It is certainly not bad at all, but not a dream either;

Sound Blaster Pro 2.0
Should behave as advertised but might sound noisy/muffled.

Sound Blaster 16 early DSP versions
SBPro compatibility is defective, it is mono. Other than that it should behave as advertised but might sound noisy/muffled.

Sound Blaster 16 later DSP versions or AWE32
SBPro compatibility is defective, it is mono. May have good Signal to Noise Ratio, depends on the type. May have a genuine OPL3, depends on the type. MPU-401 for a daughterboard or external module has bugs, how severe depends on the type.

I think it would be good to consider some lesser known soundcard types and chipsets in addition to the above. Like the 'too late but quite good' chipsets of ESS, Crystal and Yamaha. Also there is the famous soundcanvas SCC-1 card, or a Roland MPU-401-AT that can host Midi Daughterboards.

These are exactly the limitations I tried to filter out. Thats why I suggested two cards in the system - a true SB Pro2 (or a 'too late but quite good' chipsets of ESS, Crystal or Yamaha with SB Pro compatibiltiy) coupled with a SC-55 or MT-32 over Gameport and AWE32/SB16 ASP on top of that for the games that support them. 😀

That way we should have nice stereo + great midi and no incompatibilities 😀

Yes, for Dos gaming you just have to cover roughly these requirements with acceptable SNR:
-Sound: SB, SBPro, SB16.
-Music: Yamaha Opl3 FM, Roland Soundcanvas Midi, Roland MT-32 LA Midi.
SB16 and MT-32 are most hard to support, and fortunately the least important to me. The other items I can get supported with only one sound card+daughterboard 😀 .

What remains is testing how well the compatibility is working: does it work always/often/sometimes? And do you want good Windows 9X performance with all this.

What about the stereo compatibility of the SB Pro 2.0? According to 2 last posts here: Sound cards - from best to worst , it might not always work...

elfuego wrote:

Please correct me if I am wrong, but after reading a lot on this forum, on wikis and on other retro forums I came up with the fact that a SB Pro 2 with an external MT-32 connected via gameport should be the dream combo of all the old games without native support for AWE32/SB16 - right?

Whoa - hold on.
The MIDI interface on SB cards older than SB16 is not MPU401 compatible. Games usually expect a Roland MPU401 interface for MT32 or General MIDI music.

elfuego wrote:

For newer games, that do have support for AWE32/SB16 and GM a dream combo would be AWE32 (any version) with external Roland SC-55 connected to SB Pro 2 via gameport.
Connect phones output of SC-55 to line input of AWE32, set AWE for digital sounds and midi@ SB pro2 port for music in games and thats it - right? 😀
With this setup there would be no hanging notes, no bugs and no incompatibilities - right?

Only if you connect it the other way round:
AWE32 MIDI OUT (joystick port) --> SC-55 MIDI IN
SC-55 LINE/PHONE OUT --> SB Pro LINE IN
Then select SB Pro instead of SB16/AWE for digital sound.

GL1zdA wrote:

What about the stereo compatibility of the SB Pro 2.0? According to 2 last posts here: viewtopic.p...p;start=20 , it might not always work...

You have to differentiate between SB Pro digital sound and FM music.

SB Pro stereo digital sound only works on real SB Pro cards (1.0 and 2.0) and compatible cards from other companies. Chipset manufacturers could license the SB Pro DSP from Creative, so most of the clone cards are 100% compatible (and often sound better than the original).
For some reason Creative fucked this up on their own SB16/AWE line of cards.

The SB Pro FM music is a completely different issue:
SB Pro 1.0 contains two OPL2 chips, whereas SB Pro 2.0 has one OPL3, like the SB16. Both are compatible with AdLib/OPL2 (mono) music, but to get stereo FM music, you'll have to program them differently.
There are only very few games that take advantage of the dual OPL2 configuration of the SB Pro 1.0, but do not support OPL3 (SB Pro 2.0. SB16/AWE), so this is just a minor issue.

5u3 wrote:

SB Pro stereo digital sound only works on real SB Pro cards (1.0 and 2.0) and compatible cards from other companies. Chipset man […]
Show full quote

SB Pro stereo digital sound only works on real SB Pro cards (1.0 and 2.0) and compatible cards from other companies. Chipset manufacturers could license the SB Pro DSP from Creative, so most of the clone cards are 100% compatible (and often sound better than the original).
For some reason Creative fucked this up on their own SB16/AWE line of cards.

The SB Pro FM music is a completely different issue:
SB Pro 1.0 contains two OPL2 chips, whereas SB Pro 2.0 has one OPL3, like the SB16. Both are compatible with AdLib/OPL2 (mono) music, but to get stereo FM music, you'll have to program them differently.
There are only very few games that take advantage of the dual OPL2 configuration of the SB Pro 1.0, but do not support OPL3 (SB Pro 2.0. SB16/AWE), so this is just a minor issue.

Now I've got it. Thanks for explanation.

5u3 wrote:

Whoa - hold on.
The MIDI interface on SB cards older than SB16 is not MPU401 compatible. Games usually expect a Roland MPU401 interface for MT32 or General MIDI music.

OK so I've definitely have to find another card then 😉 Can you suggest a card that is able to provide a MPU401 compatible MT32 interface and sound good (stereo) on SB Pro settings in games?

But one thing bugs me. If its true that earlier sound cards do not offer Roland MPU401 interface, isnt it strange that Sierra used to sell MT-32 Modules at that time alongside with their games? Which sound card would a man need at that time? It was late 80'ties and no SB 16/AWE32...

didnt roland make their own mpu401 card?

rumbadumba wrote:

didnt roland make their own mpu401 card?

Yes...quite alot of models too but other companies made Roland MPU401 cards that support intelligent mode that was needed for some games that supåort Roland LA synth