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89-553: There were many features that caused this synth line to be popular. Some of these were: The VFX employed 3 types of synthesis: Transwave Wavetable Synthesis , Sample playback and Subtractive Synthesis. The Transwaves gave the VFX a unique sound as the only other instruments (at the time) using wavetable synthesis were the Waldorf Microwave and PPG Wave machines. The wavetable positions and directions of scan could be modulated in

178-458: A relocatable format using the filename extension .CMD to avoid name conflicts with CP/M-80 and MS-DOS .COM files. MS-DOS version 1.0 added a more advanced relocatable . EXE executable file format. Most of the machines in the early days of MS-DOS had differing system architectures and there was a certain degree of incompatibility, and subsequently vendor lock-in . Users who began using MS-DOS with their machines were compelled to continue using

267-618: A 1994 settlement agreement limiting Microsoft to per-copy licensing. Digital Research did not gain by this settlement, and years later its successor in interest, Caldera , sued Microsoft for damages in the Caldera v. Microsoft lawsuit. It was believed that the settlement ran in the order of $ 150 million , but was revealed in November 2009 with the release of the Settlement Agreement to be $ 280 million . Microsoft also used

356-448: A DOS startup disk on Windows Vista , the files on the startup disk are dated April 18, 2005, but are otherwise unchanged, including the string "MS-DOS Version 8 Copyright 1981–1999 Microsoft Corp" inside COMMAND.COM . Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 can also create a MS-DOS startup disk. Starting with Windows 10 , the ability to create a MS-DOS startup disk has been removed, and so either a virtual machine running MS-DOS or an older version (in

445-516: A Graphical User Interface (GUI) on top of MS-DOS. With Windows 95 , 98 , and Me , the role of MS-DOS was reduced to a boot loader according to Microsoft, with MS-DOS programs running in a virtual DOS machine within 32-bit Windows, with ability to boot directly into MS-DOS retained as a backward compatibility option for applications that required real mode access to the hardware, which was generally not possible within Windows. The command line accessed

534-464: A Preset (20 user presets in memory at a time, 40 built-in) to play from at any given time and saved in a custom-programmed setup (each sound in the PRESET allowed for Transpose, Output Routing, MIDI channel assignments, EFX routing/selection, etc.). Since each voice could be made of up to six individual sounds, the possibilities were very wide-ranging, such as using different key-ranges/splits for each of

623-435: A common confusion. While sampled synthesis involves the use of a static digital sample, wavetable synthesis allows for the (optional) evolution of a waveform; this is to say, while wavetable synths can sound like sampled synthesis, the evolving option (which is enabled by default on most classic wavetable sounds) differentiates it. Often they now have displays showing a real time 3d graphs of the wave table being played back with

712-755: A copy of the Windows Me boot disk, stripped down to bootstrap only. This is accessible only by formatting a floppy as an "MS-DOS startup disk". Files like the driver for the CD-ROM support were deleted from the Windows Me bootdisk and the startup files ( AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS ) no longer had content. This modified disk was the base for creating the MS-DOS image for Windows XP. Some of the deleted files can be recovered with an undelete tool. When booting up an MS-DOS startup disk made with Windows XP's format tool,

801-608: A few operating systems attempting to be compatible with MS-DOS, are sometimes referred to as "DOS" (which is also the generic acronym for disk operating system ). MS-DOS was the main operating system for IBM PC compatibles during the 1980s, from which point it was gradually superseded by operating systems offering a graphical user interface (GUI), in various generations of the graphical Microsoft Windows operating system. IBM licensed and re-released it in 1981 as PC DOS 1.0 for use in its PCs. Although MS-DOS and PC DOS were initially developed in parallel by Microsoft and IBM,

890-541: A forceful letter to PC Week (November 5, 1990), denying that Microsoft was engaged in FUD tactics ("to serve our customers better, we decided to be more forthcoming about version 5.0") and denying that Microsoft copied features from DR DOS: "The feature enhancements of MS-DOS version 5.0 were decided and development was begun long before we heard about DR DOS 5.0. There will be some similar features. With 50 million MS-DOS users, it shouldn't be surprising that DRI has heard some of

979-448: A higher price. Executable programs for CP/M-86 and MS-DOS were not interchangeable with each other; many applications were sold in both MS-DOS and CP/M-86 versions until MS-DOS became preponderant (later Digital Research operating systems could run both MS-DOS and CP/M-86 software). MS-DOS originally supported the simple .COM , which was modeled after a similar but binary-incompatible format known from CP/M-80 . CP/M-86 instead supported

