qUE wrote:I gather it must be one of the defacto standards
I'd not heard of it being used prior to the Music 500. Which is not to say no such usage existed. If anyone finds record of one, I'd be interested to hear.
qUE wrote:since I've seen Acorn use it with VIDC
Acorn copied it from the Music 500 circuit. You may recall Archimedes pre-release info saying the machine had "an built-in Music 500".

qUE wrote:Acorn also mentioned with VIDC something about needing a small silence between the channels otherwise they influenced eachother.
Acorn initially omitted that bit of the Music 500 implementation. In true Acorn style, they didn't understand it so assumed it was inessential, and then put the silicon to production with apparently no listening test. Hence the dire sound quality of the first Archimedes. Intermodulation distortion turned multi-channel sound to mush.
I later heard it and I pointed out to them the error. They told me they had corrected it in a future version. But I suspect they messed that up too, since the next Archimedes model I heard didn't sound much better.
If the quality of Archimedes 8-bit log sound ever did reach Music 500 level, I'd be interested to hear a recording.