3 ms·
This is what I remember from those times: if you had external gear (synth, sampler etc.) then the Atari was your best bet because of the built-in MIDI ports[1]
by mastazi 4y ago
This is what I remember from those times: if you had external gear (synth, sampler etc.) then the Atari was your best bet because of the built-in MIDI ports[1] and consequently having a good ecosystem in terms of MIDI sequencers. (Cubase, for example, was available for ST)[2].
If you didn't have external gear, then you would go for Amiga (maybe using a cheap Amiga sampler interface[3], and a music tracker[4] as the software) due to the fact that Amiga had better onboard audio, courtesy of Paula[5]. (IIRC, it wasn't until the Falcon that Atari caught up with Amiga in terms of onboard audio).
[1] https://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/interfaces.php https://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/interfaces.php
[2] https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/mirror/tamw/cubase.htm https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/mirror/tamw/cubase.htm
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9MXYZh1jcs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9MXYZh1jcs
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_tracker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_tracker
[5] http://theamigamuseum.com/the-hardware/the-ocs-chipset/paula/ http://theamigamuseum.com/the-hardware/the-ocs-chipset/paula...
- nezgar 4y agoThe STe came pretty close with DMA stereo audio playback, though only at 4 sample rates so software resampling and mixing was still required. I did a lot of my own tracking on an 8Mhz 1040STe then later a 16Mhz MegaSTe. At 16mhz I could do 25Khz playback with full software mixing, or with the 50Khz playback mode the playback routine would "cheat" by just alternating the samples for the two channels per speaker which used less CPU but produced a high frequency squeal that was easily filtered by turning down the treble on your stereo :)
- mastazi 4y agoNice! Yes, I remember the 50Khz mode! For the high frequency noise, there is actually an easy fix (requires a little bit of soldering), if you still have your STe you may be interested: https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/last/STEDACFIX/index.htm https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/last/STEDACFIX/index.htm
- jbverschoor 4y agoJust last week I came across this gem about Steve Porcaro about MIDI and Synths. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUNqZ9noSLM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUNqZ9noSLM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCurJJoSrS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCurJJoSrS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFxhm9Geg3k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFxhm9Geg3k