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MUSICFILE — the Maniacs of Noise driver

entity tool C64 / SID #tool #driver #player #c64 #sid #maniacs-of-noise #charles-deenen #jeroen-tel #source #instrument-tables #cheat-sheet

aliases Musicfile, MoN driver, MoN player, Maniacs of Noise driver, MoN routine

sources GitHub realdmx/c64_6581_sid_players — Cybernoid II in Deenen's MUSICFILE, the MoN SFX player, the Driller listing · VGMPF wiki: Maniacs of Noise, Jeroen Tel, Charles Deenen (+ the C64-Wiki roster) · Charles Deenen interviews: Domination #11 (1998) and Designing Sound (2010) · Cybernoid I / Cybernoid II 'behind the notes' videos (2014) and the Lemon64 thread · The SID Homepage — Interviews with Jeroen Tel (Commodore Zone 1997, 64'er 3/91) · Hugi #38 — Up Close & Personal: Jeroen Tel of Maniacs of Noise (2014) · The Brief History of SID — Jan Harries (SIDwave), Vandalism News #64 (2015) · SIDId (cadaver/sidid): the player-signature list and its notes · Remix64 — Last Ninja 2 vs Ninja Remix: what's the deal? (Chris Abbott) · realdmx: Charles Deenen's two test tunes — an undated MUSICFILE build and the 'Scoop designs' Maniacs of Noise player · realdmx: Reyn Ouwehand's Armada (MUSICFILE, 'Special version for Reyn Ouwehand', 1989) and Dutch Breeze (the 1990 MoN player) · realdmx: Johannes Bjerregaard's own player — the James Bond 3 demo (a Maniacs of Noise commission) and Myth · C=Lehti 4/89 — SIDin hollantilaiset valjastajat (Maniacs of Noise) · GamesArt interview — Jeroen Tel (2015) · C64.COM interview #8 — Charles Deenen (2010)

created 2026-08-30 · updated 2026-08-31

The C64 music driver charles-deenen wrote in 1987 for maniacs-of-noise — "Deenen programmed a music driver ('Musicfile') and a sound effects driver in Turbo Ass" — into which jeroen-tel, Marcel Donné and reyn-ouwehand "arranged by typing hexadecimal numbers and labels into the driver's source code". Tel "used the Maniacs Of Noise driver that I wrote for several years. He only started to write his own after I left to the states" (sources: s-vgmpf-maniacs-of-noise, s-charles-deenen-interviews). The Cybernoid II source, headed MUSICFILE V01-07-1988 / Programmed by Charles Deenen / The most advanced music player ever written for the commodore 64!, is public on GitHub (source: s-realdmx-sid-players).

Facts#

Tel's first account: a BASIC player of his own, then "me and Charles designed our first MoN routine" after Deenen saw him arrange a song in about ten minutes in soundmonitor (sources: s-sidmusic-jeroen-tel-interviews, s-vgmpf-maniacs-of-noise).
The editor was the assembler: "The editor for both of us was easy: turbo-assembler"; the behind the notes videos show the Turbo Assembler source of player and note tables next to the tune (s-cybernoid-behind-the-notes).
Deenen sent Johannes Bjerregaard "a disk with Turbo Ass, his music driver, and some 4-bit samples", but Bjerregaard and Laxity kept their own drivers; Markus Schneider was resented "for using his music driver without permission in 1988"; the driver "was officially converted to the [ZX Spectrum] 128K" (source: s-vgmpf-maniacs-of-noise). A forum claim says Future Composer "is made from a ripped MON player" (unverified; source: s-cybernoid-behind-the-notes).
Deenen: about 2 days per tune, longest 7 minutes, £100–1000 per game (sources: s-charles-deenen-interviews, s-vgmpf-maniacs-of-noise).

Cheat sheet#

From the Cybernoid II source (MUSICFILE V01-07-1988), all via s-realdmx-sid-players; the names are Deenen's Dutch/English labels, the semantics read from the code where noted.

