which is best for music Atari or Amiga

[Iggy]

To be perfectly fair, the weird combination of sporting an at at the time quite primitive YM2149 together with the comparably modern 68k affords the Atari ST to have a quite unique and grungy sound of its own that I would say surpasses the Amiga by far in the qualities you mention.

I rather like the YM2149, so much so I've included it in a few projects recently.
Given a choice between an OPN2 or OPN3 chip and Paula, I'd take the Yamaha sound chip.

[Iggy]

Each to their own here, I find the YM2149 absolutely horrific. Though, I was able to easily reproduced a YM2149 like sound using Logic Pro X's built in Retro Synth for a friend who does like the sound.

Back on topic, none of the Professional Music packages on the Atari wasted time with the Atari's internal audio hardware.

Also we can add Depeche Mode's Ultra to the list of Albums that used an Atari ST for sequencing, as I noticed in a 1997 copy of Future Music.
-edit- actually three STs! Two running Notator and one running Cubase, plus a Mac running logic  Pro (which was developed from Natator).

Personally, I feel the same way about the C64s SID chip.
And the OPN2 has a lot of features that Paula lacks.
Later chips like that OPN3 are even more full featured.

But with Yamaha sound chips, it really comes down to which version you are using.
They produced several stripped down chips.

its interesting the bias here.
Yamaha sound chip produce "horrific" sound, but Commodore sound chips are somehow iconic, perfectly silly.

[Iggy]

The YM2149 was a slightly updated version f the ay-3-8912
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AY-3-8912
 
So it's not really a "Yamaha" sound chip.
 
Back in the 8 bit days it was used on the Sinclair 128 and Amstrad CPC, where it didn't really get the number of people writing decent music to push the chip. I've never heard anything that matches the SID, which was the only really good commodore sound chip. If you have any examples you'd like me to listen to then I'd love to listen.
 
Paula isn't a commodore chip, but we'll go with that if you like. As a sample player it can do anything the YM2149 can do, but with more or less CPU required. Atari-ST demos spent a lot of CPU time trying to make it play samples, but generating samples in realtime on the Amiga would take some cpu time. I think the balance was right though.

Spoken like someone convinced.
Yes, the YM series starts with a knock off but then moves to some very complex versions afterward.
By the time you get to the OPN3 (YM2608) you've got the built-in functions of the original, plus a six-channel FM synthesis sound system based around the YM2203, a single channel for 8 bit samples, and a six channel rhythm generator.

Considerably more complex than SID, and again, better than Paula (which never evolved).

And if you look, you'll find plenty of samples, with far more concurrent voices than SID or Paula can handle.

[Iggy]

There were indeed; they were just unfortunately vastly outweighed by the crap...

I honestly can't see your point as it equates the quality of the artist's work with the hardware.
And those previous examples of Adlib sound are a sterling example of how much better Yamaha sound generation is than that used in the C64 or the Amiga.

[Iggy]

Actually john,
This is a pretty silly disagreement overall.
The biggest problem I have with the YM series is the complications inherent in programming them.
None of the chips is really that useful without some decent software.

And now that I think about it, I've seen some great stuff done with D to A converters without sound synthesis chips.

It really comes down to good programming and musical ability.

Without those two, you can produce "crap" on any hardware.

[Iggy]

Amarok was composed on the Amiga!? Wow! That I didn't know, and basically nullifies any argument the ST guys can come up with.

Mr Moonlight will have post back here, his experiences with the platform when he has had a chance to play with it

Bloodline, you seem desperate to "nullify" a counter argument.
I think the point we have all reached makes perfect sense.
Its really a matter of the skill to use the tools available.
For God's sake, some of these guys are pointing to fairly interesting pieces produced by a Vic I chip.
So, I have no problem continuing to support the YM2149 and its descendants.

And if we are actually talking music production, Ral-clan summarized the advantage pretty clearly awhile ago, "one had a MIDI interface built in (Atari) and the other did not".

[Iggy]

JUST for saying when firing it up next to a Miggy: "ah this is by far not as good as the Amiga"

Wow, I say something that paraphrases that when firing up my Mac while looking at my Amiga: "ah this is by far much better than my Amiga" :razz: