Files
SplitBit-Emulator/Programs/Libraries/player.asm
T
AnachronautandClaude Opus 5 00b31b88af Lander opens on a splash, with music
The first customer for the player outside the program it was pulled out
of, and the argument for doing it: a splash needs no resident player at
all. Nothing else is happening while the logo is up, so Lander owns the
timer and all four channels exactly as Play does. Music UNDER a running
game is still deferred, and still the harder problem.

It polls the timer rather than being interrupted by it. Lander has no
vector segment and waits for the screen by reading port 0x30, so it waits
for a beat by reading port 0x50 - the same shape, and it brings no
handler that would have to be taken away before the game starts.

The tune is read off the disk. A missing one means the logo and silence
and the game starts anyway, the way a missing /lander.state means the
defaults stand.

FOUR THINGS THIS COST, each found by running it:

A subroutine cannot answer in A. CALL saves and restores it, so splashSkip
handed its caller back the A it already had - the channel number of the
last stepVoice - and the splash ended on its first pass whatever anybody
pressed. Q is what survives a RET, which nextRandom says twenty lines
away and I did not read.

Port 0x3D is how many window rows are SHOWN, and it is two once putGauge
runs and nothing before. A line written to row eleven went somewhere real
and was displayed nowhere.

A nought is not a keypress. It is what a recorded keyboard file holds
while nobody is typing, and a splash that took it for a key is one no
test could ever watch.

And skipping has to be free. Asked after blanking the window and reading
the file, a skipped splash still cost a fifth of a second - enough to
push the thruster test's early capture past the frame it looks at. Asked
first, it costs a pad read.

player.asm no longer asks a caller for Order0 to Order3: the voice records
name NoOrder instead, so a program whose tune comes from a file does not
have to define four order lists it never uses. That was the file case
finding a wart in the contract.

Every other Lander test now skips the splash with a space - a key the
game itself ignores, since it answers to q, z and the arrows - so they go
on testing what they tested. The one in sound.sh presses nothing, which
is what makes it the one that hears the music.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01E2JrLzFvuFX9fgi1LDRjrW
2026-09-06 10:06:20 -04:00

