Re: Hacker FAQ (please comment and help fix)

Article: 7656 of alt.hackers
From: natew@coho.halcyon.com (Nathan Waddoups)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,alt.hackers
Subject: Re: Hacker FAQ (please comment and help fix)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 08:28:42 GMT
Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc.
Lines: 45
Approved: random string here
Message-ID: 3mlbnq$in9@news1.halcyon.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com
Status: RO

I forgot to ObHack my last post.  Forgive me, and please accept the
following as my apology.

This isn't consisted with the usual problem->solution ObHack style, but
it's creative enough that I want to share it.

I've got a synth.  It makes cool noises.  Interesting chance discovery:
if you take certain samples and transpose them WAY up (like, 2-4 octaves,
at least), the transposition algorithm breaks down and you get really
harsh, abrasive, quasi-melodic precussive noises.

Just what I wanted, but I can't bang on the keys fast enough to get the
effect I wanted (machine guns and tambourines crossed with collapsing
buildings), and the sequencer just doesn't give me that instant
gratification.

That was all it took to get me to buy that drum machine I'd been
considering for a while.  So now I can use drumsticks to trigger the
aliased noises to my heart's content.

The other fun thing: assign the pads on the drum machine to a pentatonic
scale, and hammer away.  Assign to a low bass (like, sine wave) patch for
best effect.  It's too fun for words.

Not hackish enough.

I'd been saving this one, since it's a friend's, but it's too cool:

Win16, open file handle 1 (or maybe it was 0), and spew random data.
With standard VGa, you get character-mode random data filling your
monitor, erasing the windows and all that stuff.

Move the mouse, click on windows, they're still there - they repaint
themselves over the letters and numbers and such that now cover your screen.

Weird.  You can still write to the console under Win16.  Effects differ
with different graphics cards (looks like static on the top inch of your
screen with a Mach64 card).  Also, doesn't work under Chicago.

Go figure.
--
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