The values from 0 to 107 that are used to control the pitch of the BELL sound correspond to the notes on the keyboard of a piano. The white key at the extreme left-hand side of the keyboard is known as "Bottom C", and corresponds to pitch value 0. Value 1 is the equivalent to the black note next to it, which is a C#, and so on up to “Middle C” at pitch value 6, then all the way up to 107.

In reality, grand piano keyboards run out of notes after 88, and most synthesizer keyboards have a lot less than that.

In Western music, notes are given their own code letter so that musicians can all refer to the same pitch when they try and play together. These letters repeat themselves after twelve notes, and each group of twelve is known as an “octave”.

To indicate a specific note (of middle octave) you can use the NOTE command, like NOTE C# or NOTE D. In order to indicate the octave, you can use the NOTE C4 annotation. So you can use the following command to sound a bell with A note:

BELL NOTE A4

Patterns of individual notes can be played, allocated to any voice, given a pitch and delayed for pause, using just one PLAY command:

PLAY voice, note, delay

The voice parameter is optional, allowing notes to be played through any combination of the retrocomputer voices, and is set by the usual bitmap format. The note parameter uses the values from 0 to 107, or by using the NOTE annotation. The parameter delay sets the length of any pause between this PLAY command and the next instruction in the program, with a value of zero starting the note and immediately going on to the next command.

The next example demonstrates this technique, including stereo harmonies:

PLAY 40, 0 ON 1: PLAY 50, 0 ON 2
WAIT KEY
PLAY 50, 15 ON 1: PLAY 50, 15 ON 2
DO
   v = RND(5)
   p = RND(108)
   PLAY p, 3 ON v
LOOP

PLAY is not restricted to pure notes. It is possible to assign complex wave forms to voices, using the WAVE and NOISE commands, which are explained next. To stop the playing process, simply turn it off like this:

PLAY OFF

The ugBASIC music system allows soundtracks in background to be added to any program. Music can be created from a variety of sources, including MIDI and PSG files.

The ugBASIC language is able to use directly the MIDI file format. This kind of file is converted into internal format (called IMF - Isomorphic Music Format), that is a format that the hardware is able to use almost directly. So, actually, the file inside the executable is IMF format and not MIDI.

MIDI files can be loaded using the LOAD MUSIC command:

soundtrack := LOAD MUSIC("some.mid")

Once load, they can be played anytime using the MUSIC command:

MUSIC soundtrack

The volume is controlled by MUSIC VOLUME, and speed (used during conversion) by MUSIC TEMPO. Individual music passages can be suspended by using the MUSIC PAUSE, and resumed by MUSIC RESUME. Moreover, it can be stopeed by MUSIC STOP instruction.

The ugBASIC language is able to load the SJ2 files. The format consists of a 1-bit sample stream of samples for two independent voices, which can be played synchronously with the 1-bit DAC. The player is based on the highly optimized algorithm called "2 voice squarewave pattern", developed by Simon "invisibleman" Jonassen and adapted for ugBASIC. The audio card is properly emulated by the latest version of XRoar emulator.

The file can be loaded as:

soundtrack := LOAD("some.sj2")

Once loaded, they can be played anytime using the MUSIC ... SJ2 command:

MUSIC soundtrack SJ2

Since they are played synchronously, the tracks can't be suspended, resumed or stopped.

The ugBASIC language is able to load the PSG files with the target that has a SN-76489 audio chipset. For TRS-80 Color Computer 1/2 and 3 it means that a Game Master Cartridge should be attached to slot 0. The audio card is properly emulated by the latest version of XRoar emulator. For Olivetti Prodest PC128 it means that an external soundcard should be attached, like the one built by Dino Florenzi. The audio card is properly emulated by the latest version of DC MOTO emulator.

The file can be loaded as:

soundtrack := LOAD("some.psg")

Once loaded, they can be played anytime using the MUSIC ... PSG command:

MUSIC soundtrack PSG

Individual music tracks can be suspended by using the MUSIC PAUSE, and resumed by MUSIC RESUME. Moreover, it can be stopeed by MUSIC STOP instruction.