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Reply 80 of 139, by noop

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Hey, how's the interview project going?

One minor correction:

Scali wrote:

I mean, even the legendary SID chip used by the Commodore 64 wasn't actually developed specifically for that machine. It was a cut-down version of a synthesizer design that originally had 32 voices. The limited technology would only allow 3 voices in a single chip at the time (and some other features of the design also had to be dropped). So the designer, Bob Yannes, thought you should just use multiple SID chips to build the full synthesizer.

Bob did not finish the design of the chip he wanted, which would do time-multiplexing of all 32 digital channels in one oscillator circuit and instead slapped 3 copies of that incomplete circuit without ability to use digital samples as a source, only getting 3 voices. Originally planned chip would not take more space, it just was too hard for him to finish within given time frame, so he basically salvaged incomplete parts of it into what we now know as SiD.

Reply 81 of 139, by Beegle

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noop wrote:

Hey, how's the interview project going?

It's moving forward indeed.
Last time I posted last Fall, I had started cutting things (hesitations, silences, repetitions) and reorganizing based on subjects discussed.
There are 100+ of these little "groups" now, ranging from 45 seconds to 3 minutes each.
I've got about 25% left to go. For now. That is painstakingly long, but it's the step with the most minutiae, which is a good thing.

In other news, I have found Mike_Rosoft talking about Adlib Multimedia, in an old newspaper. Still no answers through email though.

Other interesting info :
- Henri mentions Moog synths a few times. I'm in talks with Moog for visual material to include in the film.
- Korg instruments are mentioned as well. I've got the green light from Korg to show relevant machines as the interviewees explain working with them.
- A notable and well-known synth composer is mentioned, and declined to be even referenced in the film. So that part will be cut.
- I'm in talks with new people to interview as there are a few missing pieces, especially regarding the time "before" AdLib
- Found a few approachable people to talk about other aspects of AdLib, AdLib Multimedia, Mediatrix, but haven't contacted them yet.
- Found audio recordings from 1991-1993 at the National Assembly, that talk about the government accepting, then declining, to back AdLib near the end
- In talks with the City of Quebec for archival images from the 80s.
- In talks with the McCord museum, they have a document shown in the film in relation to AdLib
- Researching the national library for newspaper articles mentioning AdLib, in progress
- In contact with 3 television channels regarding video footage, news segments, etc. Got 1 answer for now.

So basically the editing is going strong (16+ hours per week) and research is accelerating (8+ hours per week)
Not much else to say apart from that. But the near-completion of the current step in Sony Vegas is giving me hope for the future : this is probably the toughest milestone of the project, and I'm slowly getting there. So yay!

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 82 of 139, by noop

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Great progress!! Keep it up!

Beegle wrote:

- A notable and well-known synth composer is mentioned, and declined to be even referenced in the film. So that part will be cut.

Does he have a right to demand that?

Reply 83 of 139, by Beegle

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noop wrote:
Beegle wrote:

- A notable and well-known synth composer is mentioned, and declined to be even referenced in the film. So that part will be cut.

Does he have a right to demand that?

Legally speaking, no. In a documentary that has an educational/informative purpose (atleast in the US and Canada) I can mention and describe pretty much anything.

But my personal courtesy is to ask people their permission on top of that for
- being mentioned by interviewees
- being shown, as they are mentioned (archive footage, images, etc.)

But anyway, for that specific part, the mention was tangential and not very important to the main idea anyway, so it's not a huge loss in terms of information.

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 84 of 139, by Scali

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Is that 'notable and well-known' in the world of computers/game music, or as in mainstream music industry (thinking of Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Harold Faltermeyer and that sort of artist)?

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

Reply 85 of 139, by Beegle

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Scali wrote:

Is that 'notable and well-known' in the world of computers/game music, or as in mainstream music industry (thinking of Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Harold Faltermeyer and that sort of artist)?

Not computer/game music, and I would say less mainstream than Jarre and Vangelis.

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 86 of 139, by Great Hierophant

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It sounds like

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Put 'em in the footnotes/director's commentary 😜

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

Reply 87 of 139, by Beegle

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Great Hierophant wrote:

It sounds like [someone's has a skeleton in the closet] Put 'em in the footnotes/director's commentary 😜

🤣
Given how insulted/snooty their rep's answer felt, it's tempting but we'll see. For now I've got bigger fish to fry.

