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Tandy SPU

Hardware theme

*123*
398
games
1
platform

Uses one of on board sound systems unique to the Tandy 1000 series (IBM-PCjr compatible). Or PCjr sound.

Notable people involved: George MacDonald, Thomas Holmes, Chris Braymen, Brooks DeForest and Terrence C. Falls

Alternate name: Tandy 3-voice

Often called "Tandy 3-voice", this is not entirely accurate. There was a 4th voice, a noise channel. And Tandy sound integrated the PC Speaker that could be used as a 5th voice (square wave). This arrangement is virtually unique to Tandy 1000 machines and some Tandy specific games used 5 voices. These game will probably be missing the '5th voice' (speaker noise) if played on other hardware and the "Tandy Sound" or "Tandy 3-voice" option is selected.

Voice 1, Square wave, Independent Volume, ABSR can be simulated using the CPU
Voice 2, Square wave, Independent Volume, ABSR can be simulated using the CPU
Voice 3, Square wave, Independent Volume, ABSR can be simulated using the CPU
Voice 4, Noise, Full Volume
Speaker, Square wave, Full Volume only

This is not the same as the IBM PCjr's sound system that could use the PC Speaker OR 3-voice and hardware disallowed using them simultaneously. This xor option was not enforced in the base hardware of other IBMs and compatibles but it was often hardware enforced by add-on sound cards that had a PC Speaker pass-through. A sound card with a PC Speaker pass-through that would play speaker simultaneously with other sound modes was really the only good option since sound from the internal speaker and external add-on speakers simultaneously would be quite dissonant; but not all cards will simultaneously mix with the speaker. So, software also rarely tried to use the speaker with other modes.

Popular tags

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Parent group

Sound Processing Units

Related groups

Hardware
Tandy Graphics Adapter, Tandy 1000 platform, Tandy DAC

Games by year

82848688909294969800020406081012141618 1002550750

The first Tandy SPU video game was released in 1982.

Sierra On-Line and Electronic Arts published most of these games.

Platforms

MS-DOS398

Most common companies