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1068-458: A large share of the business computer market. Microsoft and IBM together began what was intended as the follow-on to MS-DOS/PC DOS, called OS/2 . When OS/2 was released in 1987, Microsoft began an advertising campaign announcing that "DOS is Dead" and stating that version 4 was the last full release. OS/2 was designed for efficient multi-tasking and offered a number of advanced features that had been designed together with similar look and feel ; it

1157-431: A lot of sequencer memory by, for example, recording a standard 2-bar drum/bass/piano part, then repeating it 8 times to make a 16-bar Verse. Tempo changes for each pattern could be programmed in to the patterns themselves or in song mode, to speed up or slow down the tempo at certain points. The user could also change the effects on a 'per-pattern' basis, allowing for more dramatic changes in the song, although that would make

1246-606: A marketing term to their sound card. However, these sound cards did not employ any form of wavetable synthesis, but rather PCM samples and FM synthesis . S&S (Sample and Synthesis) and Digital Wave Synthesis was the main method of sound synthesis utilised by digital synthesizers starting in the mid 1980s with synthesizers such as Sequential Circuits Prophet VS, Korg DW6000/8000 (DW standing for Digital Wave), Roland D50 and Korg M1 through to current synthesizers. Ableton addressed some confusion in an article: Wait, so isn't this just sampled synthesis? Let's pause here to address

1335-407: A particular model), or per-copy (a fee for each copy of MS-DOS installed). The largest manufacturers used the per-processor arrangement, which had the lowest fee. This arrangement made it expensive for the large manufacturers to migrate to any other operating system, such as DR DOS. In 1991, the U.S. government Federal Trade Commission began investigating Microsoft's licensing procedures, resulting in

1424-513: A standard Microsoft kernel, which they would typically supply on disk to end users along with the hardware. Thus, there were many different versions of "MS-DOS" for different hardware, and there is a major distinction between an IBM-compatible (or ISA) machine and an MS-DOS [compatible] machine. Some machines, like the Tandy 2000 , were MS-DOS compatible but not IBM-compatible, so they could run software written exclusively for MS-DOS without dependence on

1513-479: A time on a given MIDI channel. An Ensoniq specialty that appeared in almost all of their products were the two "PATCH SELECT" buttons above the Pitch/Modulation wheels. These two buttons were used to select four different oscillator combinations of a sound. The mapping was fully programmable and was invaluable for creating more versatile sounds for performance. Ensoniq had other MIDI modes in addition to

1602-492: A time or in multi mode with several tracks (MIDI channels) being recorded at once. This makes it easy to also record multi channel sequences from other MIDI-instruments in to the VFX-SD. In 'Sequence' mode, the different patterns can be arranged and named (e.g. as 'Intro', 'Verse', 'Bridge', 'Ending', 'Part 1' etc.), and arranged in any order to make a finished song. Each pattern can be repeated up to 99 times each, which can save

1691-602: A variety of other computers based on various other processors were in serious competition with the IBM PC: the Apple II , Mac , Commodore 64 and others did not use the 808x processor; many 808x machines of different architectures used custom versions of MS-DOS. At first all these machines were in competition. In time the IBM PC hardware configuration became dominant in the 808x market as software written to communicate directly with

1780-450: A variety of tactics in MS-DOS and several of their applications and development tools that, while operating perfectly when running on genuine MS-DOS (and PC DOS), would break when run on another vendor's implementation of DOS. Notable examples of this practice included: All versions of Microsoft Windows have had an MS-DOS or MS-DOS-like command-line interface called MS-DOS Prompt which redirected input to MS-DOS and output from MS-DOS to

1869-544: A variety of ways, giving a very animated and "alive" sound when programmed correctly. Transwaves are also the only way to get the typical resonance sound since the filters of the VFX did not have a resonance parameter. The waveforms in the original VFX and early VFX-SD synths are 16-bit resolution with a sample frequency of approximately 39 kHz. They covered the standard list of piano, bass, guitar, string and solo varieties, as well as many others, all to Ensoniq's high quality. The VFX can be very deep and atmospheric by combining

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1958-456: A virtual machine or dual boot) must be used to format a floppy disk, or an image must be obtained from an external source. Other solutions include using DOS compatible alternatives, such as FreeDOS or even copying the required files and boot sector themselves. The last remaining components related to MS-DOS was the NTVDM component, which was removed entirely in Windows starting with Windows 11 as

2047-557: Is a sound synthesis technique used to create quasi-periodic waveforms often used in the production of musical tones or notes . Wavetable synthesis was invented by Max Mathews in 1958 as part of MUSIC II . MUSIC II “had four-voice polyphony and was capable of generating sixteen wave shapes via the introduction of a wavetable oscillator.” Hal Chamberlin discussed wavetable synthesis in Byte 's September 1977 issue. Wolfgang Palm of Palm Products GmbH (PPG) developed his version in

