
35 Year-Old C64 Easter Egg Hidden on Vinyl [video] - modinfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_CZpFqvDQo
======
LeoPanthera
Chris Sievey (better known as his persona Frank Sidebottom) included a whole
Sinclair ZX81 "music video" on the B-side of one of his singles. You were
supposed to run the program while playing the music from side A.

[https://youtu.be/8u9ZyV-BHFA](https://youtu.be/8u9ZyV-BHFA)

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milchek
Be sure to read the top comment.

Even though the program itself was very limited, I think the fact that this
was something a band took the time and effort to do back in '84, is pretty
cool. Must've been a surreal moment for Dan to see his late fathers easter egg
finally run.

I'm curious if any other vinyls have hidden data or messages like this in the
runouts.

~~~
edent
The runout to Sgt Pepper is preceeded by sound only audible to dogs.

Monty Python released a triple sided record. One of the sides had two grooves.
Depending on where you placed the needle, you would hear either side 2 or 3.

~~~
vthriller
There's video about looped run-outs and multiple groves as well:
[https://youtu.be/yIoAYU_r0Uk](https://youtu.be/yIoAYU_r0Uk)

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pram
The explanation and history are certainly neat, but the payoff was very
underwhelming. Kinda like finding out it’s just a message to drink more
ovaltine ;P

~~~
lostgame
Agreed that the result is underwhelming, however, I am amazed that, of all
things, a Christian Rock band chose to undertake such a task, even if it was
outsourced. I wonder what their motive was? I mean, it’s certainly a bunch of
work for a very small result.

There’s no way to direct input the vinyl into a C64, so therefore it would be
necessary to record it onto tape, such as the case presented here, which would
have been fairly expensive at the time, and then, yes, use a tape loader
accessory for a C64 at the time...the budget, it seems, for the average
listener to have the gear to decode this, much less know to do it, seems to
indicate an astronomically improbable level of discoverability.

~~~
weinzierl
> [..] it would be necessary to record it onto tape, such as the case
> presented here, which would have been fairly expensive at the time, and
> then, yes, use a tape loader accessory for a C64 at the time...the budget,
> it seems, for the average listener to have the gear to decode this, much
> less know to do it, seems to indicate an astronomically improbable level of
> discoverability.

Oh, no at all, distribution of software as audio was not exactly common but
wasn't unusual either. In the Netherlands there was a radio programme that
broadcast C64 programs you could record on cassette. Some printed computer
magazines included software on flexi discs which were thin, flexible vinyl
sheet records. Record players and double cassette decks, like the one in the
the video, were ubiquitous back than. Double cassette decks were the means of
choice for copying cassette software because this was much faster than on the
computer. The Datasette was much cheaper than a 1541 floppy drive. Recording
the audio from a record to tape and loading it via Datasette was a minor
inconvenience compared to other methods of software distribution used back
then.

The usual way to get new software, and with that I mean software you couldn't
copy from your friends, was to just type it from a computer magazine. A
considerable part of the old magazines was printed program code you could type
in and run. I deliberately didn't write source code - it was raw hex listings.
The typical form, if I remember correctly, was two columns with 17 hex pairs
in each line. 16 bytes were program, one byte was a checksum. You would enter
it in a program that would make an annoying buzzer sound when you hit enter at
the end of the line and the checksum didn't match. The program I used was from
a German computer magazine and aptly named _checksummer_ , which is a nice
wordplay on checksum and summer which is German for buzzer. So software on
records was neither inconvenient nor expensive.

EDIT: Dug up an example:

[https://www.retropoly.de/c64er/1988/64er_1988-05.pdf](https://www.retropoly.de/c64er/1988/64er_1988-05.pdf)

One hex listing starts at page 42. Format is a little different from what I
remembered, 8 bytes code plus 1 byte checksum, four columns of that on a
magazine page.

~~~
Lio
This pulled on a half forgotten ancient memory I have of my Dad recording
“Basicode”[1] audio off the radio to run on our BBC B in the UK.

From reading the link I’ve attached it seems this was related to your Dutch
broadcasts too. I never knew the history but it’s really interesting to read
about after all these years.

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASICODE](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASICODE)

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EvanAnderson
It's newer, not executable code, and not stored on analog media, but this made
me think of the Information Society track "300bps N, 8, 1". It's a recording
of a modem. I remember wiring an RJ-11 jack onto some alligator clips to play
it into my modem.

Background: [https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/the-greatest-
hidden-...](https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/the-greatest-hidden-
tracks-ever-hidden-on-a-cd/)

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neonate
There was also Pete Shelley's record with a ZX Spectrum program on it:

[http://www.bellyfeel.co.uk/2012/07/1983-buzzcocks-pete-
shell...](http://www.bellyfeel.co.uk/2012/07/1983-buzzcocks-pete-shelley-and-
the-xl1-zx-spectrum-program/)

[https://dangerousminds.net/comments/revisiting_pete_shelleys...](https://dangerousminds.net/comments/revisiting_pete_shelleys_groundbreaking_multimedia_album_project_xl1)

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Starwatcher2001
Not an easter egg as such, but I came across a BASIC program for the TRS-80 in
the early 80's where the programmer had worked out that program lines of
various lengths would produce interference of different frequencies when a
radio was placed next to it.

Using lines which included long REM statements, and various loops, it would
play the William Tell Overture.

For background, the Model 1 TRS-80 had virtually no RF shielding and would
interfere with many audio devices next to it, so a radio tuned "off station"
was ideal.

~~~
s_gourichon
A video demo of that contraption would be great.

Searching for it yields a video of a "regular" tune, not a RF hack (music
starts at 3 minutes):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_OW5CkqFvQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_OW5CkqFvQ)

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alanpage
Radiohead's "OK Computer" box set contained a mix tape with ancient computer
code on it, in much the same way:

[https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/radioheads-secret-
co...](https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/radioheads-secret-computer-
program/)

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acqq
For those who prefer the text, it's about:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Eye_(album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Eye_\(album\))

And the Commodore C64 code hidden "after the end" of the record (as the
sound).

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quickthrower2
Did he use a 90 minute tape? Back in the day I used special 15 minute data
tapes for loading programs onto my chosen brand of microcomputer. I found them
more reliable than 90 minute audio tapes (can't remember brands used). I'm
sort of missing tapes now :-).

~~~
imglorp
I was yelling at the screen wondering why he didn't run an 1/8" audio cable
from his Audacity direct to the Commodore. The tape was fun maybe but more
sources of error.

~~~
jacobush
The C64 has a digital tape connector

~~~
onemoresoop
How about a tape adapter? The ones we used in car stereos for audio input

~~~
hunter2_
If the C64 playback head is stereo (or reads one of the L/R tracks and ignores
the other), that would likely work. But in this video he mentioned how he
suspected that his audio tape deck failed him (it definitely records in
stereo) while the data recorder that ultimately worked might be mono (in which
case it might record a single track, twice as wide). Magnetic tape doesn't
inherently have tracks until you lay some down with a record head.

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stOneskull
I remember having to turn the screw in the datasette for copied tapes. Like 1
and a half turns clockwise or something

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bouncycastle
LOAD "*", 8, 1

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ctdonath
Isao Tomita did similar on album Bermuda Triangle. See
[http://www.isaotomita.net/recordings/bermuda.html](http://www.isaotomita.net/recordings/bermuda.html)

