Evolution of PC Audio - As Told by Secret of Monkey Island

Computer audio has come quite a way since 1981. Here is a short video I made comparing the major steps from the PC speaker to Adlib on up to today's chips! At least, from the perspective of the Lucasarts classic, The Secret of Monkey Island.
Monkey Island was chosen due to its having a wide breadth of versions of the same song, as compared to many other games which didn't support this many cards. The final version of the song is from the recent "Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition" on PC/360/PS3 - recorded using live instruments, NOT the CD-ROM version from the early nineties. See the menu it was taken from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtEJEwIpanE
Some clips recorded by me, others from Crossfire Designs, all awesome.

Uploaded by: phreakindee
Tags for this video: pc speaker sound card history evolution ibm adlib blaster creative waveblaster roland lmpc-I mt-32 dos secret monkey island 1990 lucasarts ms-dos games game audio music soundtrack gravis ultrasound awe32 sb16 soundblaster tandy pcjr beeper chiptunes yt:quality=high lgr lazy reviews gamer phreakindee

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i miss my AWE32, ... ( 2 months ago by tf2cheats)

i miss my AWE32, what an impressive card it was

are the Roland ... ( 2 months ago by eyin90)

are the Roland cards made by the same Roland company that makes keyboards?

Array ( 1 month ago by eXiidus)

Amazing. <3

General Midi all ... ( 1 month ago by calebchosen29)

General Midi all the way :D

Ultrasound to ... ( 1 month ago by Szederp)

Ultrasound to conquer all!

Man, I remember ... ( 1 month ago by MetaTekReviews)

Man, I remember how amazed I was when the Roland one from 1988 came out, I said "It can't get any better then this!" to myself, oh was I wrong.

I was always ... ( 1 month ago by ImoenOfTelengard)

I was always curious about the Disney Sound Source. That dongle thing was always an option in my early games, yet I have never known anyone who actually owned one.

@ImoenOfTelengard ... ( 1 month ago by phreakindee)

@ImoenOfTelengard If you're curious, check out my video on the Covox Speech Thing (the device the Disney Sound Source was based on). I talk about the DSS and what those parallel port devices actually did. They're pretty impressive for what they are.

The Microsoft ... ( 1 month ago by JUSXTREME96)

The Microsoft Wavetable Synth is a modified version of Roland Sound Canvas(I think, I do know it is from a Roland Card).

@JUSXTREME96 I'd + ... ( 1 month ago by TobyTechTips)

@JUSXTREME96 I'd +1 that.

Man, stereo sound, ... ( 1 month ago by TobyTechTips)

Man, stereo sound, headphones, Game Blaster and this game do NOT mix.

Gameblaster ... ( 1 month ago by Chaniyth)

Gameblaster sounded like Gameboy. LOL.

Array ( 1 month ago by Chaniyth)

@eyin90
Yes.

The Roland ... ( 1 month ago by Chaniyth)

The Roland soundcards = WIN! =) Always wanted one but never could afford one, especially back in those days they were close to 4 digits in price. Gravis Ultrasound was decent too but to my ears the Roland cards simply produced more soothing samples.

Hear what God of ... ( 1 month ago by TrumpetCallofGodLT)

Hear what God of Israel YAHUSHUA-YAHUWAH (Son and Father are ONE) saying to our generation by His chosen prophets: Trumpetcallofgodonline. com ; Letter called "Purify Your Faith, and Come to the Father as It is Written": EXCERPT: "Only in the Bible and through these very Letters, of which I have given to My prophet of the end of this age, shall you find Him and know Him."
Watch:
"youtube.com/watch?v=INH-lNUQQZg"
"youtube.com/watch?v=lutJYDxP6ys"
"youtube.com/watch?v=R9ike7PKd8U"
Regards.

22people had PS1 ( 3 weeks ago by DeejayPaPii)

22people had PS1

my all time ... ( 3 weeks ago by shakeyourbunnys)

my all time favorite youtube video. this video also got me hooked on phreakindee (his videos, not him personally :). it is also a part of my audio equipment testing suite :)

Did you update this ... ( 2 weeks ago by scose)

Did you update this video? I remember the game blaster sounding much fuller and dirtier...

So which PC sound ... ( 2 weeks ago by Foebane72)

So which PC sound card here best compares to the Amiga? It's a pity the Amiga sound spec fell behind because Commodore were too lazy to develop a replacement for Paula.

listen to adlib ... ( 2 weeks ago by Laguzzaproductions)

listen to adlib directly after listening cd audio, it sounds so flat!

I keep coming back ... ( 2 weeks ago by tossabaddle)

I keep coming back to this! One of the best videos on youtube ^^

@phreakindee ... ( 1 week ago by MrNeskio)

@phreakindee Understood, thank you!