Questions tagged [sound]
Questions regarding the generation of sound in retrocomputers.
61 questions
1
vote
1
answer
134
views
How feasibly could the NES 2A03 chip use on-cartridge audio filters like the SID audio filters as a cheaper way to extend audio capabilities?
I am well aware of the SID's wide filtering capabilities. Ranging from a low, to high, to even a bandpass filter along with added resonance manipulation support, you could bring it insanely close to ...
- 223
7
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How did the NES's RP2A03 noise generator produce 32k bit long sequences despite only being 15 bits wide?
The NES Ricoh RP2A03 has a noise channel amongst its 5 sound channels. My sources include the NesDEV wiki: https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/APU_Noise
To quote the wiki directly,
The shift register is 15 ...
- 223
13
votes
7
answers
4k
views
Has anyone ever made a quiet floppy drive?
The sound of a floppy drive is iconic. It is burned into the memory of all people in a certain age group. Some smarter ones even made music with them.
But was there ever any effort to quiet them down? ...
- 1,853
11
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What could SID do that APU could not?
Two of the more famous and highly regarded sound chips in the 8-bit era were the Commodore 64's SID and the Nintendo APU. Which of the two was overall better, seems to be a matter on which there is a ...
- 63.8k
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Beep command with letters for notes (IBM AT + DOS circa 1984)
I'm looking for a reference for a command which used letters for musical notes, and would play very simple tunes with square waves. It ran on an IBM AT, circa 1984, which was running a version of IBM/...
- 790
16
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Did the original Macintosh not have any MIDI or similar music capabilities?
The original version of Shadowgate for the Macintosh is an eerie experience after you have played the NES version, with its amazing soundtrack. The Mac version is entirely mute, save for some random ...
- 161
7
votes
1
answer
299
views
Open an RSRC "sound file" from a Mac OS 6/9 application
I have been looking in the files of this 90s Mac game MacSki, made by D. Cook. Using Infinite Mac emulator, I've been able to open it and make it work quite well (some keyboard issue, well).
We obtain ...
- 241
5
votes
0
answers
244
views
How is the Genreal MIDI Soundbank file format structured?
Until today, you can download soundbanks for the Java Sound API from Oracle here. What surprises me is, that they are not hidden on an old subpage -- you find them freely accessible on their website ...
- 669
4
votes
1
answer
219
views
Tandy 1000 TDYSPKR utility
I've seen reference to a TDYSPKR (.EXE or .COM?) tool that sets audio output options on the early Tandy 1000 series of computers (1000, 1000A, 1000SX, 1000TX, maybe others). Apparently it can toggle ...
- 178
16
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What was the last terminal to include a physical bell?
Drew asks:
… what was the latest terminal produced which rang a physical bell rather than beeping through a speaker?
- 22k
12
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Commodore 64 noises during loops, flash load and others
When I was a child, I had a Commodore 64 always connected to a TV via the RF Out. I remember that when running a BASIC program, there were certain noises to be heard. Especially when a longer FOR loop ...
- 224
11
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Was there a way to play an hourly custom sound on Macs circa 1985-1995?
I have a memory of my dad's old Macintosh playing a custom sound every hour. It was his a capella rendition of the Westminster Quarters.
This was decades ago and my memory could be faulty. Was this ...
- 253
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
25 PIN sound/game ribbon cable
I'm trying to figure out to use onboard sound on a Matasonic MS6260S motherboard.
There is a 25 Pin Connector located on the motherboard labeled as J2.
The motherboard manual states to "Connect ...
- 93
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is sound generation on the Nintendo DS always clipped to 10 bits?
The Nintendo DS hardware has 16 audio channels that support 16-bit audio (PCM16) at a sample rate of 32,768 Hz. However, the mixer limits the output to 10 bits (-200h to 1FFh). From GBATEK:
When ...
- 2,050
24
votes
2
answers
4k
views
How did Joysticks with more than 4 buttons and all those extra features work on a Game Port?
The question is pretty straight forward. How did they do so much more than the simple, unidirectional 4 axis of analog control, plus 4 on/off buttons?
There was surprisingly precise force feedback ...
- 341
4
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How to wrap 32 bits drivers on 64 bits based Windows or even vxd?
Current state :
There are more and more computers like mine which are 64 bits uefi only and thus unable to boot 32 bits based Windows.
And as Windows 11 is 64 bits only this means in a few years (ends ...