2136-429: Is a class of sound synthesis methods using the waveform tables by table-lookup , called "table-lookup oscillator" technique. The length of waveforms or samples may be varied by each sound synthesis method, from a single-cycle up to several minutes. The term " waveform table " (or " wave shape table " as equivalent) is often abbreviated to "wavetable", and its derived term " wavetable oscillator " seems to be almost

2225-478: Is especially useful for evolving synth pads , where the sound changes slowly over time. It is often necessary to 'audition' each position in a wavetable and to scan through it, forwards and backwards, in order to make good use of it, though selecting random wavetables, start positions, end positions and directions of scan can also produce satisfying musical results. It is worth noting that most wavetable synthesizers also employ other synthesis methods to further shape

2314-409: Is fundamentally based on periodic reproduction of multiple arbitrary, single-cycle waveforms . In wavetable synthesis, some method is employed to vary or modulate the selected waveform in the wavetable. The position in the wavetable selects the single cycle waveform. Digital interpolation between adjacent waveforms allows for dynamic and smooth changes of the timbre of the tone produced. Sweeping

2403-412: Is mainly for education and experimentation with historic operating systems and for new programmers to gain an understanding of how low-level software works, both historic and current. According to program manager Rich Turner, the other versions could not be open-sourced due to third-party licensing restrictions. Due to the historical nature of the software, Microsoft will not accept any pull requests to

2492-430: Is noteworthy. For this reason the term "Table-lookup synthesis" is explained at length in this article. MS-DOS MS-DOS ( / ˌ ɛ m ˌ ɛ s ˈ d ɒ s / em-es- DOSS ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System , also known as Microsoft DOS ) is an operating system for x86 -based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft . Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS , and

2581-518: Is often called the MS-DOS Prompt. In part, this was the official name for it in Windows 9x and early versions of Windows NT (NT 3.5 and earlier), and in part because the SoftPC emulation of DOS redirects output into it. Actually only COMMAND.COM and other 16-bit commands run in an NTVDM with AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT initialization determined by _DEFAULT.PIF , optionally permitting

2670-441: Is still used in embedded x86 systems due to its simple architecture and minimal memory and processor requirements, though some current products have switched to the still-maintained open-source alternative FreeDOS . In 2018, Microsoft released the source code for MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0 on GitHub , with the source code for MS-DOS 4.00 being released in the same repository six years later. The purpose of this, according to Microsoft,

2759-591: The Intel 8086 and 8088 processors, including the IBM PC and clones, the initial competition to the PC DOS/MS-DOS line came from Digital Research , whose CP/M operating system had inspired MS-DOS. In fact, there remains controversy as to whether QDOS was more or less plagiarized from early versions of CP/M code. Digital Research released CP/M-86 a few months after MS-DOS, and it was offered as an alternative to MS-DOS and Microsoft's licensing requirements, but at

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2848-581: The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO). On March 25, 2014, Microsoft made the code to SCP MS-DOS 1.25 and a mixture of Altos MS-DOS 2.11 and TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11 available to the public under the Microsoft Research License Agreement , which makes the code source-available , but not open source as defined by Open Source Initiative or Free Software Foundation standards. Microsoft would later re-license

2937-531: The Waldorf WAVE. More commonly, pre-computed wavetables could be added via memory cards or sent to the synthesizer via MIDI. Today, wavetables can be created more easily by software and auditioned directly on a computer. Since all waveforms used in wavetable synthesis are periodic, the time-domain and frequency-domain representation are exact equivalents of each other and both can be used simultaneously to define waveforms and wavetables. During playback,

3026-739: The Windows NT -derived 32-bit operating systems ( Windows NT , 2000 , XP and newer), developed alongside the 9x series, do not contain MS-DOS compatibility as a core component of the operating system nor do they rely on it for bootstrapping, as NT was not with the level of support for legacy MS-DOS and Win16 apps that Windows 9x was, but does provide limited DOS emulation called NTVDM (NT Virtual DOS Machine) to run DOS applications and provide DOS-like command prompt windows. 64-bit versions of Windows NT prior to Windows 11 (and Windows Server 2008 R2 by extension) do not provide DOS emulation and cannot run DOS applications natively. Windows XP contains

