Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Ed Rotberg worked programmer in Atari’s coin-op division, where he worked on Atari Baseball, Battlezone, Blasteroids, Hard Drivin’, and other coin-op games. He consulted for the Atari consumer side, where he created demos for the Atari 800 — including working on the music for the in-store demo — and the Rotberg Synthesizer music software.
Check the show notes at AtariPodcast.com for downloads of the Rotberg Synthesizer and Rotberg Scrolling Marquee software (which I acquired and uploaded to archive.org after this interview took place.)
This interview took place April 28, 2015.
Teaser quote:
“My good friend Dan Pliskin wrote a tune called Disco Dirge that we programmed into the earliest version of the Rotberg Synthesizer to play at the bachelor party, as kind of a joke. Because Chris who was getting married was a disco fan, he was a disco buff and we all *hated* disco.”
Rotberg’s sound article in Antic magazine:
atarimagazines.com/v1n4/zounds.html
Article at archive.org:
archive.org/stream/1982-10-anticmagazine/Antic_Vol_1-04_1982-10_Sound_and_Music#page/n33/mode/2up/search/rotberg
Version of the same article in Softside:
archive.org/stream/softside-magazine-49/SoftSide_49_Vol_6-01_1982-10_Sounds_of_the_Future#page/n57/mode/2up
Rotberg Scrolling Marquee: archive.org/details/Atari_Rotbergs_Scolling_Marquee_Instructions
Rotberg Synthesizer: archive.org/details/a8b_Sound_Demo_Rotberg_Synthesizer_19xx_
Ed Rotberg worked programmer in Atari’s coin-op division, where he worked on Atari Baseball, Battlezone, Blasteroids, Hard Drivin’, and other coin-op games. He consulted for the Atari consumer side, where he created demos for the Atari 800 — including working on the music for the in-store demo — and the Rotberg Synthesizer music software.
Check the show notes at AtariPodcast.com for downloads of the Rotberg Synthesizer and Rotberg Scrolling Marquee software (which I acquired and uploaded to archive.org after this interview took place.)
This interview took place April 28, 2015.
Teaser quote:
“My good friend Dan Pliskin wrote a tune called Disco Dirge that we programmed into the earliest version of the Rotberg Synthesizer to play at the bachelor party, as kind of a joke. Because Chris who was getting married was a disco fan, he was a disco buff and we all *hated* disco.”
Rotberg’s sound article in Antic magazine:
atarimagazines.com/v1n4/zounds.html
Article at archive.org:
archive.org/stream/1982-10-anticmagazine/Antic_Vol_1-04_1982-10_Sound_and_Music#page/n33/mode/2up/search/rotberg
Version of the same article in Softside:
archive.org/stream/softside-magazine-49/SoftSide_49_Vol_6-01_1982-10_Sounds_of_the_Future#page/n57/mode/2up
Rotberg Scrolling Marquee: archive.org/details/Atari_Rotbergs_Scolling_Marquee_Instructions
Rotberg Synthesizer: archive.org/details/a8b_Sound_Demo_Rotberg_Synthesizer_19xx_