473 lines
14 KiB
NASM

; player.asm
; Four voices on one clock: the part of a music player that is not the music.
; Written by Anachronaut
;
; A program that includes this supplies the tune - four order lists called Order0 to Order3,
; and the sequences they name - and gets the scheduler, the patch loader and the state that
; goes with them. It does NOT supply the beat: setting the timer up and waiting on it belongs
; to the program, because how long a piece rings at the end and what stops it are its business
; and not this file's.
;
; What a sequence is, what a command is and where repetition comes from are all described in
; Apps/Play.asm, which is the first thing to read this.
;
; The caller must define, in its Data Segment:
;
; PatchTable one two-byte address per patch
; SequenceTable one two-byte address per sequence
; VoiceStart four bytes, the patch index each voice starts on
;
; and point each voice's order cursor at a list of one-byte sequence indices ending in 0xFF.
; A tune read from a file needs none of that: useTune does all of it out of the header.
;
; It must call loadStartPatches once, then stepVoice once a tick for each voice, with A
; holding the channel and DP1 the voice's record. Playing counts down as voices run out, and
; reaching nought is the piece being over.
;
; INDICES THROUGH TABLES, RATHER THAN ADDRESSES, because that is the shape a tune read from a
; file has to be: the two tables are the only places an address lives, so loading a tune means
; adding a base to them and nothing else. Keeping the assembled-in form the same shape is what
; makes reading one from a file change no code here at all.
#Program
; ---- One voice, one tick ----
;
; A is the channel and DP1 is the voice's six bytes. Both survive the CALL that got here,
; which is what lets the caller say which voice it means in two instructions.
;
; +0 order cursor +2 sequence cursor +4 count +5 live
stepVoice:
SETD.3 ThisChannel
STA.3 ; A is wanted for other things between here and using it.
DPUP.1 0d5
LDA.1 ; Live?
DPDN.1 0d5
BRA stepDone
DPUP.1 0d4
LDA.1
DECA
STA.1 ; One tick less of whatever is sounding.
DPDN.1 0d4
BNA stepDone ; Still holding it.
; ---- The count ran out, so this is a boundary ----
;
; Select the channel FIRST. Every sound port below writes to whichever channel was last
; named, so a voice that forgot would be playing somebody else's part.
LDA.3
OUTA 0x41
RSTA
OUTA 0x45 ; Let go of the note that just ended.
DPUP.1 0d2
LDD.0.1 ; DP0 is now this voice's place in its sequence.
DPDN.1 0d2
; ---- Read events until one of them takes time ----
;
; A command takes none, and neither does the end of a sequence, so both come back here.
; A sequence of nothing but commands would spin in this loop for ever, which is a hang
; rather than a wrong note - the one malformed sequence worth a compiler refusing.
stepEvent:
LDA.0
INIB 0xFF
XOR ; XOR answers in Q and leaves A holding the event.
BRQ stepSequenceEnd
; The top bit says command, and 0xFF is already dealt with above.
INIB 0x80
AND
BNQ stepCommand
; ---- A note, or a rest, and how long it lasts ----
INCD.0
LDB.0
INCD.0
DPUP.1 0d2
STD.0.1 ; The sequence cursor, moved past this event.
DPUP.1 0d2
STB.1 ; And the count it will be held for.
; A is still the event. Zero is a rest, which is a duration with nothing started.
BRA stepDone
OUTA 0x44 ; Writing the note is what starts it.
stepDone:
RET
; ---- 0x80: play the rest of this voice on that patch ----
;
; The address follows the command. The sequence cursor is put away before the patch is loaded
; and taken out again after, because loadPatch walks DP0 and a CALL hands back the pointer it
; was given rather than the one this needs next.
stepCommand:
INCD.0
LDA.0 ; Which patch: one byte of index, not an address.
INCD.0 ; Past it, on whatever comes next.
DPUP.1 0d2
STD.0.1
DPDN.1 0d2
SETD.2 PatchTable
LDD.2.2 ; The table, wherever this tune put it.
DPUA.2
DPUA.2 ; Twice, because an entry is two bytes.
LDD.2.2 ; And DP2 follows the address it is now holding.
PSHD.2
POPD.0 ; DP0 is the patch.
LDA.3 ; And A the channel, which loadPatch selects.
CALL loadPatch
DPUP.1 0d2
LDD.0.1 ; Back to where the sequence had got to.
DPDN.1 0d2
BRI stepEvent
