CompuServe Archive

This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.

Search Results (55 messages)

#36969 MIDI-VOICES Message #37033
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:13 AM
Do you have a Commodore 64? Ensoniq was started by the guys who designed the VIC and SID chips!
#36969 MIDI-VOICES Message #37033
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:13 AM
Do you have a Commodore 64? Ensoniq was started by the guys who designed the VIC and SID chips!
#36857 MIDI-VOICES Message #37032
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:12 AM
The ESQ-1 is digital too, you know…
#36857 MIDI-VOICES Message #37032
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:12 AM
The ESQ-1 is digital too, you know…
#36837 MIDI-VOICES Message #37031
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:11 AM
Hmm, "dinkiness" is a ticklish question, isn't it? DX100/27 are pretty amazing compared to all home computers' built-in sound guts so far. DX100/27 is on a par with Casio CZ-101, Yamaha FB-01, etc. DX-100/27 is dinky compared with DX7, Emulator II, Mirage, digital reverbs, etc. DX-100/27 is miniscule vis-a-vis Kurzweil,…
#36837 MIDI-VOICES Message #37031
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:11 AM
Hmm, "dinkiness" is a ticklish question, isn't it? DX100/27 are pretty amazing compared to all home computers' built-in sound guts so far. DX100/27 is on a par with Casio CZ-101, Yamaha FB-01, etc. DX-100/27 is dinky compared with DX7, Emulator II, Mirage, digital reverbs, etc. DX-100/27 is miniscule vis-a-vis Kurzweil,…
#36808 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #37029
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:04 AM
No sweat, bro….6809 4 ever, yeah….. Hey, you ever type the 1.1 Preferences file and find the semi-public declaration of love between two (at the time) Amiga employees?
#36808 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #37029
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:04 AM
No sweat, bro….6809 4 ever, yeah….. Hey, you ever type the 1.1 Preferences file and find the semi-public declaration of love between two (at the time) Amiga employees?
#36807 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #37028
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:02 AM
Yow, I think we agree– you kinda gotta compute a sample at a time and spit it to the DACs. How come you're so hot on additive harmonic synthesis? You got something against FM, maybe? 8-)}
#36807 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #37028
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 3:02 AM
Yow, I think we agree– you kinda gotta compute a sample at a time and spit it to the DACs. How come you're so hot on additive harmonic synthesis? You got something against FM, maybe? 8-)}
#36861- It's only a Mirage Message #37026
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 2:58 AM
A quality audio box for the Amiga would be fairly straightforward (which is not to say inexpensive!) to build, using the extra DMA channels, one or more CD-type 16-bit DACs, and some low noise analog output circuitry. The question is: do any of the people qualified to attempt such a…
#36861- It's only a Mirage Message #37026
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 2:58 AM
A quality audio box for the Amiga would be fairly straightforward (which is not to say inexpensive!) to build, using the extra DMA channels, one or more CD-type 16-bit DACs, and some low noise analog output circuitry. The question is: do any of the people qualified to attempt such a…
#36810 #It's only a Mirage Message #37024
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 2:53 AM
I'm not sure whether I'd rather have the Hybrid thingie or the IIGS. Actually, one of the people in my group already has an Emulator II, and the place I work at has a Mirage, so I guess if I had the money I'd get a Mac Plus and buy…
#36810 #It's only a Mirage Message #37024
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 2:53 AM
I'm not sure whether I'd rather have the Hybrid thingie or the IIGS. Actually, one of the people in my group already has an Emulator II, and the place I work at has a Mirage, so I guess if I had the money I'd get a Mac Plus and buy…
#36792 #It's only a Mirage Message #37022
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 2:45 AM
Have you heard the store demo for the IIGS? They're pumping a lot of recorded time through that chip, with simultaneous graphic animation, so it can't be _too_ hard to move stuff around. I agree that 64K is less than one might optimally want, but GEEZ four years ago you…
#36792 #It's only a Mirage Message #37022
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 23, 1986 2:45 AM
Have you heard the store demo for the IIGS? They're pumping a lot of recorded time through that chip, with simultaneous graphic animation, so it can't be _too_ hard to move stuff around. I agree that 64K is less than one might optimally want, but GEEZ four years ago you…
#36553 MIDI-VOICES Message #36786
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:52 AM
I stand corrected, it must have been a CZ-1 I played. I agree: if you wanted to buy a dinky synth, you should look at the CZ101, DX100, and DX27.
#36553 MIDI-VOICES Message #36786
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:52 AM
I stand corrected, it must have been a CZ-1 I played. I agree: if you wanted to buy a dinky synth, you should look at the CZ101, DX100, and DX27.
