                  PRODUCTIONS FROM THE TWILIGHT ZONE PRESENT

                      "SAD CASE OF THE YEAR"- THE DEBATE

[Scene:   A  plush well-fitted discussion room studio in Radio  Pure  Bollocks 
          FM.  Around  the circular table are terminals connected  to  Fidonet 
          points of all the Fidonet users involved.  At the head of the  table 
          are CHRIS BAILLIES and GENIE (the presenter).]

VOICE:    Now  we  go over to studio 4 for some after-awards discussion  in  a 
          special edition of "Genie's Pool".

          [Title music, which soon fades.]

GENIE:    Hello and welcome to a very special edition of "Genie's Pool",  held 
          after the "Sad Case of the Year" awards.  In the studio, we have the 
          winner  of  that  award,   Mr  Chris  Baillies.   Hello  Chris,  and 
          congratulations upon winning your award. Apparently the judges had a 
          hard time deciding between you and Aaron Smithies.
CHRIS:    Yes,  but so what, I think I had the edge, and when it comes down to 
          that, that's perfectly adequate.
GENIE:    Yes,  well we'll soon be hearing that "edge" which won you the award 
          when we re-unite you with the people which were with you as you made 
          your  name  for being lame.  [Pause for "Genie Pool"  jingle]  Chris 
          started his meteoric rise to fame by claiming that the sound of  the 
          Amiga's 4 channel 8 bit Paula was perfectly adequate,  even compared 
          to the 16 bit 8 channel Falcon DMA sound.
CHRIS:    Well, it is better than the PC cards!
GENIE:    Hmmmm... yes, but then you went on about how Commodore is developing 
          a new 16 channel Paula chip.
CHRIS:    [Butting in] It'll be ready just in time for their new Amigas.
GENIE:    [Embarrased  pause]  Yes.  Well,  now  we  are  going  to  end  this 
          completely  fictionalised account of the events so far and  go  live 
          onto  the Fidonet "AtariST" message area.  Please note that all  the 
          comments  from the these users are their own words and none of  them 
          are  made  up.  So,  [Looking  at  VDU screen]  we  have  our  first 
          participant,  MICHAEL  JAMES.  Hello Michael,  what do you  make  of 
          Chris' arguments about the adequacy of the Paula sounchip?
MICHAEL:  Very compelling argument. The Paula chip is better than the PC cards 
          but the Falcon sounds even better! And if you say 'so what' to that, 
          then go and program a ZX81 and learn the meaning of progress.
CHRIS:    So what.... [Howls from other users]
MICHAEL:  GO AND PROGRAM A ZX81 AND LEARN THE MEANING OF PROGRESS!
CHRIS:    So what, there's sound and there's USEFUL sound...
GENIE:    [Aside] Huh?
CHRIS:    Where  might I ask do you make room for all those hefty 16bit  44Khz 
          sound samples?
MICHAEL:  Mmmmm....  That  doesn't neccessarily mean that you have to have  an 
          inferior  soundchip,  but you make a fair point about the  issue  of 
          sample  size.  The 1 meg Falcon is definately too small  for  decent 
          samples.  Mind  you  the 1 meg Falcon is too small for  any  serious 
          programmer!  (I know 1 meg is too small for me, and I've got an FM!) 
          This  is going to be a problem with Commodore's 16 channel Paula  as 
          well,  because  I  can't expect that the maximum amount  of  sampled 
          instruments in 16 channel mods to be 32!!  ...... And anyway, why do 
          Amiga owners need a 16 channel Paula,  the one they've got is better 
          than PC cards!
CHRIS:    To keep ahead of the competition, why else?
GENIE:    [Sighing  a  "Doesn't lamer realize that he's just  killed  his  own 
          argument off?" type of sigh] Oh my goodness, I wish I hadn't started 
          this  DOC now.  There's loads of people wanting to respond  to  that 
          point. Let me introduce STEVEN LLOYD, MIKE MYERS, MICHAEL SMITH, and 
          PASCAL HAAKMAT.  Hello Pascal, don't you think of Chris' point about 
          no space for big samples on the Falcon?
PASCAL:   This  is,  of course,  nonsense.  Where do you make room for  24-bit 
          color images? I mean, progress is lovely ...
GENIE:    Oh,  you're talking about the Amiga A1200 now. Yes, it's got big 24-
          bit  colour  images,  and  the disk drive still  only  has  an  800K 
          capacity!  At least the Falcon has a 1.4 meg drive!  Hello,  Steven, 
          have you got anything to say to Chris' point about sample size?
STEVEN:   [To  Chris] You should know that by looping samples its possible  to 
          produce some really good sounds in a small amount of storage  space. 
          Its  also possible to compress samples quite effectively,  so  again 
          storage space is saved.  Oh, and 8-bit sound is not USEFUL sound, it 
          sounds awful....
CHRIS:    [To Steve] What do you take me for?  All I'm saying is that for most 
          purposes 8bit is perfectly adequate,  only in the area of direct-to-
