[Sodaware]

There are so many things the ST does badly - weak sound chip, screen memory laid out like a Venetian blind (to quote Jeff Minter I think), and a mouse that was designed in a universe where ergonomics did not exist.

But I still love it. Without the ST I wouldn't have discovered programming and all the highs (and lows) that it brings. Looking back now, I'm surprised people were able to get as much out of it as they did.

[thorianus]

Well, I'd argue about the music. The chiptune music from SID and YM has aged very well, while Amiga sounds horrbile without FM synth and 8-bit 11kHz samples.

Also memory was much better organized than Amiga - without the speed penalty.

And the simplicity of Shifter (the "GPU") allowed for really awsome 'beyond the dream' hacks, which were unavaliable on Amiga due to much more capable - but limited in 'hacking' video chip.

And then the first upgrade - Atari STE - amazes today with full control 8-channel 50kHz MODs... While mc68k CPU stayed at 8MHz!

[b112]

At it again, thorianus! Spreading anti-amiga propaganda, lies, all pure, devilish, unvarnished lies!

I will follow you down the ages, through age extension tech, uploading of consciousness, to the eventual universe spanning one mind!

Always I will appear, always I will prevent your foolish, unjust and untrue claims from spreading unchecked.

Amiga is better ; she is the best. Your Atari smells of milk!! Amigas rule!

(what part of early computing culture did not have inane fan wars?)

[gallier2]

Atari STE had 2 channels 8 bit DAC à 25kHz on DMA.

It was the Falcon who had incredible sound capacity with its matrix channel mixer and DSP.

[thorianus]

Well, that's the HW. As with video, the 16-bits went on further than just mere hardware limits.

When we talk software mixing, STE maxed out CPU at 8 channels 50kHz, here's an example: http://yerzmyey.i-demo.pl/YERZMYEY-Octopush_ATARI_STe.mp3

Even plain 520 ST can do a lot on this YM chip.

Amiga 500 on the other had could a bit of this but only with 12kHz samples, and no volume control per channel, also those pesky filters.

Amiga 1200/4000 could do same - as per much faster CPU, but... they still left the old audio 8-bit chip in it :/

[alexisread]

There's a package EPSS for the STE which allows using its 8 channel DMA as a software synth, at the same time as running other midi channels in Cubase. Makes for a very tidy DAW:

https://youtu.be/OlspnqVcJho

Other packages (DBE tracker?) allow the STE to play 32channel mods albeit not at 50Khz

[egypturnash]

All Amigas had a 6-bit volume control for each individual sound channel.

All Amigas except the A1000 could turn the high-pass filter off, and pretty much everything tended to do this.

[Sodaware]

I'd love to own a Falcon, but the prices on eBay make my eyes water.

[aidenn0]

Star Trek: The Rebel Universe looked far better on an ST than on a PC.

[edit]

Compare:

http://www.atarimania.com/st/screens/star_trek_the_rebel_uni...

https://www.myabandonware.com/media/screenshots/s/star-trek-...

[jandrese]

Everything that supported graphics looked better than CGA. Even monochrome Hercules graphics.

Although to be fair CGA wasn't intended to be used on monitors. It was intended to be used on smeary composite video sources where you could expand the palette using artifact colors. Even then the graphics were terrible, but you could at least get a green.

[aidenn0]

But by '87 EGA cards existed; it's just they never bothered to port it to EGA.

[cptnapalm]

I've never heard of this game before. Looking it up, its impressive considering the capabilities of then current hardware.

[aidenn0]

Yea, I still have floppy disk and manual for mine. 256K of ram and no hard-drive required.

It definitely required you to have lost many times before you could complete it though; the galaxy was too large for you to explore fully in the time granted by the mechanics.

[thorianus]

Well, plain ol' Prince of Persia looked much better on ST - if you compare PC/Amiga ports. Look at the torch animation.