Lead Feature Review Part1 ------------- This section contains reviews on graphics and sound hardware. There is a section on software to follow. ######################################################### Graphics The most important part of any multimedia presentation is good on-screen graphics. The aim is to make the user think they are watching an interactive television program, so hastily drawn Deluxe Paint images can quickly spoil the illusion. The new range of Amigas are fitted with the AGA chipset, which feature a fantastic graphics mode called HAM8. Pictures displayed in HAM8 can have up to 262,000 different colours on-screen at once, which means photographic quality images are possible. Now your application can display real pictures, or even short animations of real people to add a totally professional front end. To make the most of HAM8, you'll to make sure your authoring system supports AGA, so check out the chart at the end of the article. Getting graphics into the IFF form you can use is the usually the most expensive part of the process. For producing stills, budget-priced video-digitisers are capable of excellent results although a flatbed or hand scanner is definitely the easiest to use. ----------------------------------------------------------- Title: Spectrum EGS Picture: egs1.jpeg, egs2.jpeg, egs3.jpeg & Eddie's photo. This card is a standard full-length Zorro card with no loose cables. There has been a lot of talk in techie circles recently about the Amiga and a 'Retargetable Graphics' system. The plan was to produce an update to the Amiga's operating system in order to make it easier for external graphics card to run Workbench, and in fact any Amiga program. The benefits would be well worth the effort, as in effect the Amiga graphics capabilities would only be limited by how much money you wanted to spend on a external card. Unfortunately, economics have meant that the official Commodore Retargetable Project has been shelved. At the moment all graphics cards come with their own software - usually a paint program. There are exceptions - Retina comes with a new library which will do a good job at emulating Workbench, and new EGS system is also starting to look like a Good Thing. The EGS (or Enhanced Graphics System) is a third party version of retargetable graphics, and those fine fellows at GVP have brought out one of the cheapest EGS cards yet. It's called the Spectrum, and it's a rather special piece of hardware. For starters, it's an auto-sensing ZorroII/II card, which means it run at almost double speed on A4000 and A3000 systems. Actually, that's a bit academic for me, as in common with most A4000 owners I have a pre-11 version of Buster - the Amiga custom which handles the ZorroIII interface. I was amazed to discover that as I happen to live outside the UK mainland the on-site maintenance which I paid for doesn't cover me, and I'm expected to return the Amiga to the place I bought it from. Unfortunately I simply don't have time to do without my Amiga for a week or so (last time it took two months to get it back) so I've been using the card in it's Zorro II form. WORKSTATION One area where the Spectrum really differs from other cards is with the supplied software. Rather than supply a few paint and picture display programs, GVP have bundled an entirely new Workbench system. It makes a few improvements to the Amiga system, and generally looks a lot like a high end graphics workstation. Options such as tear-off menus (move menus anywhere on the screen), docking icons (a bit like using 'Leave Out' on Workbench icons) and intelligent scroll-back CLI remind me of an expensive DEC terminal. The supplied paint program is OK, although not a patch on TV Paint which, incidentally, runs perfectly on this card. The other EGS-specific software supplied is interesting, although there is nothing really fantastic. GVP have spend a lot of time writing Workbench hacks rather than any specific programs - and only time will tell if any specific programs will appear. MONITOR But don't think you are stuck with the supplied software, as any program which uses the now standard Display Database will open a screen using the card. This means that huge 256-colour Workbench displays are possible, even on non-AGA machines. All other software will still run on the standard Amiga output, and as a special lead allows the Amiga video to be fed through, having two monitors is in no way essential. A standard 15kHz lo-res monitor can be used, although with a good multisync monitor displays of up to 1600 by 1280 are possible, depending on how much memory comes with the card when you buy it. VIRTUAL WORKBENCH One of the most exciting aspects of the Spectrum is the ability to fit multiple cards to the same Amiga. When two cards are fitted and connected to two monitors, it's actually possible to create a virtual Workbench covering both screens - when you move the mouse off one screen, it appears on the other. Adding more cards will add more potential displays to your system, and also open up the possibility of a cheap Video Wall system. In fact, no matter what other video cards you have currently in your, the Spectrum can make itself useful by adding an extra Workbench display. CONCLUSION The Spectrum card is a good Multimedia companion, whether it's used to create images for systems or only to display them. All sorts of