Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2024 December 8

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December 8

What was the first computer game with normal audio, audio that is not chiptune/tracker/midi/fm synthesis?

What was the first computer game with normal audio, audio that is not chiptune/tracker/midi/fm synthesis? 2804:1B3:9700:1E44:2188:5975:E245:4C47 (talk) 17:08, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

So are you excluding all the digital to analog conversion methods? Some early computer systems allowed analog cassette tapes to play audio under computer control. I assume these included music. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 20:00, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I scanned two books on the history of video games and both note that the first "real" sound in video games was Rally-X. They use the clarification that it was the first to use digital-to-analog to turn digitially recorded sounds into analog sound. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 17:25, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Tell us what those books are! The fact should be in the article, it would sit nicely after "one of the first games with bonus stages and continuously-playing background music". What are you citing, please?  Card Zero  (talk) 14:11, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Please define "normal audio." In general terms, all sounds for arcade games or computer games since around 1976 were produced through some sort of digital audio using sound chips, which includes the terms the OP used such as MIDI, FM synthesis, etc. This includes digitally sampled analogue sounds reproduced with digital technology. Are you asking whether a computer game was developed using analogue hardware using vacuum tubes? Alternate histories suggest themselves, as if bored techies working the night-time shift on the LEO Mk. III had been able to interface with the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer via a Fuzzball router and been able to play a beta version of Rogue with full menacing throbbing audio: "The Xeroc strikes!" Wob-wob-wob. All your base are belong to us. MinorProphet (talk) 19:08, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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