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Acorn hardware used log encoded samples, while nearly everything else used linear. The simple mod players in games tended not to do any conversion and instead u

Acorn hardware used log encoded samples, while nearly everything else used linear. The simple mod players in games tended not to do any conversion and instead used preconverted mods (which were then a pig to pay in anything else). So it's possible that the Arc mods for Lemmings had been converted from a higher bit rate source, rather than just using copies of the Amiga ones. Whether an 8-bit log samples sounds better than an 8-bit linear sample when it's not processed through YouTube, I have no idea...

david-given 10y ago
Side by side comparisons! Via Youtube, alas, but: Acorn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXthGJfHLc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXthGJfHLc Amiga (emulated): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6vxY9p7yg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6vxY9p7yg The Amiga's way brighter, but that's probably because it's emulated (and so is a digital recording). But it's pretty obvious that at least some of the tracks on the Arc are recompositions --- One Way Or Another is missing a lot of instruments, Mind the Step is a different pitch, Awesome is a different composition entirely... The Amiga had a hardware mixer with four channels (with fixed stereo positions). The Acorn had a more strictly powerful CPU but had no hardware mixer. Maybe they had to reduce the number of channels to allow for this? But I was pretty sure the Lemmings mods were classic 4-channel anyway (one channel per Amiga hardware channel).
- Symbiote 10y ago
  What struck me was the different instruments -- the Acorn instruments in the first track sound much more like a real xylophone and bass guitar. Or maybe it's meant to be a piano, but it's less synthy. I have early memories of my parents staying up all night playing Lemmings (on Acorn), and I played it a lot myself once I was old enough, so I'm probably in no position to judge.
- zbuf 10y ago
  I think the Archimedes did have 4 or 8 'native' channels for audio. From memory the MOD files included with Lemmings on the Archimedes were 3-channel, possibly leaving one free for sound effects. I wonder if it was disk space. Lemmings for Archimedes fitted on an 800K floppy; did the Amiga version span to two 720K floppies? Losing a load of samples would certainly be a way to drop the space requirements.
  - ant512 10y ago
    The Amiga disk format held 880K. The original version of Lemmings was a 2 disk release with an animated intro, but later (cheaper or pack-in) versions shipped on 1 disk with the intro removed.

david-given 10y ago

Side by side comparisons! Via Youtube, alas, but: Acorn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXthGJfHLc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXthGJfHLc Amiga (emulated): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6vxY9p7yg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT6vxY9p7yg The Amiga's way brighter, but that's probably because it's emulated (and so is a digital recording). But it's pretty obvious that at least some of the tracks on the Arc are recompositions --- One Way Or Another is missing a lot of instruments, Mind the Step is a different pitch, Awesome is a different composition entirely... The Amiga had a hardware mixer with four channels (with fixed stereo positions). The Acorn had a more strictly powerful CPU but had no hardware mixer. Maybe they had to reduce the number of channels to allow for this? But I was pretty sure the Lemmings mods were classic 4-channel anyway (one channel per Amiga hardware channel).

Symbiote 10y ago
What struck me was the different instruments -- the Acorn instruments in the first track sound much more like a real xylophone and bass guitar. Or maybe it's meant to be a piano, but it's less synthy. I have early memories of my parents staying up all night playing Lemmings (on Acorn), and I played it a lot myself once I was old enough, so I'm probably in no position to judge.
zbuf 10y ago
I think the Archimedes did have 4 or 8 'native' channels for audio. From memory the MOD files included with Lemmings on the Archimedes were 3-channel, possibly leaving one free for sound effects. I wonder if it was disk space. Lemmings for Archimedes fitted on an 800K floppy; did the Amiga version span to two 720K floppies? Losing a load of samples would certainly be a way to drop the space requirements.
- ant512 10y ago
  The Amiga disk format held 880K. The original version of Lemmings was a 2 disk release with an animated intro, but later (cheaper or pack-in) versions shipped on 1 disk with the intro removed.