Tune-wide constants at the top of the file: volume = $0f, vibtotzover = $30, pulserunspeed = $63, dubvoice = $0c (double voice), noisehitone = $fa, pulsearpwait = $01, gitarwait = $0f, spacelength = $00, spacewait = $60, wavearpwait = 2.
Routines (the driver's feature list): Tonearpeggio · Vibrato · Tone glide · pulse handling ("pulsegedoe") · Wavearpeggio · Pulsearpeggio · Tonesweep up · filter handling ("Filterklooi") · Strangefilter · Pulserun · Double voices · Space effect · Drumroutine · noisetik.
Song → sequences → steps: snelheid (speed) per song; seqtabel gives three sequences per song (seq0a–c title, seq1a–c game over); a sequence is a list of step-table numbers below $40 with prefix bytes — verified in the code: $80–$fd = transpose, toneadd = byte & $1f, added to every note and glide target of the following steps, upward only (0–31 semitones; $84,$01 = +4 then step 1, $8c = +12); $40–$5f = repeat the next step & $3f more times; $60–$7f = an instrument-number offset & $0f; $fe = end; $ff = restart the sequence without resetting the transpose (source: s-realdmx-deenen-test-tunes); 33 step tables st00–st20 hold the notes (orderlist).
Instruments: 8-byte rows with the columns pulsehi, waveform, attdec, susrel, filcount, fx1, fx2, fx3 (instrument-tables, instrument-design):

name (Deenen's label)	pulsehi	waveform	attdec	susrel	filcount	fx1	fx2	fx3
leeg (empty)	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`
bass	`$05`	`$41`	`$08`	`$89`	`$00`	`$53`	`$64`	`$80`
bassdrm	`$08`	`$11`	`$00`	`$a8`	`$f0`	`$00`	`$00`	`$10`
snardrm	`$08`	`$11`	`$00`	`$a9`	`$f0`	`$01`	`$00`	`$10`
arp+filt	`$04`	`$21`	`$00`	`$c8`	`$01`	`$00`	`$81`	`$85`
melo-1	`$0c`	`$41`	`$00`	`$b8`	`$00`	`$52`	`$22`	`$01`
melo-2	`$06`	`$41`	`$00`	`$e8`	`$02`	`$53`	`$74`	`$01`
$17zooi	`$00`	`$17`	`$00`	`$88`	`$f0`	`$00`	`$00`	`$80`
arp-filt	`$04`	`$21`	`$00`	`$88`	`$00`	`$00`	`$81`	`$84`
$55	`$00`	`$55`	`$00`	`$b8`	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`	`$20`
bassfilt	`$03`	`$41`	`$07`	`$69`	`$00`	`$00`	`$51`	`$80`
melo-3	`$05`	`$41`	`$00`	`$b8`	`$03`	`$53`	`$83`	`$01`
tingel	`$01`	`$41`	`$00`	`$89`	`$f0`	`$00`	`$00`	`$02`
omhoogt (upwards)	`$06`	`$41`	`$00`	`$c8`	`$08`	`$00`	`$41`	`$00`
$81lang	`$07`	`$81`	`$08`	`$fd`	`$f0`	`$00`	`$00`	`$00`
solo	`$05`	`$41`	`$00`	`$b8`	`$03`	`$c5`	`$24`	`$01`
melo-1 (2nd)	`$0c`	`$41`	`$00`	`$b8`	`$00`	`$c6`	`$22`	`$00`
basso	`$07`	`$41`	`$08`	`$89`	`$00`	`$00`	`$31`	`$00`
solo2	`$05`	`$41`	`$00`	`$a7`	`$00`	`$c5`	`$22`	`$00`

