Less well known is the fact that the NeXTcube is also one of the first computing devices capable enough for real-time, high-quality interactive music applications.
A big part of this was due to the programmable DMA controller that the machine included. The 33 MHz m68k CPU could be easily overwhelmed just processing I/O and so the NeXT systems included a multi-channel programmable DMA engine that could handle a lot of this. As I recall, this u it was a lot more flexible than equivalents on a lot of contemporary platforms and was used extensively by NeXTSTEP, resulting in lower CPU usage than the same task on alternative platforms.
A big part of this was due to the programmable DMA controller that the machine included. The 33 MHz m68k CPU could be easily overwhelmed just processing I/O and so the NeXT systems included a multi-channel programmable DMA engine that could handle a lot of this. As I recall, this u it was a lot more flexible than equivalents on a lot of contemporary platforms and was used extensively by NeXTSTEP, resulting in lower CPU usage than the same task on alternative platforms.