programs (DTP, graphics, Workbench) will benefit. The standard EGS system, the monitor sharing, the multiple displays with a virtual Workbench, the ability to run TVPaint and the excellent price make this a very desirable item of hardware. Product: EGS Spectrum Price: £349.99 (1Mb) £399.99 (2Mb) Availability: Silica Systems egs1.jpeg The GVP EGS system includes a new version of Workbench, which owes more to high-end graphic workstations than the Amiga. The on-board hardware Blitter helps move the windows around. egs2.jpeg The EGS paint program is usable, although not a patch on TVPaint. Notice how the menus have been torn off the top of the screen and placed where convenient. egs3.jpeg One of the 'useful' items of EGS software is this rather spunky mathematical 3D graph plotter. Box out: Screen Modes and Memory The EGS-Spectrum comes in two memory configurations: 1Mb and 2Mb, although the 1Mb card can be upgraded at a later date. A different number of screen resolutions and depths are available depending on which card is used. Card memory: 2Mb RAM 1Mb RAM Max Colours Max Colours 320x200 16.7 million 16.7 million 640x400 16.7 million 16.7 million 640x480(VGA) 16.7 million 16.7 million 736x480(NTSC) 16.7 million 65,536 736x575(PAL) 16.7 million 65,536 800x600 16.7 million 65,536 1024x768(SVGA) 65,536 256 1120x832(NeXT) 65,536 256 1280x1024(lace) 256 16 1600x1280(lace) 256 16 ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Title: Harlequin 4000 Picture: harl1.jpeg, harl2.iff & Eddie photograph of card (this card has a smaller card mounted on top with a small grey ribbon cable flopping around) At the opposite end of the price scale from the Spectrum EGS comes the Harlequin 4000 card. This is another Zorro II device, so only owners of big box Amigas need apply. It might seem like any other 24 bit graphics card, but there are differences. Those lucky enough to have this card present will experience the best quality video possible from any Amiga card. The relatively high price betrays the fact that this card produces broadcast-quality images. Arrive at the BBC with any other card and the engineers will turn their noses up. With a Harlequin fitted, they'll love you. Even when used with a standard monitor such as an 1960, it's easy to see the increased quality. ALPHA CHANNELS One of the features which you pay for is the on-board 8-bit Alpha channel. The alpha channel is a much-misunderstood piece of equipment, so let me attempt to explain it to you. Normally high quality Amiga graphics are stored as 24 bit images, which allows for 16.7 million different colours. However, the Harlequin alpha channel raises this depth to 32 bits. Before you start reaching for your calculator to work out how many different colours are now possible, this isn't what happens. Instead the channel offers a special mask that can be used when combining the 24 bit image with, say, incoming genlocked video. The 8 bit channel offers 256 different levels for the mask, which means instead of a simple (and rather false looking) image floating over video, the image can offer some aliasing and shading. A picture of a window can show the live video underneath, and yet still show computer-generated reflections and textures. Ray tracing programs such as Caligari and Real3Dv2 will generate 32 bit images automatically. Currently software support is rather weak, with only a few programs (such as Real3D and TVPaint) supporting it. The only software I have seen which makes use of the double-buffering option is the rather nifty script-driven slideshow program supplied. Unfortunately, Magic Lantern has yet to add Harlequin to its list of supported cards. CONCLUSION This is a professional card, although prices for lower models start at a reasonable £685. The model numbers are in no way linked with Amiga models, rather they reflect the amount of video memory present on the card. The 4000 card will work fine on the A2000, and the 1500 card works fine on the Amiga 4000. When you need to produce multimedia presentations which can be stored on video tape, then this is the card for you. The unsurpassed quality makes it the only choice for serious use. A 'plus' version is also available, which adds genlocking, multiple variable depth screens and colour cycling facilities. Some dealers are also bundling a free VLAB video digitizer with the plus, so call around. Product: Harlequin Price: £685 (H1500) £1090 (H4000) Availability: Amiga Centre Scotland harl1.jpeg The Harlequin is show off to it's best when using a good art program such as TV Paint. harl2.iff It mightn't look completely state-of-the-art, but the Harlequin's Slide32 program can shuffle 24bit pictures around like a good 'un. Box out: Standard Harlequin Resolutions Depending on the amount of memory on the card and the chosen application, Harlequin can open a screen at several resolutions. 