Atari ST
Sixteen-bit music machine
The Atari ST married a 68000 CPU with built-in MIDI ports, making it a darling of musicians, demosceners, and bedroom developers.
Overview
Released in 1985, the Atari ST aimed squarely at the new 16-bit market. Its Motorola 68000 CPU, GEM desktop, and dual MIDI ports made it a favourite for music production and creative coding across Europe.
Fast facts
- CPU: Motorola 68000 at 8 MHz.
- Graphics: 320×200 (16 colours), 640×200 (4 colours), and 640×400 monochrome.
- Sound: Yamaha YM2149 PSG; later STE models added DMA sound.
- Storage: 3.5” floppy drive standard, with hard-drive options via ACSI.
Why it mattered
- MIDI powerhouse: built-in ports created an affordable sequencing workstation.
- Demoscene hub: 16-bit demoscene groups pioneered scrolling text, vector graphics, and sample mixing on the ST before migrating techniques to Amiga/PC.
- Publishing: hosts of 8-bit alumni shipped ST/Amiga versions of their hits, bridging our BASIC and Assembly course eras.
Modern legacy
- Emulation: Hatari and Steem SSE emulate ST/STE/TOS variants.
- Hardware mods: modern video adapters, storage replacements, and FPGA clones keep the machines gig-ready.
- Community: active demo parties (Silly Venture, STNICCC) still celebrate new releases.