From: snakey@exp3.wam.umd.edu (David R.) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2.programmer Subject: Ensoniq Free Run mode... Date: 28 Nov 1995 23:14:59 GMT Organization: University of Maryland College Park Message-ID: <49g55j$g0t@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> Anyone know if it's possible to write data into an oscilator's buffer when the osc is in free run mode, as a waveform is playing? Assuming that you can do this, and that you can code the timing well enough so that the Ensoniq never "catches up" to where you are updating it, and where you are updating it never "catches up" to where the Ensoniq is playing, there are some pretty interesting things you could do... I have been thinking about this for a few days, and have come to the conclusion that there are seem to be two Ensoniq myths... 1) Swap mode "sounds better" than free run mode. It seems to me that swap mode just makes programming the above routine not necessary, which is good, since even if it is possible to do the above, it'd be pretty hard. (Well, at least for me!) How can switching off between oscillators make anything "sound better"? I think if a free run sound player were created using the method above, it would sound even better than a swap mode sound player because there would be no clicks! (According to what I've read in the technotes.) 2) The last two oscilators are used just for timing. Maybe this is true for the system software, but could the hardware really be using them for this? It just sounds odd. If you don't have any sound related tools running, would you have a problem if you used generator #15? David Ross snakey@cs.umd.edu