Apple IIGS System for sale/trade

[Cloudschatze]

Hey, before or maybe even after this exchange takes place, I think a little true demonstration of the Apple IIgs' audio capabilities, especially with Sierra's titles, would be welcome here. 

Maxor127 provided most of these same recordings from a IIGS emulator a while back, but here they are again, as recorded using the actual hardware.

(Two things to note: 1. The recordings are mono - I don't have a stereo card. 2. The IIGS has a horrendous S/N ratio, so I've cleaned up a few of the silent spots where the internal interference would have been most noticeable.)

First of all, here are two non-Sierra themes to make everything else that follows sound like crap:

Zany Golf
Title and Introductory Theme So... quirky... (Compare with the

Amiga version

. Blargh.)
Windmill Hole


And the Sierra stuff:

King's Quest II
Title and Introductory Theme (Greensleeves)

King's Quest III
Title and Introductory Theme

King's Quest IV
Snippet of the introductory theme

Police Quest I
Title and Introductory Theme

Space Quest I
Title and Introductory Theme (with alarm sequence)
"Blues Brothers" Theme
Green Alien Theme
"ZZ-Top" Theme

Space Quest II
Title and Introductory Theme

[Cloudschatze]

Last chance, before I open this up to the Vintage Computer forums, and then eBay.

I hadn't mentioned a price, but $150USD + shipping seems reasonable (given that it covers the cost of just the IDE interface and RAM expansion cards).

[NewRisingSUn]

I hoped the real IIgs would sound better than the emulator, but obviously not. Sierra apparently used a real crappy set of samples. I wouldn't want to have those versions for the music, although the digital PCM sound effects would be nice. I wonder it if would be worth to patch AGI to support the IIgs input files --- but then again, it's probably better to just update the ScummVM project which already supports the standard AGI versions --- with a font so ugly I wanted to poke my eyes out after I saw it, and a rather weird-sounding Tandy emulation, which is strange considering that the Tandy emulation for Zak and Maniac Mansion sounds rather close to the original. But I digress.

I wonder though why Sierra didn't use the enhanced sound for the Amiga versions as well. How silly of them.

Peripherially interesting trivia: the music data in the IIgs versions is stored as MIDI files (non-standard). The patch map for those basically resembles that of King's Quest IV (the later version that sends a patch bank). Figures...

[Great Hierophant]

I hoped the real IIgs would sound better than the emulator, but obviously not. Sierra apparently used a real crappy set of samples. I wouldn't want to have those versions for the music, although the digital PCM sound effects would be nice. I wonder it if would be worth to patch AGI to support the IIgs input files --- but then again, it's probably better to just update the ScummVM project which already supports the standard AGI versions --- with a font so ugly I wanted to poke my eyes out after I saw it, and a rather weird-sounding Tandy emulation, which is strange considering that the Tandy emulation for Zak and Maniac Mansion sounds rather close to the original. But I digress.

I wonder though why Sierra didn't use the enhanced sound for the Amiga versions as well. How silly of them.

Still, the music is relevatory to those of us whose sole encounter with it back in the day was the Speaker.  I use Scummvm only when I want to play the FM-Towns games (which may not be necessary anymore), the low-res Maniac Mansion in Tandy 1000 mode, or the NES Maniac Mansion with mouse support.

The "battle stations" sound effect in Space Quest I reminds me most of the speech in Quadrun for the 2600.

[Cloudschatze]

Gone! Sold to a gentleman via the Vintage Computer forum.

And none too soon. The poor X68000 has been on the floor for TWO WHOLE DAYS!

[kreatorb]

Cloud: could you do a write up (with some pics) of the X68000 whenever you get the chance? It looks like a fun machine!

[Rhizome]

X68000s are awesome machines, especially when you've got a CM-32L hooked up to it and play Japanese RPG games - some seriously good composers over there! 

[Cloudschatze]

[Rhizome]

Love the warning message

So, having fun?

[Cloudschatze]

So, having fun?

Not really. It's just one more thing on the pile that I don't have time for right now...

[kreatorb]

nice.. it looks so ominous all in black like that.

I bet learning japanese would unlock a whole world of cool rpg games/cheap auctions. 

[davesedg]

I bet learning japanese would unlock a whole world of cool rpg games/cheap auctions

Both my American wife (whom I met in Japan) and I had that idea... learn Japanese through video games....

...many years later and all I can read is a bar menu...