[Coco] King's Quest IV Update

[Bill Pierce]

Nick, the orch90 isn't like the SS pak that has a sound chip and generates it's own sound. Using the orchestra 90 for sound would require full cpu as it's just two 8 bit DACs... same as using the Coco's 6 bit DAC, just twice the overhead... even in RSDOS, it doesn't matter. It takes the exact same routine as playing samples, just split ing the output ports, and getting better quality and stereo sound.

You couldn't write a "legal" driver for orch90 in for OS9 as interrupts would have to be blocked during use which is a no-no as it blocks multitasking, though sound from orch90 can be done in OS9 and I do it all the time with Sound Chaser. A "driver" would be tough though. I would say you couldn't do it without locking out OS9 during play. Same thing in RSDOS... All the room there is in the sound loop is for maybe a quick "key check" for stopping play. I do that in my "PlayMus2" Musica player for Sound Chaser. The rom in Orch90 is nothing but music editor/sequencer software that's a little more versitile than Musica and a terminal program for downloading orch90 songs from CIS as well as it's own disk operating system. There's no "sound generator" chips in the pak. Just the two 8 bit DACs.

Through the years, I've patched a lot of music programs to use the orch90 pak (with a "taped" pin) instead of the Coco's DAC. Sound quality is 200% better... and in stereo! Back in the mid 80s (pre-Coco 3), I wrote a stereo sound sampler/payer with ASDR and a 255 band EQ that would let me transfer samples from the Coco to my Casio SK-1 sampling synth and back. I kept a library of sounds to use in the band I was in at the time. I kept stuff like the jet landing in "Back in the USSR", the clocks in "Time" (Pink Floyd), the cannons in ACDC's "For Those About To Rock", the strings in "Comfortably Numb", etc. The Casio SK-1 would hold 4 samples, and play any of the 4 across the full range of the mini keyboard. I would load in the 4 samples from the Coco for the next set during each break. Everyone was amazed at the big sounds coming from that little keyboard. It was the digital editing I did to those samples on the Coco that lead me to be able to do the complex digital editing that I do here in the studio now :-)
Gotta luv da Coco :-)
 

Bill Pierce
"Today is a good day... I woke up" - Ritchie Havens
 

My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
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-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Marentes <nickma2 at optusnet.com.au>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Fri, Apr 25, 2014 10:30 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] King's Quest IV Update


On 25/04/2014 7:46 PM, Bill Pierce wrote:
> Nick, those controls are standard in all Sierra games. I have no idea why they 
chose such an odd convention. To move diagnally, use <cntl.<arrow> (I think). 
<Cntl><Break> brings up the menu (I think), it's been a while since I played 
them.
> The music is a leftover from the original machine as only a few of the Sierra 
games were ever done for the Coco. On the original Coco versions (King's quest 
3, Leisure Suit Larry etc), either the music can be interrupted, or there was no 
music (in some).
> I read somewhere that Sierra quit doing the Coco ports of their games because 
the Color Computer community had the largest software pirate base, therefore the 
smallest profit margin.
>   
>
Shame about this odd control system.

I fired up the Amiga version of the same, same graphics and the game 
uses normal arrow key conventions.

The Music can also be interrupted/bypassed. Athough it still uses those 
"beepy" notes, it does use 2 part harmony (2 channels).

I would have thought it may be possible under OS-9 to change a few 
things like add a better sound driver supporting Orchestra 90.

Nick

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