Re: Did anyone ever hack an Ensoniq RAM expansion?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Blake Patterson <blake@blakespot.com> wrote:

>	I recall a program like SoundSmith--maybe it is SoundSmith, that has
>some kind of little graphical representation of the sound RAM, so you
>could see how much of it was full, and you could enable compression,
>etc.  If a program like that could probe to see how much was there, it
>could make use of more.  I wonder if the "official Apple way" of filling
>sound RAM involves a probe to see how much is there -- if some tool will
>place samples there and will keep going until it runs out of RAM.  The
>usefulness would seem to end there, as for general games, etc. it would
>not be worth having two different sound scenarios to benefit the 4
>people that have expanded their sound RAM...

There is a chip called the CrystalSynth.  It is a 128 voice wonder
that was featured in Popular Electronics some time ago.  There
was a project in that issue for building a serially addressed
synthesizer for the PC.  If someone were to put the CrystalSynth
on a card for the IIGS and write a toolset for controlling it, that
would be a significant sound upgrade.

If I remember correctly, the chip does not cost too much either.