Engineering:Digital Compression System

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Digital Compression System, or DCS, is a sound system developed by Williams Electronics. This advanced sound board was used in Williams and Bally pinball games, coin-op arcade video games by Midway Manufacturing, and mechanical and video slot machines by Williams Gaming. This sound system became the standard for these game platforms.

The DCS Sound system was created by Williams sound engineers Matt Booty[1] and Ed Keenan, and further developed by Andrew Eloff.[2] The system uses four channels of 16-bit digital audio, usually with one channel used for music, and three for sound effects. DCS was designed to improve sound quality, and streamline sound development.[3]

Versions of DCS

  • DCS ROM-based mono: The first version of DCS used an Analog Devices ADSP2105 DSP (clocked at 10MHz) and a DMA-driven DAC, outputting in mono. This was used for the majority of Williams and Midway's pinball games (starting with 1993's Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure),[4] as well as Midway's video games, up until the late 1990s. The pinball game, The Twilight Zone, was originally supposed to use the DCS System, but because the DCS board was still in development at the time, all of the music and sounds for this game were reprogrammed for the Yamaha YM2151 / Harris CVSD sound board.[5]
    • DCS-95: This was a revised version of the original DCS System (allowing for 16MB of data instead of 8MB to be addressed), used for Williams and Midway's WPC-95 pinball system.
  • DCS2 ROM-based stereo: This version used the ADSP2104 DSP and two DMA-driven DACs, outputting in stereo. This was used in Midway's Zeus-based hardware, and in the short-lived Pinball 2000 platform.
  • DCS2 RAM-based stereo: This version used the ADSP2115 DSP and two DMA-driven DACs, outputting in stereo. This was used in Midway's 3DFX-based hardware (NFL Blitz, etc.). This system would be adopted by Atari Games, following their acquisition by WMS Industries.
  • DCS2 RAM-based multi-channel: This version used the ADSP2181 DSP and up to six DMA-driven DACs, outputting in multichannel sound.

Pinball games using DCS

  • Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (1993)
  • Judge Dredd (1993)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993)
  • Demolition Man (1994)
  • Popeye Saves the Earth (1994)
  • World Cup Soccer (1994)
  • The Flintstones (1994)
  • Corvette (1994)
  • Red & Ted's Road Show (1994)
  • The Shadow (1994)
  • Dirty Harry (1995)
  • Theatre of Magic (1995)
  • No Fear: Dangerous Sports (1995)
  • Indianapolis 500 (1995)
  • Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
  • Who Dunnit (1995)
  • Jack*Bot (1995)
  • Congo (1995) (DCS95)
  • Attack From Mars (1995) (DCS95)
  • Safe Cracker (1996) (DCS95)
  • Tales of the Arabian Nights (1996) (DCS95)
  • Scared Stiff (1996) (DCS95)
  • Junk Yard (1996) (DCS95)
  • NBA Fastbreak (1997) (DCS95)
  • Cirqus Voltaire (1997) (DCS95)
  • Medieval Madness (1997) (DCS95)
  • No Good Gofers (1997) (DCS95)
  • The Champion Pub (1998) (DCS95)
  • Monster Bash (1998) (DCS95)
  • Cactus Canyon (1998) (DCS95)
  • Revenge From Mars (1999) (DCS2 ROM-based)
  • Star Wars Episode I (1999) (DCS2 ROM-based)

Arcade games using DCS

References

  1. ↑ "Biography Matt Booty" (in en). https://www.cla.purdue.edu/alumni/documents/Booty-Bio_for_website.pdf. 
  2. ↑ Andrew Eloff's LinkedIn page naming DCS games he developed the sound system for Retrieved on 9 May 2016
  3. ↑ Horowitz, Ken (2023). From Pinballs to Pixels: An Arcade History of Williams-Bally-Midway. McFarland & Company. pp. 294. ISBN 978-1-4766-8937-1. 
  4. ↑ "The DCS System". 1996. https://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/Williams/common/dcs.html. 
  5. ↑ Booty, Matt; Karstens, Rich; Granner, Chris. "DCS history" (in en). https://github.com/lkoziarz/pinball/blob/main/DCS_history.md. 



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