910 x 576 (PAL version) 832 x 576 (PAL version) 740 x 576 (PAL version) 910 x 486 (NTSC version) 832 x 486 (NTSC version) 740 x 486 (NTSC version) In addition, a full 256 level Alpha channel and animation orientated double buffering modes are available. The plus versions include genlocks and other goodies. ----------------------------------------------------------- Title: Sharp Scanner Pictures: Eddie's photograph of the scanner, girl_scan.jpeg Setting up a video camera and digitizer to capture a photograph may not be everyone's idea of convenience, and besides, not everyone happens to have a video camera to start with. Flatbed scanners are regarded as being the best way to import graphics, but they are also extremely pricey. The Sharp JX100 is a good compromise. Although getting rather long in the tooth (I first saw it several years ago), it is still the most affordable way to capture colour images. For less than half the price of a video camera and digitizer, this scanner will convert an A6 sized photograph with up to 262,000 different colours. Coincidentally, this is the same number of colours which can be displayed by HAM8 mode. Unlike a hand scanner, which must be dragged over a photograph by the user, the JX100 is fully automatic. The software will instruct the scanning head to make one pass (for monochrome images) or three (for colour) and then the image can be saved out as an IFF. The automatic handling of the scanning process means no slipping or badly judged movements can impair the image quality. The resolution can be set to 50, 100 or 200 Dots Per Inch with various levels of colour depth. The A6 scanning size might appear quite small, but this is still equivalent to 1280 by 800 pixels at 200DPI. Capturing a full image at this detail will require approximately 4.5 Mb of free RAM, so it's a good thing that the software allows smaller images to be scanned. The GVP program ImageFX includes support for this scanner, and its virtual memory support might be a life saver for large scans. There is no doubt in my mind that JX100 is the best and easiest way to get high-quality images into the Amiga. Stocks of this wonder are rather difficult to get hold of, so take my advice and buy one immediately. Product: Sharp JX1 Scanner Price: £399 Availability: Silica Systems Captions girl_scan.jpeg This image was scanned at 200DPI in 18 bit colour, and took about six minutes to scan. Any good quality photograph of about 10 by 16cms will suffice. ----------------------------------------------------------- Box out: Budget Box Getting 24 bit graphics on a budget is easy - if you have an Amiga 1200 or 4000. The AGA graphics modes on these computers uses a trick or two to generate pseudo 18bit graphics, and to be honest the difference between them is very hard to detect. The benefit of a true 24 bit card comes when using graphics software developed especially for it. As the pixels are stored in a chunky format, manipulation is a lot simpler. Basically a good 24bit graphics program will run several times faster than any standard Amiga program running in HAM8 mode. Of course, if you only need to display images rather than doing a lot of speed-critical processing, then HAM8 is perfect and buying extra hardware might be a waste of money. Capturing images on a budget can be difficult, especially if you need colour. Both Vidi12 and VideoMaster are reviewed in this issue, and there are also several colour hand-scanners available. If you happen to have a CD-ROM drive (or a CDTV/A570) then check out the Pandora's Box and Multimedia Toolkit CDs. Both provide hundreds of images between them, so you're bound to find some useful. Box out: Jargon Busters 24 bit The number of colours an image can display depends on the number of bits of computer memory used to store the colour information. Current Amiga hardware is limited to 8 bits (256 colours - more when using HAM8 mode), but using a third party graphics card 24 bits can be used. This allows for 16.7 million colours and superb photorealistic images. Alpha Channel The alpha channel is a separate hidden image, used as a mask for various graphics processes. A common use is to provide a level of shading when combining live video and computer images with a genlock. AGA The 'Advanced graphics architecture' of the A1200 and A4000 provides excellent screen resolutions and a big increase in the number of colours. Chunky A 24 bit card will not use bitplanes as an Amiga screen. Instead each element of the display uses a complete word of memory, and is called a chunky pixel. Double buffering Keeping two images in memory, and swapping them to give the illusion of animation. EGS The 'Enhanced Graphics System' - a standard which some graphics cards adhere to. HAM8 An AGA graphics mode which allows 262,000 different colours on-screen. Zorro The name given to the card interface present in A1500, A2000, A3000 and A4000. The A1500 and A2000 use ZorroII slots, whilst the A3000 and A4000 use ZorroII or ZorroIII - a faster 32 bit wide interface. ######################################################### Sound A very important part of any multimedia system is the sound track. Whether a simple tune, or a complete narration, sound will add an extra dimension to a presentation and shouldn't be ignored. Many systems require a narration, which implies real human speech which everyone can understand. Although standard Amiga sound capabilities are excellent for in-game sound effects, there comes a time when 8 bits just aren't good enough. The same can be said for a musical sound track. Although a sound-tracker module can sound pretty good, it can start to grate a little when amplified and played over and over again. ----------------------------------------------------------- Title: Toccata Pictures: toccata1.iff, toccata2.iff Toccata is a complete sample and replay system on a Zorro card from MacroSystem, the same people