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Author Topic: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?  (Read 17080 times)

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Offline bbond007

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #74 from previous page: October 13, 2013, 05:01:08 PM »
I had bought one of these things:

CMS / Game Blaster.

Perhaps the worst sound card ever.... man did SID really blow that thing away...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPJcWf1DeA

fortunately I returned it and got Adlib :)
« Last Edit: October 13, 2013, 05:05:38 PM by bbond007 »
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Offline freqmax

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #75 on: October 13, 2013, 05:24:17 PM »
How was the soundchip "Philips SAA1099" btw?
(speaking of OPL..)
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Offline bbond007

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #76 on: October 13, 2013, 05:44:28 PM »
Quote from: freqmax;750020
How was the soundchip "Philips SAA1099" btw?
(speaking of OPL..)

it was not OPL but early competition for it(Adlib).

Anyway, it was horrible and really sounded like just more PC speakers separated into right and left channels. Stereo sound was the only real advantage it had over the Adib(OPL).

Creative knew the chip was truly horrible which is why they probably transitioned to OPL.

What you see in the video is a hybrid sound blaster with game blaster backwards compatibility.  I had the actual game blaster which only had the Philips SAA1099 and no additional digital or analog sound sound channels.

haha, from wikipedia : "The chip could produce several different waveforms by locking the volume envelope generator to the frequency generator, and also had a noise generator with 3 pre-set frequencies which could also be locked to the frequency generator for greater range. Its outstanding feature was that it could output in fully independent stereo."
« Last Edit: October 13, 2013, 05:52:56 PM by bbond007 »
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Offline freqmax

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #77 on: October 13, 2013, 05:54:28 PM »
AdLib missed the PCM.
Soundblaster missed the syntheziser quality, but got a second chance due PCM.

Funny thing is that the Canadian state bought AdLib to prevent Creative/SB to do it. That's little unusual.
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Offline nicholas

Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #78 on: October 13, 2013, 05:56:48 PM »
Quote from: bbond007;750017
I had bought one of these things:

CMS / Game Blaster.

Perhaps the worst sound card ever.... man did SID really blow that thing away...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPJcWf1DeA

fortunately I returned it and got Adlib :)

Oh I had suppressed the evil ear bleeding memories of that abomination!

When I got a GUS to replace mine I was in comparative heaven. :)
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Offline nicholas

Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #79 on: October 13, 2013, 06:14:01 PM »
Speaking of Adlib and YM there are some cracking tunes to download here:

http://chiptune.de
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Offline bbond007

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #80 on: October 13, 2013, 06:20:43 PM »
Back then I had an A500 and was getting into PCs and had a lot of the early sound cards.

To me the real thing about Amiga Paula sound is that it sounded crisp (for 8 bit sound), not like you are talking to someone on the phone long distance like the Creative Sandblaster 1.0. It offered multiple sound channels in stereo, low CPU overhead... It was hard to beat, for a long time, but there is nothing really that much distinctive about it. Its more down to the sound samples and talent of the people that wrote the software and composed the tunes...

I would not be able to tell the difference between my Minimig 1.1 and my A1200 as far as sound, so if I really wanted a Paula Midi synth, using the real chip(like SidStation) would be foolish.

I'd simply do a new PCB based on Mimimig with a built-in midi port. Perhaps you could do it as an expansion to Chameleon 64, although I know less about that device.
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Offline bbond007

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #81 on: October 13, 2013, 06:33:18 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;750026
Oh I had suppressed the evil ear bleeding memories of that abomination!

When I got a GUS to replace mine I was in comparative heaven. :)


I had GUS too.

It was one of those products you just wanted to keep trying to convince yourself how awesome it was because of the raw capabilities and specs and demos, yet the TSR that have it SB/Adlib compatibility was a huge disappointment at a time were native support was extremely lacking.

I ended up selling that card and got the SoundScape 2000. Much better backwards compatibility and even GM :) Also it featured a 68000 CPU which we all know spec-wise, make it totally bada$$ :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensoniq_Soundscape_S-2000
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Offline nicholas

Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #82 on: October 13, 2013, 06:53:19 PM »
Quote from: bbond007;750033
I had GUS too.

