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What is FASTFINGERS for the Commodore 64 ??
N E W ...FASTFINGERS 3 INSTRUCTION MANUAL HERE !
FASTFINGERS II REVISED INSTRUCTION MANUAL HERE !

C64 Synthesizers and Music for Christ is what we are all about!

MY LATEST GEAR ON EBAY

FASTFINGERS3 AND FASTFINGERS2 FINISHED ''THE ULTIMATE AUTOMATED MIDI SEQUENCER AND SID SOUND ENGINE'' !!!


I'M RIDING MY BIKE THIS SUMMER TO FIGHT KIDS CANCER'

FASTFINGERS Home of the commodore 64 Lead Synthesizer Equipment NOW SHIPPING!!

INSTRUCTION MANUALS LINKS BELOW

NEW FASTFINGERS3 INSTRUCTION MANUAL !

FASTFINGERS2 INSTRUCTION MANUAL revised

FASTFINGERS 3 FINISHED ''THE ULTIMATE MIDI SEQUENCER AND SID SOUND ENGINE''

FASTFINGERS 2023 PRICE LIST

SO HERE IS THE LATEST FASTFINGERS 2 NEWS

Fastfingers2 FOR A SHORT TIME can be ordered in a few new configurations.
1) Classic BLACK MIDI BOX with a single opening for MIDI IN (only a few left) IN OMNI MODE triggered by ANY MIDI CHANNEL
2) New MIDI box with MIDI IN and THRU assigned to a single MIDI CHANNEL or in OMNI MODE. You must notify me before ordering and I will set it to the permanent channel that YOU WANT. This will work well for those with only a single computer MIDI port

SAJTRON PERFORMS CHIP DROP WITH FASTFINGERS 2 World of Commodore 2020 Toronto Canada

INSTRUCTION MANUALS LINKS BELOW

NEW FASTFINGERS3 INSTRUCTION MANUAL !

FASTFINGERS2 INSTRUCTION MANUAL revised

The cartridge version is coming soon.


So here is the new LFO update to Fastfingers2. Tapping repeatedly the = will turn on LFO , select 16 different preset speeds and keep it on until you hit the ] to bring the speed down and turn it off. These buttons are logically NEXT to each other on the C64. Right hand button up and left hand button down. Glide has been moved to the RETurn key.Tremelo and Swirl are redundant and have been replaced with this LFO.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AS SOON AS A MIDI KEY IS HIT (UNLESS YOU DISABLE DISPLAY FOR SMOOTHER RESPONSE)
There is no more access to LOAD and SAVE and KEYBUTTONS on C64, but all front page effects and chords will work.
And with MIDI ENABLED you now have 16 fast presets instead of only 10.(Fast presets will be at the top of the SOUNDS memory where most PROGRAM CHANGE will not reach.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AS SOON AS A MIDI KEY IS HIT (UNLESS YOU DISABLE DISPLAY FOR SMOOTHER RESPONSE)

NEW DYNAMIC ADSR STEP EDITOR FOR FASTFINGERS
NEW DYNAMIC ADSR STEP EDITOR FOR FASTFINGERS

The C64 FastFingers2 AND FF3 MIDI interface and software are basically FINISHED.

FASTFINGERS BLOG

FRIENDS OF FASTFINGERS
SYNTHTOPIA
THE ALMIGHTY C64

FINAL TOUCHES
First, I found myself looking up at the screen too much for PLAY FAST FORWARD AND REWIND. I renamed the functions PLAY, NEXT, LAST, because + is more like NEXT and - more like LAST and yes the Commodore buttons are backwards , but that is the way they are.
Then We have the new SPARKLE switch, a new sound effect that you have to hear.

