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Conference napalm::commusic_v1

Title:	* * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * *
Notice:	Conference has been write-locked. Use new version.
Moderator:	DYPSS1::SCHAFER

Created:	Thu Feb 20 1986
Last Modified:	Mon Aug 29 1994
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2852
Total number of notes:	33157

1902.0. "Sierra OnLine's MIDI compatible adventure games" by MOSAIC::LICHTENBERG (Mitch Lichtenberg) Thu Feb 09 1989 23:35

    
    It's a tough call to decide what conference something like this
    goes in, but since we hack MIDI in here, I thought it was appropriate!
    
    I recently purchased one of Sierra On-Line's latest IBMPC adventure
    games:  "Liesure Suit Larry II"... on the side of the box it listed
    IBM Music Feature and Roland MT32 as supported hardware!  It's worth
    $45 to find out what that meant!
    
    MIDI Games!  The program plays all of its music through the synthesizer
    (an MT32 plugged into an MPU401 is what I used), and many of the
    sound effects are generated that way as well.
    
    (For those not familiar with it, Liesure Suit Larry is a hilarious
    "Rated R" game).
    
    The music is well done, though I don't have much to compare it with.
    
    Makes you wonder though...  Sierra obviously spent a lot of time
    adding MIDI support to their adventure games - it will certainly
    be interesting to watch other game manufacturers take advantage
    of MIDI hardware...
    
    ... and you thought your computer/synths were only for sequencing...
    
    Has anyone else seen MIDIfied computer games?
    
    /Mitch.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1902.1	Arkanoid	KERNEL::FLOWERS	Hero of the Green Screen...	`Fri Feb 10 1989 09:41`	5
	Arkanoid for the Atari ST plays its theme through the MIDI ports.
1902.2	MIDIMaze	DYO780::SCHAFER	Brad - back in Ohio.	`Fri Feb 10 1989 09:50`	8
	There's a game out called MIDIMaze by Hybrid Arts (which is basically a version of "Nuke a Happy Face") that uses the MIDI ports not for music but to link multiple machines together (machine A plays against machine B plays against ... ad infinitium). S'pose someone will come up with an ST Ethernet adapter? -b
1902.3	Innovation Board	MUSKIE::ALLEN		`Fri Feb 10 1989 18:05`	9
	Spectrum Holobyte's new version of FALCON AT (the F16 flight simulator) has an offer in it for the INNOVATION board. I'm not quite sure how this board works, but apparently it does sound effects coordinated with the action of the program. If I read the insert correctly, you run the output of the INNOVATION board to an amplifier and speakers. The only drawback; the board alone costs $500.00!! clusters, Bill Allen
1902.4	but wait. there's more!	PAULJ::HARRIMAN	Raised on Chemical Beef	`Fri Feb 10 1989 18:56`	15
	...and MicroProse's F-19 Stealth simulation has a little card in it (and a coupon worth $50 off of) some gizmo which outputs stereo and is supposed to be a "sound and music enhancement" for your PC or clone. With the coupon it would be about 80 bucks. I dunno, do the bombs explode in stereo or something? If it put out MIDI it would be one thing, but noooo. Either way, I'm running out of slots for the PC. Good thing I use an Atari in the studio....! /pjh
1902.5	... and more!	MOSAIC::LICHTENBERG	Mitch Lichtenberg	`Sun Feb 12 1989 16:03`	19
	I just picked up "King's Quest IV" -- the back of the box says: "40 minutes of original music composed and performed by William Goldstien (Fame television series, Hello Again (a Touchstone film), Switched on Classics, (a top record album)" The sound really enhances the game (plays sad music that really makes you feel sad, during sad parts of the story). A computer with good graphics and a synthesizer would make an interesting machine for "digital music videos" -- put in a floppy disk and watch your music as it is played for you - MTV on disk! /Mitch.
1902.6	Beware of Strangers bearing Larry gifts...	ASAHI::COOPER	if(bucks .gt. 0) call music_store	`Mon Feb 13 1989 11:47`	6
	Beware of "freebee" versions of Leisure Suit Larry In The Land Of The Lounge Lizards... Some of them have been found with a virus that will clobber your PC...In fact, some of these have been found internal to DEC. jc
1902.7	Don't copy, BUY	MOSAIC::LICHTENBERG	Mitch Lichtenberg	`Tue Feb 14 1989 20:04`	16
	Yes, we know about the illegal copies... They were floating around here in PCSG a few months back (funny when we have hundreds of PC's...) Only Sierra's newer games support MIDI; older ones do not. I just finished the game -- this game makes use of a great number of MT32 voices and features. I have not been able to determine whether it loads custom patches in yet, but it does send many system exclusives to the MT32 (making it difficult to play with any other tone module). Since it sends out so much stuff, I usually patch my other gear out of the system (MX-8's are so nice...) to keep it from driving the other stuff crazy! /Mitch.