Moonblaster 1.4 declared freeware, added to downloads database

Every once in a while, people ask for a good music tracker in our forums. Moonblaster is one of the most popular music trackers around for MSX. With its capability to support MSX-MUSIC and MSX-AUDIO at the same time to create a stereo effect, it saw heavy usage in the games, demos and music disks produced by the MSX scene.

Unfortunately, Moonblaster is no longer for sale. When a while back on our forums a new question where to get Moonblaster arose, this prompted us to contact Moonsoft, the makers of Moonblaster. Upon inquiry, the members of Moonsoft agreed to make Moonblaster freely available to the MSX community. So we have added it to our downloads database, and here it is: the freeware Moonblaster 1.4, the latest version, ready to use for any MSX2 or higher, with 128kB RAM and MSX-MUSIC, MSX-AUDIO or both!

The download contains the music program itself, source code for the program and the replayer, the scanned Dutch manual for version 1.3, the appendix for version 1.4 (also in Dutch) and a list of all available keyboard shortcuts in both Dutch and English. All documentation was kindly provided by MSX user The NoiseCollector.

Relevant link: Moonblaster 1.4

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Comments (25)

By hap

Paragon (2043)

03-06-2012, 16:42

Thanks (ex)Moonsoft! =)
What does this mean to the Moonblaster wave/FM MoonSound updates?

By meits

Scribe (6571)

03-06-2012, 16:45

Ask msd... He's got that stuff...

Gonna check this MB version to see if it's anything else than either the original sector based one or the hacked file version...

By meits

Scribe (6571)

03-06-2012, 16:46

Fun to see is that the color scheme in the screenshots are the same as my custom scheme

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10135)

03-06-2012, 16:54

I always used the FST color scheme ..

By Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1802)

03-06-2012, 17:06

IIRC these are the standard Moonblaster colors

Not sure if what MB version was supplied, it might be the hacked version for all I know

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6556)

03-06-2012, 18:19

Finally ... the end of an absurd situation ... without my personal influence ... as I had suggested it in 2006. More than 5 years lost for the official MSX Revival, Moonblaster freeware in 2006 could have been a solid argument for this revival, now it's too late and MSX Nostalgia will replace MSX Revival.

By KdL

Paragon (1485)

03-06-2012, 20:30

Unofficial MoonBlaster 1.4 Manual (italian only, sorry!)

By meits

Scribe (6571)

03-06-2012, 20:31

MB was black with blue bars...

By Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1802)

03-06-2012, 21:12

KdL wrote:

Unofficial MoonBlaster 1.4 Manual (italian only, sorry!)

Should that one be added to the download as well, KdL?

By meits

Scribe (6571)

03-06-2012, 21:33

I miss sample disk and music disk #1 and #2

By KdL

Paragon (1485)

03-06-2012, 21:52

@Jorito: yep!!

By Gradius2

Hero (657)

04-06-2012, 02:52

Woah, I didn't even knew it wasn't for free.

Relax, I never used the program before, now I can. lol

By Huey

Prophet (2696)

04-06-2012, 09:59

Are the sources the same ones as on the MCCM CD-ROM?

If so then it's impossible to compile the code as it is missing 1 or more files

By Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1802)

04-06-2012, 12:24

Yes, these are the same sources as on the MCCM CD. I bugged Sama to ask Moonsound for an update of the sources, but no news as of yet.

By meits

Scribe (6571)

04-06-2012, 18:17

Never heard a Moonsound answer a human question either

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10135)

04-06-2012, 18:31

That's because there's not enough SRAM!

By leesmapman

Resident (47)

08-06-2012, 09:40

Hope you have fun with it. :-) After you asked me about it, I started playing around with Moonblaster again. I was surprised how much I still remember of the whole program, I haven't used it for years (I think 1997 was the last time I used it)

By remcos

Supporter (5)

08-06-2012, 10:24

@Meits: No, the official colors were really the colors as used in these screenshots. To be honest, I didn't even remember that I made them customizable :-)

Remco Schrijvers

By meits

Scribe (6571)

08-06-2012, 17:29

That's odd... Now my memory left me... I'm sure I didn't approve with the default colors. The red on black is typically my taste...
But ey... Then the others were right... It's good to have more than just one winner, ey

By Manuel

Ascended (19677)

09-06-2012, 11:47

I actually made a dump of my original Moonblaster 1.3 disks, which appeared to contain Moonblaster 1.4 instead. And oddly enough, there was no copy protection on it. Is that right, Remco?

By meits

Scribe (6571)

09-06-2012, 11:57

Did you ever alter the colors?

By NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6091)

20-06-2012, 00:08

Huey wrote:

Are the sources the same ones as on the MCCM CD-ROM?

If so then it's impossible to compile the code as it is missing 1 or more files

Jorito wrote:

Yes, these are the same sources as on the MCCM CD. I bugged Sama to ask Moonsound for an update of the sources, but no news as of yet.

I just downloaded today the sources and took a look... It seems that the only real problem is that the macro file (MYBIOS.GEN) is outdated. (Wrong macro names, some missing labels and macros)

I already managed to compile 99% working version (there is still some minor graphical bugs, but other than that the program seems to function correctly). I think these sources should be quite easy to fix even without help from Remco...

By Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1802)

20-06-2012, 00:28

Sounds great, NYYRIKKI! If you have a working version, please submit it to us so we can update the download!

By NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6091)

20-06-2012, 00:46

Jorito wrote:

Sounds great, NYYRIKKI! If you have a working version, please submit it to us so we can update the download!

Hmm... I'm not sure I'm allowed to do that... Even if I just fix the missing macros the resulting binary is very much different compared to original binary in DSK-file. If this means that I compile a new/modified music program, I think I'm not allowed to spread the program or sources:

Remco (readme.txt) wrote:

You are allowed to create a new music program strictly for your own use.

By anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

20-06-2012, 07:59

We can ask Moonsoft if it's okay to patch the sources in such a way to make them work.

Moonblaster 1.4 declared freeware, added to downloads database

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