that introduced us to the VLAB video digitizer. Instead of the normal 8 bit sound, Toccata uses a full 16 bits for each sample and can work at speeds up to 44.1kHz. This means the sound quality is exactly the same as if the sound had originated from a compact disk. Using dedicated sound chips, Toccata will take a stereo sound, digitise it and then store the results directly into memory or onto hard disk. The hard disk option is preferable, as 16 bit samples very quickly consume a lot of space. At top whack, you'll need to allow about 12Mb or disk space for every two minutes of sound. Thankfully, the card will also replay samples from disk which makes it perfect for lengthy soundtracks - you won't need a system with hundreds of megabytes of RAM, just a large hard disk. In typical MacroSystem style, there are a plethora of inputs to the card: eight in total. There is provision for a direct microphone input (with software controlled gain) and also the ability to mix the output with another live input, which allows speech or sound effects to be added to music from an external player. SOFTWARE The software comes in two parts - a dedicated Toccata control suite, and a standard 16 bit sample editing program. The editor software (called Samplitude 2) is incredibly powerful, and even if you plan on using only the Amiga to playback the sound, this software can help improve sound quality. If the MacroSystem Maestro card is also used, digital sound data can be directly loaded and saved to DAT for perfect editing. A playlist system allows sequences to be programmed. It should go without saying that ARexx is fully supported. With the Pro version of the software, the card can be used like a simple multitrack recorder and up to four 16 bit audio tracks can be manipulated before the stereo signal is produced. CONCLUSION Toccata's CD-type output is excellent, although it is also possible to sample in mono and/or 8 bit if disk or memory space is a bit tight, although you have to accept the distortion which starts to creep in at slower speeds. The dedicated sampling hardware on the card include two forms of hardware compression to make the most of what storage you've got. For the highest sampling rates the direct-to-disk hardware will require a very fast hard drive - preferably a SCSI2 device, although any drive that operates at more than 400K/second will be useful. I successfully used a fast Connor IDE drive on my Amiga 4000, although a slower drive caused glitches. The best part is yet to come: as MacroSystem now make both a video and an audio digitizer, they have included software to make the most of the cards operating in tandem. When VLAB YC is used to grab sequences of video from tape, Toccata can be used to capture the soundtrack at the same time for perfect synchronisation - an amazing multimedia achievement. Product: Toccata Price: £369.99 Availability: Amiga Centre Scotland toccata1.iff The SamplitudeII software offers editing for both RAM and Hard disk based projects. Special effects can be added, and data also resampled to different rates or resolutions. toccata2.iff The control panel allows the microphone gain and external input mixing levels to be controlled via software. Notice also the sampling resolutions: 8 bit, 16 bit and two hardware compression systems. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Title: One Stop Music Shop Pictures: OneStop1.iff, OneStop2.iff Unlike PC land where sound cards are a way of life, the Amiga has very few options available for improving sound quality. This is probably due to the quite satisfactory sound available, but multimedia applications can stretch this 8 bit audio just a little to far. The One Stop Music Shop is a synthesiser on a card - a Emu Systems Proteus 1 synth on a Zorro II card to be exact. For those Amiga owners not completely at home with sound hardware, the Proteus offers sounds far advanced from the sound produced by the Amiga's dedicated chips. Rather than sampling and replaying sounds at different pitches, the Proteus has been designed for playing back a finite number of sounds. It works using a sample-and-synthesis approach: for example, a piano sound is created by using a real sample of a piano, and then using tradition synthesizer techniques to create and process the sound. This method offers incredibly realistic sounds, with all the flexibility of a tradition synthesizer. Although there are a fixed number of instrument samples, the way in which they can be used is almost limitless, and so there is plenty of scope for user-defined sounds. Sounds can be constructed using two voices, which not only fattens them up considerable, but provides for layering effects with crossfade, as one sound blends into another. GENERAL MIDI The One Stop Music Shop (OSMS) also conforms to the General MIDI (GM) protocol - an extension over the already accepted MIDI system which all electronic instruments adhere to. By always having fixed instruments available (for example, a piano, a guitar, a violin, a drumkit) you can be sure any tune written with General MIDI in mind will play back properly on any GM instrument. This device independency is becoming more and more important as it is means music composed on the Amiga will work fine on the PC or Mac and vice versa. INTEGRATION If you happen use the Bars and Pipes music sequencer, the OSMS can really be exploited to