Questions tagged [sound]
Questions regarding the generation of sound in retrocomputers.
66 questions
7 votes
1 answer
515 views
Transistor count for the General Instrument AY-3-8910?
I'm going to be adding infoboxes to some of the classic stand-alone chips on the Wiki. I'm starting with sound chips. I could not find a transistor count for the AY8910. Can anyone find one? Normally ...
- 22.4k
33 votes
3 answers
6k views
Why did many arcade games have separate sound CPUs?
Many arcade games throughout the 1980s (and beyond) had an independent CPU, for handling sound and music. Some games had the CPU more-or-less directly driving a DAC (e.g. Defender, Qix), and in this ...
- 715
2 votes
1 answer
377 views
How did 5th and 6th generation era of racing games handle engine sounds performantly?
Asking this question because I want to implement performant sound handling on weaker systems. Yes, while I am aware that whatever methods used are well out of date, I also want to implement them as a ...
- 1,067
7 votes
2 answers
3k views
How did the NES's RP2A03 noise generator produce 32k bit long sequences despite only being 15 bits wide?
The NES Ricoh RP2A03 has a noise channel amongst its 5 sound channels. My sources include the NesDEV wiki: https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/APU_Noise To quote the wiki directly, The shift register is 15 ...
- 1,067
11 votes
2 answers
2k views
What could SID do that APU could not?
Two of the more famous and highly regarded sound chips in the 8-bit era were the Commodore 64's SID and the Nintendo APU. Which of the two was overall better, seems to be a matter on which there is a ...
- 65.3k
16 votes
5 answers
4k views
Did the original Macintosh not have any MIDI or similar music capabilities?
The original version of Shadowgate for the Macintosh is an eerie experience after you have played the NES version, with its amazing soundtrack. The Mac version is entirely mute, save for some random ...
- 161
5 votes
0 answers
271 views
How is the Genreal MIDI Soundbank file format structured?
Until today, you can download soundbanks for the Java Sound API from Oracle here. What surprises me is, that they are not hidden on an old subpage -- you find them freely accessible on their website ...
- 679
16 votes
2 answers
2k views
What was the last terminal to include a physical bell?
Drew asks: … what was the latest terminal produced which rang a physical bell rather than beeping through a speaker?
- 22.8k