Your favorite whirring diskdrive noises

Tim Janssen · 13 January 2003, 08:50

Amiga emulation is a nice thing, but there is one element it (still) cannot emulate properly: the sound of a whirring Amiga diskdrive.

In my opinion, the game which plays the most 'original' whirring noises when loading, is Ocean's Hudson Hawk. The sound is very reminiscent to a bouncing ping-pong ball which loses its bouncing power more and more to gravity. As far as I know, Hudson Hawk, is the only program featuring this loading-routine.

What are your favourite programs featuring memorable whirring disk-loading noises?

Drake1009 · 13 January 2003, 09:59

Favorite noise would be the one which doesn't sound like it's tearing the disk apart.

Amiga1992 · 13 January 2003, 13:55

Not Amiga related, but I loved the sound of a Commodore 1571 diskdrive when it tried to read and there was no disk in the drive

I hated the sound of some demos where it seems teh diskdrive is fighting for its life :P

Drake1009 · 13 January 2003, 14:45

1571 would that be the standard disk drive for the Commodore 64?

In that case I tend to agree though it was a bit annoying that it'd do that every time you booted up in C128 mode on the C128 and you had to wait for it to finish before you could use the computer.

Amiga1992 · 13 January 2003, 16:03

Quote:

Originally posted by Drake1009
1571 would that be the standard disk drive for the Commodore 64?

No, it was the standard one for the C128.

I also liked the C128 diskdrive startups whirring

. It's best heard on euro 1571s though, US ones are too quiet!

Jan · 13 January 2003, 16:14

I like the sound of the 1581 when you turn it on and there's no disk in it. It's kinda like a short snorting

.

On the Amiga there are dozens of games/demos that are torturing the disk drive, but one that immediately comes to my mind is Rock 'n Roll.

Matt D`Wrecker · 13 January 2003, 17:05

Can`t think of any specific games offhand, although as i remember pretty much all the games I played did not sound happy in the disk drive!
A little off the topic, but does anyone remember those old speccy loading noises.... ah although at the time the long loading times were little annoying the sound of a loading speccy was quite superb! (Unless you mistakenly stuffed a tape into your stereo....ouch!)

Drake1009 · 13 January 2003, 18:16

We thought our new disk drive for the C128 was broken first time we started it because of the sounds. We had just gotten it after having given back the other disk drive because it didn't work when we got it and we had to wait a week before they were back in stock.

Those were the days when you had computer stores. Now the only real electronics/computer store we have is mixed with a lot of games, cds, dvds and digital cameras and a typical 9 year old kid knows more about the computers there than the employees.

APFelon · 13 January 2003, 21:25

I remember a proggie for the c64 that would vibrate the disk drive heads to the song of "bicycle built for two". I can only imagine the damage it caused to my 1541...

Tim Janssen · 15 January 2003, 08:23

Disk-loading routines which 'irritate' me the most, are the ones that screw up your diskdrive motor temporary. If you insert an other disk afterwards the diskdrive 'clicks' four times and refuses to load the disc. The only remedy is ejecting the disc and slam it in the drive once more. Oh well, it is part of the 'Amiga-experience'.

gary · 16 January 2003, 03:12

There was at least 1 program for the Amiga which vibrated the heads of a 3 1/2 inch drive to play a song. Sorry but I can't remember the name of the program or even the song it played. I definately remember using it on my A500.

adolescent · 16 January 2003, 05:29

Quote:

Originally posted by APFelon
I remember a proggie for the c64 that would vibrate the disk drive heads to the song of "bicycle built for two". I can only imagine the damage it caused to my 1541...

Yeah, I had the drive music proggy. It was quite amazing the harmonics they could get on that. I played it a couple times and never had any problems. Really no worse than playing Beach Head 2...

Dastardly · 16 January 2003, 09:48

I remember cringing at the racket my drive used to make while loading Beast 3. I cant remember a game that gave the drive more grief than that one.

KombatSanta · 16 January 2003, 14:39

giana sister.... it sounded like the discdrive would burst open

17 January 2003, 18:51

walker has a very melodic drive sound

dirkies · 27 January 2003, 14:17

I think some of these noise of trackdisk turboloaders were not really doing something, coz sometimes the thing would tick 20 times in a few seconds just to show you an opening screen and continuing again, must have ticked 100 times in 30 seconds before game was loaded, although there were only 80 tracks! (Carrier Command comes to mind)

fiath · 27 January 2003, 15:31

One "tick" does not necessarily mean one track being read and used. If you want to see one *mean* loader, Supercars II used to take *ages* on my machine. If that was one track per tick, it must be a 1.6 Gb floppy disk in there!!

But the reasons for long loading can be many things: Inefficient disk storage, "hard to read" disk so the loader tries and tries again, compressed data being unpacked on demand - slowing the computer down (probably wouldn't effect the ticking though), or just plain stupid loader. Probably others that I forgot / don't know about.

Isn't it great that all this long loading will get preserved perfectly by C.A.P.S. ?

30 January 2003, 22:39

Hehe i like the "has a read / write error sound".

Very nice if your favorite game produced this noise, sometimes i became quiet angry on that.....

Miggy2TheMax · 31 January 2003, 05:24

ok this is not disk drive related, but definitely amiga related. The harddrives that came with the GVP 530T's made some really kewl sounds as they wound up during startup.. it was like a little initialisation tune, it was Awsome..

th4t1guy · 31 January 2003, 05:38

Robocod.