Per-instrument start ("noisetik", fx3 bit 7): starttabel ($81,$81,$81,$81, $41,$11,$11,$81, $41,$81,$81,$81) and startlen ($02 … $05, $06) — verified in the code of Deenen's own test tune: while the note's frame counter is below startlen, the waveform written is the starttabel value; a value of $7f or more forces the frequency high byte to noisehitone = $fa and the waveform to $81. Effects skip the note's first frame, so startlen = $02 is exactly one frame of high noise on the second frame of the note, and $41/$11 with $05/$06 swap in that waveform at the note's own pitch for four or five frames; for two frames afterwards pitch and waveform are restored explicitly (source: s-realdmx-deenen-test-tunes; hard-restart, wavetable-programming). vibtabwait holds vibrato delays per instrument ($0c, $18).
Drums: drumtabel → dwa (waveform per frame, length byte first: $0b; $81,$81,$20,$20,$10,$10,$10,$10,$10,$10,$10,$10) and dto (pitch per frame: $34,$0a,$08,$06,$04,$05,$06,$05,$04,$05,$06,$05) — two frames of noise, then sawtooth and triangle sliding down (wavetable-programming).
Chords: arp0–arp7 = length byte + semitone offsets: $02,$00,$03,$07 (minor), $02,$00,$04,$07 (major), $02,$00,$05,$08, $02,$00,$05,$09, $02,$00,$03,$08, $02,$00,$04,$09, $02,$00,$03,$06; arp6 = $17 + a 24-step descending run $e9 … $00; wavearp $80,$10,$80,$10 alternates noise and triangle (chord-arpeggio).
Filter: filterbytes → four 10-byte programs fb0–fb3, e.g. $a0,$fe,$02,$ff,$80, fp0,$02,$22,$42,$62 where fp0 = $10 + volume is the $D418 byte (mode nibble + volume); strafilter and aftrekspeed for the "strange filter" (filter-programming).
Pulse: pulsetabel, four 8-byte programs such as $04,$0c,$02,$30, $04,$30,$06,$30 (pulse-width-modulation).
The driver shadows the SID registers per voice (d400 … d403, stod404) and keeps glide, vibrato, arpeggio, pulse-run and filter counters in 3-byte tables — the state a sid-player-routine needs.

Other builds and the second MoN player#

Four more MoN-family sources in the realdmx collection show the driver at other moments (sources: s-realdmx-deenen-test-tunes, s-realdmx-ouwehand-mon-tunes):

Deenen's Test Tune — the same code base without the MUSICFILE V01-07-1988 line: a voice-enable mask (numvoice = 7), a per-song note-cut table, a three-state stop byte, a 95-entry note table (the Cybernoid II file's 87 entries are its tail), dubvoice = $10; no vibtotzover or pulserunspeed yet. Probably the earlier state (dead variables, a ";]aha! a samplerouty]" banner with no code, a commented-out Turbo Assembler harness with dec $d020 … inc $d020 around the play call as a rastertime meter). Its six instruments: bassdrum $08,$11,$08,$08,$f0,$00,$00,$10, snaredrum $08,$11,$08,$e8,$f0,$01,$00,$10, bass $02,$41,$08,$a7,$01,$43,$63,$81, lit arp $06,$41,$08,$08,$f0,$00,$11,$84. Column meanings read from the routines: filcount high nibble = gate-off in units of 4 ticks before the note ends, bit 3 = double voice, bits 0–2 = filter program; fx3 bits $01 filter, $02 pulserun, $04 tone arpeggio, $08 pulse arpeggio, $10 drum, $20 sweep, $40 wave arpeggio, $80 noisetik.
Armada (1989) — "MUSICFILE V01-07-1988 … Scoop Designs L.T.D. in 1989 / Special version for :Reyn Ouwehand", with 25 named instruments (bass $05,$41,$00,$ab,$00,$53,$69,$00, lead $03,$41,$00,$77,$00,$53,$12,$80, big-git $07,$41,$00,$a6,$00,$42,$56,$80, bass met fil $02,$41,$00,$a9,$02,$42,$82,$01), seven tunes, and a text string "music by reyn ouwehand from scoop designs" in the code. Pulse program 1 and arp0–arp5 are byte-identical to Cybernoid II's — the tables travelled with the driver (reyn-ouwehand).
Dutch Breeze (1990 MON) — not this code but a rewrite by the same hand(s) (identical labels frutsmaarraak, gwb, nohiset, starttabel): intro + loop sequence records with a global transpose, legato ($fb), explicit rests, a fade command, multi-segment filter (fi1–fi7) and bounded pulse (p1–p8) programs, looping drum pitch + wave tables, a per-instrument detune flag replacing the double voice; the wave/pulse arpeggios, tone sweep, strange filter and pulserun are gone. Who rewrote it — Deenen or Ouwehand — the file does not say.
Deenen's Test Tune 2 — "Maniacs of Noise music player / (C) Scoop designs ltd. / m.o.n.": a different player with a statement language in the source (dur+n, snd+n, trs+n, rep+n, pause, glide), 1-based notes, a per-instrument gateonlength, a sine-table vibrato, chords as note-name lists (arp2 !by g0,c0,e0,arpend) and every register rewritten each frame. Nothing of MUSICFILE's labels survives in it.
johannes-bjerregaard's two 1989 sources sit in the same _MON folder but are his own driver; the James Bond file's header is a MoN job sheet ("30 SECS OF JAMES BOND TITLE TUNE INCLUDING A DEMO OF THE MANIACS OF NOISE MUSIC STYLE") — see bjerregaard-player (source: s-realdmx-bjerregaard-player).

