(3/9/06) Watch the video. Large quicktime or small mpeg-4. (slightly choppy due to screen capture).
What does it do?
Basically, it emulates the execution of the Atari 2600 game console within Jitter. Controller parameters are sent from Max to the emulator, allowing virtually any input mechanism to be used to control gameplay.Version 0.8 includes many new features, including a jsui-based ROM visualizer and sprite manipulation tool, support for player 2 controller input, and output to Jitter matrices.
What are you bending, exactly?
Emulating the various microprocessors of the Atari 2600 allows users to effectively bend the processors, one place wires can't go. The two images at the bottom show the results of this type of manipulation. Processor bending produces strange new audio and glitched video.If this technique must have a name, I'd have to call it virtual processor bending.
What it looks like
Why Max/MSP?
Well, because the pixels rendered by the Atari 2600 emulator can now be treated as matrix data by Jitter. So, the game screen can be moved about in 3D space, stretched, and mapped to various types of surfaces (a sphere, for example). These manipulation parameters can be changed in relation to a signal, directly tied to music played through MSP. A nearly unlimited number of manipulations can be done at the emulation level. Memory accesses can be visualized (including both RAM and ROM), colors manipulated, and synchronization signals tweaked. If you've always wondered what would happen if 6502 register writes were redirected to the Atari2600's sound processor, here's how you can find out. Being within Max/MSP, numerous input mechanisms are automatically supported (MIDI controllers, keyboards, etc.).
How was it done?
The Stella Atari 2600 VCS emulator was heavily modified to work within the Jitter environment. In addition to the underlying emulator functionality, new features were added such as ROM access visualization.
Could this be done for different emulators?
Yes. See jit.intellivision.
Any known issues?
Manipulation of the "clock" attribute can be risky, possibly resulting in random crashes. Only one jit.atari2600 instance is able to run within a given Max/MSP patch. This external is currently prototype quality.
What platforms are supported?
Both WindowsXP and OS X (Universal).
What atrributes does it use?
This page should help.
How can I use it?
First, you need Jitter. Second, you need to find yourself some Atari 2600 ROMs.(Note that I cannot provide either.) When you've got those two, then just download the external for Windows XP (Version 0.8. Released 4/11/06) or OS X (Universal Binary) (Version 0.8. Released 12/8/06).
Where's the source?
Just ask.
