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Let's talk about a 32-bit Amiga Paula

category: general [glöplog]
The engineer responsible for the Paula chip left Commodore in 1988. I vaguely remember that they even lost important documentation and would've had to redesign the whole thing. Which they didn't, of course.
added on the 2023-12-29 22:24:20 by bsp bsp
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The engineer responsible for the Paula chip left Commodore in 1988. I vaguely remember that they even lost important documentation and would've had to redesign the whole thing. Which they didn't, of course.


Glenn Keller, yes.

And that's Commodore incompetence for you.
added on the 2023-12-29 22:57:36 by Foebane72 Foebane72
Commodore incompetence. Funds.
added on the 2023-12-30 01:37:47 by leGend leGend
audio often has been and often still is an afterthought. "dolby atmos" gets slapped on cheapo headphones nowadays. paula, gus, the emu chipped soundblaster cards, those kinda were the lucky exception. *shrug*
added on the 2023-12-30 03:44:28 by jco jco
Does anyone know if the Amd Interwave chip was ever used somewhere else than on the Gus pnp?
added on the 2023-12-30 08:13:49 by Emod Emod
Just think about what would have happened if Robert Yannes, as the developer of the SID sound chip of his time, had really had the time and the budget to develop the SID according to his ideas (Ensoniq 5503 with 16 voices, stereo) and this would have found its way into the C64.

The Amiga would probably have looked completely different with his 4 voices only. But it could also have been a goal, to make the Amiga thus - compared to the 16-voice C64 - more competitive and with more than just 4 voices only.

Could have... could... would...
We'll never know and it's all just speculation and wishes...


I think both machines had been for its time just bombastic with really unbeliebable power and MultiMedia. Thanks for this great time.
added on the 2023-12-30 14:12:49 by MrVainSCL MrVainSCL
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Just think about what would have happened if Robert Yannes, as the developer of the SID sound chip of his time, had really had the time and the budget to develop the SID according to his ideas (Ensoniq 5503 with 16 voices, stereo) and this would have found its way into the C64.


I really doubt that, the C64 only being 8-bit. It wouldn't have the bus size to handle such a large spec, nor the processing power.

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The Amiga would probably have looked completely different with his 4 voices only. But it could also have been a goal, to make the Amiga thus - compared to the 16-voice C64 - more competitive and with more than just 4 voices only.


WHY do people have such a hard-on for the SID chip? It only does synth, and not much else, even simple samples push it. Yet people here think it's the best sound chip EVER. Well, I don't. For one thing, I don't like synth sounds, and neither do the vast majority of the populations of the world. If Robert Yannes was so successful, a large percentage of world music would be SID synth... but it's not. I remember people loving Ultravox's Vienna because of it's synth music, but I HATED it. I still do.

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Could have... could... would...
We'll never know and it's all just speculation and wishes...


Thank God that never happened.
added on the 2023-12-30 14:41:03 by Foebane72 Foebane72
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WHY do people have such a hard-on for the SID chip?

Probably for the same reason you have such a hard-on for the Paula chip!
added on the 2023-12-30 14:52:31 by absence absence
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I remember people loving Ultravox's Vienna because of it's synth music, but I HATED it. I still do.


So were you the person bulk-buying this single?

https://youtu.be/sFacWGBJ_cs?si=-T3mxxYqongGydGu

In case further explanation is needed.

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The single spent four consecutive weeks at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart without ever reaching the top.[9] It was kept off the top spot by John Lennon's "Woman" for a week[10] and then by Joe Dolce's "Shaddap You Face" for a further three weeks.


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In 2017, Ure was offered the chance to meet Dolce, but Ure declined, saying: "I've had 40 years of people talking about Joe 'Bloody' Dolce and I don't want to spend what I've got left talking about when I met him."
added on the 2023-12-30 14:56:44 by CiH CiH
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WHY do people have such a hard-on for the SID chip?

Probably for the same reason you have such a hard-on for the Paula chip!


