December 25, 1994
Previously maintained by: Kevin Dangoor (tazzzzz@eecs.umich.edu)
Many thanks go to the people who have helped to expand and improve on this FAQ!
NOTICE: The maintainer of this FAQ is in no way affiliated with Turtle Beach Systems and the information contained herein should not be construed as having come from TBS. In other words, this is info that just happened to filter thru Kev.
Trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
(#) denotes a changed topic since the last FAQ.
SECTION 1: General Information
#1.0 Where can I get this FAQ?SECTION 2: Multisound (Classic)
2.1 What is the Multisound?SECTION 3: Maui
3.1 What is the Maui?SECTION 4: Tahiti
4.1 What is the Tahiti?SECTION 5: Rio
5.1 What is the Rio?SECTION 6: Monterey
6.1 What is the Monterey?SECTION 7: Crescendo
7.1 What is the Crescendo?SECTION 8: Quad
8.1 What is Quad?SECTION 9: Daytona
9.1 What is the Daytona?SECTION 10: Tropez
10.1 What is the Tropez?SECTION 11: Monte Carlo
11.1 What is the Monte Carlo?This FAQ will usually be posted around the 10th and 25th of every month to comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc on Usenet. A copy of this FAQ is also available on the World Wide Web at URL: http://www.engin.umich.edu/~tazzzzz/faq or at the Turtle Beach Users Group homepage http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~mccreary/tbeach. This FAQ is posted to news.answers and comp.answers. Because of this, it is available from rtfm.mit.edu. (Found in /pub/usenet-by-group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc).
1.1 What is Turtle Beach Systems?Turtle Beach Systems (which I will abbreviate TBS or just TB) is a subsidiary of Integrated Circuit Systems (ICS). They market multimedia and professional grade computer audio products.
1.2 How do I contact them?
Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc.
5 Odell Plaza
Yonkers, NY 10701-1406
Sales: 800-233-9377 (in USA), or 914-966-0600 (outside USA)
Tech Support: 914-966-2150, Fax: 914-966-1093
Internet e-mail: tech@tbeach.com, and sales@tbeach.com.
1.3 What are their products?This FAQ is concerned with TB's multimedia products and does not cover their high end products such as the 56k. Their multimedia products are:
Yes. TB makes two boards that include "Multisound" in their names. Henceforth, I will call the Multisound Monterey simply Monterey, and the Multisound (classic) simply Multisound.
1.5 What's the difference between all those cards?The Maui is designed to be an upgrade card, because it has no support for digital audio. It's a very painless way to get General MIDI wavetable synthesis for people who own a SoundBlaster or other sound board. The Maui does not require a Waveblaster connector.
The Tahiti provides very clean digital audio playback and recording. It features a Waveblaster connector for attaching a synthesizer such as a Rio.
The Rio can be attached to any card with a Waveblaster connector. It uses the same synthesizer engine and samples as the Maui. However, the Rio's samples are not compressed yielding higher quality sound. The Rio also features an onboard DSP that provides reverb and chorus effects. Both the Maui and the Rio can use RAM on the board to load new samples.
The Monterey is a Rio and a Tahiti stuck on one board.
1.6 Where do I buy them from?If you're fond of paying list price, you can go ahead and order directly from TB. The Maui is available in many stores that carry sound boards.
If you know of mail order companies with lower prices than these, please let me know so that I can update this list.
All prices are in US dollars.
Maui: $133 (from Comp-U-Plus) Tahiti: $259 (from Computability) Monterey: $304 (from Comp-U-Plus) Multisound: $429 (from Computability) Rio: $139 (from Computability. Includes 2 day Airborne Express shipping) Comp-U-Plus 20 Robert Pitt Drive Monsey, NY 10952 1-800-287-8786 Computability PO Box 17882 Milwaukee, WI 53217 800-554-9930, fax: 800-554-9981, tech info: 414-357-8181 Computer Discount Warehouse 1020 E. Lake Cook Road Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 1-800-449-4CDW#1.7 What is the ICS WaveFront synthesizer like?