- 352
1
vote
1
answer
636
views
Why audio of Prince of Persia (1989) produce in CPU rather than audio speaker? [closed]
I used to play this Prince of Persia (1989) in Pentinum III computer.
But audio of Prince of Persia (1989) produce in CPU rather than audio speakers.
Why?
- 13
24
votes
3
answers
7k
views
What causes the glitchy sound when a GBA cartridge is removed?
Example in mGBA (mirror) — SOUND WARNING.
When you remove a game cartridge from a powered-on GBA, it makes this horrible, loud glitching sound. I can tell that a small portion of the looped sound is ...
- 351
10
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How to get sound working in pure DOS with a CMI8330 card?
I have a tower PC from the early 2000's. I got this system second-hand and as-is so I do not have any original driver resources. I have installed Windows 95 mainly to play old Windows and DOS games.
...
- 315
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How does the OPL2 Composite Sine Mode work?
The Yamaha YM3812 (aka OPL2) has an operation mode named composite sine mode (CSM), apparently designed for speech synthesis. Unfortunately I was unabled to find any documentation on what ...
- 1,574
19
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Who considered multimedia capability a liability for a business computers, and why?
For technical reasons, business computers of the late '70s usually had little multimedia capability. There have been modern claims (e.g., in the comments on this video) that such capability was ...
- 63.8k
6
votes
1
answer
290
views
Commodore 64 sound seems to freeze at a high pitch if executed too soon after startup
I created this little sound driver for sound effects, it makes a classic "laser beam" sound you would hear in old arcade games. There's just one problem, and it's a bit of a strange one.
I ...
- 1,668
5
votes
0
answers
298
views
What was the first device to "beep" in lieu of tactile feedback to button presses?
I'm splitting this question off of When was beeping invented, in a user interface sense? because I think it's more answerable on its own and I suspect likely to still be computing-related.
At some ...
- 2,977
6
votes
2
answers
939
views
When was beeping invented, in a user interface sense?
UPDATE: thanks all, lots of good discussion but I think this question is a bit too vague to be answerable. I'm casting my own close vote against it and will re-ask a more specific one.
Specifically I ...
- 2,977
12
votes
2
answers
883
views
AdLib, YM3812 and Timers
For no particular reason I started reading up on the original AdLib Music Card, and it's clear that this card was little more than a stock Yamaha YM3812 music chip (aka OPL2) glued to a PC's 8-bit ISA ...
- 1,367
4
votes
4
answers
637
views
What bit depth and sampling frequency could the BBC micro play back sampled sounds?
I have an archive of sample recordings with a sample playback program, the date and author in the BBC BASIC loader for the program is "(C) 1985 by DAVID J. HOSKINS"
There are are about 10 ...
- 891
27
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Was "One-Winged Angel" an actual CD track, or generated by the PlayStation's sound chip with a few samples (SFX) added on top?
"One-Winged Angel" is the musical theme for the final boss of Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation, released 1997. I no longer have my copy, sadly.
In spite of consisting of no less than three ...
- 271
3
votes
2
answers
464
views
Would there be any practical use of two or more VDPs or sound chips in a retro computer build?
Would that allow for better sound samples or double/triple the number of sprites & colours on screen or would that put too much pressure on the CPU or cause bottlenecks, maybe requiring 2 CPUs for ...
7
votes
2
answers
680
views
Converting AC'97 to a standard that can be used by my Soundblaster
I currently enjoy using a Windows 98 PC I built using parts I got either for free or very cheap. One of those parts is a sligthtly modern case - the cheapest one I could find that has a 5.25" and ...
- 209
32
votes
5
answers
6k
views
What really is a sound card driver in MS-DOS?
To my knowledge, neither MS-DOS nor BIOS offers any kind of API for sound cards. Therefore the concept of a "driver" is absent, as we know it today. Apart from accessories and sample files ...
- 705
11
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Algorithm for Apple IIe and Apple IIgs boot/start beep
What is algorithms use for boot/start sound (when turn on computer) in Apple IIe and Apple IIgs? I can't find information about Apple boot sound algorithms or where in computer ROM store either ...
- 515
5
votes
2
answers
715
views
Is there any documentation for programming Microsoft Windows Sound System sound cards?
I'm programming my own sound mixing engine and drivers for MS-DOS, but I can't find any documentation for programming for Microsoft Windows Sound System interface sound cards.
Was there any ...
- 12.8k
2
votes
2
answers
774
views
Does the Sound Blaster Live! Value had hardware support for Adlib/OPL3?
