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The Visor is one of the most useful pieces of technology ever created. It also has one of the worst speakers. Hagiwara Sys-Com has alleviated that problem with the Beat Plus Springboard module, which gives your Visor full audio effects.
The Hardware
First, the techno babble: The Beat Plus utilizes a Yamaha LSI tone generator to provide an FM Synthesizer with 16 simultaneous tones and an ADPCM decoder that can handle sampling rates of 4kHz and 8kHz. I've heard that this is essentially the same quality sound as the original Sound Blaster (ah memories).
The Beat Plus uses a mono speaker but has a stereo headphone jack (headphones not included). Optimized full versions of Zap!2000/Zap!2016 are included. Although the module is slightly thicker than a standard size module, there should be no problems with any cases you may own.
Usability
Games on the Visor will never again be the same. I played Zap!2016 on my Visor Prism and was very happy with the sound output it produced. Every shot, crash, and explosion sounded great on the built-in speaker, and even better with the headphones, although I wish Zap would have utilized directional sound. Although there was no in-game music, a nice opening and closing crescendo could be heard when playing Zap. Notice from the screenshot that there are separate volume settings for the speaker and headphones.
There is one application, BeatPlus, that resides on the Visor when the module is inserted. Its sole purpose is an information screen with the ROM version of the module. There is a warning to exit the application before removing the module. Be sure to heed this warning, as I had a hard reset as a result of not exiting a Beat Plus application properly. Just as with other modules, you should always run another program before removing the Beat Plus.
As time goes on, other applications will support the Beat Plus, not just games. miniMusic has released a version of its NotePad software that lets users create MIDI music on their Visor and listen to it using the BeatPlus. Personally, I'm hoping applications like Liberty and DateBk4 utilize the Beat Plus. Imagine how loud those alarms could be! If you use an application that you think should use the Beat Plus, refer the developer to this page or have them send an email to [email protected]. The more applications that support it, the better the Beat Plus will become.
Conclusion
Although only a few applications currently support it, the Beat Plus shows a lot of promise. With big sound packed into a small package, the Beat Plus is the perfect module for gamers, and with the included Zap! game, the Beat Plus becomes a good value. The main feature that is missing is the ability to direct all Visor sounds to the module. When this feature becomes available, buy the Beat Plus immediately. Until then, make sure that your applications support the module before purchasing it.
Pros:
- Great sound
- Headphone jack
- Compact size
Cons:
- Native OS sounds not redirected to the speaker
- Possibility for hard resets if not used properly
- Limited application support
Features: 3
Usability: 4
Setup: 4
Cost/Benefit: 3
Average: 3
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