friskeydog@pro-palmtree.cts.com (Ryan Stern) (06/13/91)
I am MAD! I have a friend who has an IBM 386 and he is always saying that
IBM's have better graphics, more programs, and are faster than my IIGS. I
know this is true and I always use the GS's sound as a strong point. It is
a well known fact that off-the-rack IBM's are only capable of beeps, boops,
and farts. Now my friend has a sound card and he says that his machine has
better sound. Now we both have sound cards and we are in a draw.
Our APPLE ][ STATEMENT: APPLE ][ IS COOL, APPLE //FOREVER, YAY APPLE
II!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
APPLE Computer's STATEMENT: APPLE ][ IS COOL, APPLE //, latest inovation,
APPLE II what a drag!
(][ represents the ][ and the ][+, // represents the //e and //c, II
represents the IIGS)
][, //, II's forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
][, //, II's forever???????????????????????
friskeydog@pro-palmtree.cts.com
-- The Palmtree BBS -- (213) 450-9394 -- 300/1200/2400 24 Hours --ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com (Eric Mcgillicuddy) (06/16/91)
IBM sound cards have close to the potential of the GS's off the shelf sound, however I have found few programs thatreally use them effectively. "Ad-Lib support" usually means a really amazing startup tune and then beeps and boops through the rest of the game. Compare this to to One Arm Battle where there is Human Voice throughout. I assume there is an equivalent to SoundSmith for the IBM, but I have never heard of it. I suspect that it plays only non-standard standard sound formats. UUCP: bkj386!pnet91!ericmcg INET: ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com
I409@DMAFHT1.BITNET (KRS) (06/17/91)
There's only one thing I'd like to say to this: "F**K IBM and MOTHERF**K the Macintosh, man| This is the IIGS - so be part of the legend|||||||" KRS
$CSB205@LSUVM.BITNET (Mark Orr) (06/18/91)
. csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!utdoe!generic!pnet91!ericmcg@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU> |From: Eric Mcgillicuddy <cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas .edu!news-server.csri.toronto .edu!utgpu!utzoo!utdoe!generic!pnet91!ericmcg @UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU> |Subject: Re: IBM SOUND and OTHER STUFF... |IBM sound cards have close to the potential of the GS's off the shelf sound, |however I have found few programs thatreally use them effectively. "Ad-Lib |support" usually means a really amazing startup tune and then beeps and boops |through the rest of the game. Compare this to to One Arm Battle where there is |Human Voice throughout. The Ad-Lib sound card has no where near the capability of the ensoniq. From what I have heard of them, the Game Blaster has about the same sound generating ability as the ensoniq (i.e. about 15 voices + a DAC) and the Roland LAPC-1 has considerably more (full range sound, 32 voices + many built in effects). The area where IIgs's and Macs have it over on the PCs is end user sampling. The Game Blaster can play 8 bit samples but it cannot create them. There are to my knowledge no cheap sampling boards available for PCs. As we all know the Mac LC and IIsi have sampling built in and the GS can be fitted with sampling cards fairly cheaply. As for sound intensive software on the PC, I suggest you look at some of the Sierra SCI stuff. The sounds for these games in awfully good. One problem I see with sound on the PC is that many games say that they are Ad-Lib, Game Blaster, and LAPC-1 compatible (i.e. they have to support a wide range of sound hardware). They must use a lot of floppy disk space for sound routines. As game machines PC do pretty well. You can outfit them with decent sound hardware (I think one Tandy model has an 8-bit DAC built in) and with two joysticks (which, though the hardware to support it is available on the Apple IIgs...Apple would never put two joysticks on one of its computers. They wouldn't want it to look like a game machine - which is a pity since educational programs and games have a lot in common AND the computer game market is much larger than the educational market.) |UUCP: bkj386!pnet91!ericmcg |INET: ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com -------------------------------- "WE WERE HAVING A GREAT TIME, BUT ! MARK ORR ! MACINTOSH WASN'T SELLING THAT WELL. ! $CSB205 @ LSUVM.SNCC.LSU.EDU ! THE APPLE II WAS PAYING OUR WAY." ! @ LSUVM.BITNET ! - GUY KAWASAKI -------------------------------- FROM HIS BOOK: THE MACINTOSH WAY
