jesolo wrote:I agree. A very broad subject.
If you are just referring to Sound Blaster, then you basically have:
Sound Blaster original - 8-b […]
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I agree. A very broad subject.
If you are just referring to Sound Blaster, then you basically have:
Sound Blaster original - 8-bit mono up to 22.5 KHz (version 2 could mix up to 44.1 KHz)
Sound Blaster Pro & Pro 2 - 8-bit stereo up to 22.5 KHz (backwards compatible with original Sound Blaster)
Sound Blaster 16 - 16-bit stereo up to 44.1 KHz. Also had a built in MPU-401 UART MIDI interface. There are quite a number of these models available. Some still used jumpers and later models were plug 'n play. Also came with the infamous MIDI hanging note bug on most models. Some used the Vibra chipset, which had a bit less noise but, your had no treble or bass support in the mixer. Some models had the Wave Blaster header for external MIDI daughterboard support. Did fully support original Sound Blaster but, not Sound Blaster Pro (was unable to mix Sound Blaster Pro specific digital sounds in stereo).
Sound Blaster AWE models - essentially a Sound Blaster 16 with an "integrated" MIDI synthesizer. Some models also had the Wave Blaster header and had memory upgrade sockets that allowed you to load more sound samples into memory (this is a subject on its own).
All Sound Blaster models supported the Adlib sound card (later AWE models no longer utilised the Yamaha OPL chip but, used Creative's CQM synthesis).
You can find more info on each of these on Wikipedia and also here on Vogons.
This right here clarified the basics for me very well - I will read with much more comprehension after this, thank you!
jesolo wrote:Skyscraper wrote:I think ESS Audio drives (1688/1868) were what most people had back in the late DOS era, at least around where I live. Small computer companies building cheap computers loved them because they worked and they were cheap.
Lucky enough they were mostly not only cheap and compatible but also decent sounding.
Yes, they were just as popular here. The Aztech Sound Galaxy range of sound cards is what caught my attention in those days and I stuck with them. They also provided very good Sound Blaster & Sound Blaster Pro support.
Man, that brings me back to working at a small computer retailer in the mid 90s (1996-1999ish) - The ESS Audiodrive was always out of stock. NOBODY was touching the (then) obsolete Soundblaster and Adlib - I managed to buy a stack of them from my boss for pennies and put them in low end 386s at the time (some SX grade 486s) and sell them privately. Brings back memories - At one point, my boss (I was 13 when I started there, under the table of course) would credit me parts for hours worked instead of cash, so I would buy parts at good discounts, haul them home on a bike (monitors even, I put a large parcel tray on the bike and bolted a shelf to it to take back CRTs), assemble them, and finally take out ads in the local papers and sell them for a good amount of money privately! I must have gone through hundreds of computers. By the time the mid 2000s hit, I scoured every thrift shop for 386-486 and using whatever parts I had made "Classic gaming systems" and sold them on eBay.
Now there's not much left of my stock - LOTS of 200Mb-3000Mb hard disks, some RAM, IO cards... Really not as much as I had back as in my late teens. It's mostly replaced by obsolete car parts these days, and even that has thinned out.
Thanks for the memories! Also, the information to research sound cards.
I think I will like it here!
Youtube channel- The Kombinator
What's for sale? my eBay!