PureBasic Forums - English

Hi,

A very specific niche topic, but it makes fun to create perforated tapes for music boxes. Since I always had problems getting the music onto these perforated tapes, I wrote an editor (The program has been around since 2017, but I have added a lot of features in the last few days). It can import MuseScore files (.mscz), offers a wide range of editing functions, allows you to preview and play your composition, and then export a print template as a PDF or SVG, which you can then use to punch holes (I explain the entire workflow on the homepage). Free to download for Win and macOS:

https://lebostein.de/musicbox/

PS: I like the great VectorDrawing-Lib of PureBasic, especially the direct export as PDF, PNG, or SVG. Thanks for that!

That's pretty cool! Played around for a bit but will have to try it out some more.

That is pretty neat!

Interesting !

Fred wrote: Thu Nov 13, 2025 1:32 pmInteresting !

You must be an elderly programmer; I bet punch tapes porn makes you remember the good ol' times
 

Where I worked in the pump factory as a kid, they either programmed the Fanuc-Facom/Fujitsu lathe through the front panel or through a teletype machine that created that exact punched tape program for it.

When the tapes failed to read, I innocently told them to clean the reader head inside the front panel of the machine because of moisture and they yelled at me citing my reference as a stupid factory boy.

Later, they had to employ Reps from IBM at several thousand an hour for what I told them for free.

Ahh, punched paper tapes.. Fun days

That's pretty cool love it. A totally retro sequencer.

That is good interesting, thanks for sharing !

Here are some shops, where I purchase my stuff (german located shops):
Fridolin.de
Spieluhr.de

Here an international site with some stuff:
https://musicboxmaniacs.com/

You can find the strangest things among punch tape music boxes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFONRJIldaQ
Have you heard of "Wintergatan"? (This is the guy from the "Marble Machine" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjBhO9iqEc0

Really nice! I always wanted to hack a music box/cheap tines. I like it