Conference hydra::amiga_v1

130.0. "I came, I saw, I yawned..." by JOKE::ACCIARDI () Fri Oct 03 1986 23:53

    I got my chance to check out the new ][GS today at Computerland.
    The store was empty, but the GS was running a rolling demo.  The sound is
    good, but I think the voices were digitized.  It was playing some
    Jazz music, and you could hear 4 or 5 seperate voices playing. 
    There is definately NO STEREO OUTPUT, tho' they were piping the
    sound thru a set of Bose speakers.  I don't think the sound chip
    has anything over the Amiga in terms of quality, just lots more
    voices.  Ironically, guess who designed the Ensonique chip?
    Ex-Commodore guys who did the SID chip from the 64.
    
    The graphics were really poor, even the "Super Hi-res" mode.  16
    colors just can't cut it when you're used to 32.  The real
    dissapointment is the 80 column text.  It is almost unreadable on
    the RGB monitor, although they claimed it was a Sony!  The worst
    mode was the Apple][e composite 80 column.  It was ABSOLUTELY UN
    READABLE!  No one should ever complain about Amy's 80 column text
    until they see this dog.  ST owners can bask in their non-interlaced
    glory...
    
    Disk access times also seemed slow, although the drives are real
    jewels with electric ejection.  The Amiga drives seem much cheaper,
    (which they are).   
    
    The system price?  $2400.00 for CPU, RGB Monitor, and 2 drives.
    Of course, to get ][e compatibility, you need a 5 1/4 in drive for
    $300.00.  
    
    This means that a fully loaded 256K machine with (2) 5 1/4 inch
    drives will cost $3000.00!!!!
    
    No wonder the store was empty.  I asked if they sold any, and the
    salesnurd replied "Oh, lots, but the number is a secret"  
    
    So, ST owners, rejoice!! For a fraction of the price, your machine
    is faster, sexier, has much prettier color graphics and unbeatable
    mono.  Amiga owners, for a bit more money, you get even better
    graphics, speed, multitasking, blitting, and stereo sound.
    
    I dont't know if the ][GS will be a hit or not, but if it is, I'll
    be scratching my head for a long time.

    Actually, with regard to the Ensonique chip in the //gs, I'm certainly
    no GS fan (I still am a 1977-vintage integer-basic ][ fan at heart
    though!).... the Ensonique chip is the same one used in several
    high-end sythesizers.  I believe it is used in the Emu and Ensonique
    line machines.  The //gs definately has formidable audio capabilities,
    the beastie would be a nice machine if it was priced about the same
    as a Commodore 64...  speaking of which... considering it was developed
    in 1981, the SID in the 64 WAS a pretty nice accomplishment.. (that
    is, just because the same guy did both chips, doesn't mean the 1986/7
    //gs has the same level of audio capabilities as the C64!!!)
    
    Once again.. I'm no //gs fan!  I am a sort of syntho-buff though!

    Yes, the Ensonique is a wonderful chip, designed by Bob Yannes,
    I believe.  However, Apple has been having problems getting good
    yields on this chip.  They bought the rights to manufacture the
    chip themselves.
    
    One ][GS that I heard sounded excellent, (again, no stereo...),
    but another one had very poor sound quality.  My brother in law
    works for Apple, and has confirmed that the yields on that chip
    are very low.  
    
    Anyway, no doubt they will eventually solve the problems with the
    sound chip.  Even so, I don't really beilive that the ][GS is very
    much of an issue to either Atari or Commodore.