          disk recording would 16bit be a necessity.
GENIE:    Can I stop you two there,  because Michael Smith is also wanting  to 
          say  his piece as well,  and also I'm beginning to feel nauseous  at 
          the  lameness of your argument already Chris.  Anyway- what  do  you 
          think, Michael?
M SMITH:  [laughs] You know,  this is the 'standard' amiga-user argument  when 
          they  are faced with the 16-bit codec setup...  [To  Chris]  Listen, 
          lamebrain....
CHRIS:    I resent that!
          [Genie falls off chair laughing. Michael Smith continues.]
M SMITH:  Entirely  apart  from  the fact that  there  are  sound  compression 
          algorithms for the DSP that will (un-) compress sound signals by 70-
          80%,  and  take <5% of its processing time for 50KHz 16-bit  stereo, 
          you  don't  HAVE to use all 16 bits.  
CHRIS:    Well  not  everyone  needs one,  and for  entertainment  purposes  a 
          development of Paula would be better.
M SMITH:  [laugh] You really don't know what you're on about, do you? The SDMA 
          (imagine a bigger version of Paula) is completely seperate from  the 
          DSP  - you can do 8-voice polyphonic 16-bit stereo at 50KHz  without 
          having to write a single byte of DSP code.
MICHAEL:  Intrestingly  enough,  does the A1200 have a DSP,  or a space for  a 
          DSP? [MIKE MYERS butts in...]
MIKE M:   Nope.
MICHAEL:  So you'll have to pay extra on top of the already inflated price for 
          what the Falcon already has installed as standard? Especially as the 
          DSP appears to be the most talked about part of the machine!
CHRIS:    Why should people pay for a DSP if they have no use for  one...  And 
          no, its not a cop out!
GENIE:    Sounds like one from here...
MICHAEL:  Well,  I wasn't really talking about the use of the DSP  exclusively 
          in terms of Falcon sound capabilities, although it is pretty useful. 
          The  reason  that people are talking so much about the  DSP  is  the 
          speed of it's processing,  and the uses of that speed in  conjuction 
          with it's digital processing facilities.  Oh,  by the way,  I notice 
          you  say  'consumer orientated' rather than  'games  machine'.  Nice 
          touch.
CHRIS:    Ha  Ha  Well the Falcon doesn't seem to make  pretentions  to  being 
          anything other than a games machine with its ST case and good  sound 
          hardware. Even Atari admitted its the market they want to crack.
M SMITH:  Umm.   They  did?   Personal  multimedia  -  you  know,  interactive 
          education,  videophones,  Kodak  want to use them in their  'instant 
          slide' machines too.  Sure, they'll make great games units - I can't 
          wait for Steel Talons,  but there's a much bigger market there  than 
          there is for, say, the A1200. (snicker)
STEVE:    Er,  why does the case design and sound capability make the Falcon a 
          games machine?  Besides,  the case will be redesigned soon.
PASCAL:   Oh come on!  It's just the same thing as some 7 years ago: Commodore 
          releases  the Amiga,  and all ST-coders say:  "What a lame  machine! 
          There's nothing to code no more,  the chips do everything for you!". 
          Now  Atari  releases  the  Falcon and  all  Amy  dudes  go  haywire: 
          "Whaddaya need a DSP for? 16-bit sound is UUUUSSSELESS!!".
CHRIS:    So What? I probably won't buy either, the Amiga's too expensive, and 
          the Atari won't succeed,  because well,  its an Atari.  PC's are the 
          way  to  go,  I've got two,  much cheaper to upgrade and  plenty  of 
          software.
M SMITH:  This.. really shows how ignorant you are.  PC's are _going_.
STEVE:    I  laugh at the stupidity and puerile (look it up in  a  dictionary) 
          nature of people who write things like you do.
CHRIS:    Why bother replying then? Some people....!
GENIE:    Why bother living at all then Chris you utter lamer?!?!
M SMITH:  Incindentally, I don't call Paula's implementation of sound 'useful' 
          - it's just another 8-bit joke.
CHRIS:    It sounds ok to me.
GENIE:    That's what owning an Amiga does to you!
M SMITH:  And  btw  the DSP costs < $10 in the sort of  quantities  atari  are 
          buying.
STEVE:    I  think you'll find there's a noticeable difference  between  8-bit 
          and 16-bit samples.  8-bit may well be sufficient for many purposes, 
          but 16-bit samples sound much more polished. Once upon a time people 
          slagged  off  the  ST's pathetic sound chip (and rightly  so  in  my 
          opinion).  Now  that a machine is becoming available with  excellent 
          sound  capability it seems that it's getting knocked for  being  too 
          good.
CHRIS:    The  Atari's niche is music,  so its not surprising  Atari  included 
          a  DSP.  But  I'm  not a musician,  so why should I  pay  extra  for 
          something I don't need? Maybe you do need such a device.