mek4_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Mark Kern) (06/18/91)
There are basically three different sound add-on options for the PC. 1) Addlib card : The Addlib card has 11 voices of FM synthesized sound. This is the card I know least about, but I believe it does not have a DAC channel to play back digitized sounds with. As for the FM sound generation, this is pretty good, but the Ensoniq is much more impressive because all its instruments are sampled and thus sound more realistic (albeit a little noisier). 2) SoundBlaster card : The Soundblaster card has all the capabilities and full compatability with the Addlib plus an 8-bit DAC channel that is DMA compatable. I've heard that the Addlib emulation is superior to the original Addlib card. As for the 8-bit channel, you can sample using this board, but it can not play back at as high a rate as the Ensoniq can. Neither the Addlib or the SoundBlaster are true stereo. IMHO, this card sounds better than the Addlib, but not as nice as the GS. 3) Roland LAPC-1 card and derivatives : Give it up. This thing trashes the Ensoniq. All the sounds (15-voices...not sure) have a rich and lush timbre that cannot be matched by the Ensoniq. This thing also has built in effects such as reverb, chorus, etc, that really make a difference in the overall production. There is one aspect where the Ensoniq is superior, and that is in its ability to play back and record sampled sounds. the Roland card has a couple of built in samples for game sounds, but you are limited to what is built in to the card. Software Considerations: Most games support both the Addlib and Sound- Blaster options, and more and more support the Roland card. Sierra has done a fantastic job of creating music on these cards for their games. Origin broke new ground with the score for Wing Commander, which sounds like it was composed for the next Star Wars and changes depending on whats happening in the game. As far as music players for these cards go, there are quite a few - shareware is overabundant in the IBM world. I haven't seen one with snazzy graphics though, like SoundSmith on the GS. Mark E. Kern -- Mark Edward Kern========================================================== | Quagmire Studios : "We not only hear you, we feel you!" | | NET : mek4_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu GEnie : M.KERN1 | ==========================================================================
taob@micor.ocunix.on.ca (Brian Tao) (06/19/91)
mek4_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Mark Kern) writes: > 3) Roland LAPC-1 card and derivatives : Give it up. This thing trashes > the Ensoniq. All the sounds (15-voices...not sure) have a rich > and lush timbre that cannot be matched by the Ensoniq. This > thing also has built in effects such as reverb, chorus, etc, > that really make a difference in the overall production. There > is one aspect where the Ensoniq is superior, and that is in > its ability to play back and record sampled sounds. the > Roland card has a couple of built in samples for game sounds, > but you are limited to what is built in to the card. So far in this discussion, nobody's mentioned the relative prices of the Adlib, Sound Blaster and the Roland LAPC-1. The adlib is around $100 or so, the SB (not to be confused with the Sonic Blaster ;-) ) goes for around $175, and I don't know what the Roland might sell for. $400 or so? It's a nice piece of equipment, but there's a hefty price tag to go along with it. Heck, I could get a 10-MHz/64K ZipGS for that kind of money, and have cash left over...
asong@pro-nbs.cts.com (Andi Song) (06/20/91)
In-Reply-To: message from ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com
"One Arm Battle?" Is that a GS product or an IBM product?
----
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Internet: asong@pro-nbs.cts.com
UUCP: crash!pro-nbs!asong
ARPA: crash!pro-nbs!asong@nosc.milasong@pro-nbs.cts.com (Andi Song) (06/20/91)
In-Reply-To: message from I409@DMAFHT1.BITNET >"F**K IBM and MOTHERF**K the Macintosh, man| This is the IIGS - >so be part of the legend|||||||" >KRS Well, that was pretty unproductive... , s.s ---- ProLine: asong@pro-nbs Internet: asong@pro-nbs.cts.com UUCP: crash!pro-nbs!asong ARPA: crash!pro-nbs!asong@nosc.mil
rsopicki@pro-amber.cts.com (System Administrator) (06/23/91)
In-Reply-To: message from asong@pro-nbs.cts.com I concur. That was a message not worth keeping. As a matter of fact, I deleted it. ---- ProLine: rsopicki@pro-amber Internet: rsopicki@pro-amber.cts.com UUCP: crash!pro-amber!rsopicki ARPA: crash!pro-amber!rsopicki@nosc.mil