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RealSound is a patented (US US5054086 A) technology for the PC created by Steve Witzel of Access Software during the late 1980s. ^[1] RealSound enables 6-bit ^[2] digitized pulse-code modulation (PCM)-audio playback on the PC speaker by means of pulse-width modulation (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 players to hear lifelike sounds and speech with no additional sound hardware, just the standard PC speaker. ^[3]

RealSound was an impressive enough technology that a few other PC video game developers , like Legend Entertainment , licensed it for use in their own games. However, as the early 1990s progressed, sound card prices dropped to the point that they eventually became a baseline requirement for gaming PC-audio, leaving RealSound obsolete as it no longer filled a niche in the market.

Examples of games using RealSound [ edit ]

• Access Software:
  • World Class Leader Board (1988) ^[4]
  • Echelon (1988)
  • Mean Streets (1989)
  • Countdown (1990)
  • Crime Wave (1990)
  • Links (1990)
  • Martian Memorandum (1991)
  • Amazon: Guardians of Eden (1992)
• Legend Entertainment:
  • Spellcasting 101 (1990)
  • Spellcasting 201 (1991)
  • Timequest (1991)
  • Spellcasting 301 (1992)
  • Companions of Xanth (1993)

See also [ edit ]

• PC speaker
• Sound card
• Covox Speech Thing

References [ edit ]