Re: gs sound

[sb_spec@pavo.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article revry@TJHSST.VAK12ED.EDU ("Ronald A. Evry ", Ronald) writes...
>
>Thanks, Ian for uploading the GS Music & Sound FAQ.
> 
> 
>I recently acquired a Supersonic stereo card with the
> Digitizer piggyback, but there was no software to go
>with it.

	When MDIdeas was still around, they included software with both
halfs of the cards. The SuperSonic stereo card came with the "Music
Construction Set: Player Demo" disk, which clearly demostrated how the
card separated right-and-left channeled stereo output. If you'd like to
get hold of it, an archived copy can be found at the Grind FTP site.
(try: grind.isca.uiowa.edu  /apple2/apple16/demos - or close to that).

	As for the piggyback digitizer, a desktop program called 
"SuperSonic Sound Editor" (lastest was v1.1c to my knowledge) was 
written to support the card. It's a single 26k file and seems to run
just fine under System 6.0.1, yet has serious problems with playback
on the ROM 3 IIgs, no matter what you launch it with. I'm uncertain
whether or not it's okay to distribute copies of it, however, a better
solution would be to try Ian Schmidt's "AudioZap" program. It supports
sound-input (digitizing) and is loaded with useful features. For some
reason though, my copy (version 1.2) makes this annoying "popping" sound
and less-clean digitizing than SSSE, yet it may have something to do with
my ROM 3 setup or something I'm not aware of.
	Just to mention it, Apple Computer's "IIgs Stereo TapeDeck" (v0.f)
written early in 1986 by Jim merritt seems to work better than the above
two for me. It even uses the standard desktop interface (probably one of
the first programs written to use it, but hey, it works! ;-). I still 
recommend "AudioZap v.1.2.x" though, or v2.x if you pay a shareware fee.
(try: cco.caltech.edu  /pub/apple2/sound) 

>about all it seems to work with is Diversi-Tune.
> 
>I could use any suggestions anyone might have on
>how to use this card, either for input or output.

	If connected properly, stereo-output is automatically done
by programs that support it (FYI, the Ensoniq has built-in support 
for stereo, but you need the card to tap into it). Just boot up any
games or applications you have and you should hear stereo. Make sure
the jumpers on the stereo card are positioned properly, that you have
speakers or a stereo-patch cable connected directly to the card, and
that the wire-soldered to the card is connected to the molex-pins on
the motherboard (lower-right corner). If a program doesn't support
stereo, you should hear it come out of one speaker only (usually the
right channel).
	To use sound-input, just connect an RCA-male cable to the phono
connector on the end of the digitizer and plug the other end to your
sound-source (other end of cable depends on your sound source). Also,
you may want to adjust the little black dial on the digitizer; it 
controllers sound input-level (AudioZap or MDIdeas's Sound.Adjust
can show you the level of the sound-input via a graphical oscilloscope). 
You can also directly plug a microphone to the digitizer to record your 
voice or outside sounds, but the quality might be somewhat lesser.

>My machine is a IIE converted to a ROM 1 GS with a
>40 meg internal Vulcan HD, running a sparse 1.75
>meg ram, and I have a Hyperstudio microphone coonnector
>hooked in as well.

	Ah, there's your problem! If the Hyperstudio slotless digitizer
connects to the Ensoniq's molex-pins, then the SuperSonic card cannot
work. You _must_ connect the cable that's hanging off your SuperSonic
card to the pins on the motherboard (should be there stuck on, unless
it was ripped or broken off). Remove the Hyperstudio digitizer if you
want to use the MDIdeas SuperSonic card. Make sure the speakers or
headphones plug into the SuperSonic card, you cannot simply plug in
the stereo card and get stereo-output through the GS's headphone jack!
(I doubt you did this, but just incase... :)

>Any help would be appereciated.
>Ron
> 
>Apple II Forever!
><revry@tjhsst.vak12ed.edu>

Mitchell Spector
sb_spec@pavo.concordia.ca