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| Phonomenal! |
1988 - Game Blaster and LAPC-1
Game Blaster/Creative Music System
A certain form of stillbirth was brought on the market by Creative Music Systems (now Creative Labs) in the year of 1988.
Using the same name, they brought a sound card on the market, that a little later was marketed by Radio Shack, an electronics shop chain, as "Game Blaster".
Take 12 PC speakers, allow them a volume alteration of 16 steps, add a noise generator, that should reproduce 3 different drums, and allow moreover the playback in stereo. After all something, with which they could shine in opposite to AdLib!
AdLib offered essentially more for the money despite all, and so it only is comprehensible that this card didn't find any larger spread. However already at that time, Creative Labs understood secure themselves the support of game companies. In effect you still met a good mass of games, that nevertheless played "music" on this card. Unfortunately anyway, most games really only used it as multiplication of the speaker, instead of making use of its advanced capabilities.
Samples
| Monkey Island 1 | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Pretty good - better than PCJr, but can't reach AdLib | | Silpheed | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Not overwhelming | | Space Quest 3 | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Pretty bad example |
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Links
| FAQSys | Programmig the Game Blaster | | Mobygames | Games supporting the Game Blaster |
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Roland LAPC-1
Originally only marketed as external module under the name "MT-32", Roland dared the jump to the PC card, and reached something, which presumably nobody would have expected...
As well as in bundle with sierras games, as also individually available, the card admittedly came without its own software, but nevertheless offered something: 32 MIDI channels, however non-simultaneous 32 instruments - see "technical", with 12 bits D/A and 32 Khz mixing and reverb effect. 128 pre-defined instruments, above all however the possibility, to load his own instruments (patches), made this card a multi talent. If something should once be missing, you simply reload it!
Probably often, this was the case with the piano, because this instrument was reproduced by the card rather badly. However, it owns a brilliant drumset - 30 drums are pre-defined!
While some manufacturers merely converted their tracks from AdLib on Roland, the disgrace of the bad exploitation has not been so strongly represented in contrast to AdLib. In games, the music playback almost always sounds full and balanced using this card, depending on the skills of the composer, even today, this card should elicit some people a rapturous "wow!". It should surprise some so - the old games actually sounded THAT good!
However, all this had its price, namely approximately $500, that not everyone wanted to or could pay. So, this card occured only a low spread. And even today, it is rather rarely to get over Ebay - and if, then not quite cheap.
Admittedly the MIDI playback is (because it is nothing else that it does), after present-day standards rather mediocre. However one also should see on that occasion, that this is merely the only card fully compatible with the "Roland" option of many old games, only this one supports, what newer cards, that call itself "LAPC-compatible", even Roland's own, can't do - namely the upload of instruments. Otherwise it can occur that a laser shot suddenly sounds like a piano.
Only Roland's external synths represented an alternative, namely MT-32, CM-32L, CM-64, MT-100 and CM-500 - in connection with an MPU-401 compatible sound card. An interesting detail was that lots of game producers showed their names on the module display.
Whoever puts value on compatibility with old games simply can't avoid this card, or one of these external modules!
Samples
| Monkey Island 1 | | [OGG] [MP3] | | This is how it should actually sound like | | Monkey Island 2 | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Even a bit better and uses own samples | | Silpheed | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Also a very good tune | | Space Quest 3 | | [OGG] [MP3] | | The same goes here... | | Ski or Die | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Electrifying saxophone - unusual, bot good! | | X-Wing | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Probably Star Wars was composed using this card?! | | Descent | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Descent I intro by using official Roland GM Patch |
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Technical
The LAPC was based on the MT-32 chipset, an external synth of Roland. "LA" stands on this case for "Linear Algorythmic" and explains itself as follows:
Wavetable, as we know it, usually plays only one sample from memory at different pitches.
Possibly, an instrument could consist of several "layers" - a superimposition of different samples for an instrument.
LA tried to refine this principle, specifically Attack, Sustain, Decay and Release are individually calculated and overlaid. So, the different playback speeds didn't come too much inforeground, and one got a very true image of the original instrument.
If then layering was used as well, up to 4 (!) channels were covered for just one instrument. The LAPC-1 therefore was theoretical only in the position of playing 8 instruments simultaneously.
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Links
| MT FAQ | FAQ by Juho Sippola concerning second hand Roland Synths | | Mobygames | Games supporting the LAPC-1 |
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