It was one of those products you just wanted to keep trying to convince yourself how awesome it was because of the raw capabilities and specs and demos, yet the TSR that have it SB/Adlib compatibility was a huge disappointment at a time were native support was extremely lacking.

I ended up selling that card and got the SoundScape 2000. Much better backwards compatibility and even GM :) Also it featured a 68000 CPU which we all know spec-wise, make it totally bada$$ :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensoniq_Soundscape_S-2000

Phwoar that looks like a lovely piece of kit indeed. I must scour eBay immediately! :)

I loved my first revision GUS so much. It was hardly supported in games but that didn't bother me really as it was a joy to code for and all the best demos were written for it.

Many years later I bought a GUS PnP which was a major disappointment.
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Offline XDelusionTopic starter

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #83 on: October 22, 2013, 09:16:24 PM »
Two other audio chips of interest that I'd love to see in a midi box would be the POKEY, and perhaps the one in the Sega Genesis.
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Offline commodorejohn

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #84 on: October 22, 2013, 09:33:24 PM »
The Sega Genesis uses one of Yamaha's many four-operator FM chips, so there are actually a number of MIDI modules/keyboards that are essentially the same. The Yamaha FB-01 in particular is pretty much identical in terms of capabilities (minus the ability to play samples and the PSG carried over from the Master System,) with a couple more channels to boot.
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Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/MT-32/D-10, Oberheim Matrix-6, Yamaha DX7/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini, Ensoniq Mirage/SQ-80, Sequential Circuits Prophet-600, Hohner String Performer

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Offline XDelusionTopic starter

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #85 on: October 22, 2013, 09:44:13 PM »
Quote from: commodorejohn;750830
The Sega Genesis uses one of Yamaha's many four-operator FM chips, so there are actually a number of MIDI modules/keyboards that are essentially the same. The Yamaha FB-01 in particular is pretty much identical in terms of capabilities (minus the ability to play samples and the PSG carried over from the Master System,) with a couple more channels to boot.

Awesome, and they are cheap too!
« Last Edit: October 22, 2013, 09:46:31 PM by XDelusion »
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Offline commodorejohn

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #86 on: October 22, 2013, 09:53:45 PM »
Quite. It was basically a competitor to the MT-32 back in the day (and also formed the guts of the IBM Music Feature Card.)
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Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/MT-32/D-10, Oberheim Matrix-6, Yamaha DX7/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini, Ensoniq Mirage/SQ-80, Sequential Circuits Prophet-600, Hohner String Performer

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Offline freqmax

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #87 on: October 22, 2013, 10:45:20 PM »
I see two options:
 * A card with a PCB-2-PCB connection such that small chip specific PCB:s can be made and inserted into a generic MIDI-PCB. Chip types and channels can be added as desired.
 * Big MIDI circuit that features sockets for different synthesizer chips. If you need different or more channels than the designer thought of - bad luck.
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Offline Karlos

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #88 on: October 22, 2013, 10:48:04 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;749622
Didn't Musicline Editor do actual realtime synthesis using Paula?

http://www.musicline.org/software.html


Nah, that's software synthesis, made all the more impressive by being able to run well on a basic A1200. IIRC it uses looped wave segments (always powers of 2) as a starting point, much like a chip tune does, though samples are also supported. Instruments are defined using sets of these waveforms that are blended in a variety of real-time controllable ways. On top of that there are software effects such as phasing, low pass resonant filters and so forth. It even has an OctaMED-style 8 channel mode, but you need a bit more horsepower than a stock A1200 can provide to get the best out of it.
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Offline Karlos

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Re: PAULA MIDI SYNTH BOX Like SID BOX?
« Reply #89 on: October 22, 2013, 10:52:45 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;749597
I know Karlos uses an A1200 controlled by MIDI for sample playback if that counts.  Basically an AKAI sampler clone.


Yeah. It's a MIDI triggered sampler I found years ago on AmiNET called "MidiIn". On a reasonably accelerated system it is capable of some serious polyphony too.

http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=3232
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