3115-748: The "pre-announcement" of MS-DOS 6.0 again stifled the sales of DR DOS. Microsoft had been accused of carefully orchestrating leaks about future versions of MS-DOS in an attempt to create what in the industry is called FUD ( fear, uncertainty, and doubt ) regarding DR DOS. For example, in October 1990, shortly after the release of DR DOS 5.0, and long before the eventual June 1991 release of MS-DOS 5.0, stories on feature enhancements in MS-DOS started to appear in InfoWorld and PC Week . Brad Silverberg , then Vice President of Systems Software at Microsoft and general manager of its Windows and MS-DOS Business Unit, wrote

3204-486: The 1990s at the latest, several influential sample-based synthesis products were marketed under the trade names similar to "wavetable synthesis" (including Gravis Ultrasound wavetable card, Creative Wave Blaster wavetable daughterboard , and Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth ), and these confusions have further affected industry standards (including MPEG-4 Structured Audio algorithmic and wavetable synthesis , and AC97 optional hw acceleration wavetable synth ). In

3293-451: The 1994 release of MS-DOS 6.21, which had disk compression removed. Shortly afterwards came version 6.22, with a new version of the disk compression system, DriveSpace, which had a different compression algorithm to avoid the infringing code. Prior to 1995, Microsoft licensed MS-DOS (and Windows) to computer manufacturers under three types of agreement: per-processor (a fee for each system the company sold), per-system (a fee for each system of

3382-561: The DOS command line (usually COMMAND.COM ) through a Windows module (WINOLDAP.MOD). Windows NT-based operating systems boot to a kernel whose purpose is to load Windows and run the system. One cannot run Win32 applications in the loader system in the manner that OS/2, UNIX or consumer versions of Windows can launch character-mode sessions. The command session permits running various supported command-line utilities from Win32, MS-DOS, OS/2 1.x and POSIX. The emulators for MS-DOS, OS/2 and POSIX use

3471-524: The IBM 5150 or the IBM PC . Within a year, Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to over 70 other companies. It was designed to be an OS that could run on any 8086-family computer. Each computer would have its own distinct hardware and its own version of MS-DOS, similar to the situation that existed for CP/M , and with MS-DOS emulating the same solution as CP/M to adapt for different hardware platforms. To this end, MS-DOS

3560-470: The MS-DOS Prompt, or, in later versions, Command Prompt . This could run many DOS and variously Win32, OS/2 1.x and POSIX command-line utilities in the same command-line session, allowing piping between commands. The user interface, and the icon up to Windows 2000, followed the native MS-DOS interface. The Command Prompt introduced with Windows NT is not actually MS-DOS, but shares some commands with MS-DOS. The 16-bit versions of Windows (up to 3.11) ran as

3649-434: The MS-DOS name for all versions but the IBM one, which was originally called "IBM Personal Computer DOS", later shortened to IBM PC DOS . (Competitors released compatible DOS systems such as DR-DOS and PTS-DOS that could also run MS-DOS applications.) In the former Eastern bloc , MS-DOS derivatives named DCP ( Disk Control Program  [ de ] ) 3.20 and 3.30 (DCP 1700, DCP 3.3) and WDOS existed in

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3738-405: The NTVDM and can therefore no longer natively run DOS or 16-bit Windows applications. There are alternatives such as virtual machine emulators such as Microsoft's own Virtual PC , as well as VMware , DOSBox etc., unofficial compatibility layers such as NTVDMx64, OTVDM (WineVDM), Win3mu and others. The introduction of Windows 3.0 in 1990, with an easy-to-use graphical user interface , marked

3827-597: The PC hardware without using standard operating system calls ran much faster, but on true PC-compatibles only. Non-PC-compatible 808x machines were too small a market to have fast software written for them alone, and the market remained open only for IBM PCs and machines that closely imitated their architecture, all running either a single version of MS-DOS compatible only with PCs, or the equivalent IBM PC DOS. Most clones cost much less than IBM-branded machines of similar performance, and became widely used by home users, while IBM PCs had

3916-461: The VFX line was its reliability. Because of the Poly-Key pressure and keybed design (which was in three pieces), it was prone to bending and breaking at the solder points, causing the keyboard not to calibrate when turned on. It took Ensoniq quite a long time to remedy this problem in the future models (VFX-SD I/II) and they created a somewhat disappointed customer base. Another problem with the synth

4005-520: The Windows GUI; this capability was retained through Windows 98 Second Edition. Windows Me removed the capability to boot its underlying MS-DOS 8.0 alone from a hard disk, but retained the ability to make a DOS boot floppy disk (called an "Emergency Boot Disk") and can be hacked to restore full access to the underlying DOS. On December 31, 2001, Microsoft declared all versions of MS-DOS 6.22 and older obsolete and stopped providing support and updates for