There was this really long grind right before the title would appear. Kinda like the loud fart of relief

13 January 2003, 08:50	#1
Tim Janssen Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Den Bosch / The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 1,271	Your favorite whirring diskdrive noises Amiga emulation is a nice thing, but there is one element it (still) cannot emulate properly: the sound of a whirring Amiga diskdrive. In my opinion, the game which plays the most 'original' whirring noises when loading, is Ocean's Hudson Hawk. The sound is very reminiscent to a bouncing ping-pong ball which loses its bouncing power more and more to gravity. As far as I know, Hudson Hawk, is the only program featuring this loading-routine. What are your favourite programs featuring memorable whirring disk-loading noises?

15 January 2003, 08:23	#10
Tim Janssen Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Den Bosch / The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 1,271	Disk drive slamming Disk-loading routines which 'irritate' me the most, are the ones that screw up your diskdrive motor temporary. If you insert an other disk afterwards the diskdrive 'clicks' four times and refuses to load the disc. The only remedy is ejecting the disc and slam it in the drive once more. Oh well, it is part of the 'Amiga-experience'.

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13 January 2003, 09:59	#2
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	Favorite noise would be the one which doesn't sound like it's tearing the disk apart.

13 January 2003, 13:55	#3
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	Not Amiga related, but I loved the sound of a Commodore 1571 diskdrive when it tried to read and there was no disk in the drive I hated the sound of some demos where it seems teh diskdrive is fighting for its life :P

13 January 2003, 14:45	#4
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	1571 would that be the standard disk drive for the Commodore 64? In that case I tend to agree though it was a bit annoying that it'd do that every time you booted up in C128 mode on the C128 and you had to wait for it to finish before you could use the computer.

13 January 2003, 16:14	#6
Jan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: here Posts: 140	I like the sound of the 1581 when you turn it on and there's no disk in it. It's kinda like a short snorting . On the Amiga there are dozens of games/demos that are torturing the disk drive, but one that immediately comes to my mind is Rock 'n Roll.

13 January 2003, 17:05	#7
Matt D`Wrecker Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: England Posts: 15	Can`t think of any specific games offhand, although as i remember pretty much all the games I played did not sound happy in the disk drive! A little off the topic, but does anyone remember those old speccy loading noises.... ah although at the time the long loading times were little annoying the sound of a loading speccy was quite superb! (Unless you mistakenly stuffed a tape into your stereo....ouch!)

13 January 2003, 18:16	#8
Drake1009 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Denmark Posts: 2,284	We thought our new disk drive for the C128 was broken first time we started it because of the sounds. We had just gotten it after having given back the other disk drive because it didn't work when we got it and we had to wait a week before they were back in stock. Those were the days when you had computer stores. Now the only real electronics/computer store we have is mixed with a lot of games, cds, dvds and digital cameras and a typical 9 year old kid knows more about the computers there than the employees.

13 January 2003, 21:25	#9
APFelon Cable Buyer Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Big Lake, USA Age: 52 Posts: 123	I remember a proggie for the c64 that would vibrate the disk drive heads to the song of "bicycle built for two". I can only imagine the damage it caused to my 1541...

16 January 2003, 03:12	#11
gary Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Perth, Western Australia Age: 50 Posts: 283	There was at least 1 program for the Amiga which vibrated the heads of a 3 1/2 inch drive to play a song. Sorry but I can't remember the name of the program or even the song it played. I definately remember using it on my A500.

16 January 2003, 09:48	#13
Dastardly Into the Wonderful Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Age: 49 Posts: 2,335	I remember cringing at the racket my drive used to make while loading Beast 3. I cant remember a game that gave the drive more grief than that one.

16 January 2003, 14:39	#14
KombatSanta Pipboy approved Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Karlstad, Sweden Age: 48 Posts: 460	giana sister.... it sounded like the discdrive would burst open

17 January 2003, 18:51	#15
sewerkid Posts: n/a	walker has a very melodic drive sound

27 January 2003, 14:17	#16
dirkies Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Belgium Age: 51 Posts: 1,296	I think some of these noise of trackdisk turboloaders were not really doing something, coz sometimes the thing would tick 20 times in a few seconds just to show you an opening screen and continuing again, must have ticked 100 times in 30 seconds before game was loaded, although there were only 80 tracks! (Carrier Command comes to mind)

27 January 2003, 15:31	#17
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	One "tick" does not necessarily mean one track being read and used. If you want to see one mean loader, Supercars II used to take ages on my machine. If that was one track per tick, it must be a 1.6 Gb floppy disk in there!! But the reasons for long loading can be many things: Inefficient disk storage, "hard to read" disk so the loader tries and tries again, compressed data being unpacked on demand - slowing the computer down (probably wouldn't effect the ticking though), or just plain stupid loader. Probably others that I forgot / don't know about. Isn't it great that all this long loading will get preserved perfectly by C.A.P.S. ?

30 January 2003, 22:39	#18
Mondain Posts: n/a	Hehe i like the "has a read / write error sound". Very nice if your favorite game produced this noise, sometimes i became quiet angry on that.....

31 January 2003, 05:24	#19
Miggy2TheMax Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Australia Age: 45 Posts: 381	ok this is not disk drive related, but definitely amiga related. The harddrives that came with the GVP 530T's made some really kewl sounds as they wound up during startup.. it was like a little initialisation tune, it was Awsome..

31 January 2003, 05:38	#20
th4t1guy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Kansas City, MO, USA Posts: 683	Robocod. There was this really long grind right before the title would appear. Kinda like the loud fart of relief

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