dual pokey on a 400?

[Osgeld]

I recently upgraded a 400 to 48k, and while I have it open I am going to do a couple other things, but I was wondering if there is any point in doing a dual pokey mod (or at least preparing for it) on a osB machine... is there any software that would actually take advantage of it, or is that all XL/XE type stuff

 

Thanks

[+mytek]

The dual Pokey has been around for a long time, dating back to the late 80's when Chuck Steinmann of DataQue fame first introduced the idea (LINK). So I would imagine that there is a lot of Stereo Pokey stuff that will work on the early 400/800 OS. However the problem has really more to do with space, since whatever dual pokey upgrades are available to buy probably won't fit. So you would likely have to roll your own as shown in the link that I provided.

 

- Michael

[Van]

I recently upgraded a 400 to 48k, and while I have it open I am going to do a couple other things, but I was wondering if there is any point in doing a dual pokey mod (or at least preparing for it) on a osB machine... is there any software that would actually take advantage of it, or is that all XL/XE type stuff

 

Thanks

The second PoKEY really isn't supported by any Atari OS, there may be a 3rd party or patched OS out there, don't know. Trackers or playback software accesses it from ML or with Pokes to the 2nd set of reg addresses. As Michael said it's the size issue, but you should be able if you go 'ol school' and piggy-back the 2nd PoKEY. Could also gain a couple mm by removing the socket (if the mobo has one).

 

Stock games won't take advantage of the extra channels, but Demos and song XEXs will if they are stereo tunes

Yogi

Edited June 12, 2017 by Van