Prosystemsearch Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Well, which is better overall, in your opinions? The ALF music maker card that has 3 sound channels per individual card and gives Apple ][ more flexible musical liberty, but can only do music(no sound effects support), or the Mockingboard sound card from Sweet Microsystems that is capable of handling both music and sound effects as well as Voice synthesis., but not nearly as many officially released titles compatible with it it,(games included) In the end, which is the more dynamic and versatile of the two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Wasn't the ALF based on a custom synthesizer circuit?I don't think you'll find any 3rd party software that supported ALF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbee Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Yeah, I'm unaware of any games that supported the ALF card - it's supported in MESS mostly as a curiosity. There's new Mockingboard software coming out even this year though (French Touch's latest). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 Adding pic of mocking board v1 for reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 .. or the Mockingboard sound card from Sweet Microsystems that is capable of handling both music and sound effects as well as Voice synthesis., but not nearly as many officially released titles compatible with it it,(games included) .. That makes it sound like the ALF card has many more officially released compatible titles, which confuses me as I've never heard of it... How many titles does it support? (Off to google!!) desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 That makes it sound like the ALF card has many more officially released compatible titles, which confuses me as I've never heard of it... How many titles does it support? (Off to google!!) desiv By titles I don't mean just games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I think the ALF was pretty much dead as a product after the Mockingboard came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 By titles I don't mean just games. Ah! Yeah.. Still doesn't help.. I'm assuming that means there were lots of non-games then that supported the ALF? Hmmm.. Google doesn't have much on it that I've found (other than it's make up, existence and some models; but not much about titles).. desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 I think the ALF was pretty much dead as a product after the Mockingboard came out. hey, what makes you so sure of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 hey, what makes you so sure of that? I'm not sure of that but the only stuff I saw for ALF was music software and I don't remember seeing the hardware advertised for sale after a few years. Can you name more than two or three programs that support it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 The ALF uses 4 SN76489 chips.http://apple2online.com/web_documents/ALF%20Apple%20Music%20II%20Owner's%20Manual%20KB.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbee Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 So, Prosystem, you care to point us to any titles that supported the ALF? All I could find to test the emulation was the actual ALF music player disks that the Apple II Documentation Project has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 FWIW, the ALF doesn't have a timer but the Mockingboard uses VIA chips to interface the AY sound chips and those have timers. That may be a key reason why the Mockingboard was a success and the ALF wasn't.Plus, AY chips may have fewer sound channels but can generate more complex sounds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 FWIW, the ALF doesn't have a timer but the Mockingboard uses VIA chips to interface the AY sound chips and those have timers. That may be a key reason why the Mockingboard was a success and the ALF wasn't. Plus, AY chips may have fewer sound channels but can generate more complex sounds. True. The AY chips may be able do to this despite having less total sound channels because of 1. more octaves and 2. the nature of its design. Also, I think games like the 8-bit Apple ][ Marble madness,, Tetris 2(homebrew title) and a few platformers used music made by the ALF music card. I could be wrong on this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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