Re: Sound Boards

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article cturley2@aol.com (Cturley2) writes...

>spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote...
>
>>Still quite usable, making it and ShellPlay the best MOD player
>>available on the IIgs (it makes MODZap, soniqTracker and NoiseTracker
>>GS obsolite, that's for sure)."
>
>Mitch, I don't agree with that!  All of the IIgs MODfile players and
>editors; BeatBox, ShellPlay, SonoBox, MegaBox, MODZap, soniqTracker,
>NoiseTracker GS and even Instant Access - each are all unique and
>useful IIgs programs - each with their own special abilities, short-
>comings, bugs and functionalities.
>
>They can all be used together to enhance each others unique abilities.
>IMHO, that makes none of them any more obsolite than the machine
>(the Apple IIgs and it's emulators) that run them.

    Not quite, and I'll tell you why: In terms of accurate playback
(that is, supporting ALL known effects) and quality playback, BeatBox
and shellPlay make all previous Apple IIgs MOD players obsolite. I
can see no reason to use them, other than for historical interest.
soniqTracker is an exception, since it had a unique graphical player
called "Dancing Lights", a MOD-based alarm clock and of course, all
that cool graphic art from Dave Seah. :)

    There was something close to 30 effects if I remember right, and
NoiseTracker GS only supported one or two. MODZap and soniqTracker
only supported about half that number of effects (maybe more, my
memory is fuzzy) but regardless of that, weren't clean in playback
quality. You got lots of popping, background noise and other minor
distortions. Beatbox and shellPlay support almost all effects (I
think Beatbox was missing just one, or was that shellplay?) and give
*very* clean playback swapping instruments in and out of DOC RAM.
The difference is like listening to an old LP record compared with
a compact disc. Don't believe me? Go listen to GuitarSlinger.MOD
through MODZap or soniqTracker, and then with BeatBox or shellPlay. 

    I'd say MODZap and soniqTracker do a respectable and passable
job playing MODs, while NoiseTracker GS is not even worth the time
in bothering with for MODs. If you want the best possible MOD play-
back though, then you *need* to use BeatBox or shellPlay (I personally
use Ninjaforce's DeskPlay NDA as a front end for shellPlay). Another 
nice feature, Beatbox and shellPlay allow you to play MODs in the 
background--plus Beatbox has that neat graphical player which display 
4 or 8 independently animated oscillascopes!

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca