If you have some spare PETs and an interest in music and visual performance, the CBM 8032 AV project by German composer and artist Robert Henke may serve as an inspiration. Seriously, it’s quite amazing what he manages to do with those venerable 8-bit machines that don’t even have a dedicated sound generator! (As you probably know already, sound on the PET is generated by a shift register of the MOS 6522 VIA, which is routed to the user port.)
The project utilizes
- three CBM 8032 computers as sound generators for the music
- one CBM 8032 computer as graphics / video generator
- a rack with several audio effects (reverb, pitch shifting, chorus, etc.)
- an audio mixing desk for the signals from the audio computers and the audio effects
- a clock generator (a newly built computer, using the same microprocessor as the CBM 8032)
- one CBM 8032 as sequencer, controlling the audio and video computers as well as the clock generator
as well as custom 6502 software.
(Image via roberthenke.com, photo by Mihaly Podobni.)
For an impression of the performance (video) and a general description, have a look at
https://roberthenke.com/concerts/cbm8032av.html
There’s also a page on the technical intrinsics of the compound system:
https://roberthenke.com/technology/inside8032av.html
And Robert Henke is also developing his very own 6502 computer:
https://roberthenke.com/technology/firebird.html
Also, lots of computer related art, graphics (laser generated), music (an entire catalog of records), and more. The site is well worth a visit!