; ---- The sequence ended, so take the next one from this voice's order list ----
;
; AN ORDER LIST IS INDICES, one byte each, ending in 0xFF - the same byte that ends a sequence.
; SequenceTable is the only place a sequence's address lives.
;
; That is what makes a tune loadable without walking it: nothing inside a sequence or an order
; list is an address, so putting one in memory means adding the load address to two tables and
; nothing else. A loader that had to parse sequences looking for addresses to fix up is a
; loader that a malformed file can walk off a cliff.
;
; It was addresses here, terminated by a zero, on the reasoning that no sequence could live
; below this player's 0x3000 base. True of a loaded program and false of a boot image based at
; zero, so the first test written against it read its own first sequence as the end of the
; list and played nothing at all. An address is not a good place to hide a flag unless the
; address is impossible in every program rather than in this one.
stepSequenceEnd:
LDD.0.1 ; DP0 is the order cursor, which is the first thing in the record.
LDA.0 ; Which sequence comes next.
INIB 0xFF
XOR
BRQ stepOrderEnd
INCD.0
STD.0.1 ; The order cursor, moved past this entry.
SETD.2 SequenceTable
LDD.2.2 ; The table, wherever this tune put it.
DPUA.2
DPUA.2
LDD.2.2 ; And the sequence that index names.
DPUP.1 0d2
STD.2.1 ; And the sequence cursor set to the new one.
DPDN.1 0d2
PSHD.2
POPD.0
BRI stepEvent ; Which has events in it, so read one.
stepOrderEnd:
; Nothing left for this voice. The gate is already down, so its last note is fading.
DPUP.1 0d5
RSTA
STA.1
SETD.3 Playing
LDA.3
DECA
STA.3
RET
; ---- The instrument each voice starts on ----
;
; STARTING STATE IS DECLARED RATHER THAN ASSUMED. A voice whose instrument was never said
; would play on whatever the device woke up with, or worse on whatever the last tune left -
; and that is a fault this machine has met elsewhere, where a program run a second time starts
; with the memory the first run left, because loading is what initialises and running is not.
loadStartPatches:
RSTA
loadStartOne:
SETD.3 ThisChannel
STA.3
SETD.2 VoiceStartAt
LDD.2.2
DPUA.2
LDA.2 ; Which patch this voice starts on.
SETD.2 PatchTable
LDD.2.2
DPUA.2
DPUA.2
LDD.2.2
PSHD.2
POPD.0
LDA.3
CALL loadPatch ; A survives a CALL, so it is still the channel below.
INCA
INIB 0d4
CCF
SUB
BNQ loadStartOne
RET
; ---- base + offset, into wherever the caller wants it ----
;
; DP0 names two bytes of offset and DP1 two bytes to put the address in. They may be the same
; place, which is how a table is relocated in position: the low byte is written before the
; high byte is read, so nothing is clobbered under itself.
;
; The low bytes carry into the high ones, which is the whole reason ADD takes the Carry Flag.
tuneAddr:
SETD.2 TuneBase
CCF
INCD.0
LDA.0 ; The offset, low byte.
INCD.2
LDB.2 ; And the base, low byte.
ADD
INCD.1
STQ.1
DECD.0
LDA.0 ; The offset, high byte.
DECD.2
LDB.2
ADD ; With the carry the low bytes made.
DECD.1
STQ.1
RET
; Every entry of the table at DP0 turned from an offset into an address. B is how many.
tuneReloc:
PSHD.0
POPD.1
CALL tuneAddr ; A CALL hands DP0 and DP1 back, so both are still the entry.
INCD.0
INCD.0
DECB
BNB tuneReloc
RET
; ---- A tune, from wherever it was put ----
;
; DP0 names its first byte. EVERYTHING IN A TUNE IS AN OFFSET FROM THERE, so this adds the
; base to the two tables and the four order lists and nothing else in the file is touched. No
; sequence is walked, and nothing inside one is an address to be found and corrected - which
; is what makes a malformed tune something that plays wrongly rather than something that takes
; the loader with it.
;
; Q is nought if the tune was taken, and anything else if the file was not one.
useTune:
SETD.1 TuneBase
STD.0.1
; "SBTU", and version one. A file that is not a tune has to be refused here, because
; everything below reads offsets out of it and jumps to what they name.
SETD.1 TuneMagic
INIB 0d5
useTuneMagic:
LDA.0
PSHB
LDB.1
XOR
POPB
BNQ useTuneNo
INCD.0
INCD.1
DECB
BNB useTuneMagic
; The tick, straight into the timer. Three bytes, most significant first, which is the
; order the ports take them in.
LDA.0
OUTA 0x52
INCD.0
LDA.0
OUTA 0x53
