Soft Sounds on the PC

You'll never confuse the clicks, buzzes, and beeps emanating from the IBM PC's tiny speaker with arcade-hall games.

But you might prick up your ears at Access Software's RealSound, a software technique that plays digitized sounds through a standard PC speaker. The realistic sounds are actual digital recordings.

The first games to use RealSound are Access's own World Class Leader Board Echelon. The new version of World Class Leader Board adds sound effects like the swish of the ball flying through the air and the solid clunk when the ball rolls into the cup. Echelon, a space-flight simulator, has almost 500K of sounds, including an opening musical score; sound effects for the ship's engine, cannon, photon torpedos, and teleporter.

Owners of older versions of these program can get the RealSound updates by sending their original disks and to Access Software, 545 West 500 South #130, Bountiful, Utah 84010.

—DENNY ATKIN