misfiled as "Keet, Electric" @ElectricKeet@awoo.space

What I thought I knew about audio on the N64:
- There's no dedicated multi-channel sound hardware like the SNES had;
- Nintendo's official development kit (SDK) uses software mixing on the CPU;
- There's a default sample bank ("soundfont") in a 256K ROM on the system board that should have been twice the size but was halved to save costs.
- Mixed audio could be output at (effectively) any sample rate from 16 to 44kHz but was usually set around 32kHz

What I learned about it today:
- The SDK actually does software mixing on the RSP which is the chip that primarily handles graphics, meaning developers had to balance sound quality versus graphics performance;
- That sample bank never existed (which might be why no N64 emulator has ever needed an external system ROM file which you'd think I'd have noticed by now?) so developers also had to make room in limited cartridge space for every single instrument sample used in the music, even the default ones that were included with the SDK;
- Mixed audio could be output from 3 to 368kHz... but most games set it around 32kHz.

What I learned about the 64DD disk drive add-on that fizzled not long after release in Japan:
- It contains a really good sample bank in a whopping 2.75M ROM!

What I already knew before that still annoys me to this day:
- Even Game Boy Advance had more dedicated sound hardware!
- ...but only because it had the Game Boy Color sound chip in it alongside PCM that could only be used as two mono channels mixed together or one stereo channel;
- ...and that PCM is only 8-bit and most games ran it at 22, 16, or even 11kHz!

Why did Nintendo give audio the short end of things when the SNES was praised for lush sound?

"Ah, my favorite of the NES Mega Mans."

"Mega Mans?"

"Well, it sure isn't 'Megas Man'."

Three weeks ago, my father called to tell my brother and I that we'd each be receiving a packet of important legal documents sent by a legal-type person (let's call them Biscuit) helping him with legal-type stuff. Both of us would need to sign it all in front of a notary with two witnesses, then overnight-mail to a different legal-type person (let's call them Gravy).

A week after that, Biscuit sends a text message to me, my brother, and my dad, asking if I've received the packet. I reply that nothing has arrived. They read off the address they sent it to... but it was one I haven't lived at for many years. They hurriedly set about e-mailing the documents to me, insisting that they needed them printed and signed and witnessed and notarized and overnighted to them ASAP.

Oh, and Gravy also texts me independently for all the same reasons.

So I coaxed a couple friends – the first two I could find who weren't pinned down by a day job – to come out with me on a cold, nasty day to a UPS store get it all sorted at once. (Super appreciative! Once such a thing is possible again, I owe y'all lunch at least.)

Two weeks after that, my dad and brother and I get another text message from Biscuit. Turns out Gravy forgot one of the documents! So we'd need to do the same thing all over again. My brother responds first, asking why the first one had to be overnighted if they obviously had at least two weeks to sit on it, and what the actual real deadline is we needed to meet. We receive a date that's one week out, and Biscuit e-mails the remaining document.

Yet again, Gravy also texts me independently for all the same reasons.

I check the document. My brother's name is misspelled, my address is listed as the same invalid one from before, and it has me misgendered. I convey this to Biscuit, who will coordinate with Gravy and get the corrected document e-mailed to me quickly. Very urgent.

This morning, before my usual hours – just what are time zones, anyhow? – I receive a call, a voicemail, and texts from both Biscuit and Gravy to ask if I overnighted the document. I remind them that I'm still waiting for the corrections. Gravy sends them to me five minutes later. I remind both parties that "ASAP" might not be immediate because I have to yet again summon two friends to drag my ass out to the same UPS store in the middle of a pandemic lockdown, all because somehow nobody's managed to make this happen in a sane, paperless way.

I hate legal shit.

I love toast
I love toast
It's the bread I like the most
Whether wheat or gluten-free
It smells delicious when it roasts