MICHAEL:  Hold on Chris, you're getting the DSP and DMA parts mixed up again!
CHRIS:    Hey, I do know what a DSP is, simply a microprocessor geared towards 
          processing sound.....
MARK:     Sorry,  you don't know what a DSP is!  It is a microprocessor geared 
          towards processing digital signals.....
GENIE:    Hence the name Digital Signal Processor, I guess. This guy's so lame 
          I just wanna cry..... Oh and we've got MARK BAINES and KEITH JACKSON 
          online now. <Sob>
MARK:     ...  What form those signals take is up to you and your ADC - video, 
          sound, modem/telephone tones...
CHRIS:    I  mentioned it because it USUALLY goes hand in hand with 16bit  DMA 
          hardware...
MICHAEL:  Well,  they -can- go hand in hand if programmers want them  to,  but 
          they don't have to!
MIKE M:   The  DSP  can be used to EFFECT sound,  for example  Surround  Sound 
          techniques,  Noise Reduction,  ....  But its a proccessor so can  do 
          really anything you want,  graphics manipulation, mathscalculations, 
          3D effects..
CHRIS:    Err.. At least I can walk in a shop and BUY an A1200...
GENIE:    <Snicker> Is a PC not quite bad enough?
STEVE:    Nobody  said that Atari's marketing philosophy is good!  There  will 
          surely  be  some people who will go and buy an A1200  today  because 
          they  think its the cat pyjamas in home computing,  but many of  the 
          more mature users will hold on to see what else is coming.  The  32-
          bit home computer market is still in its infancy.
CHRIS:    So whats Atari going to do now?  They had their chance and ruined it 
          by hype and delays,  the Falcon won't stand a chance,  whatever  the 
          virtues of its sound hardware.
GENIE:    Typical Amiga lamer- always obsessed with sound!
MIKE M:   Who cares what Atari do I just wish you would F*** off !
KEITH:    I'll second that Mike !!  What is this guys problem ?   You'd  think 
          from  his attitude that an ST killed all his relatives,  slept  with 
          his  girlfriend  and  then threw up on him in the  pub  !   I'm  the 
          Business  Centre  Manager at Dixons in Mansfield and  the  level  of 
          interest in the A1200 (in that store at least) has been zero.  I get 
          around  eight  enquiries  a day about  the  Falcon  !   The  general 
          consensus from fed up Amoeba owners wanting to upgrade is that  they 
          are  fed  up with CBM bringing out new machines  and  just  dropping 
          support  for the old ones.  If I have a problem with a customer  who 
          has an old ST (TOS on disk etc) then at least Atari Uk will talk  to 
          me  - I wish the same could be said of CBM when confronted  with  an 
          A500 problem ....
MIKE M:   You ever tried using Workbench/dos- aaarrrrggggh!!!
MICHAEL:  I  have tried using version 1 of Amiga Workbench,  and I  wasn't  to 
          impressed  to be honest.  I haven't seen version 2 soon I can't  say 
          that much about it.
CHRIS:    Actually its very nice,  easy to use,  fast,  and good looking.  But 
          don't knock Workbench 1.x,  as an environment it was far more usable 
          than GEM,  you could do more with it,  more configurable.  Even V1.0 
          had features GEM lacked until VERY recently.  Only in high-res  mono 
          was GEM palettable.
GENIE:    Hi-res 'palettable'?  More 'useable'?  Chris,  do you know what  the 
          fuck you are talking about?
CHRIS:    Now,  disk based OS's, I'm all for them! They make upgrading so much 
          quicker   and  cheaper,   but  the   implementation  could  make   a 
          difference.  As an example my Amiga A1000.....  [Drowned in  general 
          groans from other users...]
GENIE:    I hear NICK BIRD is online now. <Sob>
MICHAEL:  Incidentelly,  what are you doing on this echo? There is an echo for 
          Amiga users you know...
CHRIS:    Heheehhehehe I like it! Seriously big chip on your shoulder or what!
STEVE:    Isn't that an instance of the pot calling the kettle black?
CHRIS:    Not  really.  Anyway,  I just write this drivel to stir  people  up. 
          Nothing wrong with a good healthy debate..
MIKE M:   Not really you -Just- slag owt thats Atari face it!!!!!
CHRIS:    Come  on,  don't be so serious!  I was just trying to wind up a  few 
          Atari users who seem so full of themselves.
MICHAEL:  What?  You  freely admit to writing messages just to wind  ST  users 
          up??!?! Sorry Chris, but I don't think anyone's taking you seriously 
          now!
NICK:     Sorry Michael !  No-one -ever- took him seriously !!
MICHAEL:  Just winding him up...
GENIE:    <Sniff> Chris, what's that on your tagline?
          [Looks at tagline which says:
                     '* SLMR 2.1a * Dead people are cool.']
GENIE:    .... Hmmmmmm......

          [Fade lights.]


          THE END.

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<Genie!>
11/1/93.


