Comments on: The Apple II and the Mockingboard – promise unfulfilled

By: Craig Stodolenak

Craig Stodolenak — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 06:26:19 +0000

Of possible interest, I had the opportunity to meet and spend time with Richard Garriott aka Lord British, developer of Ultima, at a regional Apple User Group conference in Ann Arbor, MI. Bill Gates was there showing off Excel on the Mac but I was way more excited about Garriott.

This was shortly after Ultima V was released (in ’86), and Garriott was there to show it off, and was specifically excited about sound card support and all the effort involved. This was a large conference, with hundreds of reps from many different user groups like my own, but I’m pretty sure I was one of the very very few who had a Mockingboard (a C, which was an A model with a single pre-installed speech chip), so he and I truly geeked out over it. He had a IIgs with him with a dual Mockingboard As, and I was suitably impressed.

Ultima V supported 6 voices w/one card, and 8 with two, so it wasn’t that much of an improvement. Garriott explained the original music was written for 8 voices so the only true way to experience it was with two cards. Emulators like Virtual ][ support dual Mockingboards and Asimov’s archives has Ultima V for download so have at it… 😉

By: Bill Loguidice

Bill Loguidice — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:13:26 +0000

In reply to Steven. It's additional voices, which does not require stereo separation.

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 23:02:20 +0000

I thought the point of the two cards is to enjoy enhance stereo effects you will only get when using two seperate speakers..? Connecting both inputs via a mono guitar amp defeats the purpose.

By: Bill Loguidice

Bill Loguidice — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:32:00 +0000

In reply to Keith Sheehan. The clones (and even Phasor clones) are cheap enough to get now, so cost really shouldn't be much of an issue. I have heard there are some compatibility issues on the IIGS, but I don't recall what those might be.

By: Keith Sheehan

Keith Sheehan — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 19:47:58 +0000

I have a 2gs and some of the games have been enhanced to support that machine’s sound board. I’ve been contemplating getting a Mockingboard for the Ultima games and for Nox Archaist. Honestly I’m not sure it’s worth the cost.

By: Bill Loguidice

Bill Loguidice — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:41:53 +0000

In reply to Peter Ferrie. Thank you! Neat, but ultimately something that can be passed on.

By: Peter Ferrie

Peter Ferrie — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:37:35 +0000

Rescue Raiders v1.3 will read aloud the emergency transmission text when you start a game, but only on a Mockingboard of type B. For other types, the presence of the Mockingboard is ignored entirely.