4094-424: The background for loading Windows 9x . MS-DOS was a renamed form of 86-DOS  – owned by Seattle Computer Products , written by Tim Paterson . Development of 86-DOS took only six weeks, as it was basically a clone of Digital Research 's CP/M (for 8080/Z80 processors), ported to run on 8086 processors and with two notable differences compared to CP/M: an improved disk sector buffering logic, and

4183-496: The beginning of the end for the command-line driven MS-DOS. With the release of Windows 95 (and continuing in the Windows 9x product line through to Windows Me ), an integrated version of MS-DOS was used for bootstrapping , troubleshooting, and backwards-compatibility with old DOS software, particularly games, and no longer released as a standalone product. In Windows 95, the DOS, called MS-DOS 7, can be booted separately, without

4272-666: The code under the MIT License on September 28, 2018, making these versions free software . Microsoft later released the code for MS-DOS 4.00 on April 25, 2024, under the same license. As an April Fool's Day joke in 2015, Microsoft Mobile launched a Windows Phone application called MS-DOS Mobile which was presented as a new mobile operating system and worked similar to MS-DOS. Microsoft licensed or released versions of MS-DOS under different names like Lifeboat Associates "Software Bus 86" a.k.a. SB-DOS , COMPAQ-DOS , NCR-DOS or Z-DOS before it eventually enforced

4361-481: The current waveform highlighted which is the signature feature common in modern wavetable synths. The creation of new wavetables was previously a difficult process unless supported by specialized editing facilities and (near) real-time playback of edited wavetables on the synthesizer. Such editors often required the use of extra hardware devices like the PPG Waveterm or were only present in expensive models like

4450-511: The host's window in the same way that Win16 applications use the Win32 explorer. Using the host's window allows one to pipe output between emulations. The MS-DOS emulation takes place through the NTVDM (NT Virtual DOS Machine). This is a modified SoftPC (a former product similar to VirtualPC ), running a modified MS-DOS 5 (NTIO.SYS and NTDOS.SYS). The output is handled by the console DLLs, so that

4539-751: The introduction of FAT12 instead of the CP/M filesystem . This first version was shipped in August 1980. Microsoft, which needed an operating system for the IBM Personal Computer , hired Tim Paterson in May 1981 and bought 86-DOS 1.10 for US$ 25,000 in July of the same year. Microsoft kept the version number, but renamed it MS-DOS. They also licensed MS-DOS 1.10/1.14 to IBM, which, in August 1981, offered it as PC DOS 1.0 as one of three operating systems for

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4628-525: The late 1970s and published it in 1979. The technique has since been used as the primary synthesis method in synthesizers built by PPG and Waldorf Music and as an auxiliary synthesis method by Ensoniq and Access . It is currently used in hardware synthesizers from Waldorf Music and in software synthesizers for PCs and tablets, including apps offered by PPG and Waldorf, among others. It was also independently developed by Michael McNabb, who used it in his 1978 composition Dreamsong . Wavetable synthesis

4717-699: The late 1980s. They were produced by the East German electronics manufacturer VEB Robotron . The following versions of MS-DOS were released to the public: Support for IBM's XT 10 MB hard disk drives, support up to 16 MB or 32 MB FAT12 -formatted hard disk drives depending on the formatting tool shipped by OEMs, user-installable device drivers, tree-structure filing system, Unix-like inheritable redirectable file handles, non-multitasking child processes an improved Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) API, environment variables, device driver support, FOR and GOTO loops in batch files, ANSI.SYS . Microsoft DOS

4806-402: The limits of their contemporary hardware. Very soon an IBM-compatible architecture became the goal, and before long all 8086-family computers closely emulated IBM's hardware , and only a single version of MS-DOS for a fixed hardware platform was needed for the market. This version is the version of MS-DOS that is discussed here, as the dozens of other OEM versions of "MS-DOS" were only relevant to

4895-401: The mid-2000s, confusion in terminology cropped up yet-again. A subclass of generic wavetable synthesis, i.e. McNabb and Palm's multiple wavetable synthesis, tends to be erroneously referred as if it was a generic class of whole wavetable synthesis family, exclusively. As a result, the difficulty of maintaining consistency between concepts and terminology during rapid technological development

4984-561: The operating system dropped support for 32-bit processors in favor of being solely offered in 64-bit versions only. This effectively ended any association of MS-DOS within Microsoft Windows after 36 years. MS-DOS 6.22 was the last standalone version produced by Microsoft for Intel 8088 , Intel 8086 , and Intel 80286 processors, which remains available for download via their MSDN , volume license, and OEM license partner websites, for customers with valid login credentials. MS-DOS

