Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU!WHE46
From: WHE46@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU (Marc Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Amiga DSP Boards.
Message-ID: <09693037C3FF60FD23@ISUVAX.BITNET>
Date: 8 Nov 90 21:28:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 61


 In a message someone commented:

> There are DSP boards available for the Amiga.

   What is the installed base of Amigas with DSP boards?  Far, far less
than the installed base of NeXT systems with DSPs, to be sure.  I doubt
there are 100 Amiga with DPSs world-wide, compared to about 30,000 NeXT
systems with DSPs.

   Another problem with these DSP boards for the Amiga is that they are
totally useless, because they have no software available for them.  If
I were to purchase one of these DSP boards, I would have absolutely no
use for it, because I wouldn't be able to do anything with it.  If I
wanted to use it to demonstrate 16-bit stereo sound, I would be unable
to because I would have to write my own sound composition programs for
the thing, and then compose my own songs.  It would be simpler to just
get a NeXT.

   Another problem is price.  The NeXT systems are quite good deals,
and these Amiga DSP boards are quite expensive.  An Amiga with a DSP
board is more expensive than a NeXT, with less DSP software.

   Before I get torched by all the trigger-happy people around here,
let me clarify myself.  I am NOT bashing the Amiga with this message.
I am bashing the Amiga DSP boards.  I am pointing out that, before
the availability of DSP boards is going to have any impact on the
market as a whole (or the NeXT), there have to be more of these
DSP boards available, they have to all be totally compatible with
each other, and they must drastically come down in price.  Since
the DSP systems are too expensive and have no software (and are
therefore totally useless to most people), these boards might as
well not exist at all.

   I do have a solution for some of the problems with DSP boards
for the Amiga.  There are plenty of programs for the Amiga that
will play sound via MIDI synthesizers.  The SMUS standard is totally
compatible with MIDI, and most Amiga multimedia software (including
AmigaVision) supports MIDI.  The way to make these DSP boards more 
useful is to make them compatible with programs that support MIDI.

   In essence, here is how it could be done.  I would like to see
these Amiga DSP boards modified so that they support 16-bit stereo
sound, and communicate with Amiga software in exactly the same way
that a MIDI synthesizer (connected to the Amiga via a MIDI interface)
does.  The same board should also include a hi-fi 16-bit stereo sound
digitizer, with both the sound synthesis and digitization supported
by the DSP.

   Some people might ask "Why not just get a MIDI synthesizer and
a MIDI interface?"  The answer is that such modified DSP boards
could be more desireable because it would be complete and on a single
card, and would not have the tangled mess of cables and large amount
of space that a synthesizer does.   It would also include both 16-bit
sound synthesis and digitation on a single integrated card.

   If this is done, then these resulting DSP boards would actually
be useful to the average person -- much more useful even than a NeXT
system.  

                                   -MB-