NEW FRONT PERFORMANCE PAGE FOR FASTFINGERS
The changes to the new FRONT PAGE or PERFORMANCE PAGE of Fastfingers may look subtle, but they are quite profound. First off, Vibrato, Tremelo, Glide, Swirl and SQFL (sequencer data to control filter rather than pitch) have all been added to the front page and can be toggled on and off. Also note that there is no longer a button for real time recording.Recording in real time with this is unnecessary and was touchy in slowed down step mode. Data can be changed with the new step sequencer editors for Pitch, Velocity, and Transpose. The TRANSPORT formerly used for Record, Fastforward ,Rewind will now allow the user during a performance to move to the next 16 event Note, Velocity or Transpose sequence. Stop will return to the beginning of THAT sequence. The WHERE display now will simultaneously display the positions of the Pitch, Velocity, and Transpose and the SPEED display has been moved to between FASTER and SLOWER. Also there will now be 10 "FAST PRESETS" without MIDI (instead of 8) and 16 when operating BLIND with a MIDI keyboard. (A different kind of performance.) Sorry people. This program will no longer work properly with Vice...only on a real Commodore 64 or C128.

NEW FRONT PAGE FOR FASTFINGERS

NEW TRANSPOSER EDITOR FOR FASTFINGERS 2

This will make real time recording unnecessary and thus real time recording will be removed to allow for a few new functions. Fastfingers will become a fully functional step sequencer with arpeggios which will automatically transpose guided by this transpose memory.

NEW STEP TRANSPOSE SEQUENCER EDITOR FOR FASTFINGERS
NEW STEP PITCH SEQUENCER EDITOR FOR FASTFINGERS
NEW VELOCITY SEQUENCER EDITOR FOR FASTFINGERS

A BLAST FROM THE PAST ...SEPTEMBER 1991 COMPUTE MAGAZINE

FEEDBACK ANYONE?

It works !!!! The C64 Fastfingers interface part that is, like a charm! The picture above is the 3 STAGE version with pitch tracker and sound chip. The MIDI interface alone will have fewer components

BUY AND SELL MUSICAL EQUIPMENT

Fastfingers an extraordinary Lead Synthesizer for the Commodore 64

DEC 18 2014

I was creating easy to load packages yesterday for various pitch tables ,based on A , including 440 NTSC 432 NTSC 440 PAL and 432 PAL . PAL versions are for the EU . These single file versions load everything including SOUNDS at once.

DEC 14 2014

The sequencer has now been broken up from a 256 note sequencer to 16 X 16 note sequencers....or you can have sequences strung together. Also new pitch tables with microtonal tuning and alternate tunings has been added.

October 16 2013 ...C64 FastFingers Lead Synthesizer report and update... My PIC CHIP midi port is working sending NOTE ON and NOTE OFF properly and response is very good. I'm tweaking software on both sides...PIC and C64 FastFingers side and soon I'll be adding Velocity to the mix....not sure about Continous Controllers though yet.

NOVEMBER 2012 PREVIEW NEW FOR 2013



1)New GAMER effect replaces the old THICK effect.
2)Mattel Keyboard scanning removed to make place for MIDI IN
3)Better in-tune DISTORTION EFFECT
4)LIGHT SHOW CAN BE TOGGLED ON AND OFF
5)SILENCE OR REST PLAYED FOR NOTES OUT OF RANGE










sept. 2012  I'm trying to wrap up the Fastfingers project with MIDI and move onto my next project....a complete PIC chip synthesizer.

july 2012 Today I began BASIC MIDI routines with the C64 Expansion Port Sentech/Passport type MIDI interface, mostly to check my MIDI interface and also to re-familiarize myself with the MIDI commands. I was able to get my Kawai K3 to play a slew of notes which I sent to it by way of a fornext loop. So the MIDI programming re-begins..after almost 30 years. So hopefully I will be able to integrate this into Fastfingers. This in only HALF of the BASIC programming. The other HALF is to also RECEIVE notes from a MIDI keyboard to trigger the Fastfingers sounds.

