riley@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Daniel S. Riley) (06/20/88)
In article <1272@percival.UUCP> boblind@percival.UUCP (Bob Lindstrom) writes: >The nicest thing I can say about the Mimetics digitizer is that it is >a piece of junk. End of Review. I think it would be better if you supported assertions like this with some reasons...then I wouldn't have to ask why you feel that way. As a Mimetics owner, I'll try to make some guesses: 1) Most third party software can't access the hardware (since it plugs into the second game port, not the parallel port). 2) Fixed sampling rate, which can be a real pain if you're sampling sound effects, less of a pain if you're using it for music. 3) Early versions of the sampling software were pretty poor. 4) Mimetics (as far as I know) doesn't document how to access the hardware from your own programs. In its defense, I'll say: 1) It does write IFF format samples, as well as its own format, so you can use third party software to edit samples once you've taken them. 2) The mimetics sampler was specifically designed for sampling sounds for use as musical instruments, which partially explains (but doesn't justify) the fixed sampling rate. (i.e. yes, this is a big misfeature.) 3) The later versions of the sampling software are pretty good. Some of the sampling options are quite handy, like the software controlled recording level, the trigger threshold to begin sampling, and the compression option. The graphing and loop control still aren't great, but that can be fixed by programs that don't have to talk to the hardware. The playback envelopes are a great feature--with compression and a carefully chosen envelope, you can do considerably better than 8-bits (This is possible because of the 6-bit `volume' control on each of the audio output channels, and the corresponding software-controlled gain in the sampler. They should be able to do true compansion, but mimetics has never provided the software.) But this is only available if you play the sample back from their software, or write your own software (probably an interrupt handler?) to set the audio.device's volume as the sample plays. Summary: I think the Mimetics sampler is reasonably good for what it was designed for. However, if you're doing sound effects, you might want to avoid it because of the fixed sampling rate, and because the software is designed spefically for sampling sounds for use as musical instruments, and some of the features that make it usable are currently only available from within Mimetics software. For my purposes, the software makes the fixed sampling rate tolerable. I can see that there are better choices for some other applications, but I wouldn't call it `junk'. -Dan Riley (dsr@lns61.tn.cornell.edu) -Wilson Lab, Cornell U.
boblind@percival.UUCP (Bob Lindstrom) (06/23/88)
In article <5228@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> riley@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Daniel S. Riley) writes: >In article <1272@percival.UUCP> boblind@percival.UUCP (Bob Lindstrom) writes: >>The nicest thing I can say about the Mimetics digitizer is that it is >>a piece of junk. End of Review. > >I think it would be better if you supported assertions like this with some >reasons...then I wouldn't have to ask why you feel that way. As a Mimetics >owner, I'll try to make some guesses: > ---Dan then proceeds to list some very thoughtful and well-expressed pros and cons on the features and liabilities of the Mimetics digitizer including its integrated into the Mimetics software (pro), software shortcomings for sample editing (con) and so forth. ---- The main reason, however, that I tersely called it "junk" - a bandwidth-saving epithet that I still stand by - is that the sound quality of the samples tends to be noisy and, therefore, unsuitable for use in commercial applications. I think most folks doing sound effects or music for Amiga products are using FutureSound or PerfectSound (there are also a couple with an early MicroForge product too, I believe). However, for those who are keeping score, EVERYTHING is Dan's excellent rundown is true. He just took more time and thought and care to express it. -- | Troutdale Shrine of Computing ** Bob Lindstrom, perpetrator | | "What doesn't kill me" ** UUCP:percival!boblind | | "makes me fat." ** PLink: Bob L. Q-Link:Lindstrom| | - Friedrich Neetcha ** CIS: 72030,224 |