Re: Games With Mockingboard Support

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

Jeff Lodoen <jmlodoen@thegrid.net> wrote:

>Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com> wrote in
>e4psi11t222g4surijcjpumf0m3b123cga@4ax.com:">news:e4psi11t222g4surijcjpumf0m3b123cga@4ax.com: 
>
>>     The PC generated sound using a 1-bit speaker just like the Apple
>>     II. 
>> When the AdLib (FM synthesis) was first introduced back in 1987, it
>> wasn't very popular and extremely few games supported it, much like
>> the Mockingboard, but eventually it grew into the standard for music 
>> and sound.
>
>How did the Creative Gameblaster compare to the Mockingboard & Adlib?
>
>"The GameBlaster has 12 channels. Each channel can produce either a 
>single sine wave of a given frequency and magnitude (in stereo), or 
>noise."

    The GameBlaster (originally the "Creative Music System") was similar to
the Mockingboard in that it used square waves and noise generators to
produce music and sound, but it was made up of a pair of SAA-1099 chips. 
Listening to an emulator it sounds somewhat of a cross between the SID
and AY-8910, though closer to the former which puts it above what the
Mockingboard was capable of.

    Comparing the GameBlaster or Mockingboard to AdLib and SoundBlaster
(YM-3812) is interesting. Here's a good example of YM-3812 FM synthesis:
 http://www.grandgent.com/tom/dune/dunemp3s.htm

    I suppose FM synthesis never caught on in the Apple II world because
the Mockingboard standard never really took off, and of course the IIgs 
being the latest and greatest in terms of sound and music synthesis.

Mitchell Spector