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Digital Sound Revolution
The digital sound revolution (or digital audio revolution) refers to the widespread adoption of digital audio technology in the computer industry beginning in the 1980s. Prior methods Software-based pulse-width modulation Some of the first computer music was created in 1961 by LaFarr Stuart, who wrote software to modulate the duration of and between pulses ( pulse-width modulation or "PWM", via a process now often referred to as "bit banging") on a bus line that had been connected to an amplified speaker originally installed to monitor the functioning of Iowa State University's CYCLONE computer, a derivative of the Illiac. The entire computer was used to create simple, recognizable tunes using digital audio. The speakers in the IBM PC (released in 1981) and its successors may be used to create sounds and music using a similar mechanism. Programmable sound generators Programmable sound generators were the first specialized audio circuits in computers included simple ana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Audio
Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, samples are taken 44,100 times per second, each with 16-bit sample depth. Digital audio is also the name for the entire technology of sound recording and reproduction using audio signals that have been encoded in digital form. Following significant advances in digital audio technology during the 1970s and 1980s, it gradually replaced analog audio technology in many areas of audio engineering, record production and telecommunications in the 1990s and 2000s In a digital audio system, an analog electrical signal representing the sound is converted with an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) into a digital signal, typically using pulse-code modulation (PCM). This digital signal can then be recorded, edited, modified, and copied using computer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NEC PC-8801
The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japanese home computers of the 1980s, along with the Fujitsu FM-7 and Sharp X1. It was later eclipsed by NEC's 16-bit PC-9800 series, although it still maintained strong sales up until the early 90s. NEC's American subsidiary, NEC Home Electronics (USA), marketed variations of the PC-8800 in the United States and Canada. History Nippon Electric's Microcomputer Sales Section of the Electronic Device Sales Division launched the PC-8001 in September 1979, and by 1981 it consisted of 40% of the Japanese personal computer market. In April 1981, Nippon Electric decided to expand personal computer lines into three groups: New Nippon Electric, Information Processing Group and Electronic Devices Group, with each specializing in a particular series. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Media Vision
Media Vision Technology, Inc., was an American electronics manufacturer of primarily computer sound cards and CD-ROM kits, operating from 1990 to approximately 1995 in Fremont, California. Media Vision was widely known for its Pro AudioSpectrum PC sound cards—which it often bundled with CD-ROM drives—it is also known for its spectacular growth and demise. Company history Media Vision was founded in May 1990 by Paul Jain and Tim Bratton. Early employees also included Russ Faust, Michael Humphries, Dan Gochnauer, Bryan Colvin and Doug Cody, all from Jain's prior company, Video-7. As Bratton recalls, he wrote the company's business plan while an engineer at National Semiconductor based on Jain's vision of evolving multimedia from VGA to audio and video. Jain raised funding, based on a business plan on a single sheet of paper, from top VCs such as Brentwood, Nazem, 3i and others. Media Vision became a publicly traded company in late 1992. In 1993, Media Vision took over Pelluci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs). Sound Blaster sound cards were the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to ''Microsoft'' Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level (eliminating the importance of backward compatibility with Sound Blaster), and the evolution in PC design led to onboard audio electronics, which commoditized PC audio functionality. By 1995, Sound Blaster cards had sold over 15 million units worldwide and accounted for seven out of ten sound card sales. Creative Music System and Game Blaster Creative Music System The history of Creative sound cards started with the release of the Creative Music System ("C/MS") CT-1300 board in August 1987. It contained two Philips SAA1099 integrated circuits, which, together, provided 12 channels of square-wave "bee-i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creative Technology
Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley (where in the US it is known as Creative Labs). The principal activities of the company and its subsidiaries consist of the design, manufacture and distribution of digitized sound and video boards, computers and related multimedia and personal digital entertainment products. It also partners with mainboard manufacturers and laptop brands to embed its Sound Blaster technology on their products. History 1981–1996 Creative Technology was founded in 1981 by childhood friends and Ngee Ann Polytechnic schoolmates Sim Wong Hoo and Ng Kai Wa. Originally a computer repair shop in Pearl's Centre in Chinatown, Singapore, Chinatown, the company eventually developed an add-on memory board for the Apple II family, Apple II computer. Later, Creative spent $500,000 developing the Cubic CT, an IBM-compatible PC adapted for the Chine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AdLib
Ad Lib, Inc. was a Canadian manufacturer of sound cards and other computer equipment founded by Martin Prevel, a former professor of music and vice-dean of the music department at the Université Laval. The company's best known product, the ''AdLib Music Synthesizer Card'' (''ALMSC''), or simply the ''AdLib'' as it was called, was the first add-on sound card for IBM compatibles to achieve widespread acceptance, becoming the first de facto standard for audio reproduction. History After development work on the AdLib Music Synthesizer Card had concluded, the company struggled to engage the software development community with their new product. As a result, Ad Lib partnered with Top Star Computer Services, Inc., a New Jersey company that provided quality assurance services to game developers. Top Star's President, Rich Heimlich, was sufficiently impressed by a product demonstration in Quebec in 1987 to endorse the product to his top customers. Sierra On-Line's '' King's Quest IV'' be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OPL2
