> From: Bill Gunshannon <[email protected]> > 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.