Dan

In the mid 80's, Robert Moog came to Wayne State in Michigan to speak. After showing off his new Kurzweil keyboard, he took the time to look at the Fastfingers software project and was very impressed with it. Hal Chamberlin, the writer of "Musical Applications of Microprocessors", said of Dan Laskowski, after seeing Fastfingers, "a born programmer."

I'm ready to ship.

The Fastfingers manual is 31 LOOSE pages. (25 pages of original manual, 5 pages of the Quick Start Guide and 1 page of 2011 updates). You can bind it any way that you want, staples, duo tang, 3 ring binder etc. It comes with 2 double sided diskettes (3 slight variations of the software and 2 variations of the sounds). This is all placed in a Zip Lock bag and shipped in a box the size of a cereal box. Send $19.95 (shipping not included) to PAYPAL techristian@teachmedrums.com Everyone please request a shipping quote. Of course, you need a C64 or C128 and a 1541 disk drive to run this !!

Add ANOTHER $29.95 (shipping not included) and I will also add the MATTEL keyboard INTERFACE (NOT the Mattel Keyboard, just the hardware interface) shown in the videos. Total $49.90 (shipping not included) for Fastfingers Software and MATTEL keyboard interface combo.

 

 

IN 1984 Dan was finished authoring music sequencing software called "FASTFINGERS" which was reviewed in the May 1986 "Computer Shopper" 6 years later, in 1991, Compute Magazine wrote "Fastfingers was written before the MIDI explosion, yet Laskowski programmed it for 256 sounds and even coaxed an extra sub octave out of the SID chip." The SID chip is the sound chip on the Commodore 64 for for those of you that don't know. The Compute Magazine also stated "The dearth of new software for the 64 has sent developers back to their closets to have another look at older programs to see if there's something to dust off and reissue. Fastfingers is one such program, and the question arises, does it still stand up? We are compelled to give a qualified Yes."

OK now I'm going to list a few fun facts and history about the 2011 release of Fastfingers below each picture.



Fastfingers loading screen
Fastfingers loading screen

Back in 1984, before large fast hard disks, there was no way to save a whole song in real time. MIDI was just breaking in, so what I did was set up Fastfingers to record up to 5 minutes of high resolution recording ,time wise several samples per second. This took up memory AND DISK SPACE. So when you hit SAVE back then , the entire recording, updated sounds, arpeggios, and transpose bank were all saved to 160 "blocks" on the 1541 disk drive. This took 2-3 minutes and was also just as slow to LOAD. Because most of you now have access to hard disk recording , in 2011, I have released 2 versions of Fastfingers, of which you will receive BOTH. First the original, 160 block version and now a 31 block version SAVE which just saves your SOUNDS and ARPEGGIOS. 20 seconds is better than 3 minutes.....right !!! So for 2011 there is the LONG SAVE and SHORT SAVE versions.



Fastfingers main performance screen
Fastfingers main performance screen



Tuning was tricky back then. We never had the cheap electronic tuners that we have today. Recently I discovered that 10% of the time you may hit a C and be playing a G or E. Most of the time this is due to RING modulation which modulates the main key with a part of the chord. Because of this, for 2011, I have gone through the entire 256 STANDARD sound bank and tweaked most of the sounds to fix this problem. If the sounds changed too much , I didn't modify them. There may be 4 or 5 sounds still in a different key, but I left them that way because the SOUND would have changed horribly. Fastfingers main performance screen SEQUENCER flashes when in arpeggio mode
Fastfingers main performance screen. SEQUENCER flashes when in arpeggio mode



Now ,up above, I was talking about the STANDARD sound bank, but there is also a DBX sound bank which I created way back. I tweaked all of the 256 sounds while monitoring through a DBX box. This was because I wanted to remove the noise from the SID chip and raise the S/N ratio to better than 70db. The DBX box handled noise reduction in 2 ways. During recording it would COMPRESS the sound making the quieter parts louder and making the louder parts quieter. During recording it also kicked up the high frequencies or treble. I did the same with the the Fastfinger sounds. The DBX version has longer DECAY and RELEASE times and filtering is more BAND PASS and HIGH PASS and less LOW PASS. I no longer have a DBX to play these sounds through though, but this could be re-created today by turning the tone down and using a 2-1 or 3-1 EXPANDER PLUGIN while recording in Cubase, Sonar, Pro Tools etc.. The DBX sounds are on the FLIP sides of the 2 disks.



