Psychedelia (light synthesizer)
Encyclopedia
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.
Unlike Minter's later synthesizers such as Neon
, Psychedelia does not use audio as a factor, only using a joystick's input. It is, however, intended to be played in accompaniment to music.
. Running the code for the first time had a profound effect on Minter: "It just felt wonderfully new, and somehow primal... it was like the patterns and mandalas that have fascinated humans for millennia, but come to life, under your control..."
Originally, Minter intended the algorithm to be public domain and contributed an early version in listing form
to a computer magazine. After encouragement from his parents, Minter eventually released an expanded version commercially as Pyschedelia. He continued to develop the light synthesizer concept, designing Colourspace (1985), Trip-a-Tron
(1987), Virtual Light Machine
(1990, 1994, 2000 and an unreleased version in 2003) and Neon
(2004).
Psychedelia, along with other older Llamasoft programs, has since become public domain.
also only awarded 2 out of 5, finding the concept interesting but concluding that the games-buying public was the wrong demographic for this kind of software. In contrast, CRASH
found the package great fun to play around with, describing the effects as fantastic, but criticizing the retail price and narrow appeal. The magazine featured Psychadelia on their October 1991 covertape.
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 by Llamasoft in 1984. It was converted to the MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
and ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
by Simon Freeman.
Usage
Psychedelia allowed a user to generate a light show on the screen grid, using the joystick to send pulses or bursts of coloured squares. There are various preset settings, or the user can manually set the variables controlling the pulses. Patterns can be recorded to memory or tape for later playback.Unlike Minter's later synthesizers such as Neon
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...
, Psychedelia does not use audio as a factor, only using a joystick's input. It is, however, intended to be played in accompaniment to music.
History
Minter had been considering "dynamic interactive pattern generators" but hadn't coded any previously. An idea for an algorithm came to him, in which patterns would be seeded along a path, which would then expand and change shape and colour over time. He coded it in 6502 assembler language, fitting into about 1 kilobyteKilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
. Running the code for the first time had a profound effect on Minter: "It just felt wonderfully new, and somehow primal... it was like the patterns and mandalas that have fascinated humans for millennia, but come to life, under your control..."
Originally, Minter intended the algorithm to be public domain and contributed an early version in listing form
Type-in program
A type-in program, or just type-in, is a computer program listing printed in a computer magazine or book, meant to be typed in by the reader in order to run the program on a computer....
to a computer magazine. After encouragement from his parents, Minter eventually released an expanded version commercially as Pyschedelia. He continued to develop the light synthesizer concept, designing Colourspace (1985), Trip-a-Tron
Trip-a-Tron
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....
(1987), Virtual Light Machine
Virtual Light Machine
The 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....
(1990, 1994, 2000 and an unreleased version in 2003) and Neon
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...
(2004).
Psychedelia, along with other older Llamasoft programs, has since become public domain.
Critical reception
On its release Psychedelia received mixed reviews. Your Spectrum criticized the concept of a light synthesizer, describing Psychedelia as boring and awarding an average of 2/5. Sinclair UserSinclair User
Sinclair User, often abbreviated SU, was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum...
also only awarded 2 out of 5, finding the concept interesting but concluding that the games-buying public was the wrong demographic for this kind of software. In contrast, CRASH
CRASH (magazine)
Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
found the package great fun to play around with, describing the effects as fantastic, but criticizing the retail price and narrow appeal. The magazine featured Psychadelia on their October 1991 covertape.