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Amiga Arne Audio Chip Upgrade +4 More Audio Chanpage  1 2 

Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
09 Nov 2022 10:22


Hello,

As you all know the Super AGA, Amiga Audio chip Arne does support ( Amiga hardware dma based audio channels. As it planned also for the AAA Amiga chipset by Commodore.

We are right working on upgrading this
to give you even more audio channels
= for a total of 12 channels.

More Audio channels give the coder more options for making better game sound.




Robo Kupka

Posts 51
09 Nov 2022 11:39


Will all 12 channels have the same capabilities ?


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
09 Nov 2022 12:27


Robo Kupka wrote:

Will all 12 channels have the same capabilities ?

Yes all channels have the same cababilities

All are AMIGA DMA based
All can be controlled by the CPU and the Copper
All support 8Bit, 16bit and 2x16bit (stereo) samples
All have 2 Volumes for Left and Right per channel = panning
All support "infinite" length
All support "ONESHOTMODE" which is very useful for SND FX playback and will automatically turn the channel off when finish the SND FX sample


Eric Gus

Posts 479
09 Nov 2022 17:34


Oh neat..

For reference what was Commodore originally going to have in their AAA chipset was it 8 or 12 as you are planning .. ?? Just curious.


Roy Gillotti

Posts 524
09 Nov 2022 17:55


Believe the intended Paula replacement (Mary) was supposed to be 8 Channels.




Kef Emzy

Posts 50
09 Nov 2022 18:02


Gunnar von Boehn wrote:

  Hello,
 
  As you all know the Super AGA, Amiga Audio chip Arne does support ( Amiga hardware dma based audio channels. As it planned also for the AAA Amiga chipset by Commodore.
 
  We are right working on upgrading this
  to give you even more audio channels
  = for a total of 12 channels.
 
  More Audio channels give the coder more options for making better game sound.
 
 

 
 
  Hey that's great news! I used to make a lot of music on my old A500 so 12 channel 16 bit is a great upgrade. Just one question, why not 16 channel? Are there technical limitations to get 16 channel audio?


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
09 Nov 2022 20:59


Kef Emzy wrote:

Just one question, why not 16 channel?

I hear you would like to have 16 channel?


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
10 Nov 2022 17:18


I did doublecheck this.

Yes 16 full Amiga audio channel are possible.


Livio Anglani

Posts 2
10 Nov 2022 18:23


Hi,
and why not 32 channels in order to support the maximum number of channels of milkytracker/fasttracker II 's xm modules ? :-)


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
10 Nov 2022 19:18


Livio Anglani wrote:

Hi,
  and why not 32 channels in order to support the maximum number of channels of milkytracker/fasttracker II 's xm modules ? :-)

I think its a question of cost and benefit.

milkytracker can today already play 32 channel on V4 system (using SW mixing). If you want to play MODs, this is possible today.

SW mixing of course eats valuable CPU.
In a game its nice to save CPU and to have "free" modplaying in HW + "free" SND FX.

Today Amiga games have to share the 4 channel for both :
To play a MOD and to play SNDFX.

With 4 channel this means the MOD needs be limited, and the SNDFX needs be limited. Like for example 3 channel Music, 1 channel SND FX.

With 8 HW channels this gets much better.
You can have a 4 Channel MOD plus at same time 4 Channel for SND FX.
This is totally different.

With 16 Channel you can even play a luxury 8 Channel MOD, plus have 8 channel for SND FX. Or any other combination with a total of 16.

I interviewed some coders and they all told me that they see huge advantage in 8 and 16 channel but see little need for more than 16 channel.

What is your opinion?
Have you coded some game?


Livio Anglani

Posts 2
10 Nov 2022 20:11


No, my interest is only in the quality of the music (made with FastTracker II or similar) that can be played without slowing down the system. 32 "hardwired" channels would be the top, I think. I do not doubt that in game programming 16 channels would be enough


DiscreetFX Studios

Posts 155
11 Nov 2022 04:54


This is fantastic news, thanx so much!


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
11 Nov 2022 07:13


Livio Anglani wrote:

No, my interest is only in the quality of the music (made with FastTracker II or similar)

I understand what you mean.
Milkytracker the offspring of Fastracker2 runs great on V4-cards.
As you will know some trackers support CPU coded effects.
So this topic is more than the number of channels.

We are in constant discussion with tracker coders on what are the ideal features the HW should provide.


Kef Emzy

Posts 50
12 Nov 2022 13:33


Gunnar von Boehn wrote:

  I hear you would like to have 16 channel?

Yes. For music purposes. 16 channels would be awesome.


Kef Emzy

Posts 50
12 Nov 2022 13:36


Gunnar von Boehn wrote:

I did doublecheck this.
 
  Yes 16 full Amiga audio channel are possible.

I know I'm in no good position to make any demands, but would you consider a 16 channel setup for an _old_ musician? I'm going to get a V4SA for x-mas, if there's availability.



NoXLar - DemoSceneLover

Posts 63
12 Nov 2022 16:58


@Kef Emzy
 
  As gunnar already mention, vampires and even 68k can already do 16,32 or more IF you have cpu power to handle the sound processing. what gunnar says you now get 12 hardware channels (dma) so cpu get offloaded.
   
  But for for 12c 080 cpu should be more than good enough to utilize the additional channels you might need 12c (hardware) - 4c (software)  without losing much cpu power.  off course, having 16 channels set in stone on all systems is off course best and most future proved.
 
  So, you can order V4SA for x-mas Kef:)))
 
  What i'm conserned about is the FC-PGA space availble is getting used up,  no going back once you add 16 dma channels. 
   
  I'm no pro in these.. just followed how v2 vent, and there might be features you want that you dont yet know about..  maybe more 3d capabilities or whatever.. 
 
  So don't kill me for my noobe theory lol

correct me if im wrong Gunnar:)
 


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
12 Nov 2022 19:07


noXLar -  DemoSceneLover wrote:

having 16 channels set in stone on all systems is off course best and most future proved.

We have full 16 Amiga hardware channel working now.
All with 8bit/16bit/32bit support.
And the FPGA usage is a little less than before.


NoXLar - DemoSceneLover

Posts 63
12 Nov 2022 20:16


Wow great progress:)  well done


Kef Emzy

Posts 50
13 Nov 2022 07:42


Gunnar von Boehn wrote:

noXLar -  DemoSceneLover wrote:

  having 16 channels set in stone on all systems is off course best and most future proved.
 

 
  We have full 16 Amiga hardware channel working now.
  All with 8bit/16bit/32bit support.
  And the FPGA usage is a little less than before.

Brilliant!


Krzysztof AT

Posts 48
15 Nov 2022 22:08


Hello,

I have a question about Arne. Is there any possibility to have a higher frequency via AHI? In AHI prefs i have only about 28khz.

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