Re: ALF AMII Clone

[Phil Tubb <googleplus@w127.com>]

On Sunday, March 10, 2013 1:58:41 PM UTC-7, STYNX wrote:
> > Is this a picture of you making your card? 
> 
> > 
> 
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALF_Products_Inc.# 
> 
> > 
> 
> > (Scroll down to the "ALF's Craftsman ad" photo.)
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, I used a Grindstone (and thats the truth...) ;-)
> 
> I realized too late, that i began soldering on the wrong side of the board ... i 'removed' a square of the circuit board to make it fit into a A2. I know the card is kinda rough, but i intend to etch a nice one since i now know that the card will work. ...
> 
> Even though the ALF-cards were very common in the days, they are nearly impossible to get hold of now...
> 
> They sound a little better than a Mockingboard. Sadly there is no game-support of that i know. Was the 4th sound-chip ever used? (the MC16-clone from AE had 4 sound-chips)

It's cool to see people making these boards from scratch.  I saw someone making the other ALF music card (the MC16 rather than the MC1) years ago, but I don't think they got it working.  Of course the foil patterns are in the owner's manual at
http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Project/Interface%20Cards/Audio/ALF%20MC1%20MC16/
if you decide to etch a board.

The Mockingboard used the AY-3-8910 chips, which have an error in the waveform they produce, resulting in anything from popping noises (with slow volume changes) to inappropriate low frequencies (with fast volume changes, as is typical for "envelope" control).  If you download the Sept 1981 issue of Creative Computing from archive.org
http://archive.org/download/creativecomputing-1981-09/Creative_Computing_v07_n09_1981_September.pdf
there's an article of mine starting on page 89 (91st page in the pdf) that details the problems with the AY-3-8910 (graph on page 102).

ALF made many thousands of the MC16 and MC1 cards.  There would have been more, but that was right during the world-wide shortage of 74xx-series IC's and it was very difficult for a small company to get parts.

As you noticed, there was a spot for a 4th TI chip on the MC1, but ALF never built any cards with it installed.  I don't remember why.  ALF never courted the game producers to use the music cards, which in hindsight was probably a mistake.  We probably could have made a card that had a little processor of its own so as to not take much processing time away from the Apple, which would have been perfect for the game designers.

Applied Engineering (AE) was actually investigated by the FBI at one point, because they were photocopying ALF manuals to send out with their clone cards, and including ALF's songs.  ALF accepted a payment from AE, and their promise to stop copying ALF's copyrighted materials, and the FBI then dropped their case.