Here are the specs as printed in the Maui's manual:
ICS WAVEFRONT:
Oscillators:
Oscillators 32
Envelopes per oscillator 2
Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO) per oscillator 2
FM Modulators per oscillator 2
AM Modulators per oscillator 1 + Envelope 2
Stereo pan assignments 8 + modulator
Envelopes:
Six Point Envelopes
Attack
Decay 1
Decay 2
Sustain
Release
Ambience
Keyboard-Scaled Decay
Velocity Level Sensitivity
Velocity Attack Sensitivity
Low Frequency Oscillators:
Variable Frequency (0-30 Hz)
Amplitude Ramp with Delay
Amplitude Modulator
Frequency Modulator
Modulators:
Envelopes
LFOs
6 MIDI controllers (1, 2, 4, 7, 10, 11)
MIDI channel pressure
Random with variable rates
Keyboard scaling (linear and logarithmic)
Velocity scaling (linear and logarithmic)
Performance:
Sample playback rate using 33.8688 MHz system clock
16 oscillators 66,150 Hz
24 oscillators 44,100 Hz (generally, this is the number of
32 oscillators 33,075 Hz simultaneous voices available)
PROGRAMS:
* There are 128 programs available on Maui
* Each program can call up to 4 of 256 possible patches
* One General MIDI instrument uses one program
There are two types of programs: "normal" programs, ranging from 0 to 127,
and the "drum" program, whose number is 128. The drum program is
assigned to MIDI's drum channel (10).
Patch splits are possible within a program, either by note or by velocity.
This means that a patch will play only if it is above/below a particular
note/velocity. For example, a quick press of a key on a keyboard may
produce a brighter trumpet patch than a slow key press.
Each of the 4 layers of a normal program contains the following parameters:
* Patch Number of the layer
* Mix Level balance of this instrument compared to other instruments in the
program
* Mute flags to mute this layer
* Split point of this layer
* Up/down splits the layer up or down
* Key/velocity determines whether the split is key or velocity
* Pan Setting/Multiplier determines the stereo poisiton of the layer or
multiplier for pan modulator
* Fixed/Modulated determines whether pan comes from Pan Modulator or fixed
setting
* Pan Modulator Source determines the source of the pan modulator
Instead of 4 layers, a drum program contains one set of program parameters
for every note number. The program associated with each note number
contains the following parameters:
* Patch Number indicated the number of the patch
* Mix Level indicates the balance of this instrument compared to other
instruments in the program
* Mute mutes the patch
* Group number represents the number of a particular drum group that this
drum belongs to
* Pan Setting/Multiplier determines whether pan comes from Pan Modulator
or a fixed setting
* Pan Modulator Source determines the source of the pan modulator
PATCHES:
A patch describes the behavior of a single oscillator. The three types of
patch parameters are oscillator parameters, envelope parameters, and
LFO parameters.
Oscillator parameters:
* Frequency Bias modifies the frequency of the oscillator
* Amplitude Bias modifies the amplitude of the oscillator
* Portamento identifies the length of the portamento
* Sample Number identifies the number of the sample to be played on this
oscillator
* Pitch Bend indicates the maximum pitch bend in semitones
* Flags indicate Mono, Retrigger, No Sustain, Env Reset, Filter Config,
New Voice, LFO Reset
* FM Source 1 & 2 identifies the sources for the 2 oscillator frequency
modulators
* FM Multiplier 1 & 2 identifies the multipliers for the 2 oscillator
frequency modulators
* AM Source identifies the source for the oscillator amplitude modulator
* AM Multiplier identifies the multiplier for the amplitude modulator
Envelope Parameters:
* Attack, Decay 1, Decay 2, Sustain, Release 1 and Release 2 all determine
the length of time spent in each segment of the envelope
* Attack, Decay 1, Decay 2, Sustain and Release levels all determine the
level of the endpoint of each segment of the envelope
* Attack velocity determines the amount of effect that the velocity will have
on the attack
* Volume velocity determines the amount of effect that the velocity will have
on the whole envelope
* Keyboard Scaling determines the amount of effect that note number will have
on the decay
LFO Parameters:
* Sample Number indicates the sample number of the waveform used for the LFO
effect
* Frequency determines the frequency of the LFO
* FM Source determines the source number for the LFO frequency modulator
* FM Multiplier identifies the multiplier for the LFO frequency modulator
* AM Source is the source for the LFO amplitude modulator
* AM Multiplier identifies the multiplier for the LFO amplitude modulator
* Start Level identifies the amplitude of the LFO at the start of the note
* End Level identifies the amplitude of the LFO at the end of the ramp
* Wave Restart causes the wave sample that has finished playing to restart
at the beginning
* Ramp Delay is the amount of time from the start of the note until the
LFO starts
* Ramp Time is the length of time for the LFO amplitude to ramp from start
to end levels
Possible sources for the above parameters:
0 LFO 1
1 LFO 2
2 Envelope 1
3 Envelope 2
4 Keyboard
5 Keyboard (log)
6 Velocity
7 Velocity (log)
8 Random
9 Channel Pressure
10 Modulation Wheel (Controller 1)
11 Breath Controller (Controller 2)
12 Foot Controller (Controller 4)
13 Volume (Controller 7)
14 Pan (Controller 10)
15 Expression (Controller 11)
SAMPLES:
* Each patch can contain one of 512 possible samples
* A set of ROM samples comes with Maui
* The user can load his own samples into Maui's RAM for use in any of the
programs
1.8 Do Turtle Beach products support OS/2?
Turtle Beach has not delivered OS/2 support and has no plans to. I think if OS/2 has a General MIDI driver of some sort, you can get a Maui to work, but you'd have to run the DOS setupsnd program first to initialize the Maui. Has anyone tried this?
1.9 Where can I get more information on the Net?On Usenet, there are several newsgroups devoted to talk of PC soundcards. Check out the comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.* hierarchy.
There is also a mailing list and a WWW home page:
=============================================================================
To accommodate the increasing number of sound cards available from Turtle
Beach Systems, The Turtle Beach Multisound users' mailing list has been
reborn as the Turtle Beach sound card mailing list. The new purpose of the
Turtle Beach sound card mailing list is to discuss applications and
techniques for using any of Turtle Beach's PC-compatible sound cards
(including the Monterey, Maui, Rio, Tahiti, and 56K cards as well as the
original Multisound) and to collect software bug reports and work-arounds
for known problems with any of these cards. If you do not own a Turtle
Beach sound card, please be aware that this list is not intended to help
you decide which sound card you should purchase. The list is primarily for
the exchange of information useful to users of Turtle Beach's sound cards.
To add yourself to the list, you must send a message containing the phrase
subscribe multisound
to `listserv@lists.Colorado.EDU' from the address you wish to use for all
list correspondence. Please replace `' in the above phrase
with your name, rather than something else (like your e-mail address). For
example, to add myself to the mailing list I would send a message
containing the phrase
subscribe multisound Sean McCreary
from my account on `ucsu.Colorado.EDU'. The Listserv software will extract
your e-mail address automatically from the header of your subscription
request, so you should be sure to send this message from your normal e-mail
address.
Please note that the list is configured to reject messages sent to the list
from addresses which don't appear on the list of subscribers. This means
that you will only be able to send messages to the mailing list from the
address you used to subscribe to the list. Messages sent from other
addresses will be returned to you without being distributed.
=============================================================================
There is also a WWW home page for the TBS user's group at
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~mccreary/tbeach. I have tried to assemble
an archive of useful programs and info (as well as a mirror of Brandon's
site).
--
Sean McCreary mccreary@cs.Colorado.EDU
#1.10 Are there third party WaveFront patches?Indeed there are! iMedia Communications sells two CD-ROMs of patches. The Composer's Toolkit with multisampled piano, choirs, orchestral and modern instruments, "ethereal soundscapes, silky pads, and synth layers." The Leading Edge contains analog synths, bass patches, industrial sounds and percussion kits. These CD-ROMs sell for $59 each, or $99 for both. For $249, you can get both CDs, a Maui card, PowerTracks Pro sequencer software, WavePatch and Wave SE software, and a MIDI interface.
You can reach iMedia at: iMedia Communications 1940 South Broadway, Unit 223 Minot, ND 58701
The Multisound is TB's original multimedia audio product. It has won many awards in the computer magazines over the past couple years. Features:
According to a TB rep on Compuserve, no. TB will continue to make and market the Multisound.
The Maui is a synthesizer upgrade board. It is an upgrade because it does not do digital audio in/out, so you'll need another sound board. That sound board doesn't need to have a Waveblaster connector though. The Maui has an input for your other sound board. This input is mixed with the Maui's output and sent to the Maui's output jack. Features:
WavePatch is the software that allows you to create new instruments and banks of instruments on your Maui. It is currently available from Compuserve or ftp.hawaii.edu in the outgoing/Maui directory.
The software that is included with the Maui lets you load a new sample in place of one of the 128 General MIDI instruments. WavePatch goes much further by giving you full control over the WaveFront synthesizer in a very friendly environment.
3.3 I've heard TB products are slow at loading samples. I s this true?This is true of the Monterey and Rio only (see section 5.2). The Maui has no trouble loading samples quickly.