the full. Instead of connecting any form of MIDI cable, the sequencing software will automatically direct data to the card internally. This can free up a lot of precious MIDI channels. The sound editing program can also be used from within Bars and Pipes, which makes it easy to tweak voices to perfection whilst listening to the tune. Using other sequencers (for example, Music X) requires a MIDI cable to be connected and a small utility program run in the background and re-direct data. IN THE BOX Having a fully GM compatible synthesizer in the same Amiga case can be the perfect solution for a stand-alone multimedia system. As the playback software (and Bars and Pipes for that matter) will talk ARexx, the prospect adding real music to a system is an affordable reality. Product: One Stop Music Shop Price: £499.95 Availability: Meridian Distribution Captions: onestop1.iff The One Stop Music Shop can best be used from within the Bars and Pipes sequencer program. Here the voice editor is being to used to alter the current instrument. onestop2.iff The MIDI File Player is a stand-alone ARexx compatible driver for the music card. With it, any ARexx program can use the One Stop Music Shop to provide musical accompaniment. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Title: Korg O5R/W Pictures: Korg_scan.jpeg At last, a piece of expensive hardware that will work on any Amiga. Well, any Amiga that has a MIDI interface that is. The Korg O5R/W is a true musical synthesizer in a small black box. It offers a full General MIDI specification, but manages to play the sounds back with an extra quality which needs to be heard to be appreciated. In addition to the standard repertoire of GM sounds, it has to be remember that the Korg is a proper synthesizer. It makes use of Korg's own AI2 sound generating system, which combines 6Mb of sample playback with digitally controlled filters and effects processors. In fact, there are two stereo digital signal processors already in the box which can offer crystal clear echo, reverb and chorus effects. Creating sounds is a matter of choosing the ROM waveforms you require, and then shaping the various sound amplitude, filter and modulation envelopes. It certainly takes a bit of time to get used to tapping away at the ten multifunction keys and staring at the backlit two-line LCD display, but the results are worth it. You certainly couldn't get sounds like these from the standard Amiga sound-chip, nor from the One Stop Music Shop. Korg has a reputation for high quality sounds, and O5R/W makes the reason clear. In GM mode, all sixteen MIDI channels can have different voices, although when used in it's own Combination mode eight channels are used. The advantage of Combination mode is a larger number of simultaneous voices per sound and more control over the digital effects and other sound parameters. With built in effects, 8 different drum kits, and hundreds of user-programmable sounds, this could well be the only sound module you'll ever need. From perfect piano sounds, to astounding electric guitar solos and full GM compatibility, the Korg is the ultimate piece of musical hardware in it's price range. Product: Korg O5R/W Price: £599.99 Availability: Korg UK ----------------------------------------------------------- box out: Bargain Box Standard Amiga sound is very capable, offering four channels of 8 bit sampled sound. Using public domain/shareware music programs such as MED to add a backing soundtrack is remarkably easy - in fact, PD libraries are coming down with MED modules so finding one you like needn't be a problem. MED comes with a player program which is ARexx compatible, which means adding musical backing to existing programs is easy. However, getting around the 8 bit barrier is a little trickier. The cheapest 16bit sound sampler/replay module comes from Microdeal/Hisoft - the Clarity 16. Although it doesn't make the grade as a musical instrument (only one stereo sample can be replayed at once before severe sound degradation), it will be useful for short narrations. The main problems are a lack of any ARexx interface and the inability to sample to disk, both of which limit the possibilities. As far as MIDI instruments go, the Dream GMX-1 general MIDI tone module is currently changing hands at a bargain price (Turnkey/SohoSound House 071-379 5148) and could be the cheapest way to add good quality music. clarity1.iff Clarity may fail with it's pretensions as a multi-voiced musical instrument, but it does sample and replay with 16 bit resolution. Pity there's no ARexx control. ----------------------------------------------------------- Box out: Jargon Box 16 bit In the same way that more bits means better pictures (take a look at 24 bit graphics), 16 bit sound is much better than standard 8 bit audio. Music CDs store sound in 16 bits. MIDI The 'musical instrument digital interface' provides a standard way of linking electronic musical instruments to each other and to computers. General MIDI An extension to the MIDI standard, to ensure certain voices are always present. This allows music composed on General MIDI compatible equipment to be freely exchanged. Direct-to-Disk /Direct-from-Disk Good samplers will store and replay data directly from hard disk, so it doesn't matter how much RAM you have free on your system. ################################################# Software ..