, too.

[falzaabi]

cool , thanks

[SomethingUnreal]

Heh, there's no need to thank me. ;)

I'm glad you like it.