----- Original Message ----- From: Aley Keprt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Sam Users <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2001 6:10 PM Subject: Did you know this? [continued]
> And, of course, to make it a bit harder, GameBlaster has a different clock > (28kHz) compared to approx. 31kHz on Sam, so some "emulation" will be > needed. 'Approx'? Is this why the hz settings for standard diatonic scale are so shonky (=badly simulated)? The tone numbers in the Technical Manual are fairly logical, but the hz output can be out by as much as .25hz...... 'Who cares?!' shouts SAMlist people. (Mind if I go off topic for a bit?) Well, amazingly enough, anyone who uses diatonic harmony (ie standard western): Anyone who plays music on mathmatically accurate frequencies over 5 octaves or more, are in for a really 'sharp' musical surprise. It goes well out of tune! This tuning is called 'natural tuning' and is used in modern music with prepared pianos (sticks and stones placed on the strings!) and other _interesting_ sounding John Cage-y crap. Most people use the 'well-tuned clavier' (normal piano), which is technically inaccurate but sounds 'right'. In most 8-bit soundchips there simply aren't enough sound registers for this to be very important, as bad tuning only becomes noticeable with lots of notes (this is why dance music is so harmonically basic). But the SAM's got 6 registers, so maybe it's worth thinking about. I'm guessing this is the reason why the Commodore 64 sounded good enough to put in 80s pop songs, (the ADSR is a red herring), unless anyone knows better....? The other reason it sounded so good could have been the waves it had - sawtooth, square wave etc. -howard
