Re: Newer MOD player ?

[trixter@MCS.COM (Trixter / Hornet)]

In article <44fduk$k8q@blackice.winternet.com>,
Ian Schmidt <irsman@subzero.winternet.com> wrote:
>In article <44dfos$o60@erinews.ericsson.se>,
>Martin Landhage <etxmsl@tn.ericsson.se> wrote:
>>Is there a newer MOD player than MOD ZAP that is capable to play .S3M files 
>>for the Apple IIGS ?
>
>.S3M files cannot be played on the Apple IIgs due to hardware limitations;
>an S3M file can hve up to 32 tracks, and to swap a track with good quality
>on the GS requires 3 of the Ensoniq's oscillators.  Given that 30 of the 32
>are usable for playing sounds due to the volume defect in the last 2, that
>gives you 10 tracks.  And then, with 10 tracks swapping on hand-tuned
>bare-metal optmized code, play rates above 14-16,000 Hz on more than one
>track will literaly require more CPU cycles than the GS can deliver (the
>Zip doesn't help that much here, because most of those cycles are at 1 mhz
>shoving data down $C03D anyway).
>
>Thus, without some sort of sound board based on a newer chip, the GS cannot
>properly reproduce S3M files.  This is not a flame on the GS, which I still
>enjoy and am using at this moment to type this message, but it's simply 
>beyond the poor old thing's capabilities.

Having worked with the S3M format for about two years now, I can
honestly tell you that there are no S3Ms that have more than 16
tracks.  The file format allows it, and the tracker can create more
than 16 tracks, but the tracker can't *play* more than 16 tracks
(odd, isn't it?), so most players don't either.  My players (for the
IBM) do, but the only > 16 channel S3M I have is one written
explicitly for me by Skaven to test my routines.  He also wanted
to hear what it sounded like.  ;).

For most purposes, you can consider an S3M to have an upper limit of
16 channels, and a maximum size of 1024K (most S3Ms are composed for
a sound card that can only hold 1 MB of sample RAM).

So, with this in mind, I would like to ask Ian if it is now possible
to play S3Ms on a GS?

>Ian Schmidt - irsman@winternet.com - friendly neighborhood console programmer
-- 
Jim Leonard (Trixter / Hornet)                          Email: trixter@mcs.com
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