Should I buy an AWE32 or not?
Written by Mathias C. Hjelt
V1.0 - 16 Sep 95
Ever since people started reading these pages, I've received questions
like:
- "do you think I should go with an AWE?"
- "would an AWE32 be of any use at all?"
- "after reading your pages, I'm not so sure the AWE is as good as I thought"
- "what should I get instead of an AWE32?"
- "is all that they say in the ads true?"
..and so on. On this page I've tried to summarize my thoughts regarding
this stuff. I hope it can be of some help for all of you who are thinking
about getting a new card.
But don't expect me to be an oracle - this problem, should I buy an AWE or not, can
never be answered with a simple yes or no just like that. For some
people, it's yes, for some, no. For some applications, absolutely yes, for some,
definitely no. And in many cases, the answer is "yeo" or "nes" - simply put,
"you decide".
These topics and points of view are discussed on this page:
The MIDI musician
As such, the AWE sounds like a rather poor synth. It's noisy, it's
unbalanced (in terms of frequency response), and it's built-in General
MIDI instruments are ridiculous even when they are drenched in noise.
But, this does not stop the creative musician. The sound quality
of the AWE can be improved, if not fixed completely, and the built-in sounds
can be replaced by high-quality ones. All it takes is a little patience
and a little money (for 2, 8 or 32 megs of RAM to store those high-quality
samples in, and perhaps also an external DAC for the ultimate sound quality).
The built-in 512kB RAM is of no big help if you want to use lots of
custom patches, so be prepared to purchase those SIMMs right away. Also
be prepared to download up to hundreds of megs until you find the really
cool SBKs (patch files) - the net is stuffed with totally worthless SBKs,
but there are some cool ones too. There also some companies that produce
commercial SBKs that ought to be pro.
However, no matter how much RAM and professional samples you stuff the AWE
with, and no matter whether you're using an external D/A converter or not,
it'll never sound like a professional synth or sampler. There are
limits in both the software and the hardware which you have to take into
consideration if you're looking for a card that will fit into a professional
gear setup. For the money you'd spend on an AWE + tons of RAM + external DAC
you'd get one heck of a cool real synth or card. However, the best way
of finding out how bad these problems are, is to listen to an AWE action -
preferrably one loaded with pro patches. Some people aren't disturbed at all
by these flaws, while other people immediately classify the AWE as a cheap
consumer device unsuitable in pro surroundings. You have to find out your
oppinion yourself.
Using Windows-based programs is a must, sort of. As far as I know, no
DOS-based sequencers or trackers support the AWE completely, and although
the Linux-support is being developed all the time, it seems like all new
programs are being written for MS Windows.
What about the QSound 180 degree soundscape, and that stuff? Well, you can
have QSound on the EMU music, but then you won't get reverb and chorus which
are much more valuable. And that part about realtime compression/decompression
- it only works on the wave audio stuff, not on synth music.
The MOD and Tracker man
Tracker-style programs are easy to use (at least easier than regular MIDI
sequencers in case you don't have an external MIDI controller to input
music with), and rather popular since the files they produce can easily be
spread and listened to through just about any soundcard on the market.
These module trackers either mix the music with software and play it through
the wave audio channel, or use the Gravis UltraSound for the hard work - in case
you've got such a card. As far as I know, there are no trackers around that use
the EMU 8000 for playback, so only the SB16-compatible wave audio channel will
be used with this kind of programs. So if you only are interested in making
mods, and don't care about MIDI music at all, think twice.
Listening to various types of modules through the EMU 8000, with reverb and chorus
which makes the sound kick ass, is possible thanks to programs like AWEmod and AWEplay,
developed by other AWE users out there (not Creative, that is!).
The harddisk recorder
The AWE isn't the ultimate card for harddisk-based recording and editing of music,
because of this:
- The full-duplex drivers haven't been released yet (16 Sep 95), so multi-tracking
is sort of difficult because it can't play and record wave audio simultaneously. Besides
that, the hardware limits the full-duplex process to 16 bits in one direction, 8 bits
in the other, and both must be running at the same sampling frequency. And it won't
work unless you can set up the high DMA channel correctly, which many can't.
- The CSP which in theory could be used for realtime processing of incoming/outgoing
wave audio is rather simple, and with currently available algorithms, it can only
do QSound and compression. Neither of these are suitable for harddisk recording.
- There is still no software which would make it possible to run wave stuff through
the Effects Engine in realtime, and this also means that you can't get the sound out
through the digital S/PIDF output
- The A/D converter is noisy (See Sampling with the AWE - asking for trouble)
- The D/A converter is noisy
The game freak
Although many magazines rate the AWE32 as the ultimate choice thanks to its
100% SB-compatiblity, I'm not so sure it's the best thing you can find if you
want tough sounds in games.