#36552 MIDI-VOICES Message #36785
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:49 AM
Haven't seen an FB01, just read about it and have talked to folks who have used it. Hmm, the Cz1000 I played at Computers & Music in Daly City, Ca. was most definitely velocity sensitive…d'ya mean that it just doesn't respond to the velocity byte in MIDI note-ons? Haven't heard…
#36552 MIDI-VOICES Message #36785
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:49 AM
Haven't seen an FB01, just read about it and have talked to folks who have used it. Hmm, the Cz1000 I played at Computers & Music in Daly City, Ca. was most definitely velocity sensitive…d'ya mean that it just doesn't respond to the velocity byte in MIDI note-ons? Haven't heard…
#36358- #[REPOST] Fame but… Message #36783
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:40 AM
Great idea! Suggestion: maybe try to favor original programming works over pieces developed using the commercially-available packages (unless, of course, works of surpassing quality have been created with said packages).
#36358- #[REPOST] Fame but… Message #36783
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:40 AM
Great idea! Suggestion: maybe try to favor original programming works over pieces developed using the commercially-available packages (unless, of course, works of surpassing quality have been created with said packages).
#36356- #It's only a Mirage Message #36782
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:36 AM
At the risk of a) appearing to harp on a subject, and b) depressing you greatly: Do go see & hear a IIgs, the demo stuff is quite impressive. Saxaphone –real saxaphone, not looped– with digital reverb (recorded, not computed reverb), drum set, etc… and no recorder-through-a-carpet 7.5KHz cutoff.
#36356- #It's only a Mirage Message #36782
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:36 AM
At the risk of a) appearing to harp on a subject, and b) depressing you greatly: Do go see & hear a IIgs, the demo stuff is quite impressive. Saxaphone –real saxaphone, not looped– with digital reverb (recorded, not computed reverb), drum set, etc… and no recorder-through-a-carpet 7.5KHz cutoff.
#36346- #It's only a Mirage Message #36781
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:34 AM
That 64K limitation is only for the sample buffers being played. I'm led to believe that it's just a 64K bank, and you can move stuff in or out of it very easily.
#36346- #It's only a Mirage Message #36781
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:34 AM
That 64K limitation is only for the sample buffers being played. I'm led to believe that it's just a 64K bank, and you can move stuff in or out of it very easily.
#36344- #It's only a Mirage Message #36780
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:32 AM
Sorry, facts be facts. A Mirage in a computer beats 4 DAC's with DMA going through a 7.5KHz lowpass filter! I'll risk the virtual bricks, being more devoted to the truth than to brand loyalty! Don't know for sure about UART speeds on the IIgs…how fast is AppleTalk, 'cause it'll…
#36344- #It's only a Mirage Message #36780
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:32 AM
Sorry, facts be facts. A Mirage in a computer beats 4 DAC's with DMA going through a 7.5KHz lowpass filter! I'll risk the virtual bricks, being more devoted to the truth than to brand loyalty! Don't know for sure about UART speeds on the IIgs…how fast is AppleTalk, 'cause it'll…
#36364 AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36779
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:29 AM
Clarification (to my earlier comments): When you go 8 bits + 6 bits, you lose INDEPENDENTLY-CONTROLLABLE volume. This is incontrovertable. Any volume changes then need to be COMPUTED as part of the word-stream being fed (either directly or via DMA) to the audio DAC's. Which means increased per-sample overhead (like…
#36364 AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36779
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:29 AM
Clarification (to my earlier comments): When you go 8 bits + 6 bits, you lose INDEPENDENTLY-CONTROLLABLE volume. This is incontrovertable. Any volume changes then need to be COMPUTED as part of the word-stream being fed (either directly or via DMA) to the audio DAC's. Which means increased per-sample overhead (like…
#36363 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36778
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:21 AM
Re: "lousy 680x processor", remember that most of your favorite video games probably use 6809's…..very well-respected and venerated in some circles! A friend of mine's implemented an object-oriented system on the 6303 for controlling an advanced site security system, too, so it's not TOO much of a slouch either! Wouldn't…
#36363 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36778
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:21 AM
Re: "lousy 680x processor", remember that most of your favorite video games probably use 6809's…..very well-respected and venerated in some circles! A friend of mine's implemented an object-oriented system on the 6303 for controlling an advanced site security system, too, so it's not TOO much of a slouch either! Wouldn't…
#36362 AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36777
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:17 AM
Correct: the Ami only allows two single FM stacks, max, whereas DX synths let you get more levels, and it's those extra orders of subtlety= indirection that provide the interesting sounds…as anyone who's spent any time programming a DX7 could tell you. Did I imply that harmonic additive was definitely…
#36362 AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36777
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:17 AM
Correct: the Ami only allows two single FM stacks, max, whereas DX synths let you get more levels, and it's those extra orders of subtlety= indirection that provide the interesting sounds…as anyone who's spent any time programming a DX7 could tell you. Did I imply that harmonic additive was definitely…
#36360 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36776
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:11 AM
