RealSound

RealSound is a patented technology for the PC created by Access Software during the late 1980s. RealSound enables 6-bit [http://www.oldskool.org/sound/pc/#digitized] digitized PCM-audio playback on the PC speaker by means of PWM drive, allowing software control of the loud speaker's amplitude of displacement. The first video games to use it were "World Class Leader Board" and "Echelon", both released in 1988. At the time of release, sound cards were very expensive and RealSound allowed people to get life-like sounds and speech with no additional sound hardware, just the standard PC speaker.

Examples of games using RealSound:
* Access Software:
** "World Class Leader Board" (1988)
** "Mean Streets" (1989)
** "Countdown" (1990)
** "Crime Wave" (1990)
** "Martian Memorandum" (1991)
** "Links" (1990)
** "Echelon" (?)

* Legend Entertainment:
** "Spellcasting 101"
** "Spellcasting 201"
** "Spellcasting 301"

RealSound was a good technology but as soundcards got cheaper, Access Software stopped supporting it. Nevertheless, it inspired other PC video game developers like Legend Entertainment, who liked the idea of digitized-audio on the PC-speaker. This feature found its way into a decent number of PC games up until the early 1990s, when add-in sound cards began a baseline requirement for gaming PC-audio.

External links

* [http://www.oldskool.org/sound/pc/#digitized The Best Sound You've Never Heard]