Re: //e enhancement. Iigs Audio animator and music stuff.

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Richard Kilpatrick replied:

>On 21/7/04 6:26 pm, in article 20040721132630.29660.00001868@mb-m16.aol.com,
>"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Alpha Syntauri included no sampling hardware.  They provided some
>> tools for building waveforms that were used in the "oscillator" wavetables.
>
>*nods*
>
>> Each wavetable was restricted to a 256-byte "sample" that contained
>> one cycle of the "instrument".  Multiple channels could be used with
>> different ADSR waveforms to create timbres.
>
>This is why I'm curious about it. I want to know how the system sounded and
>how powerful it was, and specifically, how easy it was to use.

It was tricky to set up, including the patches, but it sounded
great in knowing hands.  I think Todd Rundgren and Herbie
Hancock both did nice things with it, among many others.

The velocity-sensing keyboard allowed for a lot of expression.

>> A typical price range for a Mountan Music System set of two cards
>> ranges from $100-$300 depending on the degree of marketing in the
>> description and the avidness of the bidders.
>
>Hmmm. With Apple ][ stuff going a little haywire lately ($256 for a SCSI -
>not HS SCSI - card for example), I doubt I'll find any 'not-avid' bidders...

You can never tell--random fluctuations happen.

>> If you can find one that is badly described and embeded in a computer
>> that has broken keys, you might get it for $8.  ;-)
>
>I'm still kicking myself for being out when a grotty IIgs with SCSI and a
>stereo card went for $70.
>
>> Sampling hardware for the ][ and //e is harder to find, but also shows
>> up from time to time.
>> 
>> (BTW, I'm sure you know that it is easy to use a Mac or PC to sample
>> sound and then reduce it to xkHz, 8-bit, mono samples for the Apple II.)
>
>Oh, yes. But I want to use the hardware, to do the article I have to
>actually have hands-on experience with the technology.
>
>That, and I enjoy it.

Then virtually any Apple A/D card that will work at >8kHz will do
the job--but you'll have to write your own sampling software.

>> That's an artifact of their desire to add an external volume control and
>tone
>> control to the speaker box.
>
>So annoying :/
>
>> Give me a couple of days and I'll dig mine out and reverse-engineer the
>> external speaker box...
>
>I've been trying to work it out myself, it looks like of the 10 pins, 5 are
>used, but the board is quite dense.

-michael

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