Re: Basic Programming Question -- Music

[Pim Blokland <nipp@plane.nl>]

David Empson wrote:
> 
> > Also, was the Apple II limited to playing one note at a time, or could
> > chords be included? (I think it was one at a time, but I may be wrong).
> 
> With the right tone generation routine it would be possible to generate
> chords (by generating a waveform which has all the desired single tones
> superimposed).

No, since there are no wave forms to superimpose, all the speaker
will do is get toggled at a higher rate, resulting in a single tone
with too high a frequency. The result is terrible. Believe me, I've tried.
I also tried to produce two tones by alternating the frequencies - a
few clicks at one frequency, a few clicks at the other, and so on.
But the result was never very convincing.
Still, I know it can be done - several programs do it. But I've yet
to find out how they do it exactly.

You can produce stereo sound by toggling the speaker and the cassette
output simultaneously though. That works.

-- 
Groetjes, Pim

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