Dedicated Amiga lover Paulee Alex Bow is back with another terrific episode of Magical Synth Adventure – and this time, they’re using Amiga software as live processing for guitar, with delicious results.
The results are decidedly lo-fi: get ready, for instance, for the sound of an 8-bit DAC running at 28 kHz. But there is some great software there, and you can get even more chip-like, turning that sample rate down. (Part of me also still wants to try this with an emulator, too, though I know that kills part of the fun.)
And you get lots of goodness – amplitude modulation, delay, everything you can think of.
If you’re pressed for time, 11:10 is “the best part of the video.” (Awwww….)
This is also a great showcase for vintage sound tools, combining custom software with peripherals to handle digitizing audio. There’s Techno Sound Turbo 2, which provides 8-bit mono and stereo sampling via the Amiga’s parallel (!) port. The variable sample rate alone is fascinating (and maybe something to play with in software, developers, cough) – I’m guessing part of the “turbo” part is the ability to overclock sample rates. So you could run from around 3.5 khz to 50.5 kHz, with a “special” 85 kHz mode. (If you want to see me squirm, type the wrong capitalization of kHz. Sorry.)
The Big Book of Amiga Hardware has more, including this gorgeous box, and the peculiar suggestion that you should bring out FUN TIME and “liven up that party or disco” by, if I read this right, talking like a Dalek or Darth Vader. Uh, sure, “Awful The Duck” will save your party. (Okay, DJ name. Taken. It’s mine, you can’t have it. And do they mean Howard?)
“Awful The Duck” will save your party. Also – “Become the Emporer of Sound”!
You also get a look at Real-Time Sound Processor II by Adept Software, which is the software component of Adept’s Home Music Kit. (The software seems to be on Archive.org.) That’s also on the Big Book of Amiga Hardware site – in fact, check their huge audio list.
Again, kudos to the music copywriters of yore. Stop saying “gamechanger” and start saying “Become the Emporer of Sound.” SOLD. I’m taking this home from Babbage’s for sure after reading that box! “Shape the sound to your every whim and wish!” Jeez, how we’ve fallen; now we just want the plug-in to pass the validator after an OS update.
Look, no one has had this much fun since the video game whatever that means!
Good stuff. Check out all of Paulee’s music as it does sound genuinely nice.
Poking around for other information, I stumbled across this useful overview (maybe there are better ones, though, feel free to say so in comments):
Revolutionary Graphics and Sound: The Legacy of the Amiga Computer [commodorehistory.com]
Oh, to Paulee’s point about whether you’d be crazy enough to use this live – I think some chip artists totally have. (I’m straining a bit as I forget who used it for effects rather than synthesis
For more on sampling, here’s another guide:
And a demo of Sound Probe doing its take on real-time effects:
And it’s not really related to this article, but … here’s the opening from The Duel: Test Drive II on Amiga because, well, it’s awesome. (I actually played this on DOS, where it sounded nowhere near this good.)
Life is good. Amiga forever.