5073-496: The output mute for a moment, if a different effect were selected. 'Song' mode also allows for an additional 12 tracks with their own track parameters. This is similar to having 12 "tape-like" tracks, and can be used for live-like piano playing or solos and such, which may be difficult to put into the individual sequences. By also using external sound devices (or other MIDI gear), very complex arrangements are possible, triggering many different types of MIDI devices. Some users would use

5162-414: The output waveform, such as subtractive synthesis (filters), phase modulation , frequency modulation and AM (ring) modulation . On Csound , it is called f-table (function table), and used for various purposes including: wavetable-lookup synthesis, waveshaping , MIDI note mapping, and storing ordered pitch-class sets . Table-lookup synthesis (or Wavetable-lookup synthesis ) ( Roads 1996 )

5251-600: The period when Digital Research was competing in the operating system market some computers, like the Amstrad PC1512 , were sold with floppy disks for two operating systems (only one of which could be used at a time), MS-DOS and CP/M-86 or a derivative of it. Digital Research produced DOS Plus , which was compatible with MS-DOS 2.11, supported CP/M-86 programs, had additional features including multi-tasking, and could read and write disks in CP/M and MS-DOS format. While OS/2

5340-519: The peripheral hardware of the IBM PC architecture. This design would have worked well for compatibility, if application programs had only used MS-DOS services to perform device I/O. Indeed, the same design philosophy is embodied in Windows NT (see Hardware Abstraction Layer ). However, in MS-DOS' early days, the greater speed attainable by programs through direct control of hardware was of particular importance, especially for games, which often pushed

5429-455: The platform without Microsoft and sold it as the alternative to DOS and Windows. As a response to Digital Research 's DR DOS 6.0 , which bundled SuperStor disk compression, Microsoft opened negotiations with Stac Electronics , vendor of the most popular DOS disk compression tool, Stacker. In the due diligence process, Stac engineers had shown Microsoft part of the Stacker source code. Stac

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5518-492: The program at the prompt ( CMD.EXE , 4NT.EXE , TCC.EXE ), can see the output. 64-bit Windows has neither the DOS emulation, nor the DOS commands EDIT, DEBUG and EDLIN that come with 32-bit Windows. The DOS version returns 5.00 or 5.50, depending on which API function is used to determine it. Utilities from MS-DOS 5.00 run in this emulation without modification. The very early beta programs of NT show MS-DOS 30.00, but programs running in MS-DOS 30.00 would assume that OS/2

5607-552: The pulse wave will appear to change over time. As the early Ensoniq wavetable synthesizers had non resonant filters (the PPG Wave synthesizers used analogue Curtis resonant filters), some wavetables contained highly resonant waveforms to overcome this limitation of the filters. In 1992, with the introduction of the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 the term "wavetable" started to be (incorrectly) applied as

5696-661: The same as " table-lookup oscillator " mentioned above, although the word "wave" (or "waveform", "wave shape") may possibly imply a nuance of single-cycle waveform. However, the derived term " wavetable synthesis " seems slightly confused by the later developments of derived algorithm. On the above four terminologies for the classes of sound synthesis methods — i.e. , (1) Wavetable synthesis , (2) Wavetable-modification algorithm , (3) Multiple wavetable synthesis , and (4) Sample-based synthesis — if these had been appropriately used to distinguish each other, any confusions could be avoided, but it seems failed historically. In

5785-424: The same requests from customers that we have." – (Schulman et al. 1994). The pact between Microsoft and IBM to promote OS/2 began to fall apart in 1990 when Windows 3.0 became a marketplace success. Many of Microsoft's further contributions to OS/2 also went into creating a third GUI replacement for DOS, Windows NT . IBM, which had already been developing the next version of OS/2, carried on development of

5874-671: The sequencer live, and use some of the extra tracks to change programs on other MIDI enabled devices (light controllers, guitar processors, vocal FX processors etc.). This sequencer can be found in later Ensoniq models -- the VFX-SD (I) and VFX-SD (II), the SD-1, TS series and the SQ series. The VFX-SD also added a floppy disk drive, for additional data archiving purposes, and are used for: single sounds, sets of 6 or sets of 30 sounds, whole banks (60 sounds), single presets, 20-presets bank, single sequence, whole songs etc. Very(!) versatile indeed. The format

5963-521: The shared features of its "single-user OS" and "the multi-user, multi-tasking , UNIX -derived operating system", and promising easy porting between them. After the breakup of the Bell System , however, AT&T Computer Systems started selling UNIX System V . Believing that it could not compete with AT&T in the Unix market, Microsoft abandoned Xenix, and in 1987 transferred ownership of Xenix to

