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+--- Thread: Retro midi machine! (/showthread.php?tid=138)
RE: Retro midi machine! - Mattias Westlund - 03-31-2017
(03-31-2017, 02:26 AM)Otto Halmén Wrote: As to reverb, I wouldn't be too concerned. Chances are they're based on similar algorithms anyway (esp. if they're halls), as there were only so many ways of doing digital reverb back in the day. It's probably not impossible to match them reasonably, especially if they all allow for tweaking individual parameters via SysEx.
Yeah, they are kind of similar sounding so it's no biggie. Originally I was going to use that old DigiTech rack unit for reverb, but the thing is so damn noisy (and not just the output signal -- the unit itself emits a REALLY annoying 50-cycle hum) I quickly gave up on it. Also, the mixer I'm using has only six channels (four mono, two stereo) so I had to put the AWE64 on the Tape In input, which doesn't have an FX send anyway.
The interesting thing is that almost all the reverbs in these cards actually sound pretty damn good. Especially the APS and Soundscape ones. Makes me wish there was some way of getting the damn FX out of the cards so I could use them for other stuff. I could feed a frequency sweep into them and create IR's of the reverb presets I guess...
RE: Retro midi machine! - kneedeep - 03-31-2017
I just came across this and couldn't help myself.
Quote:again, the Soundscape limits me to Windows 9x as there are no drivers for anything more recent than thatTried it under Linux?
RE: Retro midi machine! - Mattias Westlund - 03-31-2017
A view from the cockpit:
![[Image: cubase.png]](http://mattiaswestlund.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cubase.png)
RE: Retro midi machine! - Otto Halmén - 03-31-2017
(03-31-2017, 10:06 AM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: The interesting thing is that almost all the reverbs in these cards actually sound pretty damn good. Especially the APS and Soundscape ones. Makes me wish there was some way of getting the damn FX out of the cards so I could use them for other stuff. I could feed a frequency sweep into them and create IR's of the reverb presets I guess...
Other than the IR approach, that would probably fall into the realm of reverse engineering. It's no trivial task, although people have somewhat successfully reverse-engineered vintage reverbs before. I know the original PlayStation reverb and the (comparatively simple) SNES reverb have been cloned.
RE: Retro midi machine! - Samulis - 03-31-2017
I've been working on snapshots for VSCO 2 and I've had some fun adding the bitcrusher effect and summing to mono.
Sonatina 90's/80's Edition would be excellent.
RE: Retro midi machine! - Michael Willis - 03-31-2017
(03-31-2017, 11:20 AM)kneedeep Wrote: I just came across this and couldn't help myself.
Quote:again, the Soundscape limits me to Windows 9x as there are no drivers for anything more recent than thatTried it under Linux?
Incidentally, I have tried a number of vintage sound cards on Linux, and while I've never had trouble getting digital audio to work, I've had mixed results being able to use their midi features.
Of course that was several years ago, and you know how Linux goes - often, if something doesn't work, wait a few years and somebody might get it working
RE: Retro midi machine! - Mattias Westlund - 03-31-2017
The problem here is of course that this is an ISA card, which means you'll need a computer old enough to have ISA slots. I doubt you could get Ubuntu or some other modern distro running well on such an old machine.
RE: Retro midi machine! - sinaptica - 03-31-2017
Nice! This is how nostalgia sounds.
I like the Soundscape and Santa Cruz the most.
(11-11-2016, 08:56 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: Anyway, what's interesting with all this is that the digital sound quality of these synth chips does not seem to be a big factor in their overall sound. The Soundscape is 22kHz (!) and the Waveforce is 32kHz, but the Santa Cruz (I think?)and APS are both 44kHz. And there's not a HUGE difference in terms of perceived sound quality.
Is it possible the outboard reverb / mixer is helping to mask some differences here?
Maybe adding some air/hiss to the sound?
I think it's possible for this type of sound to enjoy of a (limited) revival at some point. I can see indie game devs looking for music reminiscent of days of yore.
There are modern games where devs went long ways to mimic graphical/sound quirks that where present in old hardware.
There's also an increasing offer of retro virtual instruments, so I suppose there's also interest from musicians and composers.
On a side note, I think getting these to work on Linux wouldn't be difficult.
There are drivers for a lot of cards of that period, ISA or not: [1], [2], [3]
From personal experience I can tell it's easier to get old hardware working on a modern Linux OS than it is in Windows (If possible at all), but ymmv
RE: Retro midi machine! - kmlandre - 03-31-2017
"Maybe I should create a Sonatina Retro Edition"
You make think you're joking, but you're not.
Have it on my desk by Friday... ;-)
Kurt
RE: Retro midi machine! - Nayrb - 04-01-2017
(03-31-2017, 10:04 PM)kmlandre Wrote: "Maybe I should create a Sonatina Retro Edition"
You make think you're joking, but you're not.
Have it on my desk by Friday... ;-)
Kurt
Should such a project prove feasible I fully support it as well!
One of the many great things about coming here is having Sam's and Mattias' experiments and conversations demystify all the stuff I experienced growing up that helped get me into this stuff in the first place. I'm not so great at hardware stuff myself but it's fun to see how much of it was still physically patching things into other things back in the day. Pretty soon Sam will turn up with one of these...
![[Image: 5c711fa2919212515bbc0aa8bf09d64e.jpg]](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5c/71/1f/5c711fa2919212515bbc0aa8bf09d64e.jpg)