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When I was a kid, we had a PC-XT with a lot of GW-Basic programs on it. I am trying to track down one in particular -- it was a music player of sorts. A menu (all monochrome text as I recall) and you could select one of many songs, which would be played through the PC speaker (monophonic rather than polyphonic).

I remember a lot of TV and Movie Themes, as well as classical and popular tunes. I spent some time trying to track it down and turned up a few similar items, but not that exact one. This would have been the mid-80s, in the SF Bay Area.

For sure it contained the "William Tell Overture" which I have seen as its own file WILLTELL.BAS in a few places.

Anybody remember this, or something like it?

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  • Welcome to Retrocomputing Stack Exchange. Here's a link to the site's tour. Can you remember any other information about it, e.g. the UI, latest time published?
    – wizzwizz4 ♦
    Jun 28, 2017 at 21:51
  • 1
    I was a child the last time I saw it, this would have been the mid-to-late 80s. I think the UI was key-based rather than typing commands; i.e. you pressed a key 0-9A-Z to select an option on screen. I think it had multiple genres to select from. I remember a lot of the songs it played -- TV and movie themes like Star Trek and Beverly Hills Cop and classical music like William Tell and Anitra's Dance.
    – Ben
    Jun 28, 2017 at 22:46
  • I've got a BASIC program that plays the IBM song: Everonward IBM complete with words and the bouncing ball.
    – Dougie
    Dec 9, 2018 at 18:31
  • 1
    The PC-DOS Supplemental Programs disk included a music player which included Death March of a Marionette and Humeresque. Could that be it?
    – supercat
    Jan 25, 2019 at 20:49
  • Hi, did you ever learn more about this question? I was telling my kids about the first program I wrote, and I vaguely remember it being a GW-BASIC program that drew a target while playing the William Tell Overture. I copied it out of one of my dad's programming books from work. I did find this GitHub page that has the song only (plus many more).
    – monsur
    May 10, 2020 at 14:51

2 Answers 2

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Here is the listing of a PC-BASIC program from that time that plays various folk, popular, and classical tunes. It may not be the one you're looking for, because it doesn't have a user interface. I remember I used to add a GOTO command as line 1 to start playing a specific tune.

10 REM CLEMENTINE P.39
20 A1$="T120MSF8.F16F4C4A8.A16A4F4F8A8O5C4.C8O4B-8A8G2G8A8"
30 A2$="B-4B-4A8G8A4F4F8A8G4.C8E8G8F2F8.F16"
40 A3$="F4C4A8.A16A4F4F8A8O5C4.C8O4B-8A8G2G8A8"
50 A4$="B-4B-4A8G8A4F4F8A8G4.C8E8G8F2"
60 PLAY A1$+A2$+A3$+A4$
70 REM OH! SUSANNA P.37
80 A1$="T220MLC8E8MSG4G4G4.A8G4E4C4.D8E4E4D4C4D2.MLC8E8MS"
90 A2$="G4G4G4.A8G4E4MLC4.E8MSE4E4D4D4C2.MLC8E8MS"
100 A3$="G4G4G4.A8G4E4C4.E8E4E4D4C4D2.MLC8E8MS"
110 A4$="G4G4G4.A8G4E4C4.E8E4E4D4D4C1"
120 A5$="F2F2A4A2A4G4G4E4C4D2MLC8E8MS"
130 A6$="G4G4G4.A8G4E4C4.E8E4E4D4D4C2."
140 PLAY A1$+A2$+A3$+A4$+A5$+A6$
150 REM cockles and mussels
160 A1$="T110FFAF8F8GGGGB-.G8"
170 A2$="AGFO5CO4B-AAG.F8G2C8C8"
180 A3$="FFFFA.F8GGGGB-.G8"
190 A4$="AO5C.O4B-8AO5C.O4B-8AFGF2C"
200 A5$="FFFMLFA.MSF8GGGMLGB-.MSG8"
210 A6$="AO5C.O4B-8AO5C.O4B-8AFGF2"
220 PLAY A1$+A2$+A3$+A4$+A5$+A6$
230 A1$="AA8A8AA8A8ADFAGG8G8GG8G8"
240 A2$="GCEGAA8A8AA8A8ABO5CDCO4AGES2SP4"
250 A2$="GCEGAA8A8AA8A8ABO5CDCO4AGED2DP4"
260 A3$="A2A.A8ADFAG2G.G8GCEG"
270 A4$="A2A.A8ABO5CDCO4AGED2DP4"
280 PLAY A1$+A2$+A3$+A4$
290 REM KUMBAYA P.55
300 A1$="T70C8E8G8.G16GA8A8G2C8E8G8.G16GF8E8D2C8E8"
310 A2$="G8.G16GA8A8G2FMLE16.D16.C16.C8.MSD8D8C2"
320 PLAY A1$+A2$
330 REM BLOWING IN THE WIND P.29
340 A1$="T150G2GGA2GFG2MLEDMSC2.E"
350 A2$="G2GGA2GFMLG1G2MSEF"
360 A3$="MLG2GMSEF2FEMLD1D2MSEF"
370 A4$="G2GGA2GFG8G.MLEDMSC2.E"
380 A5$="G2GGA2GFMLG1G2.MSE"
390 A6$="F2FED2.DE8E.EDC2.E"
400 A7$="F2FEDDCO3BO4MLC1C2.MS"
410 PLAY A1$+A2$+A1$+A3$+A4$+A5$+A6$+A7$+A8$
420 REM LA BOHEME
430 A1$="F8B-8O4BD8F.F.E-8E-8E-8E-O4B-8O5D.DD8C.C8CO4G8B-.B-.B-."
440 A2$="O5D8P8P8D8F2E-.E-8O4B-B-8B-8O5C8D8E-8C8DDO4B-8O5C8D8O4B-8O5C2CP4"
500 PLAY A1$+A2$

You can listen to its output here.

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I think I know the music program you mean. I had it on my old IBM-XT. The link below isn't quite it, but I also remember this one. But I remember there being one in 80-column mode with a lot more song choices (30-50.) I am not even sure it was just a basic program, I feel like it was an .exe or .com file. That same IBM-XT had a game called "Beast" that I just found, where you have to crush the "beasts" in this random maze of pushable ASCII blocks. Beast lists as being from 1984, if that helps. I wonder if these were part of some IBM XT software package?

music.bas on youtube

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