6052-403: The six voices (although it significantly ate up polyphony). One particular feature that the VFX (and VFX-SD series) had was "Poly-Key Pressure" (better known as Polyphonic Aftertouch). This allowed the player to add modulation to each single note when playing chords. Most synths use the more common (and less expensive to manufacture) "Channels Aftertouch" which adds equal modulation to all keys at

6141-458: The sound produced can be harmonically changed by moving to another point in the wavetable, usually under the control of an envelope generator or low frequency oscillator but frequently by any number of modulators (matrix modulation). Doing this modifies the harmonic content of the output wave in real time, producing sounds that can imitate acoustic instruments or be totally abstract, which is where this method of sound creation excels. The technique

6230-604: The standard Omni and Multi modes: Mono A and Mono B. These were particularly effective when using a guitar synth and allowed for more realistic playing of the sounds. Mono A allowed for the same sound to be played across the MIDI channels and Mono B allowed for each MIDI channel to have a different sound. The sequencer (not included in the first VFX version) works in a sequence/song type fashion that allows 12 pattern tracks and 12 parallel song tracks. A full set of editing tools are available, and can be done on specific time ranges set by

6319-401: The system. As MS-DOS 7.0 was a part of Windows 95, support for it also ended when Windows 95 extended support ended on December 31, 2001. As MS-DOS 7.10 and MS-DOS 8.0 were part of Windows 98 and Windows ME, respectively, support ended when Windows 98 and ME extended support ended on July 11, 2006, thus ending support and updates of MS-DOS from Microsoft. In contrast to the Windows 9x series,

6408-519: The systems they were designed for, and in any case were very similar in function and capability to some standard version for the IBM PC—often the same-numbered version, but not always, since some OEMs used their own proprietary version numbering schemes (e.g. labeling later releases of MS-DOS 1.x as 2.0 or vice versa)—with a few notable exceptions. Microsoft omitted multi-user support from MS-DOS because Microsoft's Unix -based operating system, Xenix ,

6497-662: The two products diverged after twelve years, in 1993, with recognizable differences in compatibility, syntax and capabilities. Beginning in 1988 with DR-DOS , several competing products were released for the x86 platform. Initially, MS-DOS was targeted at Intel 8086 processors running on computer hardware using floppy disks to store and access not only the operating system, but application software and user data as well. Progressive version releases delivered support for other mass storage media in ever greater sizes and formats, along with added feature support for newer processors and rapidly evolving computer architectures. Ultimately, it

6586-474: The use of Win32 console applications and internal commands with an NTCMDPROMPT directive. Win32 console applications use CMD.EXE as their command prompt shell. This confusion does not exist under OS/2 because there are separate DOS and OS/2 prompts, and running a DOS program under OS/2 will launch a separate DOS window to run the application. All versions of Windows for Itanium (no longer sold by Microsoft) and x86-64 architectures no longer include

6675-624: The user: filtering events, merging tracks, quantize (at up to 96ppq), copy, paste, erase, etc. Because of the large fluorescent display, a lot of information and parameters are available at any one time, making the sequencer very intuitive to work with. Auditioning of tracks after a recording or editing changes allows the user to "KEEP" or "CANCEL" a take if needed. The sequencer capacity is ~25,000 notes, but could be expanded to ~75,000 notes with an optional memory expansion kit. The sequencer also allows for external MIDI input recording from other instruments. This can be done either one track (MIDI channel) at

6764-478: The version customized for their hardware, or face trying to get all of their proprietary hardware and software to work with the new system. In the business world, the 808x-based machines that MS-DOS was tied to faced competition from the Unix operating system; the latter ran on many different hardware architectures. Microsoft itself sold a version of Unix for the PC called Xenix . In the emerging world of home users,

6853-612: The version number and the VER internal command reports as "Windows Millennium" and "5.1", respectively, and not as "MS-DOS 8.0" (which was used as the base for Windows Me but never released as a stand-alone product), though the API still says Version 8.0. The creation of the MS-DOS startup disk was then carried over to later versions of Windows, with the majority of its contents remaining unchanged from its introduction in Windows XP. When creating

6942-466: The waveforms themselves; however, a single sound can contain up to 6 oscillators at a time, providing for some complex layered and detuned sounds. The voice structuring, comprehensive matrix modulation, controller keyboard settings and performance capabilities are pretty advanced and versatile for a synthesizer of this vintage. The performance capabilities of the VFX's made it a favorite for live musicians, as up to three voices can be selected, combined into

7031-456: The wavetable in either direction can be controlled in a number of ways, for example, by use of an LFO, envelope, pressure or velocity. Many wavetables used in PPG and Ensoniq synthesizers can simulate the methods used by analog synthesizers , such as pulse-width modulation by utilising a number of square waves of different duty cycles . In this way, when the wavetable is swept, the duty cycle of