Agreed, it'll be nice to see what really into-it people come up with on Ami audio. Re: direct audio synthesis, the complexity of it depends upon the model from which you start. Doing polyphonic stuff with a wavetable is, as you have demonstrated, not the world's most straightforward thing to…
#36360 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36776
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 20, 1986 2:11 AM
Agreed, it'll be nice to see what really into-it people come up with on Ami audio. Re: direct audio synthesis, the complexity of it depends upon the model from which you start. Doing polyphonic stuff with a wavetable is, as you have demonstrated, not the world's most straightforward thing to…
#36336 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36339
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:25 AM
Hey, fast response! Righto, thanks for the keyboard info. BTW, the DX does these computations (and MANY more) for 6 operators, times 16 simultaneous voices, times at LEAST 30K Samples/sec. We're talking SERIOUS custom VLSI action here…
#36336 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36339
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:25 AM
Hey, fast response! Righto, thanks for the keyboard info. BTW, the DX does these computations (and MANY more) for 6 operators, times 16 simultaneous voices, times at LEAST 30K Samples/sec. We're talking SERIOUS custom VLSI action here…
#36207 AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36337
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:22 AM
See my other messages, but "…programming the DAC and the volume control at the same time…" means exactly the same as "…modulating one channel's volume with another channel…", and A) yes, the audio DMA does it for you automagically, and B) the magic register is called ADKCON. Don't know about…
#36207 AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36337
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:22 AM
See my other messages, but "…programming the DAC and the volume control at the same time…" means exactly the same as "…modulating one channel's volume with another channel…", and A) yes, the audio DMA does it for you automagically, and B) the magic register is called ADKCON. Don't know about…
#36185- #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36335
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:19 AM
The problem with using the volume control for extended sample ranges is that you lose the volume control, which is _almost_ all the Amiga gives you to make sounds change over time…hate to harp, but DYNAMIC sounds are, in general, more important than high-resolution sounds for most home-computer-type stuff. IMHO.
#36185- #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36335
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:19 AM
The problem with using the volume control for extended sample ranges is that you lose the volume control, which is _almost_ all the Amiga gives you to make sounds change over time…hate to harp, but DYNAMIC sounds are, in general, more important than high-resolution sounds for most home-computer-type stuff. IMHO.
#36206- #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36333
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:15 AM
Check the original Hardware Manual, p. 5-18, section 5.3.3 Modulating Sound. Bits in the ADKCON register: ATVOL3 through ATVOL0. Setting the ATVOLn bit makes channel n modulate channel n+1 (ATVOL3 just shuts off channel 3 audio output) volume. In this mode, for each 16-bit word of data fetched for channel…
#36206- #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36333
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:15 AM
Check the original Hardware Manual, p. 5-18, section 5.3.3 Modulating Sound. Bits in the ADKCON register: ATVOL3 through ATVOL0. Setting the ATVOLn bit makes channel n modulate channel n+1 (ATVOL3 just shuts off channel 3 audio output) volume. In this mode, for each 16-bit word of data fetched for channel…
#35888 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36332
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:04 AM
It's pretty trivial to map arbitrary-precision amplitudes onto the amplitude quanta available with the 8-bits-plus-6-bits scheme of using the sample and the volume together.
#35888 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36332
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:04 AM
It's pretty trivial to map arbitrary-precision amplitudes onto the amplitude quanta available with the 8-bits-plus-6-bits scheme of using the sample and the volume together.
#35858 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36330
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:01 AM
It's me, the nitpicker again. ACTUALLY, the Yamaha "FM" system is a PHASE modulation system: at exactly regular intervals, new samples are computed. When one operator modulates another, it modulates the pointer into the modulated operator's sinewave table, displacing it from its natural position for that time period by some…
#35858 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36330
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 3:01 AM
It's me, the nitpicker again. ACTUALLY, the Yamaha "FM" system is a PHASE modulation system: at exactly regular intervals, new samples are computed. When one operator modulates another, it modulates the pointer into the modulated operator's sinewave table, displacing it from its natural position for that time period by some…
#36179 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36328
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 2:50 AM
BTW, in general, harmonic additive synthesis hardware has consisted of a large number of independent sinewave generators, either hardware oscilators or software sinewave generators, being generated or summed in realtime, so the problem of choosing wavetable lengths to fit least-common-multiples hasn't had to be faced very often. In fact, doing…
#36179 #AMIGA-MUSIC Message #36328
From: Chris Grigg Forum unknown · Audiophile October 15, 1986 2:50 AM
BTW, in general, harmonic additive synthesis hardware has consisted of a large number of independent sinewave generators, either hardware oscilators or software sinewave generators, being generated or summed in realtime, so the problem of choosing wavetable lengths to fit least-common-multiples hasn't had to be faced very often. In fact, doing…

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