Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Path: utzoo!utgpu!cunews!bnrgate!bmerh409!bmerh796!drews
From: drews@bmerh796.bnr.ca (Drew Stevens)
Subject: Re: LAPC/MT-32 Sound (Was: Re: Amiga bashing)
Message-ID: <1991Jun28.010448.15612@bmerh409.bnr.ca>
Sender: news@bmerh409.bnr.ca (USENET Net)
Organization: S.I.R. Tools - BNR Ltd.
References: <1991Jun25.164859.12553@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <1991Jun26.040339.4568@kessner.denver.co.us> <1991Jun27.060414.11807@bmerh409.bnr.ca> <1991Jun27.090341.696@kessner.denver.co.us>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 91 01:04:48 GMT

In article <1991Jun27.090341.696@kessner.denver.co.us> david@kessner.denver.co.us (David Kessner) writes:
>In article <1991Jun27.060414.11807@bmerh409.bnr.ca> drews@bmerh796.bnr.ca (Drew Stevens) writes:
>
>>>the MT-32/LAPC sounds ho-hum, but sparkles when compared to the Amiga.
>>>From a professional musican standpoint, the MT-32/LAPC sounds noisy, and the
>>
>>Noisy compared to what?  It sounds better than a Yamaha DX7.
>
>I like the DX7 myself, but never played it with headphones hooked up so I

I just played with a Korg M1.  Wow.  Maybe the Mt32 isn't so perfect after all!
Too bad Kings Quest 5 doesn't support it.  

>>The Roland boards are directly supported by many programs and provide by far 
>>the best sound I've heard from a computer.  'even better than Amiga' doesn't
>>begin to describe it.
>
>There isn't much needed to directly support the LAPC.  Any MIDI program will 
>utilize the LAPC.  Most games support an MT-32 hooked up via MIDI, and since
>the LAPC board _IS_ an MT-32 and MIDI interface on one board...

What I mean is that Wing Commander knows which patch to use for a cello etc.

>The sounds from the LAPC are good, for a computer.  In fact, the only computer
>that comes to mind that has better sound is the NeXT.

You don't get the same functionality though...

>	On the down side, the LAPC does not have CD quality sound.

Pretty close...

>	It can only play back the factory preset sound samples; none can be
>	"downloaded", where all the Amiga can do is play back samples (I know

Again, programs DO download new sounds.  For example, the scene in 
Space Quest 4 where the sewar grate explodes and crashes against the
road.  I didn't find this in list of presets!!!

>	(such as you find with MS-DOS machines), a heavily loaded machine
>	will not miss a beat when playing/recording a song.  (Just FYI: my
>	MPU-401 interface has it's own CPU to do timing.)

In fact, music occassionally keeps playing when I crash my machine.

>Since you did not notice the normal noise that the thing produces, I would not
>expect you to notice crosstalk (this is not intended as an insult).  Try this,
>however.  Put on a good set of headphones and turn the volumn WAY UP (if the

This is exactly what I did.  Then I switched the line input to my CD
player.  No difference.  Then to tape. HISSSSSSSSS!

>someone said that the Soundblaster sounds 'worse' than the Amiga, and that
>may be true.  However, the soundblaster has much more voices (eight I think).
>This makes it more useful for music related things.

Actually 11 voices but it does not support stereo without an extra set of 
chips.  It does digitized speech pretty well, which is the only thing
I miss on the Roland.  

>David Kessner - david@kessner.denver.co.us            |
>1135 Fairfax, Denver CO  80220  (303) 377-1801 (p.m.) | Reunite PANGEA!
>Compuserve?  Isn't that some sort of FIDO BBS?        |

OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE MY OWN.
