Mhmm... seeing the overwhelming feedback I can only presume that there are no games that fullfill the above mentioned criteria.

But if so, is Creative not somehow excused for not making their Soundblaster 16 based cards fully SBPro compatible?

Simply because there was no real need to do so?

Are there SB (not SBPro) compatible games that will not work propberly with a SB16?

SB16 is not entirely SBPro compatible. There will be problems with some (or maybe most) games.

Oh - I know that it is not entirely SBPro compatible.
I think this widely known article describes the flaw quite accurately:
http://www.crossfire-designs.de/index.php?lan … ndcards&page=10

There will be problems with some (or maybe most) games.

What kind of problems?
I remember that when you have a SB16 and choose SBPro in Decents setup menu, you get mono sound with some distortions. But if you choose Soundblaster you get mono without distortions. Of course you can allways choose SB16 in the setup menu and you get stereo with no distortions.

On the other hand all the other old games I tried that play mono and only offer the SB option, work flawlessly with the SB16. Furthermore, in games where you can choose between SB, SBPro and SB16, it doesn't make any difference which one you choose for your SB16 as long as the game uses only mono samples for speech / effects.

So the SB16 incompatibility only becomes relevant in games that offer true stereo in SBPro mode.

But - can you name one game that has Soundblaster Pro as the only option for digital stereo effects?

This is not a rethoric question - I really don't know. Perhaps I forgot something...

As the Soundblaster 16 doesn't support the speaker on/off commands you may hear strange sounds when there should be silence.

Wolfenstein 3-D?

Silent Loon has a point here... There can't be many games that really need a SB Pro, at least not many "mainstream" games.

Calvero wrote:

Wolfenstein 3-D?

Wolf3D is always mentioned at this point, but this one actually DOES produce stereo sound on SB16 cards. It works because Wolf3D doesn't use the usual SB Pro stereo mode. The game simply positions (mono) samples with the help of the mixer, which saves a bit of CPU time and is quite effective as long as only one sample is played at a time.

Sorry to bump this thread...

I am looking for a game that will play stereo on a Soundblaster Pro 2.0 but will play mono on a Soundblaster 16 and also doesn't have support for the Soundblaster 16 natively...

And just for clarification, this issue only applied to digital audio (speech, sound effects)? But both can play FM Synth in Stereo just fine?

I don't think anyone would have written a game that supported only one sound card back then. They would have limited their potential sales too much. That would be like writing a game today that ONLY runs on an nVidia chipset video card. Nobody with an ATi chipset card would buy it.

Well there was a timeframe where the SB Pro was the latest and greatest. The SB 16 didn't come out for quite some time.

So there must be games written in the SB Pro era that supported the Stereo mode.

This "Stereo issue" topic has been discussed to death in various forums, and people use it all the time. Yet I haven't seen a reference to a single game yet 😁

I am sure there are games, just a matter of finding them...

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

And just for clarification, this issue only applied to digital audio (speech, sound effects)? But both can play FM Synth in Stereo just fine?

Yes.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Well there was a timeframe where the SB Pro was the latest and greatest. The SB 16 didn't come out for quite some time. […]
Show full quote

Well there was a timeframe where the SB Pro was the latest and greatest. The SB 16 didn't come out for quite some time.

So there must be games written in the SB Pro era that supported the Stereo mode.

This "Stereo issue" topic has been discussed to death in various forums, and people use it all the time. Yet I haven't seen a reference to a single game yet Very Happy

I am sure there are games, just a matter of finding them...

The mainstream game publishers were rather quick to support the SB16, and big, expensive productions began to use externally developed sound libraries which were compatible with a wide range of sound cards.
The rest of the games relied on AdLib and basic Sound Blaster sound.

The best chance to find a game with SB Pro (and without SB16) support is to look at budget/shareware/public domain titles.

I could come up with a list of demoscene stuff and DOS audio programs which need a SB Pro for stereo digital sound, but I haven't found a game so far.

Then I am puzzled why I read so many statements that you should avoid a SB 16 because it can't handle 8bit Stereo sound effects 😁

I read this basically every time a Sound blaster discussion came up. It seems this argument has technical merit, however if no Game is affected, well there seems little reason to use a Soundblaster Pro right? 😕

Getting into a soundcard debate is a way to waste and spoil your life. There is no perfect solution. Instead there are a zillion of soundcards, even millions of different SB16 and SB32. And be aware, they are all different. Even cards with the same CT number can be different in DSP Version. And that to some is the holy grail, since it decides which type of errors a daughterboard will produce.

Just search this forum for discussions about the hanging notes bug or hexen bug.

I have bought about 10 sound cards since, for multiple PCs. The only immediate suggestion I can give is to get a Yamaha daughterboard clone from China, while they last.

Not to worry for me it's simple...

Creative Labs for soundcards and Roland for midi. Why? Because I value authenticity very high. Not interested in other cards that might "sound better" than the original did back in the days...

Fully aware about the hanging notes issues, that's why I will be using a real MPU401 device and external midi modules 😉

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Not to worry for me it's simple...

Roland for midi.

Hope you have a lot of money because those Roland cards aren't cheap. I bid one up to $150 recently and still lost.

There's one on ebay now with a BIN of $220. 😮

The prices on the midi modules are ok (I don't get them from ebay though, Roland is a Japanese company and that's where most units are. Japanese people also don't throw everything away unlike the western consumption people) but the real killer are shipping costs. Getting a few of them shipped quickly adds up... In Australia you can get some units for under 100 bucks. A few weeks ago a MT-100 went for around 80 bucks which is ok. But the Australian market is very small. CM units I haven't seen a single one in the last few weeks...

Having said that, they are still a lot cheaper than back in day. I couldn't believe when I read that a LAPC-I cost almost 1000 Deutsche Mark. That's ~ 500 euros for just a single card...

Because of shipping I do buy several units. That way I get a lower total cost per unit and I do like to have various models so I can play around and see how they differ. But yea it's a big hobby of mine, so I don't really put a prince tag on my passion. Waiting for a bargain is all good, but don't forget your time waiting and bidding and watching is also worth something 😉

Ind the end of the day I will have my Roland units and can wallow in nostalgic memories! Playing Wing Commander and Monkey Island 2 and Fate of Atlantis with a MT-32 (well in these two cases it will be a CM unit as these games support these 33 extra sound effects) has been a lifelong dream for me and I will enjoy every minute of it!

EDIT: 220 for which unit? CM-500s go for $400 and the sad thing is that most are not aware that the CM-500 has a vibrato that is faster than previous units and IMO the least useful unit for actually playing games.

MT-100 is a MT-32 (New) but many are not aware of this. For Sound Canvas there are many alternative modules like the SC55-ST or CM-300 and so on...

A bit of research and you look a bit outside the mainstream markets and it's not nearly as bad as it looks...

EDIT: From what I have seen the MT-32s are quite cheap and from the CM units the CM-64 is the easiest to find and usually quite cheap also. LAPC-I and CM-500 demand just silly prices. The LAPC-I is an internal card, so you are very limited with what you can do. External units you can hook up to a new machine with a USB midi cable and play DosBox game or plain midi files if you like.

The CM-64 is a CM-32L together with another module (CM-32P). The CM-32L and CM-64 IMO are the most useful untis as they don't have the buffer issue of the MT-32 (Old), come with these 33 extra sound effects and don't suffer from the vibrato bug (which the CM-500) has...

EDIT EDIT: Here is an example. A MT-100 just sold on ebay Australia for 100 bucks shipped. Thats a fair price I believe: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI … e=STRK:MEWAX:IT