Trip-a-Tron
Encyclopedia
Trip-a-Tron is a light synthesizer written by Jeff Minter
and published through his Llamasoft label circa 1988. It was originally written for the Atari ST
and later ported to the Commodore Amiga.
Trip-A-Tron may have been published conventionally at one point; it was also released as shareware
. The trial version contained no limitations, but registration was necessary to obtain the manual, which in turn was necessary to learn the script language ("KML" - supposedly "Keyboard Macro Language" and only coincidentally the phonetic equivalent of "camel") which drove the system.
The software has a usable but extremely quirky user interface, filled with numerous in-jokes and references to Llamasoft mascots. For example, the button to exit from the MIDI editor is labelled "naff off", while the button to exit the file display is labelled with a sheep saying "Baa!"; the waveform editor colour cycles the words "Dead cool" above the waveform display, and the event sequencer displays an icon of a camel smoking a cigarette; and the image manipulation tool has a series of icons used to indicate how long the current operation is going to take: "Make the tea", "Have a fag", "Go to bed", "Go to sleep", "Go on holiday", "Go to Peru for six months", and "RIP"; and the scripting language command to set the length of drawn lines is "LLAMA". (The manual states: "I could have called the command LINELENGTH I suppose, but I like llamas so what the heck".)
The manual is also written in a similar light, conversational style, but has been praised for nonetheless achieving a high degree of technical clarity.
In spite of this the software is extremely usable and was recommended as one of the best light synthesizers available at the time.
Jeff Minter
Jeff 'Yak' Minter is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and his recent works include Neon , a non-game music visualization program that has been built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Space Giraffe , and Space Invaders...
and published through his Llamasoft label circa 1988. It was originally written for the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
and later ported to the Commodore Amiga.
Trip-A-Tron may have been published conventionally at one point; it was also released as shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
. The trial version contained no limitations, but registration was necessary to obtain the manual, which in turn was necessary to learn the script language ("KML" - supposedly "Keyboard Macro Language" and only coincidentally the phonetic equivalent of "camel") which drove the system.
The software has a usable but extremely quirky user interface, filled with numerous in-jokes and references to Llamasoft mascots. For example, the button to exit from the MIDI editor is labelled "naff off", while the button to exit the file display is labelled with a sheep saying "Baa!"; the waveform editor colour cycles the words "Dead cool" above the waveform display, and the event sequencer displays an icon of a camel smoking a cigarette; and the image manipulation tool has a series of icons used to indicate how long the current operation is going to take: "Make the tea", "Have a fag", "Go to bed", "Go to sleep", "Go on holiday", "Go to Peru for six months", and "RIP"; and the scripting language command to set the length of drawn lines is "LLAMA". (The manual states: "I could have called the command LINELENGTH I suppose, but I like llamas so what the heck".)
The manual is also written in a similar light, conversational style, but has been praised for nonetheless achieving a high degree of technical clarity.
In spite of this the software is extremely usable and was recommended as one of the best light synthesizers available at the time.
See also
- Psychedelia (light synthesizer)Psychedelia (light synthesizer)Psychedelia is an early light synthesizer developed by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft in 1984. It was converted to the MSX and ZX Spectrum by Simon Freeman.-Usage:...
- Virtual Light MachineVirtual Light MachineThe Virtual Light Machine is a light synthesizer developed by Jeff Minter in 1990. It was installed into a number of electronics, including the Atari Jaguar CD and Nuon DVD players....
- Neon (light synthesizer)Neon (light synthesizer)Neon is a light synthesizer developed by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin . It was based on an enhanced version of the graphics engine originally to be included in Unity , which became an independent project after Unity was cancelled in 2004.A version of Neon is used as the default visualiser for the...