From: Jesse_Michael@matrix.rain.com (Jesse Michael)
Newsgroups: alt.sys.amiga.demos
Subject: Re: Criti!
Distribution: world
Date: 22 Dec 92 08:40:20 PST
Organization: The Matrix BBS

>In article <Paul_Trauth.197y@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US>
Paul_Trauth@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US (Paul Trauth) writes:
>>
>>This is how the Amiga's samples are done. Didn't you ever hear horrid
1-bit
>>samples on the Apple? Or cheesy 4-bit samples on the C64? The main
>>difference is that the Amiga has DMA-driven sample-oriented hardware.
>
>It's WAVEFORM oriented. Please do not call this generally "sample".
>I definitely think you mess up terms here.

If you insist on using the term "waveform", then you should use the
technical
meaning of "sample".

A sample is a part of a waveform.  The Amiga uses 8-bit samples.  Each
"piece" of the waveform is a sample.

Here's a paragraph from the 1.3 Hardware Reference Manual which the company
you work for wrote--  :^)

"A computer cannot store analog waveform information.  In computer
production of sound, a waveform has to be represented as a finite string of
numbers.  This transformation is made by dividing the time axis of the
graph of a single waveform into equal segments, each of which represents a
short enough time so the waveform does not change a great deal.  Each of
the resulting points is called a sample.  These samples are stored in
memory, and you can play them back at a frequency that you determine.  The
computer feeds the samples to a digital-to-analog converter(DAC), which
changes them into an analog voltge waveform.  To produce the sound, the
analog waveforms are sent first to an amplifier, then to a loud speaker."

When you were drawing the waveforms in Sonix, you were setting the
different
values of each sample in the waveform.  I assume that there was a
rectangular
box in which your drawing was confined to.  In the box, there were a
certain number of vertical columns and in each column there was a dot (or
something) that you could change the vertical position, but not the
horizontal position.  Each of those columns represented a sample.  Sonix
would just let you draw your own waveform by adjusting the samples.

Paul and you are _both_ right.  The hardware plays waveforms by taking the
samples which make up the waveform, converting them to analog, and playing
them at a set rate.  :^)

>>And this is samples as opposed to hardware-level synth: you CAN do
>>synthesized sounds on the Amiga, but you have to essentially create a
>>sample mathematically and play it. 
>
>And don't forget: You can digitize it from a real-world sound, like a
>guitar. And *this* is then a true sample.

If it's digitized, it's a "digitized waveform" which is made up of samples.

>>Always remember, though, at the lowest level, they're playing
>>samples. (And eating up a good chunk of CPU generating them on the
fly...)
>
>Waveforms :-).
>

Waveforms made up of samples.  :^)

>-- 
>Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel  // E-Mail to \\  Only my personal
opinions...
>Commodore Frankfurt, Germany  \X/
{uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk
>Wer's nicht kann, soll's bleiben klopfen oder Steine lassen!

-Jesse

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995

--
Haze of Epsilon / Check out Epsilon for the best in NTSC demos!  Ok, so if
you compare us to groups like Anarchy and Silents then we're lame, but what
the hell do you expect from us lazy Americans?!?  :^)
Newsgroups: alt.sys.amiga.demos