PowerPie5000 wrote:

I'm sticking with my PCI Yamaha YMF724 based card 😀. It's been great so far with Win 95/98 and DOS games. The PC/PCI (aka SB-Link) cable is very handy when it comes to DOS support, but only a few motherboards actually have the SB-link header (you can use distributed DMA mode instead). It features a genuine OPL3 chip and has great SB Pro support... I can't fault it at all (yet) 😎.

I've been searching far and wide and still can't find any place that sells this SB-Link cable. Any advice?

PC/PCI or SB-LINK cable. How to make?

I really like the Sound Blaster Pro 2 I have. It is excellent in dos with no need for any drivers - Its very Natural and seems Native in dos.

The Awe 32 sounds stunning and the SB16 is another great card that has compatibility across the board but I just don't like the popping noises that come from them occasionally and that's why I think the Sound Blaster Pro 2 is a clear winner.

rgart wrote:

I really like the Sound Blaster Pro 2 I have. It is excellent in dos with no need for any drivers - Its very Natural and seems Native in dos.

The Awe 32 sounds stunning and the SB16 is another great card that has compatibility across the board but I just don't like the popping noises that come from them occasionally and that's why I think the Sound Blaster Pro 2 is a clear winner.

Actually every good sound card for DOS does not need TSRs loaded.
I think the popping noises are mainly due to the games not using Auto-Init DMA and are suppressed by the SB Pro2s low pass filter.

Older SBs aren't totally rendered obsolete by a SB16. For instance, SB 1.0/1.5/2.0 had CMS chiptune synths that were removed since SB Pro. A SB Pro itself had a dual OPL2 system for stereo FM playback.

I like my CT2230. Relatively clean audio for a soundblaster, and no hanging note bug.

Hatta wrote:

I like my CT2230. Relatively clean audio for a soundblaster, and no hanging note bug.

I agree.

Other good Soundblasters imo:

AWE64 Gold
AWE32 CT2760

I'm using an AWE32 CT3980.

Sound blaster 16 CT2290

Its one of the best sound blaster ive tried.
-Superior FM sound quality.
-Good compatibility
-No Hanging note bug.

ratfink wrote:

to my less discerning ears the awe32 midi in games like heretic and Warcraft is acceptable. Though whether they are loading fonts themselves I have no idea.

Heretic awe32 music sucks 🙁 Warcraft 2's awe32 music is so-so. None of them is loading fonts. I like Magic Carpet 2: Netherworlds awe32 music. And yes, MC2 is loading its own SBK font.

Doom is perhaps the biggest joke for AWE support. Sounds absolutely horrible.

Heretic is imo best with Adlib, Doom with Sound Canvas.

That's where we have different views my friend 😀.
The first time I heard Doom on my AWE64 Gold I was stunned. Especially with E1M1. After years of FM Synth pain I absolutely loved it and still do to this day.
System Shock is a game that sounds amazing on AWE cards, I guess due the techno/electro soundtrack. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W08yrw5H-Q
Also, Descent, I especially love Lunar Scilab : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDqknsaX9L4&li … 508D62B&index=2
You can also use soundfonts for DOS games through Windows, a good idea is to load the 4MB GM Soundfont makes a lot of games sound great on the AWE32. Then you can run them either through the DOS-box prompt or through DOS mode and use General Midi.

Fair enough. This is really something where opinions will differ wildly. Games like Duke3D and Descent do sound OK or good with it depending on the individual track. The AWE ROM may have a good amount of decent sounding patches for synthy tracks, but I honestly think the guitars are beyond bad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9aPgjqDodA

I love the sound of that though. Some people hate it and some people love it. I've seen people compare it to what the SNES sounded like sometimes here on Vogons.

F2bnp wrote:

That's where we have different views my friend :). The first time I heard Doom on my AWE64 Gold I was stunned. Especially with E […]
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That's where we have different views my friend 😀.
The first time I heard Doom on my AWE64 Gold I was stunned. Especially with E1M1. After years of FM Synth pain I absolutely loved it and still do to this day.
System Shock is a game that sounds amazing on AWE cards, I guess due the techno/electro soundtrack. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W08yrw5H-Q
Also, Descent, I especially love Lunar Scilab : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDqknsaX9L4&li … 508D62B&index=2
You can also use soundfonts for DOS games through Windows, a good idea is to load the 4MB GM Soundfont makes a lot of games sound great on the AWE32. Then you can run them either through the DOS-box prompt or through DOS mode and use General Midi.

I've got to agree. I own a CT3670 AWE 32 and for music ....when its actually supported properly like Doom, the awe patch for Ultima 8, etc, it sounds amazing. I think maybe I even prefer it over the SC-55...especially for doom games....with no sound fonts loaded.

Hook it up to a decent hi-fi or receiver and you will be amazed.

Sedrosken wrote:

If I'm only using it in DOS or Windows 3.11/95/98, I choose the SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold.

If I'm using, say, Windows 2000 or XP in a dual boot configuration with DOS, I use the SoundBlaster PCI. IIRC, this was the last SoundBlaster card to have DOS drivers. But I think the sound quality suffers a bit. I don't think the AWE64 worked very well with 2k or XP.

Didn't the Audigy have DOS drivers?

Yes, it has. It is also claimed that certain models of the Audigy 2 work with the hacked drivers of the original Audigy.