INCD.0
LDA.0
OUTA 0x54
; How many of each, kept before the pointers move.
INCD.0
LDA.0
SETD.1 TunePatches
STA.1
INCD.0
LDA.0
SETD.1 TuneSequences
STA.1
; The two tables.
INCD.0
SETD.1 PatchTable
CALL tuneAddr
INCD.0
INCD.0
SETD.1 SequenceTable
CALL tuneAddr
; And an order list each.
INCD.0
INCD.0
SETD.1 Voice0
CALL tuneAddr
INCD.0
INCD.0
SETD.1 Voice1
CALL tuneAddr
INCD.0
INCD.0
SETD.1 Voice2
CALL tuneAddr
INCD.0
INCD.0
SETD.1 Voice3
CALL tuneAddr
; The starting instruments are not an offset but a place IN the file, so they are found by
; counting rather than by adding.
SETD.0 TuneBase
LDD.0.0
DPUP.0 0d22
SETD.1 VoiceStartAt
STD.0.1
; Now the tables themselves, whose entries are offsets like everything else.
SETD.0 PatchTable
LDD.0.0
SETD.1 TunePatches
LDB.1
CALL tuneReloc
SETD.0 SequenceTable
LDD.0.0
SETD.1 TuneSequences
LDB.1
CALL tuneReloc
CALL startVoices
; Q is nought, which is how this says it worked. There is no instruction that sets Q: it is
; the ALU's output and nothing else, so saying nought means doing a sum that comes to it.
RSTA
RSTB
XOR
RET
useTuneNo:
; Q is already not nought, because that is what got here.
RET
; ---- Four voices at the beginning of their order lists ----
;
; Whoever supplied the tune has set the order cursors; this sets everything else. A voice
; starts on Empty with a count of one, so its first tick runs the count out, finds the end of
; a sequence, and goes to the order list for the real first one. The beginning of a piece
; needs no special case anywhere.
startVoices:
SETD.1 Voice0
CALL startOneVoice
SETD.1 Voice1
CALL startOneVoice
SETD.1 Voice2
CALL startOneVoice
SETD.1 Voice3
CALL startOneVoice
INIA 0d4
SETD.1 Playing
STA.1
CALL loadStartPatches
RET
startOneVoice:
SETD.0 Empty
DPUP.1 0d2
STD.0.1
INCD.1
INCD.1
INIA 0d1
STA.1 ; A count of one, which runs out on the first tick.
INCD.1
STA.1 ; And live.
RET
; ---- A patch, onto the channel named by A ----
;
; A count, then that many pairs of parameter and value: the format SoundPatch writes and the
; one Lander already plays. B holds what is left, which costs nothing to keep - a CALL saves
; B, so a caller's count is not disturbed by a patch being loaded inside its loop.
;
; The channel is selected FIRST. Every parameter write below lands on whichever channel was
; named last, so a patch loaded without one would be quietly rewriting somebody else's voice.
loadPatch:
OUTA 0x41
LDB.0
INCD.0
loadPatchPair:
LDA.0
OUTA 0x42
INCD.0
LDA.0
OUTA 0x43
INCD.0
DECB
BNB loadPatchPair
RET
#Data
; Six bytes a voice: order cursor, sequence cursor, count, live.
;
; A LABEL WRITTEN HERE COMES OUT AS ITS ADDRESS, two bytes, most significant first - which is
; exactly the shape LDD reads. So a voice starts pointed at its order list and at Empty
; without a line of code: nothing relocates on this machine, so the address the assembler
; wrote is the address it will have.
;
; Empty is a sequence of nothing but its end marker, and the count starts at one. The first
; tick runs the count out, finds the end, and goes to the order list for the real first
; sequence - so the beginning of a piece needs no special case anywhere.
Voice0:
NoOrder Empty 0d1 0d1
Voice1:
NoOrder Empty 0d1 0d1
Voice2:
NoOrder Empty 0d1 0d1
Voice3:
NoOrder Empty 0d1 0d1
Playing:
0d4
ThisChannel:
0x00
; Where this tune's tables are. Pointers rather than the tables themselves, because a tune
; read from a file puts them wherever it was put, and the engine must not care which.
PatchTable:
0x00 0x00
SequenceTable:
0x00 0x00
VoiceStartAt:
0x00 0x00
TuneBase:
0x00 0x00
TunePatches:
0x00
TuneSequences:
0x00
TuneMagic:
0x53 0x42 0x54 0x55 0x01 ; "SBTU" and version one.
; An order list of nothing, which every voice starts pointed at. WHOEVER SUPPLIES THE TUNE
; SETS THE REAL ONE - useTune out of a file's header, or a program with a tune of its own in
; eight lines - so the records below name nothing that a caller has to have defined. They used
; to name Order0 to Order3, which made four order lists part of the contract even for a caller
; whose tune comes from a file and never has any.
NoOrder:
0xFF
; The sequence a voice starts on, so that its first tick goes through the order list like
; every other bar does.
Empty:
0xFF