Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!apple!well!farren
From: farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: 131072 is the Sound Barrier?
Message-ID: <11626@well.UUCP>
Date: 11 May 89 09:56:57 GMT
References: <8905100534.AA09678@jade.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 20

<AXTBF%ALASKA.BITNET@jade.berkeley.edu> writes:
>Why is the maximum length of a sound 131072???  (as stated in the
>AutoDocs for the Audio Device with CMD_WRITE).  If I had 1Meg of
>chip memory (well I can dream can't I), I might want to play a
>sound that is 1Meg long (or there abouts).  Why is the Audio Device
>brain dead?

It isn't the audio.device, it's the hardware.  The length register
is only 16 bits wide, and so can count only 65536 words (the sound
hardware fetches by word, not by byte).  Nothing to be done about it
until someone changes the size of the register.  That's pretty 
unlikely considering how easy it is to get around the "problem" -
check the section of the RKM on double-buffering sounds for details
on "daisy-chaining" sounds.


-- 
           Mike Farren
           uucp: {your favorite backbone site}!hplabs!well!farren
           Fido: Sci-Fido, Fidonode 125/84, (415)655-0667