Since there is no processor on the AWE, its synth isn't MPU-401 MIDI
compatible unlike most other new hot cards and daughterboards, and the software
emulation (General MIDI, MT32 or GS) doesn't work with protected-mode games.
However, most new games seem to have AWE32 MIDI support which allows the MIDI
music to be played through the EMU8000 synth without any software emulation,
extra drivers, or stuff like that. Unfortunately, no (or close to no) games use
the EMU for sound effects and custom samples, so that part will still be handled
by the regular SB16-compatible wave audio channel.
For games that for some reason use the OPL3 FM synth for music or sound effects,
the AWE hardware provides a nice feature: reverb and chorus. These two effects
definitely make FM music sound more interesting, but they can't do wonders - FM
is always FM.
What about the ASP/CSP, QSound, and all that? Forget it - no games support the
CSP, unless Creative has started writing games lately.
The scene dude
I really don't know that much about the PC demo scene, but it seems like the only
card that is accepted on the scene is the GUS, but if you're lucky you'll find demos
that have support for earlier SB models like SB16, Pro 2.0 and those. No use of an
AWE, though.
The DSP scientist
With its two DSPs (CSP & Effects Engine) the AWE32 may seem to be rather interesting
for those who are into realtime processing of sounds, DSP programming, sound analyzing,
and stuff like that - but it isn't. The CSP is rather simple and the programming tools
are expensive. The Effects Engine is heavily integrated into the EMU synth, and there
are no tools for writing custom algorithms at all. The A/D and D/A converters are lousy,
making the AWE unusable for serious signal processing, measuring, etc. Further information
on these matters can be found on the following pages:
- The Effects Engine
- The CSP
-
The multimedia explorer
Multimedia applications usually take advantage of MIDI music, wave audio (sometimes even
compressed sounds), a CD-ROM interface, and stuff like that. Although the AWE's synthesizer
can't replace a professional one, I bet it's good enough for making multimedia stuff sound
cool. It's wave audio is decent, but you hear pops and cracks when the samples start and
end which can be rather annoying, and the CSP which is used for real-time hardware decompression
make funny noises when it's started and stopped (interesting enough, it sounds like WOP - I
guess you all know what I'm talking about). The regular (old) AWE32 has got interfaces for
Mitsumi, Sony and Creative (Panasonic) CD-ROM drives, while the new AWE32 IDE has got an IDE
and a Creative interface. These interfaces should work fine for multimedia stuff. The CD Audio input works
fine, but you'll of course have the well known AWE noise all over it, but that's the kind
of things that are most annoying for musicians. A little hiss in the back of a multimedia
presentation isn't going to end the world. Although there may be cheaper cards that work just
as well as the AWE for this kind of applications, it's never smart to buy the simplest thing
you can come across. There's so much you can do on an AWE that no other cards will let you
do, especially if you're thinking about something cheaper.
Top 10 reasons why you should get an AWE32
Don't take everything too seriously, and remember your own needs..
- Bang for the bucks - probably the cheapest / most expandable sampler/synth around
- Digital sample playback synthesizer from E-mu - a company with high quality standards
- Resonant low-pass filters [necessary for analog sounding stuff]
- SIMM slots allowing a maximum of 28 megabytes of sample RAM
- Reverb & chorus or QSound 180 degree soundscape realtime effects on your synth music
- Digital synth output, which is S/PDIF compatible and works with many MD, DCC and DAT decks
- It talks, thanks to the Creative Advanced Digital Signal Processor (isn't that a cute name?)
- Complete SB backwards compatibility
- It's got the incredibly hot numbers 32 in its name
- It's a real Sound Blaster - any product with that name has got a special status
Top 10 reasons why you should not get an AWE32
Once again, don't take everything too seriously.
- Bucks for the bang - if your games don't support it, you could just as well get a much cheaper SB16 clone
- It's only got 1 megabyte of on-board General MIDI patches that sound rather poor (see next point)
- You have to stuff it with SIMMs to be able to use pro sounds, and SIMMs cost much
- Finding pro patches for it is hard, so it continues to sound rather poor
- It's noisy, and external DACs (or MD, DCC or DAT decks) cost much, so it continues to be noisy
- All reverb algorithms sound quite the same and are pretty cheesy
- Creative won't let out any programming info, so you're stuck with the basic drivers, algorithms, etc.
- The CSP makes funny noises when doing realtime decompression or speech synthesis
- It can't decompress and speak simultaneously
- It's a real Sound Blaster - any product with that name has got a special status
Comments: For some reason it was much harder to come up with arguments for the yes-list than for the
no-list. Also, I'm serious about the last point of both lists. Think twice, whatever you do. It is
an SB.
What about some other Sound Blaster?
