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Author Topic: Non 8 -bit audio  (Read 5561 times)

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Offline MikedTopic starter

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Non 8 -bit audio
« on: September 11, 2006, 06:29:08 PM »
I'm not sure if this belongs in the hardware section, but what type of hardware are you using to play audio on your Amiga?  Are you stock or using an audio hardware add-on?  And is it worth it?

-Miked
 

Offline Opus

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2006, 07:54:16 PM »
I use a sb live (through a mediator), basically it's still limited by the Amiga hardware.  I need an mpeg decoder card, Then she (C= Amiga 3000T) would really rock
 

Offline spihunter

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2006, 11:17:45 PM »
@Miked,

I just got a Macrosystem Toccata 16bit soundcard. My A2000 is still in peices right now, bu when I get it back together I plan on doing a quick write up on the sound quality and how it works with certian programs.


 

Offline AmigaMance

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2006, 01:46:41 PM »
 I'm using paula. There is a software trick that allows her to reproduce sound at 14 bit and most CD/mods/mp3 players support it.
A1200 PPC user.
 

Offline d0pefish

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2006, 02:09:54 PM »
Any program that is compatible with AHI will let you use the AHI Paula 14bit HiFi Stereo mode.

If you you a doublescan screenmode (31khz) you can then crank the audio frequency from 27KHz to 44.1 or 48KHz which greatly clarifies the sound most of the time.

Maybe these sound comparisons I made for someone else will give you an idea of just how good Paula can sound with the right settings and software.

http://lavaburn.com/files/amiga-audio-comparison/
The files will stream if you drag and drop the links into Winamp/Foobar2000 etc.

This is a 22 channel (IIRC) XM module (FREETRUE.XM) playing on DigiBooster using various AHI modes. Any clicks and pops are DigiBooster's fault; I don't think it has any volume ramping to smooth out the samples.

I used the CyberSound 14bit calibration tool to prepare the calibrated modes.

The Hifi 14bit 48KHz mode with calibration sounds very nice if you can use it (I have an 060/50 and lots of fast ram so I dont notice any lag etc - your mileage may vary).

The difference between 8 and 14bit calibrated is very significant - notice the hissing in 8bit mode as the samples are cut down to 8bit.

But it should help you decide if you need a sound card or not. I'll be sticking with Paula for a long time yet, unless I find a zorro sound card cheap. :-)
 

Offline spihunter

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2006, 01:18:03 AM »
Quote
If you you a doublescan screenmode (31khz) you can then crank the audio frequency from 27KHz to 44.1 or 48KHz which greatly clarifies the sound most of the time.


@d0pefish,

I've always been confused about why the screenmode effects the audio output on the paula?

Why does this happen?
 

Offline d0pefish

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2006, 02:15:04 PM »
I *think* the screenmode must alter the clock speed of the chipset as a whole, also affecting Paula, with the nice side effect of allowing you to push the frequency up. :-)

Since I'm on CyberGraphX, I use a patch in my startup-sequence to throw the (unused) AGA screenmode to a double scan mode.

The command comes with AHI and goes like:

AddAudioModes DBLSCAN

This lets me use Paula+AHI at 48KHz transparently with RTG.
 

Offline Piru

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2006, 02:39:37 PM »
@spihunter

Maximum number of samples that can be fed to paula audio by DMA is tied to horizontal frequency. Since 16bits of data (==two 8bit samples) is fed per tick, the max frequency is twice the horizontal frequency.

Examples:
NTSC: 15.734 KHz * 2 = 31.468 KHz
PAL: 15.625 KHz * 2 = 31.25 KHz
DblPAL: 27.53KHz * 2 = 55.06 KHz

There limits do not apply if sampledata is poked by CPU directly (to the 16bit register, two samples per poke), but then CPU usage will be very high. In practice most apps use DMA to drive the audio, and are thus limited by the screenmode  horizontal frequncy.

Various tools exist that ramp up the unused native display mode to such values that high replayrate is possible, AHI supplied AddAudioModes DBLSCAN-option is one of them.
 

Offline spihunter

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2006, 02:43:02 AM »
@Piru,

Wow! that interesting. That explains why I had weird audio problems when I was trading Mods with a friend of mine that was running his A1200 at DBLNTSC!

I wish I new that 5 years ago :lol:
 

Offline dirtiemds

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2006, 03:02:13 PM »
@ opus:

this might be offtopic 8-)  but opus I have the following problem with digiboosterpro and soundblaster:
the soundoutput stutters when a speedcommand passes the playline. I think its a problem with AHI-Output through Soundblaster hooked on Mediator.  I had Zorro2 before Mediator and I never experienced something like that in the days when I run Digiboosters Output via AHI through Toccata.
When my AHI-Output device is Paula everything works nice... but as I have a Soundcard, I also like to use it! The stuttering is very distempering... how can I get rid of it?

please would you be so kind and test if your replay suffers the same stuttering?!? I cant test it on another system... as I dont know another user here around... Thank you!  
  :-)  d!RT!E/mdS (www.moodsplateau.net)
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Offline golem

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2006, 04:20:10 PM »
Back on the 14-bit Paula topic...The way I figure if your mod uses 8-bit samples and doesn't use any of the clever tricks with summing samples to get more channels - it makes no difference to the sound quality. An 8-bit sample is an 8-bit sample whether you play it at 8- or 24-bit.
                                                             
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Offline SamuraiCrow

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2006, 05:58:48 PM »
@dirtiemds

You might try increasing the buffer size on your software.  I ran into a similar problem when using the Maestrix patch to get OctaMed Soundstudio 1.03c to work on my MicroA1-c.  The default setting for the Paula 14-bit mixer was under 400 bytes.  The ideal setting was 4096 bytes for the AHI-compatible soundcard.
 

Offline HardStep

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2006, 08:12:39 PM »
Once more OT.
How can one use Delfina Flipper with OctamedSoundstudio?
When i select it under mixing options, i get nothing out of a Delfina.
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Offline dirtiemds

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #13 on: September 28, 2006, 08:14:56 AM »
@SamuraiCrow

I know the problem with maestrix and the octamed buffer. And I solved them too :D But in digiboosterpro aren´t such options. Under "config" I only have "priority" etc but no "buffersize" :(

thx d!RT!E/mdS
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Offline dirtiemds

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Re: Non 8 -bit audio
« Reply #14 on: September 28, 2006, 08:17:46 AM »
@HardStep

I am not 100% sure but, isn´t there(delfina package) a small software included which is an toccata emulation. Then you have to choose Toccata in the Octamed-Mixer-Menu.
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