VOGONS


First post, by thepirategamerboy12

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Does such a thing exist? I think I remember hearing about something like this for the Covox Speech Thing, but it'd obviously be way more useful if there was something for either Sound Blaster or Windows Sound System cards (presumably via sampling.) Thanks.

Reply 1 of 11, by creepingnet

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Nothing I know of yet but I know keenerb on VCFED is working on a expansion board that would allow that capability to more than just PC Jr. and the Tandy 1K series....

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?546 … -Compatible-PCB

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 2 of 11, by Jo22

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

As creepingnet said. The only other "thing" in this respect that come to mind is Tand-Em,
but that's more of PC emulator than a pure Tandy 3-Voice Emulation. It does support Sound Blaster, though.

Besides, there's also a soundcard with built-in covox compatibility.
It's one of the Sound Galaxy series (Pro 16 ?), I believe.

Attachments

  • tandem.png
    Filename
    tandem.png
    File size
    34.42 KiB
    Views
    2029 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 3 of 11, by Scali

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
thepirategamerboy12 wrote:

Does such a thing exist? I think I remember hearing about something like this for the Covox Speech Thing, but it'd obviously be way more useful if there was something for either Sound Blaster or Windows Sound System cards (presumably via sampling.) Thanks.

It shouldn't be too difficult to convert the output from Covox to single-sample output on the Sound Blaster DSP.
I have the source of the emulator somewhere, and I've already modified it earlier to make it redirect the Tandy data from port C0 to another port, so it played on 386+ where the C0 port is used by the second DMA controller, and the Tandy clone card would have to be installed on another port.

http://scalibq.wordpress.com/just-keeping-it- … ro-programming/

Reply 4 of 11, by Great Hierophant

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
thepirategamerboy12 wrote:

Does such a thing exist? I think I remember hearing about something like this for the Covox Speech Thing, but it'd obviously be way more useful if there was something for either Sound Blaster or Windows Sound System cards (presumably via sampling.) Thanks.

It is TEMU or nothing, and it doesn't work with the Windows Sound System.

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

Reply 5 of 11, by Art

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Scali wrote on 2017-03-14, 06:27:
thepirategamerboy12 wrote:

Does such a thing exist? I think I remember hearing about something like this for the Covox Speech Thing, but it'd obviously be way more useful if there was something for either Sound Blaster or Windows Sound System cards (presumably via sampling.) Thanks.

It shouldn't be too difficult to convert the output from Covox to single-sample output on the Sound Blaster DSP.
I have the source of the emulator somewhere, and I've already modified it earlier to make it redirect the Tandy data from port C0 to another port, so it played on 386+ where the C0 port is used by the second DMA controller, and the Tandy clone card would have to be installed on another port.

I found the source code of TEMU (https://github.com/volkertb/temu-vsb) and I tried to figure out how to convert the TEMU output to Sound Blaster, but it's too complicated for me. Does anyone know how to do it?

It would be very useful for example for playing games like Zak McKracken on an ordinary PC with Sound Blaster.

Reply 6 of 11, by creepingnet

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Great Hierophant wrote on 2017-03-25, 19:47:
thepirategamerboy12 wrote:

Does such a thing exist? I think I remember hearing about something like this for the Covox Speech Thing, but it'd obviously be way more useful if there was something for either Sound Blaster or Windows Sound System cards (presumably via sampling.) Thanks.

It is TEMU or nothing, and it doesn't work with the Windows Sound System.

Not veering too far off but Yeah, not much works with Windows Sound System in pure DOS. Unless a game specifically has a driver for it - usually later VGA SCI era Sierra titles - and a few Multimedia games like 7th Guest and Under a Killing Moon. The only time DOS stuff works with SoundBlaster emulation on WSS is when the vendor specifically provides support, or you are running DOS stuff from Windows and the SOundBlaster Emulation driver is installed.

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 7 of 11, by Art

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Art wrote on 2021-01-07, 13:37:
Scali wrote on 2017-03-14, 06:27:

It shouldn't be too difficult to convert the output from Covox to single-sample output on the Sound Blaster DSP.
I have the source of the emulator somewhere, and I've already modified it earlier to make it redirect the Tandy data from port C0 to another port, so it played on 386+ where the C0 port is used by the second DMA controller, and the Tandy clone card would have to be installed on another port.

I found the source code of TEMU (https://github.com/volkertb/temu-vsb) and I tried to figure out how to convert the TEMU output to Sound Blaster, but it's too complicated for me. Does anyone know how to do it?

It would be very useful for example for playing games like Zak McKracken on an ordinary PC with Sound Blaster.

I tried to modify the source code again, but without any success. The source code looks quite simple and annotated, but all I achieved was a click sound and then silence. I tried to find some examples of this type of code on the internet, but all I found was many examples of playing samples through Sound Blaster. Does anyone know some examples of simple assembler code for DOS which emulates any sound card through Sound Blaster?

Reply 8 of 11, by Jo22

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Art wrote on 2021-01-08, 08:50:

Does anyone know some examples of simple assembler code for DOS which emulates any sound card through Sound Blaster?

There is, but I can't really remember one good example right now.
However, the QuickBasic 4.5/QBasic community wrote some multimedia code (DirectQB etc), which might contain inline assembly.

Also, the OPL2 or OPL3 could also be used as a simple DAC.
In fact, I once had been using a Gameboy emulator on DOS that used the OPL as an output device.
It perhaps didn't use it as a DAC, though, but as a tone generator (ie, the square wave music sounded FM-like).

Edit: Typos fixed.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 9 of 11, by Art

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Yes, OPL2 or OPL3 could be useful in this case, too. I also saw some 8-bit computers emulators with this type of sound and although it wasn't perfect, it was useful and still much better than PC speaker.

But I think that it would be much easier to modify the TEMU output from the Covox DAC to the Sound Blaster DAC than to write a completely new sound emulator. I think it's just necessary to initialize Sound Blaster and send the TEMU sound data to some other addresses than Covox, but I can't figure out how exactly.

I also found an assembler source code of a small ZX Spectrum emulator which uses the Sound Blaster DAC to emulate a similar 3-voice square wave sound chip, but unfortunately it didn't help me. Probably it's a work for someone who is better in assembler programming or someone who is familiar with sound emulation.

Reply 10 of 11, by Art

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Here is the assembler source code of the small ZX Spectrum emulator with the Sound Blaster output:
http://bacteria.speccy.org/de.htm
It's the only example I found, but maybe it will help someone who would like to modify TEMU.

Reply 11 of 11, by creepingnet

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Art wrote on 2021-01-10, 23:47:

Yes, OPL2 or OPL3 could be useful in this case, too. I also saw some 8-bit computers emulators with this type of sound and although it wasn't perfect, it was useful and still much better than PC speaker.

But I think that it would be much easier to modify the TEMU output from the Covox DAC to the Sound Blaster DAC than to write a completely new sound emulator. I think it's just necessary to initialize Sound Blaster and send the TEMU sound data to some other addresses than Covox, but I can't figure out how exactly.

I also found an assembler source code of a small ZX Spectrum emulator which uses the Sound Blaster DAC to emulate a similar 3-voice square wave sound chip, but unfortunately it didn't help me. Probably it's a work for someone who is better in assembler programming or someone who is familiar with sound emulation.

Well, there WAS a program called sndedit for DOS that was used to compose tunes for the Sierra AGI engine (Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge LIzards, Space Quest, King's Quest I-III, Goldrush) and that did use SoundBlaster to emulate the composition, but I don't know how much o a help that program would be. It did not sound like a Tandy though, it sounded like an OPL stuck on one patch for all voices.

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/