POKEY Music
The design of the POKEY made it possible for games to have polyphonic music and sound effects of up to four channels. POKEY's sound is distinctive: when the four channels are used independently, there is noticeable detuning of parts of the 12-tone equal temperament scale, due to lack of pitch accuracy. Channels may be paired for higher accuracy; in addition, multiple forms of distortion are available, allowing a thicker sound. The distortion is primarily used in music for bass parts.
One of the sound-engines developed for the Atari 8-bit family was called the AMP engine (Advanced Music Processor). This was used by the musician Gary Gilbertson.
It is now possible to emulate the POKEY's sound capabilities in software. This can be done with the SAP player .
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