AWE32 Value Edition
The other day someone one the AWE32 mailing list complained
that he couldn't use any cool SBKs because they didn't fit into the 512kB RAM of his AWE, and asked what he
should do to get more RAM. Unfortunately this person had purchased a Value Edition, probably not being
aware of the fact that this model has got no memory expansion capabilities, so no one could help him.
With a maximum of 512kB of RAM, you're very limited. Don't think about using any serious custom samples with
a VE. Another thing that the VE doesn't have is the CSP, but you can plug one in later if you want hardware
compression, speech synthesis, QSound on the wave audio, and stuff like that. This chip costs something like
$50. Furthermore, there is no Waveblaster-type daughterboard connector so you can't expand it in that
way either.
In my oppinion, purchasing a VE is very risky. You save some money, but you lose a lot - at some point
most AWE users realize that 512kB isn't enough. And if you want speech and that stuff and decide to get
a CSP plug-in chip, you could just as well have paid a little more and got a real AWE32 from the very
beginning. So, think more than twice if you've thought about going with the VE. And if you really want
one - hurry up, because it's been discontinued.
Sound Blaster 32
This is not an AWE although big parts of it are quite like the AWE32. It's got the same synth, the same
samples, SIMM slots, S/PDIF out, and everything, and it even works with AWE32 software. There's no on-board
RAM so you'll always have to add SIMMs if you want to use custom samples. The wave audio stuff is handled by
the new Vibra chipset which is much more quiet than the original SB16 chipset that the AWE uses. So this card
which is supposed to replace the AWE32 Value Edition as Creative's cheap low-end card actually sounds better
than the AWE. And oh, there's no Waveblaster connector. If there was, it'd be no doubt about which card to get.
SB16
If you don't need a Wavetable synth, but want decent wave audio, the SB16 Vibra is a pretty good choice
- thanks to the Vibra chipset. Fine sound, 100% compatiblity, Waveblaster connector for those who want to
add a synth, etc.
SB16 + Waveblaster II
The WB II is Creative's own daughterboard, also equipped with an EMU-8000. Going for an SB16 Vibra + WB II
does of course not give you all the cool stuff that a real AWE32 or an SB32 offers, but it'd be totally MPU-401 GM
compatible unlike the AWE. Stupid, though.
Other cards worth looking at
The Sound Blasters aren't the right thing for everybody. It all depends on how demanding you are, what you want to
do, what equipment you already have, and how much you want to pay. Here's a few brief thoughts that
crossed my mind. And remember to take everything with a grain of salt.
MIDI
- If you already have a card with a Waveblaster-compatible connector, check out some of the
latest daughterboards, which often are pretty cheap and sound pretty good. Sample uploading may take
forever, though, if it is possible at all. Btw, Roland's SCD cards are not the best you can get.
Yamaha and Kurzweil kick ass.
- The top of the hill Ensoniq cards are not professional, but decent.
- A Gravis UltraSound MAX? Er, I thought you wanted something that sounds better than the EMU?
- What about an external, real synth module - a real instrument?
The scene, mods, trackers
- Go retro and get a GUS. You can feel the taste of real support and good ol' days.
Games
- If you don't like being retrogressive, don't get a GUS - a hot, modern MPU-401 GM compatible
card or daughtercard will do a very nice job if your games support MIDI music, which most new ones
do.
Harddisk recording, digital sound processing, and stuff
- Check out the Turle Beach Tahiti. No synth, but cool wave audio and DSP.
- A Digital Audio Labs CardD Plus or some other dedicated multi-track card.
Top 10 advertisement cliches and expressions that must die
You find them everwhere. In mags, ads, manuals, stores, newsgroups, product guides, show windows,
TV commercials, on packages, on the net, in your ears, in your eyes, your mind and stomach (well, it hasn't
been proved, but I guess that's why they make you feel nauseated).
Whenever you run into any of the expressions listed below, close your eyes, ears and wallet, and run for your
life.
- professional sound quality now in your PC
- the next generation in PC sound
- breaks the PC sound barrier
- adding new dimensions to PC sound
- 16-bit CD quality
- 16-bit stereo sound for the cost of 8-bit cards
- realistic / orchestral-like / natural-sounding / studio-quality wavetable synthesis
- speech recognition & synthesis revolutionize the way you operate Windows
- powerful programmable Digital Signal Processor for complicated applications like 3D-sound
Those were the 9 first ones I could think of. And the 10th and last one is a special one, it's
the worst marketing trick I've ever seen. It stinks, it's surrounded by mystique, ignorance, money, big
business, dreams about a distant future, more money, unexplored experiences, it's something that is going
to change your life forever, right away, right here, in your home, in your room, on your desk, in your PC,
simply put it's a miracle from outer space. They call it multimedia.