As I m buying a computer without an onboard sound card, I m thinking about using my old Creative Sound card from 21 years ago and buying a pcie riser adapter instead of a modern sound card (I m ...
- 352
8
votes
2
answers
732
views
Could the Apple IIGS play any and all Amiga MOD files?
The Apple IIGS has a wavetable synthesis sound chip with dedicated 64 kilobytes of RAM.
I assume the sound architecture dictates that samples have to be loaded into that dedicated RAM to be able to be ...
- 1,129
21
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Did playing sounds on the PC speaker keep the CPU busy?
The IBM PC and early successors came with an internal speaker that could play simple sounds. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_speaker
However, because the method used to reproduce PCM ...
- 63.8k
24
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Was it possible programmatically to manipulate the volume as well as the pitch on computers with no sound chip?
On early versions of many 8-bit computers like the Apple II, Spectrum, and even the IBM PC, there was no sound hardware other than the simple "beeper".
Programmers made sound by hitting a hardware ...
- 7,874
41
votes
6
answers
8k
views
How did old games from 8-bit era game consoles store music?
Some time ago I found that the audio of a game called Ninja Gaiden 1 (NES) is around 1 hour. This is excluding the sound effects like jump and hit e.t.c. Then I found that the entire game size is ...
- 511
12
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How did I fry my SID chip?
I recently got a SID chip (8580r5) for $35 and got it playing music. I was really happy about it. I hooked up a small amp chip to the 9V supply momentarily (it didn't work, I was building that part of ...
- 123
4
votes
1
answer
368
views
SID, sampled sound and bad lines
The SID could play sampled sound by poking a click into the chip at an appropriate frequency, and some Commodore 64 games like Ghostbusters and Impossible Mission did this (though only for a few ...
- 63.8k
2
votes
4
answers
1k
views
What is the analog component of sound output in an early home computer? [closed]
For a concrete example, take the Vic-20. It is well documented that the 6560/6561 Video Interface Chip was also responsible for sound generation, having three voices and one noise generator. The ...
- 63.8k
7
votes
4
answers
971
views
What was the first PC/computer to have sound recording & playback support?
Sound playback and recording became mainstream on computers today, the most known introduction was around 1989-1991 with the release of windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions. However, what was the ...
- 399
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
SID to WAV converter that exports per channel separately
For a C64 SID project of mine (https://soundcloud.com/c64er) I was using an converter almost 10 years ago, but it is missing now with its name... I researched many sites, but no lucky. Is there any ...
- 329
3
votes
2
answers
621
views
How did computers generate 'noise' sound files?
I figured out how to make square, triangle, and sawtooth waves in pygame. However, I have no clue what kinds of waves I need to make to produce a 'noise' sound effect like you see in older computer ...
user15292
7
votes
4
answers
812
views
Was the Music System for the Exidy Sorcerer as exceptional as I remember?
I am trying to remember about a bare-board sound card which plugged into the parallel port of an Exidy Sorcerer (circa 1980). The card and software ("Music System") was made by Arrington ...
- 9,406
9
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Is there any music source code for sound chips? [closed]
I’ll clarify what I mean. The sound chip (c64's SID, spectrum's Yamaha, etc.) is connected either to the input / output port, which will be reserved for the sound chip, or directly to the CPU data bus....
- 733
11
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Low-cost sound chip
I want to make a homebrew 8-bit computer and I want to include a sound chip in it. It needs to be as cheap as possible (under 5$) and I also want it to be possibly controlled by an Arduino or ATmega-...
- 119
47
votes
3
answers
7k
views
How did C64 games handle music during gameplay?
On the C64 there was no threading, so how did games handle treating at the same time music and game code? Music requires exact timings, and the SID had to be instructed to change the note at the right ...
- 689
9
votes
5
answers
792
views
Getting Music Functioning for Raptor: Call of the Shadows (1994)
I can't get the music audio working for the 1994 version of Raptor. Does anyone know how I can remedy this?
I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this question, but here goes.
I have an ...
- 603
8
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Was the output of the C64 SID chip 8 bit sound?
Was the output of the C64 SID chip 8 bit sound?
I know that SID is not sample based, but instead generate its sound using sine waves and white noise.
So is it correct to say that the audio ...
- 181
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Which communication protocol is used in AdLib sound card?
By "AdLib sound card" I mean AdLib Music Synthesizer Card released in 1987.
Wikipedia says that AdLib uses frequency modulation synthesis to produce sound, but does it use MIDI communication protocol ...
- 263