Uploaded August 2012 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Sorry for all the um-ing and ah-ing - been awake staring at code for a long time and my mind is blitzed. Long story short: PortaMod is my Amiga MOD (and PC FastTracker XM and ScreamTracker S3M) replayer library for Processing. Chipdisco is a dual-deck DJ app built with PortaMod. Processing is Java made simple and fun (if you can believe that Java could be made fun) and it's great for interactive digital art. Its focus is very much on visuals, however, and there's no way of getting it to run without wasting a lot of CPU cycles on graphics - even if you don't want graphics.
I just got a Raspberry Pi. Woohoo, etc. Cute little thing, and I'd love to be able to use it as a headless Chipdisco DJ box that can be run without a monitor, and just with a MIDI controller for controlling Chipdisco's myriad interactive functions (crossfader, tempo, pitch, sync, channel-faders, channel-mutes, etc.)
Problem is, asking a wee 700Mhz machine to run a Java virtual machine at any decent lick is a bit much. openJDK, the default open source JVM implementation, is really slow - much slower than Oracle's embedded VMs (apparently) and it doesn't use RasPi's floating point hardware, instead doing it in software. That's quite a big deal, but it seems like people are interested in getting Java up to some kind of usable speed on RasPi - not least because, although everyone claims to hate Java (me included), there's a lot to be said for having code that'll run on x86 Windows, OSX and Linux *and* ARM platforms without it needing to be tweaked.
So. This video shows a proof of concept: a command-line mod player in Java using a version of PortaMod that I made last night - basically removed all the Processing so it's pure Java and doesn't require that inefficient graphics loop to be run. Anyway, for reasons that are probably quite good, Processing just *will not* run headless and there are no plans to change that. This PortaMod version is still quite inefficient as it does a load of note-processing stuff on each row of playback (great for interactive stuff like syncing visual effects to individual drum hits, or whatever) so I'll try commenting out those bits to see how smooth I can get this on RasPi.
Sorry for all the um-ing and ah-ing - been awake staring at code for a long time and my mind is blitzed. Long story short: PortaMod is my Amiga MOD (and PC FastTracker XM and ScreamTracker S3M) replayer library for Processing. Chipdisco is a dual-deck DJ app built with PortaMod. Processing is Java made simple and fun (if you can believe that Java could be made fun) and it's great for interactive digital art. Its focus is very much on visuals, however, and there's no way of getting it to run without wasting a lot of CPU cycles on graphics - even if you don't want graphics.
I just got a Raspberry Pi. Woohoo, etc. Cute little thing, and I'd love to be able to use it as a headless Chipdisco DJ box that can be run without a monitor, and just with a MIDI controller for controlling Chipdisco's myriad interactive functions (crossfader, tempo, pitch, sync, channel-faders, channel-mutes, etc.)
Problem is, asking a wee 700Mhz machine to run a Java virtual machine at any decent lick is a bit much. openJDK, the default open source JVM implementation, is really slow - much slower than Oracle's embedded VMs (apparently) and it doesn't use RasPi's floating point hardware, instead doing it in software. That's quite a big deal, but it seems like people are interested in getting Java up to some kind of usable speed on RasPi - not least because, although everyone claims to hate Java (me included), there's a lot to be said for having code that'll run on x86 Windows, OSX and Linux *and* ARM platforms without it needing to be tweaked.
So. This video shows a proof of concept: a command-line mod player in Java using a version of PortaMod that I made last night - basically removed all the Processing so it's pure Java and doesn't require that inefficient graphics loop to be run. Anyway, for reasons that are probably quite good, Processing just *will not* run headless and there are no plans to change that. This PortaMod version is still quite inefficient as it does a load of note-processing stuff on each row of playback (great for interactive stuff like syncing visual effects to individual drum hits, or whatever) so I'll try commenting out those bits to see how smooth I can get this on RasPi.
![syphus - rocking on your dime [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lPwuPuN3WCw/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - rocking on your dime [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - Bliss [MS-DOS Impulse Tracker mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lYlcf_hKnbA/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - Bliss [MS-DOS Impulse Tracker mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - Fields [MS-DOS Impulse Tracker mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lc3eVyIhoOM/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - Fields [MS-DOS Impulse Tracker mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - Last Tense [Amiga AHX mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mXGFSHD-0lE/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - Last Tense [Amiga AHX mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![syphus - oscars car [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mmN2sgjK-Vc/mqdefault.jpg "syphus - oscars car [MS-DOS FastTracker .XM mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
![Echolevel: Portable Lofi Moments 2017-2018 [Yamaha SU10]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/muO-xxlZpMg/mqdefault.jpg "Echolevel: Portable Lofi Moments 2017-2018 [Yamaha SU10]
Sometimes I wake up in the night and make these beats. This video is a collection of all the SU10 beats I posted to Instagram in late 2017 and early 2018, including one short tutorial vid. The tutorial is not that helpful, but it illustrates my process and why I love the SU10: fast, messy, unquantized, absurdly limited tech specs, and the same size as a VHS tape.")
![syphus Meltwater [Amiga HivelyTracker mod]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mxVeqY4cdno/mqdefault.jpg "syphus Meltwater [Amiga HivelyTracker mod]
Ive been active in the Demoscene and chiptune scene for many years under the name syphus, though occasionally going by silo7, lightbomb, echolevel, and joey&splif. Im a member of the demogroups Up Rough and Space Raiders, and Ive been in BDSE, CpH and some others over the years. Im not as active in the scene as I used to be, but occasionally I still find the time to write a tune or collaborate on a production.
This tune is from an archive of over 130 tunes written since the late 90s using various Amiga and PC trackers, spanning my earliest attempts, my most productive demoscene years, and my more recent middle-aged dabblings. I’ve not dated them, partly because my memory’s not great and also because not all file creation timestamps are reliable.
These tunes are all recorded directly from the trackers in which they were written, with no post production or editing. You can download all the original tracker modules for free from https://syphus-mods.github.io. I usually compose on original hardware, which you can see in some of my other videos and on Instagram, but filming and editing this quantity of tunes on my Amiga/PC’s CRT monitors with a full camera setup would be too time-consuming; I’m very happy with the sound quality and aesthetics offered by WinUAE, SchismTracker, and 8bitbubsy’s fantastic FastTracker clone.
With the exception of tunes clearly labelled as covers, these are all my own compositions and I retain all copyrights. However, I’ve always made my tracker modules freely available under Creative Commons’ Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives license, which means that listening, copying and distribution is fine as long as I’m credited (as one of the above names;or Brendan O’Callaghan Ratliff; or both), and they cannot be used for commercial or remix purposes without my express permission. Cheers!
syphus - All Protracker, FastTracker, AHX, HivelyTracker and Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nfnyxbLRILsBdbRrlTMlau
syphus - just the Protracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3muQwOq3FZmtROydCAYfH0X
syphus - just the FastTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3nkuE6sky2cdu6NSkSYixlM
syphus - just the AHX mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3k5WZA1xYLtn1E34xFoVIcw
syphus - just the Impulse Tracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3mjimQPmuskRJpUnmOFOiAQ
syphus - just the HivelyTracker mods playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJTg89-ZF-3l863FmbqOE9PyzH19XOxg2")
