Podcast: Download

This episode features AtariMusic I and AtariMusic II, originally released in 1983 by Atari.

Box and Supplement Scans

Scan of the front of the box of AtariMusic I:

 

Scan of the front of the box of AtariMusic II:

 

Scan of the back of the box:

 

Ad from the 1983 Atari Home Computer Catalog featuring the XL line of computers.  Note the cassette (tape) part numbers were also planned:

 

Ad from later Atari Catalog.  Note no cassette (tape) part numbers:

 

AtariMusic I in Action

A word about the screenshots for both AtariMusic I and AtariMusic II.  There were over 450 different screens captured.  The vast majority of those are lesson content.  To keep the web page somewhat concise, only 1 lesson is detailed.  Each lesson has approximately 30 screens.  If you want all the screen shots, you can find a zip file of them in the links section below.  I encourage you to download it and look through them.  There are quite a few different graphical elements Atari used in the materials presentation, drills, and tests.

Boot splash:

 

Primary disk menu.

 

Note Reading

Loading:

 

Menu:

 

Lines and Spaces

The loading screen shot was missed somehow, but looks like all the others.

Menu:

 

Lesson progress:

I chose to catalog lesson 2 (Treble and Bass Clefs).  See it below for an example of how the lesson plan flows.

 

Treble and Bass Clefs

Loading:

 

Menu:

 

Lesson progress:

These screenshots follow a lesson all the way through from start to finish.  The menu options take you directly to various points within the lesson:

 

Ledger Lines

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Menu:

 

The Grand Staff

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Menu:

 

Note Attack Game

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Menu:

 

Instructions:

Instructions work the same in all three included games.  Only the first is indexed here on the web page:

 

Game play:

 

Whole and Half Steps

Loading:

 

Load error when wrong disk is inserted:

 

Menu:

missing

 

Steps Between Letters

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Menu:

 

Sharps and Flats

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Menu:

 

Steps with Sharps and Flats

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Menu:

 

Making Steps on the Staff

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Menu:

 

Stepwise Transporter Game

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Menu:

 

Game play:

 

AtariMusic II in Action

Boot splash:

 

Primary disk menu.  Major Scales on disk 1, Hearing Scaleeise Melodies on disk 2.  The menu is the same on both disks:

 

Major Scales

Loading Major Scales:

 

Major Scales menu:

 

The C Major Scale

This lessons does not need to load from disk.

Menu:

 

Major Scales In Other Keys

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Menu:

 

Naming Key Signatures

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Menu:

 

Writing Key Signatures

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Menu:

 

Key Wars Game

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Menu:

 

Game Play:

 

Hearing Scalewise Melodies

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Wrong disk inserted error:

 

Menu:

 

Instructions and Options

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Menus.  It is spread across 2 screens.  The instructions generate over 60 screens of information:

 

Drills with Goals

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Menus.  Again, spread across 2 screens:

 

Drill in progress:

 

Show Links:

• Screenshots zip file: https://inverseatascii.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/s2e15-screenshots.zip
• Atari Mania AtariMusic I: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-atarimusic-i_393.html
• Atari Mania AtariMusic II: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-atarimusic-ii_394.html
• Key Signature Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signature

 

 

 

Intro music is an excerpt from a chip tune by Wizwars named 8 Bit Raceway.  It is used under Creative Common license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States.