Re: Q: Applied Engineering Sound Card

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article ToasterKing <toastjuice@aol.com> writes...

>I have a Sound Blaster in my GS so I thought I might be able to give you
>some pointers.  First off, you don't need to change the slot settings in
>the Control Panel and it doesn't need drivers to support it, either. 

>Secondly, the 7-pin connector on the top of the card needs to be
>connected to the Ensoniq� connector on the IIGS motherboard.  That
>connector is in the front right corner next to the speaker connection and
>is not labeled.

    The Ensoniq molex connector isn't labeled as such (in plain English), 
but is labeled by an alphanumeric scheme on the motherboard: "J25". 
It gives I/O access to the built-in Ensoniq 5503 DOC.

>Third, I'm pretty sure the card only plays 16-bit audio
>and not the crappy audio from 8-bit programs, which is played through the
>internal speaker.

    There is _no_ such thing as 16-bit sound resolution on an Apple IIgs. 
The Ensoniq is limited to 8-bit resolution, and thus, that is only what 
software supports (it should be possible to convert 16-bit waveforms
into 8-bit, but I'm not aware of any software on the IIgs to do that).

    The internal speaker outputs both audio from the Ensoniq chip (it
sounds pretty crummy, but what wouldn't from that tiny little 8 Ohm
non-amplified speaker) and speaker toggling techniques used by 8-bit
Apple II software in emulation mode. A stereo card such as the AE
SonicBlaster doesn't enhance the sound capabilities of the IIgs, it
merely taps the left/right channels from the Ensoniq and produces a
true stereo signal (Apple never connected stereo to the back port,
even though the chip supports it; same with it's built-in ADC).

    For 8-bit Apple II software the internal speaker is fine, but if
want to try and make it sound better, just stick some speakers or a 
pair of headphones into the sound-out port in back of the machine. 
This also works nicely for native IIgs sound, but it won't be stereo 
of course.

>Verify that you're using something that runs under GS/OS, ProDOS-16 
>or some other 16-bit environment that will produce 16-bit (stereo) sound.

    You won't get 16-bit sound no matter which software you run.
A couple of stereo/digitizer boards did include their own ADC 
(Analog to Digital Converter) that were superior to the built-in
one of the Ensoniq 5503 (i.e. Audio Animator, Digitizer Pro, 
FutureSound) but you just got cleaner 8-bit samples at sometimes
higher sampling rates. 

    If you want to play and capture 16-bit audio, it would require
a new add-on board with a 16-bit ADC/DAC. Unfortunately it's very
unlikely any such product will ever surface (if an enhanced graphic
board for the GS flopped, no one is going to try an enhanced sound
card. Besides, while the sound in the GS may no longer be state-of-
the-art or anything close to that, it is still quite decent).

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca