Re: Did anyone ever hack an Ensoniq RAM expansion?

[cturley <cturleyNOctSPAM@grin.net.invalid>]

Although nobody has actually done a hardware hack to expand the Ensoniq
beyond it's limit 0f 64K, (to the best of my knowledge) the
NoiseTracker music program from v1.0 thru v2.0 had the ability to swap
RAM samples and use the existing Ensoniq RAM 64k sample banks to allow
the composition, conversions, save, editing and creations from scratch
or  using cut and paste composites of such music files - etc. to
construct new composites with such music sequence files and formats
like; other computers 4 track MODfiles, SoundSmith and (with the
release of version 2.0 - as a GS/OS app rewrite) support of two types
of NoiseTracker music module files formats. The program allowed the
user to use the RAM and sound sample swap functions to permit any size
sound samples inclusions in the programs music file formats, above and
beyond the normal Ensoniq 64k sample banks limit.

This all depended on your IIgs RAM total available in the computer. 
For example if you had 2 MB's of RAM in your IIgs then the program could
accomidate the use of that total amount of RAM with the creation,
composite or conversions of a music module file with that amount of
total sound samples for use with playing that music file.

Version 2.0 of NoiseTracker also had the option of setting it's
preferences to specify the use of from the smallest available RAM use
with sound samples used in the programs compositions, up to the maximum
RAM available with your IIgs computer.

So, let's say if you had 8 MB's of RAM memory available in your IIgs,
then the NoiseTracker program could create and/or support a rather
large collective of sound samples within its music file.  It could in
theory even play a digitized sound sample up to the limits of your
available RAM in your IIgs, if properly composed within it's music
modules spread sheet style of composition blocks, arranged to allow a
progressive play of such a large digitized sound sample - from it's
beginning to it's end or a repeat and/or loop of any portion of that
sound sample - so arranged in the music mudlues score of blocks, cells,
tracks and such.

As to anybody ever making a hardware hack to expand the Ensoniq RAM
beyond it's 64k limit, I know of no such hack ever having been done by
anybody yet. It seems that such a thing could be done on the hardware
level, but, again, as others have pointed out, the existing collective
of music and sound software for use with the IIgs does not have the
ability to address or support such an Ensoniq hardware hack beyound the
original limit of 64K.

The unique IIgs application Oversampler and a couple of others designed
like it - will allow playing very large digitized sound files like .WAV
files and such by using the same thing CD's players use - with small
IIGS RAM memory available - like as little as say; 1.5 to 2 MB's of
RAM, using an oversampling mode, to progressively play very large
digitized sound sample files.

I hope that gives you some information related to your question.

Cheers,
Tom



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