Re: RT.SYNTH -- anybody tried it?

[Eric Smith <eric@brouhaha.com>]

"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> writes:
> No, each reference complements the state of the speaker toggle, with
> the initial state undefined.  So each reference causes the level to
> switch from 0 to 255 or from 255 to 0, depending on its current level.
> (The initial state may, in fact, be defined.  But after loading ProDOS
> <click> and getting a few "beeps", it's anyone's guess what the state
> is--unless all speaker sounds use an *even* number of transitions!)

In fact, the speaker can't even tell what the state of the flip-flop is,
so there's no functional difference whether the state is high or low.
Only the transistions matter.  This is because the amplifier circuit is
capacitively coupled, and thus does not pass a DC level.  So leaving the
flip-flop in the "on" state results in exactly the same behavior at the
speaker as leaving it in the "off" state.

The cassette output is not capacitively coupled, so the polarity may
make a difference, depending on exactly what you're trying to do with it.