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From: djh@neuromancer.metaphor.com (Dallas J. Hodgson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.audio,comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: CHEAP 16-bit STEREO sound samplers
Message-ID: <744@cronos.metaphor.com>
Date: 12 Jun 91 02:18:39 GMT
References: <17787@chaph.usc.edu>
Sender: news@cronos.metaphor.com
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.audio
Organization: Metaphor Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA
Lines: 39

With regards to SunRize's $2,000 16-bit stereo sound board, I think they're
missing the point. If I was going to spend that kind of bucks, I'd expect the
software to be pretty bang-up - run on a Mac and integrate with all the
high-end audio tools with which the Amiga is lacking.

I was in Egghead today, guess what I saw. A PC external box that plugs into
the parallel port. It claimed 16-bit stereo sampling/playback ability, with
"reproduction up to 20KHz." I assume this means a max sampling rate of
40Khz. It came with waveedit software and some various libraries and such to
integrate with a few other PC tasks. The box was called M-Stereo, and its
total cost was <get this> $199.

Now, without actually opening the box and trying the unit out, I imagine the
box at little (if any) memory of its own so the CPU would have to be tied up
to playback or sample any sounds.

Now, imagine this:

Get a stereo sample. Break up the left channel values into 2 8-bit samples,
to be played on audio channels 1 and 3. Break up the right values similarly,
and play channels 2 and 4. Provided the DMA timing is tight enough, (and I
don't have my Hardware Manual handy) you could playback the 16-bit samples
on a stock Amiga! <grin>

Anyway: for $2000 you can get a DAT, two 16-bit stereo signal processors
a couple of decent Bose bookshelf speakers and a mixer.

With regards to SunRize's 12-bit mono sampler, it sounds like a big yawn at
any price - let alone over $500.00. Come on guys, you can do better than
that.
-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Dallas J. Hodgson               |     "These days, you have to be pretty   |
| Metaphor Computer Systems       |      technical before you can even       |
| Mountain View, Ca.              |      aspire to crudeness."               | 
| USENET : djh@metaphor.com       |            - William Gibson              |
+============================================================================+
| "The views I express are my own, and not necessarily those of my employer" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+