7120-455: Was designed with a modular structure with internal device drivers (the DOS BIOS ), minimally for primary disk drives and the console, integrated with the kernel and loaded by the boot loader, and installable device drivers for other devices loaded and integrated at boot time. The OEM would use a development kit provided by Microsoft to build a version of MS-DOS with their basic I/O drivers and

7209-515: Was fully multi-user. The company planned, over time, to improve MS-DOS so it would be almost indistinguishable from single-user Xenix, or XEDOS , which would also run on the Motorola 68000 , Zilog Z8000 , and the LSI-11 ; they would be upwardly compatible with Xenix, which Byte in 1983 described as "the multi-user MS-DOS of the future". Microsoft advertised MS-DOS and Xenix together, listing

7298-657: Was in control. The OS/2 emulation is handled through OS2SS.EXE and OS2.EXE, and DOSCALLS.DLL. OS2.EXE is a version of the OS/2 shell (CMD.EXE), which passes commands down to the OS2SS.EXE, and input-output to the Windows NT shell. Windows 2000 was the last version of NT to support OS/2. The emulation is OS/2 1.30. POSIX is emulated through the POSIX shell, but no emulated shell; the commands are handled directly in CMD.EXE. The Command Prompt

7387-444: Was its ability to get very warm and cause heat-related issues. The heat sink itself would get hot to the touch and cause other problems with heating up the internals of the board, causing 'meltdown' issues (although this mostly happened on US-models). These problems were corrected in future versions and other models within the company, and can easily be solved on existing models as well. Wavetable Synthesis Wavetable synthesis

7476-455: Was proprietary to Ensoniq, but shared by the VFX, the EPS sampler and all later models, although cross-loading amongst different models was limited. Since it was not MS-DOS compatible, a niche industry sprang up to service the needs of musicians. Also, SYS-EX information can be used to send/receive sounds/songs etc. and make parameter changes from a computer software editor. The main problem with

7565-1212: Was released through the OEM channel, until Digital Research released DR-DOS 5.0 as a retail upgrade. With PC DOS 5.00.1, the IBM–Microsoft agreement started to end, and IBM entered the retail DOS market with IBM DOS 5.00.1, 5.02, 6.00 and PC DOS 6.1, 6.3, 7, 2000 and 7.1. Localized versions of MS-DOS existed for different markets. While Western issues of MS-DOS evolved around the same set of tools and drivers just with localized message languages and differing sets of supported codepages and keyboard layouts, some language versions were considerably different from Western issues and were adapted to run on localized PC hardware with additional BIOS services not available in Western PCs, support multiple hardware codepages for displays and printers, support DBCS, alternative input methods and graphics output. Affected issues include Japanese ( DOS/V ), Korean, Arabic (ADOS 3.3/5.0), Hebrew (HDOS 3.3/5.0), Russian ( RDOS 4.01 / 5.0 ) as well as some other Eastern European versions of DOS. On microcomputers based on

7654-507: Was seen as the legitimate heir to the "kludgy" DOS platform. MS-DOS had grown in spurts, with many significant features being taken or duplicated from Microsoft's other products and operating systems. MS-DOS also grew by incorporating, by direct licensing or feature duplicating, the functionality of tools and utilities developed by independent companies, such as Norton Utilities , PC Tools ( Microsoft Anti-Virus ), QEMM expanded memory manager, Stacker disk compression , and others. During

7743-517: Was the key product in Microsoft's development from a programming language company to a diverse software development firm, providing the company with essential revenue and marketing resources. It was also the underlying basic operating system on which early versions of Windows ran as a GUI. MS-DOS went through eight versions, until development ceased in 2000; version 6.22 from 1994 was the final standalone version, with versions 7 and 8 serving mostly in

7832-506: Was under protracted development, Digital Research released the MS-DOS compatible DR-DOS 5.0, which included features only available as third-party add-ons for MS-DOS. Unwilling to lose any portion of the market, Microsoft responded by announcing the "pending" release of MS-DOS 5.0 in May 1990. This effectively killed most DR DOS sales until the actual release of MS-DOS 5.0 in June 1991. Digital Research brought out DR DOS 6.0, which sold well until

7921-592: Was unwilling to meet Microsoft's terms for licensing Stacker and withdrew from the negotiations. Microsoft chose to license Vertisoft's DoubleDisk, using it as the core for its DoubleSpace disk compression. MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.20 were released in 1993, both including the Microsoft DoubleSpace disk compression utility program. Stac successfully sued Microsoft for patent infringement regarding the compression algorithm used in DoubleSpace. This resulted in

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