Re: SoundSmith on a PC???

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:

>In article terryolsen@aol.comRemoveMe (TerryOlsen) writes...
>
>>Does anyone know if there's a program for the PC that will play SoundSmith
>>Songs?  Sounds like a good project for some of you dual-platform people out
>>there...
>
>    As a matter of fact, Ian Schmidt (author of AudioZap and MODZap) 
>wrote just such a player for PC's, as a Win32 application. It plays
>Soundsmith and MegaTracker songs, and the latest update supports a
>3Dfx graphical player! (I didn't get a chance try it yet, I need to
>download the latest Glide drivers for my Canopus Pure3D).
>
>    It's called MegaTracker Player (MTP) and can be downloaded from:
>http://www.iag.net/~irsman/warez.html
>
>    Definitely worth downloading, Soundsmith songs sound *much*
>nicer than they do on a real IIgs, really crisp

Actually, the crispness is an illusion.  What Ian did was to turn
off anti-aliasing on the PC soundcard.  This may result in a
sharper pitch, but you get a horrible stairstepped effect.

On a MOD or a SoundSmith song, this distortion may be ok, but
if you have any voice in a digitized sound sample, you'll hear
the distortion immediately.  That's why the filter is always on
when playing things like WAVs.

My Windows MOD player is "Smart MODplayer by J.M.
Chouquais."  It is an excellent program.  Find it on Yahoo.  This
program allows you to turn your anti-aliasing function built into
your sound card on and off.

Now compare a MOD with the anti-aliasing filter on and off.
With the filter off, the sound seems crisper, but compare it
to playing the MOD with the filter on.  You should be able
to hear the stairstepped effect of the unfiltered output.  Once
you hear the difference, you will know that the unfiltered
sample was NOT how the instruments sounded when recorded.

The Apple IIGS, of course, has the filter built into its hardware
and it can't be turned on and off.  Download Smart MODplayer,
though, to compare.  I'm sure you'll agree that the filter is a
good thing (although the ability to turn it on and off may have
been worthwhile...Smart MODplayer's unfiltered option sounds
horrible, but if you liked the jagged sharp sound you should
have the option).