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From: eacj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Julian Vrieslander)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Question about Mac II sound generator
Message-ID: <376@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: Mon, 9-Mar-87 21:11:00 EST
Article-I.D.: batcompu.376
Posted: Mon Mar  9 21:11:00 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Mar-87 19:15:57 EST
Reply-To: eacj@batcomputer.UUCP (Julian Vrieslander)
Organization: Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 21
Keywords: Mac II, sound

I have seen conflicting descriptions of the sound generator hardware in the
Mac II.  The sampling rate has been mentioned as 44.1 kHz (same as CD's), into 2
channels, with 16-bit samples.  Elsewhere, there was a report that the samples
were 8-bit (suggesting that a 16-bit word contains the samples for both channels
in a given sample period), and a claim that new synthesis modes were available
in the Mac II sound driver.   

So what is the "best" available sampling rate and sample bitwidth per each
channel?  Can a Mac II (without peripheral cards) output genuine 16-bit freeform
sound into each channel?  That would allow some fairly impressive beeps.  Can
anyone report distortion and noise specs?  What type of post-conversion
filtering is used?  Can the sampling rate be varied?

Perhaps this will all be revealed when Apple releases the new doco, but I'm an
impatient lad.
  
-- 
Julian Vrieslander, Neurobiology & Behavior, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853    
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