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KQ1 Booter PC Speaker sound not fully emulated

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First post, by SilentSam

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Hi All,
I did some pretty in depth forum searching on this one, but found nothing. In dosbox, for the KQ1 PC Booter, the PC speaker is missing a lot of the sound effects found in on the true PC/XT machine. I used a custom .conf file, forcing dosbox to cga mode with no other sound devices available except for the PC speaker (at 22050 sample rate). My CPU cycles are at 300.

Sound effects that are missing are the low register ones:
1) Wolf running
2) Graham drowning
3) Giant walking
4) Graham dead
5) Gnome walking

However all the high register notes such as the never ending bird chirp are still there. Am I doing something wrong, or will these sounds never be audible? I can record an audible sample from the original game if anyone wants.

Dan

My floppies are 5 1/4"

Reply 1 of 9, by Great Hierophant

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Yes, those sounds are only heard on the PCjr./Tandy 1000 booter versions. They make use of a sound chip which is found in them and not in an IBM PC or compatible.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 3 of 9, by collector

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There are sounds at those points with machine=tandy. I can't say about the booter.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 5 of 9, by SilentSam

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Here are some samples. You'll have to turn the volume up to hear them. I had to open up the PC/XT and practically put the mic on the speaker to record them, so I don't think I can get them any clearer, my apologies.

Attachments

  • Filename
    drowning.wav.mp3
    File size
    444.9 KiB
    Downloads
    267 downloads
    File comment
    Graham walking into the water, and drowning.
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • Filename
    rapids.wav.mp3
    File size
    474.49 KiB
    Downloads
    256 downloads
    File comment
    Graham walking by any moving water.
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

My floppies are 5 1/4"

Reply 6 of 9, by Great Hierophant

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I tried the booter on my IBM PC Model 5150, and did notice the sounds as recorded. They are so low that I had not really noticed them before.

The sound seems to be virtually the same throughout the instances described. It can also be heard during the almost-omnipresent bird chirping, in between the two distinct chirps.

I am not sure that Sierra intended those sounds to be heard, and if you were in a rather noisy environment or your hearing was less than clear, you may be unable to discern it. Since Sierra developed the game for the PCjr.'s sound chip, these extra sounds may be generated by some overlooked code in the sound routines.

It could very well mean that the physical properties of the actual speaker cone may be generating the sound.

The sounds described are very difficult to make out with all the background hiss and noise in the recordings. I would best describe the sound as something very similar to a telephone using pulse dialing on some phones.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 8 of 9, by Qbix

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have you tried increasing the emulated pcspeaker rate?
This allows us to emulate higher bleeps

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

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