23 Feb
2017
23 Feb
'17
11:19 a.m.
From: Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon at
hotmail.com>
I always thought music in the old days was more about MIDI and letting
something designed for it do the work ala Usenix Nashville 1991.
The MIDI control
standard wasn't even finalized until 1983, and it
took a couple years to really proliferate after that. Most computers
at the time required a dedicated MIDI adapter because of its unusual
baud rate (31.25Kbaud, not one supported by most standard UART setups)
- the Mac, Amiga, and Atari ST could all handle MIDI with nothing more
than a breakout box (or, in the ST's case, its onboard ports,) but
those didn't roll out until 1984-1985.
Prior to that, most "computer music" was either using a few
proprietary computer-to-synthesizer interfaces such as Roland's DCB or
the DK Synergy's dedicated Kaypro software, or using onboard DACs or
simple PSG-style tone generators as being discussed here.