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 88 of 139, by Beegle

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By the way, I never got to uploading this :
Prototype AdLib. There's quite a few changes between this, and the official 1987 release. Enjoy!

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P.S. It's not mine 😉

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 89 of 139, by Scali

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Interesting prototype!
That hole in the PCB is intriguing. It seems there was something glued on there at some point. Also, it appears that just above it, there are two connections, which appear to trace down to the output.
So to me it looks like there may have been an onboard speaker installed in that hole at some point.

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

Reply 90 of 139, by root42

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Scali wrote:

Interesting prototype!
That hole in the PCB is intriguing. It seems there was something glued on there at some point. Also, it appears that just above it, there are two connections, which appear to trace down to the output.
So to me it looks like there may have been an onboard speaker installed in that hole at some point.

Which is supported by the fact that the traces lead to the headphone jack.

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80486DX@33 MHz, 16 MiB RAM, Tseng ET4000 1 MiB, SnarkBarker & GUSar Lite, PC MIDI Card+X2+SC55+MT32, OSSC

Reply 91 of 139, by 640K!enough

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Beegle wrote:
Great Hierophant wrote:

It sounds like [someone's has a skeleton in the closet] Put 'em in the footnotes/director's commentary 😜

🤣
Given how insulted/snooty their rep's answer felt, it's tempting but we'll see. For now I've got bigger fish to fry.

If that's their attitude, it seems more appropriate to let them rot in obscurity, rather than give them the benefit of free advertising.

Beegle wrote:

By the way, I never got to uploading this :
Prototype AdLib. There's quite a few changes between this, and the official 1987 release. Enjoy!

That is an interesting prototype. I'm glad they did away with the on-board speaker (if that's really what it was). In addition to the atrocious, muffled sound that is likely to have offered, some older desktop designs placed the hard disk quite close to the slots; that could have been bad news. Keep that away from your expensive Hardcard!

Reply 92 of 139, by Beegle

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As the AdLib documentary project is nearing 300GB+ in size, I'd like to have your input on backup solutions/methodology. Any ideas?

Currently my workflow is as follows :
- I have an external SSD drive onto which I edit the documentary, by inserting it in a slide-in drive bay on the PC (and removing after)
- When I'm done editing for the day, I save the project, and email myself the latest Vegas project file (I save incrementally)
- Every few days I backup the project files on internal HDDs in the PC (in RAID 0)
- Every few weeks I do a full backup of the project on a NAS located in my house
- I have an external HDD at work with a copy of the source files (videos, audio) since these don't change

My questions :
- Are there methods of creating a batch file that would do the RAID backup + NAS backup + send the email with one click?
- Do you think of something better that would facilitate my life, and make the project safer in case of fire/theft/data corruption/other?
- Is there something obvious that I should be doing differently?

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 93 of 139, by Beegle

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Scali wrote:

So to me it looks like there may have been an onboard speaker installed in that hole at some point.

640K!enough wrote:

I'm glad they did away with the on-board speaker (if that's really what it was).

I can confirm that there was indeed a speaker at some point, as mentioned in the interview when Vincent describes the steps needed to design the card from scratch.

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 94 of 139, by MobyGamer

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Beegle wrote:

- Do you think of something better that would facilitate my life, and make the project safer in case of fire/theft/data corruption/other?

It would be much easier instead to simply invest in cloud blackup. BackBlaze has an "unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth" plan that you could easily use on just your editing system and tell BackBlaze to just "back up everything". After about a weekend of uploading, it will then upload any files that change. Since your assets are under 1TB, this is feasible, and your source assets haven't changed in two years so they won't need to be uploaded constantly, only your project and intermediate files.

(Note that I recommend the above in addition to you performing your own off-site backups. Do not use only backblaze as your backup solution.)

I've been editing digital video on PCs since the early 1990s (not a typo) so if you would like specific advice on how to finish this longform project, feel free to send me a PM or email me.

Reply 95 of 139, by Beegle

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MobyGamer wrote:

It would be much easier instead to simply invest in cloud blackup.