Fastfingers 3 voice editing screen
Fastfingers 3 voice editing screen



If I can fully "WRAP MY HEAD" around the 1984 source code, I would like to have a Fastfingers II program to release in 2012-2013. It would be a DJ fun box to play, with a different arpeggio on every KEY using all of the great Fastfingers SOUNDS of the current release. No promises here though, because Fastfingers is enormously complex with over 25 pages of source code.



I'm also planning on releasing Fastfingers for the KORG KAOSSILATOR. It will be on either DVD or 2GB SD card.



I'm planning on releasing many Fastfingers Arpeggios to be used with Ableton Live and the Novation Launchpad.

March 20 2011
Ok. Today I have created a whole new FREQUENCY table which will make Fastfingers even more IN TUNE, but everyone will also get the original frequency table because this may change the sounds somewhat. I haven't heard it yet but theoretically it should be more in tune. I'm getting this fine tuned now. It wasn't very serious. It may have been out less that 1 CENT for U.S. and Canadian C64 computers. The North American table in the Commodore 64 Programmers Reference Manual was based on a 1 mhz clock and the clock isn't really EXACTLY 1 mhz. I punched in the new NTSC numbers. Next I'll have to create a Table for our European friends.

 





C64 or C128 "under the knife" for LESS NOISE !!!
ONLY ATTEMPT IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCED WITH A SOLDERING IRON. I WILL TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU FRY YOUR C64 !!!GET A TECHNICIAN TO HELP YOU IF YOU CAN'T PERFORM THE MOD YOURSELF !!!

What worked for me in the end was that I piggybacked 2 6581 SIDS (Sound Interface Device) on top of each other. Pin 27 (Audio out) no longer touches the circuit board. The pins are lifted away and soldered to the center conductor of 2 shielded cables. Shorting Pin 26 (Ext IN) to GND worked fine for some non filtered sounds, but killed other sounds. I have instead CUT OFF Pin 26 so that it doesn't pick up noise from the PCB. If you need to plug your guitar into the SID, then this won't work for you. The SHIELD of the 2 shielded cables are connected to Pin 14 (GND) which I must admit is awkward. The other ends are connected to a stereo pair of RCA phono plugs.

So what is the result?

First off, MUCH LESS NOISE !! My SIDS never sounded so good. Second some of the sounds with heavy filtering or Noise sound like STEREO !! I guess that this is because each SID will produce a different set of random numbers for the NOISE wave. Also I used SIDS from 2 completely different batches. One was a very early one, housed in CERAMIC with gold pins and the other was in PLASTIC, from 2 different batches with at least 2 years between. Because of this, the filter cutoff characteristics were slightly different.

These old C64 sounds are AMAZING in the Korg Kaossilator , clean and clear in Stereo!

I can't do much more hacking to these SIDS. I might kill them with too much heat, but the next step would be to create a new CS (chip select) signal for the extra SID so it sits in a different memory location. Then I would reprogram FASTFINGERS so that it sends every other note to each chip.(not killing the RELEASE that way.)

This is my C128 below, with only ONE SID chip. The hack is even uglier after 2 SIDs are piggybacked BUT WORKS !!

 

Below is a video using the Fastfingers Lead Synthesizer software for Commodore 64 and my drumming. I added a new Lightshow feature to Fastfingers, which changes the color of the in time with the music.

All of the sounds are C64 Fastfingers sounds except for my drumming.






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