I definitely do :)

But people use samples everywhere these days, in the audio soundtracks of TV shows, movies, computer games, general video and audio. Glenn Keller saw the future of digital audio in computers, Robert Yannes was obsessed with a "fad of the day" because he liked the sound of it.

Sorry, but that's my opinion.

I suppose that opinion has been formed by me coming from the Atari 8-Bit line to the Atari ST, so I was used to the beepy-boppy type of simple music those formats had. But even the Atari ST could play samples (poorly) but I was still blown away when I heard my first MOD files on Atari ST. And when I got my Amiga 500 in late 1990, I was sold on samples forever more, and they were nice and clear on Amiga. Nothing else, computer audio-wise, could sway me then.
added on the 2023-12-30 15:04:08 by Foebane72 Foebane72
@Foebane72:
If you follow the development of the SID sound chip, then you know that Robert Yannes had more in mind with this chip - when it finally came onto the market as SID. (stripped down version)

No matter what the topic, you shouldn't draw conclusions from yourself about others. Fortunately, we are individuals who all work a little differently and our tastes and interests can vary.

I think that Robert Yannes not only had great success with his SID sound chip in the C64 and in general; but also with his successor. It's not for nothing that there is still great demand for SID and synthesizers in music production today, with many well-known greats relying on this music/genre.

One should also not forget that the first sound modules or their samples (disks) on the Amiga consisted of sampled instruments from synthesizers. Only gradually did more and more fully sampled audio tracks/voices etc. appear.



@absence:
👍
added on the 2023-12-30 15:11:35 by MrVainSCL MrVainSCL
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Robert Yannes was obsessed with a "fad of the day" because he liked the sound of it.

If that was true, why did he co-found a company that's famous for introducing affordable musical instruments with sampling as early as 1984, thanks to a chip designed by Yannes himself?

Have you even considered the practical implications of a sample based sound chip in the C64? How much memory would you set aside for samples in a typical C64 game, and where would you take that memory from? And before you suggest adding more memory to an already $600 machine (that's $1,900 adjusted for inflation), I suggest looking into 1982 memory prices.
added on the 2023-12-30 17:12:35 by absence absence
@MrVainSCL: Fair enough :)

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If that was true, why did he co-found a company that's famous for introducing affordable musical instruments with sampling as early as 1984, thanks to a chip designed by Yannes himself?


I don't know anything about that chip, I just know Yannes for SID and how I figured he'd just carry on synths.

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Have you even considered the practical implications of a sample based sound chip in the C64? How much memory would you set aside for samples in a typical C64 game, and where would you take that memory from? And before you suggest adding more memory to an already $600 machine (that's $1,900 adjusted for inflation), I suggest looking into 1982 memory prices.


I never said anything about the C64 having samples as standard, I know how limited they would be in just 64K. I've seen it myself on the Atari 8-Bit with very short samples in games, they take up a huge chunk of the available memory.
added on the 2023-12-30 17:38:30 by Foebane72 Foebane72
Well, the Apple IIgs (released in 1986 for $999) had an Ensoniq chip (designed by Yannes). 30 8bit sample voices, 64k dedicated RAM.
added on the 2023-12-30 17:39:59 by bsp bsp
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I never said anything about the C64 having samples as standard

You complained about Robert Yannes not seeing the future of digital audio, so there's no other chip than the SID you could refer to.
added on the 2023-12-30 17:55:30 by absence absence
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Well, the Apple IIgs (released in 1986 for $999) had an Ensoniq chip (designed by Yannes). 30 8bit sample voices, 64k dedicated RAM.


Yes, I've just been over to YouTube to hear a half-dozen examples, and it sounds very much like Paula, and even one demo I saw was excellent audio. I didn't know Yannes designed that chip!
added on the 2023-12-30 17:57:25 by Foebane72 Foebane72
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You complained about Robert Yannes not seeing the future of digital audio, so there's no other chip than the SID you could refer to.


Bsp corrected me, and I know better now.
added on the 2023-12-30 18:29:00 by Foebane72 Foebane72

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