3.4 What kind of memory do I use with the Maui?< /a>The Maui can take 256k, 1MB or 4MB SIMMs (70 ns). These are the 30-pin 9-chip or 3-chip variety that are common in the PC world. There are two sockets. This memory works in addition to the 256K that comes with the Maui.
3.5 What I/O does the Maui require?The Maui requires one IRQ and one port address.
IRQs usable:
8 bit: 2/9, 5
16 bit: 12, 15
Port I/O:
210H, 230H, 260H, 290H, 300H, 320H, 330H, 338H
NOTE: Many games look for a General MIDI sound device at 330H and don't give you the ability to select the port when you install it.
3.6 Is there an FTP site with Maui stuff?Yes. Connect via ftp to ftp.hawaii.edu and look in the outgoing/Maui directory.
NOTE: This ftp site does not accept uploads. If you have a submission, please send it to Brandon Higa at bhiga@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu
3.7 Are there any third party sounds available for the Ma ui?i-Media Communications offers two CD-ROMs of samples and instruments for use with the Maui. They offer "The Techno/Dance CD-ROM" and "The Composer's Toolkit CD-ROM." Each are $59, or together for $99. i-Media can be reached at 800-431-9707, 306-934-4733, Fax: 306-585-0944.
The Tahiti is a digital audio playback and record board. Features:
The Rio is a synthesizer upgrade board. It is designed to work with any sound board with a Waveblaster connector. These include the Creative Labs SoundBlaster-16, or the TB Tahiti. Rio carries a list price of $159. Features:
The Rio loads its samples through the Waveblaster connector via MIDI. MIDI is much slower than the PC bus. It is reported to take 45 minutes to load all 4MB of RAM with samples.
Keep in mind that this is not a design flaw as much as a design decision. TB wanted to work within the Waveblaster framework, and this standard features no efficient method for loading samples.
People who are looking for a sound board with sampling as their primary goal will be much better served by a Maui.
5.3 What kind of memory do I use on the Rio?There is one socket for a 1MB or 4MB SIPP (not SIMM).
The Monterey is a single-board solution for wavetable synthesis. It is a Rio and a Tahiti on one board. Look in those sections for specific features. It carries a list price of $399.
6.2 Does it take a long time to load samples into the Mon terey?Unfortunately, yes. Since the Monterey is simply a Rio and a Tahiti on one board, it loads its samples in the same way as the Rio.
The Crescendo is a music upgrade kit. It includes a Maui, a 49-key keyboard (with full size velocity sensitive keys) and several software packages (detailed below). It carries a list price of $499. Crescendo includes the following items:
Quad is a four track record and playback system. You record a stereo track at a time, and it will get mixed in real time for playback with up to 3 other tracks. Ditch that old 4 track recorder and go digital. List price $299 for just the software. $499 with a Tahiti. Through the end of July, owners of TB Tahiti, Multisound and Monterey boards can buy Quad for $149.
Quad keeps track of your mixer settings and will automatically set levels and pan settings during playback. Quad also generates MIDI Time Code so you can sync to a sequencer.
Quad also supports more than one sound board, so that you can have individual inputs and outputs.
8.2 What hardware does Quad require?Quad needs at least a 486SX/25, and a Turtle Beach soundcard that supports digital audio (Tahiti, Monterey or Multisound). No additional hardware is required for syncing to your sequencer.
The Daytona is a PCMCIA Type I sound card. It features digital recording using the Hurricane architecture. It also features the WaveFront synthesizer with 2MB of ROM and 256K of RAM (like the Maui). It carries a list price of $499.
The Tropez marks Turtle Beach's entry into the DOS games market. The Maui offered compatibility with DOS games that support General MIDI, but it does not provide a single card solution that supports digital audio as well as synthesis.
The Tropez does provide this functionality. It combines a General MIDI synthesizer (using the WaveFront chipset) with SoundBlaster compatible digital audio. Note that because it is SoundBlaster compatible, it does not use TB's Hurricane architecture, and therefore requires a DMA channel. Tropez can handle up to 12MB of RAM for use with SampleStore (it has three SIMM sockets). It carries a list price of $249.
Other features include an AT-API (Enhanced IDE) CD-ROM interface and a joystick port. Tropez is capable of simultaneous record and playback.
The Monte Carlo is the low end of Turtle Beach's soundcard line. It has the following features: