From: raist@rmece02.upr.clu.edu (Ricardo Hernandez)
Subject: Amiga: IDEAL was Re: Amiga & Sound
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Organization: UPR-Mayaguez--ASEL Lab
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:58:07 GMT

  I had to put this here....

In article <92310.153803M-WHIT2@UMINN1.BITNET>, Michael Whitten <M-WHIT2@UMINN1.BITNET> writes:
|> 
|>   Nobody on the nets is saying much about the new Amigas and
|> sound.  Probably because there really isn't much to say.  Commodore
|> has never done one single thing for sound on its so-called
|> 'multi-media' machine.  Jay Miner did.  The Amiga takes sole credit for
|> the existence of a new music form/format - tracker modules, and
|> anyone who deals with trackers knows that the current Amigas are
|> capable of astounding music.  Astounding because that music never
|> existed before.  By handing over now-crude hardware like four 8-bit
|> audio channels to the masses, I believe Jay Miner created near-life --
|> something unforeseen emerged.  The Amiga's millions of users ran
|> with that protoplasmic ball, while the Amiga's current keepers seem
|> to have dropped it.
|>   The Amiga has always been equally viable on all multi-media fronts.
|> Now, with the AGA chipset for graphics, we shift into our next level of
|> visual standard, but, by disregarding sound, Commodore becomes
|> the purveyor of a 'uni-media' machine.
|>    We all know that Miner et al originally conceived the Amiga as a
|> game machine, but, I can't help think that the idea that "Hey....let's put
|> all these different possibilities in ONE PLASTIC CASE and see what
|> emerges?" must have run through their minds.  I mean look what
|> happens when you take a bunch of selected chemicals in one place
|> and wait a few million years..........YOU happen.  I think the spirit of the
|> Amiga is (was) in its design team's philosophy - and not much related
|> to that of Commodore Business Machines, Inc.  While Mac and IBM
|> developers were catering to already known purposes, the Amiga team
|> probably was closer to Turing's original concept of 'universal machine'
|> than any of them; I don't think they were concerned with exactly
|> WHAT it would be used for as much as they were about engineering
|> open-ended POSSIBILITIES.  I think they wanted to leave exactly what
|> those possibilities were up to you - the user.  I always like to think of
|> the Amiga as the 'universal artist tool'.
|>    Now, regarding the Amiga and sound, Commodore says it will
|> follow up with later 'add-on' boards or some widget to hang off some
|> port.  This is a mistake.  The whole impact of the Amiga - from its
|> inception - has been that it has universality, ie, its fundamental
|> capabilities are built-in and available to all Amigas from your low-end
|> home machine to your pro high-end machine; this allows
|> programmers to write in a new 'language'.  This is how paradigms
|> shift, this is how peoples' attitudes progress.  I believe the Amiga is
|> the first and only computer (of all things!) to actually become a
|> medium....think about what that means.  Marshall McLuhan did.
|>    What it means to me, now, is this:  other designers are 'getting it'.
|> I don't know if the Atari Falcon is real or not, but I've seen the specs
|> and that's enough to realize that someone, somewhere understands
|> what's at stake.  I love my Amiga; it has both followed me and cleared
|> a path for me, and remains the only economically-feasible computer
|> capable of doing so.  But as you might have gathered by now, my
|> allegiance is to a spirit and not a plastic box.  By this spirit, the
|> failure of Commodore to include eight 16-bit D/A channels, DSP, and midi
|> is a disappointment.  Like George Bush, CBM had many years to invent
|> and develop direction and its implementation.  Arrive' derci, George.
|>   Well, my soap-box is teetering......I don't want to sound like some
|> rebel leader in Platform Wars.  As I said, I love my Amiga -- despite my
|> whining, its still the best, but, like any relationship, its participants
|> have to grow together.  And if something better comes along - some
|> better Keeper of the Flame - I wouldn't hesitate jumping ship.
|> 
|> <X>
|> 
|>   ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|>   +      Michael D. Whitten M-WHIT2@VM1.SPCS.UMN.EDU M-WHIT2@UMINN1      +
|>   +          "Psst.  Hey, Guido.  Its all so clear to me, now."          +
|>   ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


  I totally agree with you... while RTG is coming, I believe strongly
in the "built-in" stuff of the Amiga...  if C= is going into modularity,
I think that's a great idea as long as you include a "audio slot",
"graphics slot" ,etc. to upgrade the custom chips and yet provide
excellent performance.  To add 16-bit on the Amiga with just a card
and that's it, I think is kinda ugly.  Let's see what happens in 
January.

  Followups are to c.s.a.advocacy
--------------------------------------------------------------
  Raist   // Amiga 500, 38Mhz Special MegaMidget Racer
        \X/  Avid user of AmigaVision, sending mail from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico 
---------
           "If the PC or Mac continues to be the standard,
            the SkyNet will never be built." - OUCH! were not my words!

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.audio