HOW TO ACHIEVE THE BEST SOUND
ON YOUR TI-83 PLUS

By: Joe Pena

What You Need To Listen To Your Songs

CHOICE #1: (Best Sound)
Because most headphones have a 3.5mm output, you will have to buy a 2.5mm to 3.5mm Stereo-Stereo Adapter from Radio Shack or the like. After you get the adapter, plug the small part into the calculator and the headphones into the big adapter. However, you must get into your player before plugging in the headphones, otherwise you will just hear a clicking noise and won't be able to get anywhere.

To get an even better sound, plug in your computer speakers instead of your headphones into the adapter. That way, you'll be able to control the volume of the song.

CHOICE #2: (Medium Sound)
If you are so anxious to hear sound from your TI-83+ and can't go to Radio Shack, you can try to get an old TI link cable and manually hook it up to an old headphone or computer speaker. When cutting your very hard-to-cut-open TI-link cable, try not to destroy any of the metals inside of it.

CHOICE #3: (Bad Sound)
This one's pretty bad because you both lose the stereo and it's a little hiss-full but the good part about it it's that you don't have to buy anything extra. If you have a cell phone or cordless phone, you'll notice that most of them have a 2.5mm headset microphone input. All you have to do is take your TI link cable and plug one side into your calc and the other into the cell phone/cordless phone. Just call yourself or put it into speakerphone mode and you'll be hearing your beautiful melodies!!

CHOICE #4: (Worst Sound)
If you have a good AM radio in your house, you can start your song and put the port close to the antenna and you'll be able to hear sound, although it will be pretty hiss-full. You lose your stereo and it's the most hiss-full , however.

 

Explanation of How Sound Works on CalcMod v2.2  (by Evan Moritz)

"Include Files

The include files explained in this document are the updated versions labeled 'notes2e.inc' and 'tempo2e.inc.'

First we will look at the include file 'notes2e.inc.' This file defines all of the notes (including rests) as a numerical value read by the CalcMod program. It defines six octaves each starting at C natural and includes each ascending note, including sharps and flats. Please note that a sharp of one note is equal to the flat of another note.

At the start of notes2e.inc is an interesting set of data that looks like this: 

#ifdef mono
	#define note(pitch,len) .db pitch \ .dw len \
#else
#ifndef stereo
	#define note(l,r,time) .db r,l \ .dw time \
#else
	#define note(note,time) .db note \ .dw time \
#endif
#endif
This set of commands defines how the setup of notes is to be. It is important to define the correct format before including this file. For mono, at the top put '#define mono.' For the old stereo format, you need not put anything. For full use of CalcMod v2.2 and for the sake of this document, put '#define stereo' at the top of your header.

More on note insertion will be described in section 4c.

The next include file is 'tempo2e.inc.' In this file is defined all of the note lengths and durations (or for you non- musical people, its the time the note is held out).

Just as you had to define the stereo format before you included notes2e.inc, you have to define the tempo the song is to play at before you include tempo2e.inc. The tempo is the number of beats per minute, or the speed of the music. If you are not acquainted with musical terms, it is highly recommended you find someone to explain it to you in depth.

The first section of tempo2e.inc defines the basic note lengths, ie. quarter, whole, etc. In a stroke of genius the creator of CalcMod discovered that a set number divided by the tempo would give you the perfect note duration called the quarter note, which is the basis for defining all other notes. It is possible to make notes shorter than sixtyfourth, but more testing is required before I can positively say anything about that.

The second part of the include file is a special section I compiled for dotted notes, ie. the note plus 1/2 the note duration.

The third section is all about triplets. Triplets are three notes of equal length that take up the space of two. So, for instance, if you had three quarter note triplets, they would take up the space of two normal quarter notes, or a half note.

The fourth section is short but can be expanded to fit your needs. Dblwhole is an eight note duration, or two whole notes tied together. If you wanted to make more like this, then you would insert this: 

#define dblNOTE		NOTE*2
The last section of the include file is something I made special for the needs of musicality (whatever). I defined a note that had a sixtyfourth part of it cut off at the end. Notes like these (ex. rhalf) MUST BE FOLLOWED BY A SIXTYFOURTH REST FOR DESIRED EFFECT. This is to allow distinction between two consecutive notes of the same pitch. It used to be that when two notes were side by side they meshed into one long note. Now, the 'r' notes followed by a sixtyfourth rest can allow the listener to hear the seperate notes.

The very last part is where you get to make custom note durations.Say you want a quarter, eighth, and sixtyfourth duration called 'tienote.' Insert code like this: 

#define tienote		(quarter)+(eighth)+(sixtyfourth)
Make sure this is after those individual notes are defined and that there are parenthases around the notes, because of the multiplication/addition. In other words, make sure there put there."

Any questions, Contact me at: snjoepena@hotmail.com
Joe's Stuff:    http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/authors/80/8085.html