Lineage and names#

SIDwave on its design: "a clone of Rob Hubbard's players … they all have the same structure. Whatever you do, if you try to code the most efficient way and the player will be able to do all effects of the SID, what you end up with is more or less the same as the Hubbard/MON way to do things"; the scene's future-composer (Finnish Gold, 1988) is "the first TMC/MON player" with an editor bolted on (source: s-recollection-brief-history-of-sid).
SIDId: MoN/Deenen with tune-specific variants (MoN/Cyb2) (Cybernoid II), (MoN/TTWII), (MoN/JTS), (MoN/RWE), (MoN/Bantam), (MoN/Deenen_Digi); MoN/FutureComposer — "Charles Deenen made the player & Juha Granberg (FCS) made the editor", "made for the player of /MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Noisy_Pillars_tune_1.sid"; Noise-Mon_V2 (Piotr Pisula, 1992) is a separate editor (source: s-sidid-player-list).
The driver a game ships with is the driver its music must be in: when Ninja Remix needed new intro music, the whole last-ninja-2 score was redone in the MoN driver rather than mixing two players (source: s-remix64-ninja-remix).

What it had to fit into#

Deenen's 2010 numbers are the driver's design constraints: "Some companies only gave us six to eight kilobyte of memory for music and sound effects. Those naturally became a challenge" — for a fee of $200–1000 and two to six days of work per game, sometimes "only … two days to compose the music and do the sound effects". Music, effects, tables and the player itself all came out of that budget, which is why the tables are terse and the note data is byte code (sid-player-routine; source: s-c64com-charles-deenen-interview).

The driver in the 1989 press#

C=Lehti 4/89 (written before 1989-05-19): Deenen "constantly develops his music routines" for new sounds; the current build is "version 78" as the OCR reads; the newest version has "complex sound-bending routines" and "a complete two-channel digitized-data play routine" (chip-samples) — a digi capability none of the surviving 1988 sources shows; his stated design goal: speed as the starting point, "as fast as possible without compromising quality at all"; the inspiration credit goes to johannes-bjerregaard (source: s-c-lehti-maniacs-of-noise).
The same article on workflow: composing "happens entirely without an editor" — by early 1989 the notes were typed as numbers on Tel's home PC and cross-assembled for the C64, beside the native turbo-assembler route (source: s-c-lehti-maniacs-of-noise). Tel's 2015 wording of authorship: Deenen "wrote a simple music routine and together we expanded it to meet my music (effects) needs" (source: s-gamesart-jeroen-tel-interview) — Deenen's own "the driver that I wrote" stands above.

maniacs-of-noise · charles-deenen · jeroen-tel · cybernoid-ii · cybernoid · turbo-assembler · sid-player-routine · matt-gray-player · soundmonitor · instrument-tables

Sources#

s-realdmx-sid-players · s-vgmpf-maniacs-of-noise · s-charles-deenen-interviews · s-cybernoid-behind-the-notes · s-sidmusic-jeroen-tel-interviews · s-hugi38-interview-jeroen-tel · s-recollection-brief-history-of-sid · s-sidid-player-list · s-remix64-ninja-remix · s-realdmx-deenen-test-tunes · s-realdmx-ouwehand-mon-tunes · s-realdmx-bjerregaard-player · s-c-lehti-maniacs-of-noise · s-gamesart-jeroen-tel-interview · s-c64com-charles-deenen-interview

source file wiki/entities/musicfile.md · 1 unverified · graph