The OPL (FM Operator Type-L) series are a family of sound chips developed by Yamaha. The OPL series are low-cost sound chips providing FM synthesis for use in computing, music and video game applications. Internal operation The internal operation of the chips is completely digital. Each FM-tone is generated by a digital oscillator using a form of direct digital synthesis. A low-frequency oscillator and an envelope generator drive an FM operator to produce floating-point output for the DAC. Decapsulation of the chips shows two look-up tables, one for calculating exponents and one for log-sine. This allows the FM operator to calculate its output without any multipliers, using the formula \exp log \sin[\varphi_2 + \exp [\log \sin [\varphi_1+ A_1">varphi_2_+_\exp_[\log_\sin_[\varphi_1.html" ;"title="log \sin[\varphi_2 + \exp [\log \sin [\varphi_1">log \sin[\varphi_2 + \exp [\log \sin [\varphi_1+ A_1 + A_2] and two 256-entry look-up tables. Both tables are stored as pairs of values r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retro Gamer
''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became a monthly. In 2005, a general decline in gaming and computer magazine readership led to the closure of its publishers, Live Publishing, and the rights to the magazine were later purchased by Imagine Publishing. It was taken over by Future plc on 21 October 2016, following Future's acquisition of Imagine Publishing. History The first 18 issues of the magazine came with a coverdisk. It usually contained freeware remakes of retro video games and emulators, but also videos and free commercial PC software such as ''The Games Factory'' and '' The Elder Scrolls: Arena''. Some issues had themed CDs containing the entire back catalogue of a publisher such as Durell, Llamasoft and Gremlin Graphics. On 27 September 2005, the magazine's original p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The term is commonly used to refer to tracker format music which intentionally sounds similar to older PSG-created music (this is the original meaning of the term), as well as music that combines PSG sounds with modern musical styles. It has been described as "an interpretation of many genres" since any existing song can be arranged in a chiptune style defined more by choice of instrument and timbre than specific style elements. Technology A waveform generator is a fundamental module in a sound synthesis system. A waveform generator usually produces a basic geometrical waveform with a fixed or variable timbre and variable pitch. Common waveform generator configurations usually included two or three simple waveforms and often a single pseudo- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Game Music
Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to the style of music known as chiptune, which became the sound of the first video games. With technological advances, video game music has grown to include a wider range of sounds. Players can hear music in video games over a game's title screen, menus, and gameplay. Game soundtracks can also change depending on a player's actions or situation, such as indicating missed actions in rhythm games, informing the player they are in a dangerous situation, or rewarding them for specific achievements. Video game music can be one of two kinds: original or licensed. The popularity of video game music has created education and job opportunities, generated awards, and led video game soundtracks to be commercially sold and performed in concerts. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takeshi Abo
is a Japanese video game composer. He joined the industry through developer StarCraft, Inc. in the early 1990s, mainly working on conversions of western video games. In the mid-1990s, he joined KID, and later 5pb. in December 2006 after KID declared bankruptcy. Works *'' Anonymous;Code'' *''Chaos;Child'' *'' Chaos;Child Love Chu Chu!!'' *''Chaos;Head'' *''Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu!'' *'' Close to ~Inori no Oka'' *'' Dunamis 15'' *'' Disorder 6'' *'' Famicom8BIT'' - momo-i *'' FlixMix'' (NEC PC-98 version) *'' Gokujyou Seitokai'' *'' Iris ~Irisu~'' *''King's Bounty'' (NEC PC-98 & FM Towns versions) *'' Mabino x Style'' *''Megadimension Neptunia VII'' *''Memories Off'' *''Memories Off 2nd'' *'' Omoide ni Kawaru Kimi ~Memories Off~'' *''Memo Off Mix'' *''Memories Off ~Sorekara~'' *''Memories Off After Rain'' *'' Memories Off #5 Togireta Film'' *'' Memories Off 6: T-wave'' *'' Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra'' (unreleased StarCraft version) *''Monochrome'' *''Infinity'' series **' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuzo Koshiro
is a Japanese composer and sound programmer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune and video game music, producing music in a number of genres including rock, jazz, symphonic, and various electronic genres such as house, electro, techno, trance, and hip hop. Koshiro and his sister Ayano founded the game development company Ancient in 1990, of which he remains the president. He has been cited as creating some of the most memorable game music of the 1980s and 1990s contributing for games such as Nihon Falcom's ''Dragon Slayer'' and '' Ys'' series, as well as Sega's '' The Revenge of Shinobi'' and ''Streets of Rage'' series. The soundtracks for the latter have been cited by some to be ahead of their time. Biography Early life Koshiro was born in Tokyo on December 12, 1967. His mother, Tomo Koshiro, was a pianist. She taught him how to play the piano at the age of three, and by the age of five, he had a strong command of it. In 1975, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