Good idea. I've added a cloud backup to my arsenal, and since my connection was basic ADSL (8mbps DL/800kbps UP) I also tried upgrading it to VDSL instead to have better upload speeds... I achieved the goal partially (doubled : now 15mbps DL, 2mbps UP) but still a slow connection compared to most of you probably. Not much I can do as the infrastructure in my area is decrepit - the poor guy installing my 2nd line had trouble finding cables leading to central, that didn't have parasites/short-circuits. And no, fiber-optics is not available for some reason.

MobyGamer wrote:

I've been editing digital video on PCs since the early 1990s (not a typo) so if you would like specific advice on how to finish this longform project, feel free to send me a PM or email me.

Oldest editing system I used was Media100 in the early 2000s. Maybe they were around earlier? I can't however begin to understand how slow editing software would have been in the early 90s computers... hats off to you! This said, I appreciate the help offer, and will certainly get in touch - got a few puzzles for which a 2nd opinion would be nice.

Finally, I've found the time to make myself an auto-backup utility that I run from a batch file. It backups all new/changed files locally on the PC (raid array) and on a NAS as well. Quite happy on how it turned out, and how much time it saves me.

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The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 96 of 139, by Beegle

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Just a quick update, lots of stuff has moved forward since last year.

Editing
- Editing of the first interview has reached a critical point where all the fluff has been cut out, discussions over a similar subject matter have been grouped, and now I'm left with ~80 morsels of interview (of 1 to 6 minutes each) that I have to rearrange and merge to become more linear.
- Sound timing issues have been fixed completely

Video/B-Roll
- I have started capturing images of Quebec city, many in timelapse, to complement the interview.
- I have mandated a cinematographer friend to film B-Roll of the Claridge building, old headquarters of the AdLib company
- Planning on getting more video of historical spots in the city.
- I have received an AdLib Clone PCB with all the components, recently, to build an 1990 AdLib from scratch. Hoping to have one of the technicians (possibly Vincent) for AdLib build and solder it in front of a camera while answering questions and telling us some trivia.

Interviews
I am in contact with new people regarding interviews ...
- Paul Marcoux (composer)
- Jacques Benoit (lead technician and lead programmer)
- Bernard Motulsky (administrator)
- Julie Beaulieu (secretary/administration)

Help
- Significant other is helping with research of archives from the Canadian government, notably recordings of the National Assembly where they discussed the fate of AdLib before the bankruptcy.
- Friend is helping me research old USENET articles and messages concerning AdLib, specifically statements and stories about AdLib made by Rich Heimlich who I'm planning on interviewing at some point.
- I'm flying to TX next week, and will try to meet with the people from the Video Game Museum, see if they can help the project in some way.
- Good discussions with Karen Collins about documentary-making, as well as MobyGamer on the same subject. You guys rock, and your experience helps a lot.

Research
- I'm doing a lot of research about the AdLib card's serial numbers, which are a good indicator of how many of the cards were really produced. Earliest S/N I've seen is around 13000, and latest around 165000.

Review
- I have started having people around me review and listen to parts of the edited interview, and tell me if they appreciate the flow of the ideas, and if they notice the cuts between different moments of the interview (while speaking of a same subject). So far the response is very positive, and the cuts are nearly not noticeable. It seems my strategy/method for editing is really paying off.

That's it for now!
As soon as I have a reviewable tidbit (with subtitles) I'll post it here 😀

The more sound cards, the better.
AdLib documentary : Official Thread
Youtube Channel : The Sound Card Database

Reply 97 of 139, by hard1k

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Oh my. If you need any other support, please tell us.

Fortex, the A3D & XG/OPL3 accelerator (Vortex 2 + YMF744 combo sound card)
AWE64 Legacy
Please have a look at my wishlist (hosted on Amibay)

Reply 99 of 139, by chinny22

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"I have received an AdLib Clone PCB with all the components, recently, to build an 1990 AdLib from scratch. Hoping to have one of the technicians (possibly Vincent) for AdLib build and solder it in front of a camera while answering questions and telling us some trivia"
-Awesome idea

I remember when you started this thread (all the way back in in 2015!) I was expecting a unpolished youtube video, but now your talking about b-roll and stuff your putting something together that even goes beyond say LGR's tech tales!

This is gonna be cool once done 😀