The Gap
MoSys FX is a Factor 5-developed sound software/tool that successfully bridges the quality gap between streaming Redbook audio and MIDI music. In the past, developers were forced to choose between one or the other and there were downsides to both. Redbook audio, for example, delivered Hollywood quality music and sound effects, but because it was streamed off CD, there was a strict limit to how interactive it could be with the game player. Redbook audio in cartridge games, meanwhile, almost always meant to downgrade the quality to mono streams.

• Example: Sony Playstation's Wipeout XL uses Redbook audio and features tracks from such techno bands as Prodigy and Fluke.
• Benefit: CD quality music.
• Drawback: Music remains unaffected by course of action in game. It is just a static background noise.

MIDI-style music (which generally sounds more synthetic), on the other hand, enabled developers to create audio channels that would react to a player's course of action.

• Example: Rare's Banjo-Kazooie features interactive MIDI music that changes in instruments and sound depending on the location of a player.
• Benefit: Interactivity.
• Drawback: Generally less convincing, more synthetic sound, especially when compared to uncompressed streaming Redbook music tracks.

Into the MoSys FX
MoSys FX puts emphasis on interactivity in games. However, thanks to powerful software (and Dolphin's hardware), programmers can up the quality of their MIDI sounds so that they rival that of Redbook audio streams. The end result, theoretically, are games that sound as if they feature streamed studio music, but everything is interactive, and all in Dolby Surround Sound.

Also, because many Nintendo 64 developers are already familiar with MoSys FX, they won't have to learn all new tools for Dolphin development. This helps to cut down on production time and it's just one of the steps Nintendo is taking to ensure that its next-generation console ships on time late 2000.

MoSys FX and Dolphin
Think about Nintendo 64's audio limitations. With the arrival of Dolphin, they're gone. The cartridge format will be replaced by DVD, a much more audio friendly medium. Nintendo 64 had no dedicated sound chip and limited storage space. IGN64 speculates that Dolphin will feature a sound chip after all, despite the fact that Nintendo has not yet announced it. Dolphin is faster and it features more memory. All of this, combined with MoSys FX, means that Dolphin can not only stream unbelievably high quality Redbook audio directly off its proprietary DVD medium, but that it will also be able to provide studio quality interactive music and effects as well.

Also, whereas Nintendo 64 was capable of delivering roughly 32 channels of audio (and, more likely, 20 during gameplay), Dolphin will be able to output twice that with no problem whatsoever. Plus it will support real-time 3D positioning and filtering, multiple "rooms" processing and full Dolby Surround Sound.

Imagine playing a Dolphin first-person shooter. Through MoSys FX, the system can determine on the fly what type of sound gunfire generates in any given environment. For example, supposing a player fired off a shotgun in a wide-open auditorium, Dolphin could theoretically render a realistic echo to reflect the player's position. Similarly, if the same gun was fired in a closet space, that echo would be absent. Likewise, if a player runs through a door, the sound in the previous room will automatically muffle to reflect its position.

When we asked Factor 5's Julian Eggebrecht about other sound features for Dolphin, he would only comment that it will pull off feats that simply aren't possible for Nintendo 64.

Key Features from a developer's standpoint

• Complete handling of music and sound effects in one package
• Hardware independent overall design
• Number of voices only limited by hardware
• Both CPU and Co-Processors may be utilized for sound generation
• Multiple sample compression formats (Raw, ADPCM, uLaw)
• Powerful SMaL programming language to define sound effects and music instruments
• Variable MIDI controller architecture to allow for maximum flexibility while using the extended set of MIDI controllers
• Synthesizer supports all standard modes and effects like monophony, polyphony, pitch bending, portamento mode and much more
• Complex voice priority system to allow for optimal usage of a limited number of voices
• Complete 3D SoundFX API, including handling of "rooms" and relative velocities
• Interactive crossfades between different pieces of music
• Up to 16 master volume groups for easy volume handling at runtime
• GM-MIDI compatible
• GM instrument set included
• Dolby Surround support
• Compatibility with Factor 5’s MORT speech compression system
• Compatibility with GM MIDI standard makes conversion of data from other sound systems easy
• PC slave system is used to emulate the target hardware during sound development. No target development system is needed for the musician
• Win95 / Windows NT compatible sound editor
• Easy to use graphical interface to manage all data entities within the system
• Graphical ADSR editor
• Customized SMaL language editor included
• Easy to use templates to use the sound system with out using SMaL at all
• Mapping of sounds to specific key via keymaps and layering of sound using the build in layer feature is easily done
• Virtual MIDI keyboard to test sounds without a MIDI keyboard being connected
• Easy conversion from standard MIDI file format to the proprietary format used at runtime
• All converter tools are command line based and therefor can be easily integrated into the games data path via any available make tool

Though details are still scarce regarding the sound-handling hardware for the console, it's safe to assume that Dolphin owners will be blown away by the audio experience when then console arrives, according to Nintendo, late next year.