My favorite is the Audician 32 Plus. You can buy it on ebay as new old stock. Uses the Yamaha YMF71x chip. It is SB Pro II compatible and has a MIDI header. Here's some reading:
Yamaha YMF71x SB Pro Mixer Bug Issue Fix
Also, if you want a Creative card, here's some more reading for you:
SB1.5, SB2.0, SBPro2, SB16 - Audio Comparison
Sound Blaster 16 Bugs and Deficiencies Summary

the audician 32 Plus looks interesting, weird that I didnt stumble upon it earlier as it only appears on ebay UK. What is actually the main important thing to be aware of when picking up a DOS soundcard ? I would say overal main compatibility and soundquality with games ? Is there a certain soundcard that fits that bill to good degree ?

Tough...I'm sure people are preparing an answer for you, cause I am really confused.

Mech Warrior plays CD music.
Looks like Tomb Raider supports MP3 music or General MIDI. I'm not so sure of this...

The music for Tomb Raider was composed by Nathan McCree. Unlike most other games of the time, there was not a musical track playing constantly
throughout the game; instead, limited musical cues would play only during specially-selected moments to produce a dramatic effect, such as enhancing
tension during an action sequence or accompanying the discovery of a hidden secret, in much the same way as a film is typically scored. For the
majority of the game, the only audio heard is action-based effects (e.g. footsteps or explosions), atmospheric sounds (like the roar of a nearby
waterfall), and Lara's own grunts and sighs, all of which were enhanced because they did not have to compete with music. According to McCree, the game
was scored this way because he was allotted very little time for the job, forcing him to quickly write pieces without any thought to where they would
go in the game. When the soundtrack was finally applied, the developers found that the tunes worked best when applied to specific places.[14

I think for the best you need at least two cards, like:
Roland RAP-10 and a compatible Sound Blaster for sound FX.
ESS Audio drive and a daughterboard
Roland SCC-1 and again, a Sound Blaster for FX.

CT 4170 Sound Blaster 16 is out of question. Avoid Vibra's like the plague.
A Guillemot Maxi Sound Game Theater 64 will eat a AWE64 for breakfast.
Just my finicky point of view. This is all subjective.

Fun fact: Lara Croft exists mostly because of Virtua Fighter 😀
She's never been to Brazil in her adventures 🙁

thanks a lot for the insight, very interesting to hear these opinions, one thing that confuses me even more is that I do get sound in mech warrior 2 from my SB0160 but I dont get any sound in Tomb Raider or Mega Man X, I do get sound thou if I emulate them with DOS box 😒 how can dosbox emulate sound on these two games but a real soundcard doesnt 🤣

My sounds card of choice is the Sound Blaster AWE32 CT3670.

It's basically an AWE64 EMU on an AWE32 card. This means it will do MIDI, Sound Blaster compatible 8&16 bit audio, as well as OPL3 emulation through CQM (Not for a purist, but for me, and the average Joe, few could tell the difference without a side by side.

They can also be found on the cheap, with my newest card costing 25 USD + shipping.

The only downside is that MIDI is not usable on 32-bit DOS extenders unless they have been patched for it or support it natively.

AlucarD86 wrote:

the audician 32 Plus looks interesting, weird that I didnt stumble upon it earlier as it only appears on ebay UK. What is actually the main important thing to be aware of when picking up a DOS soundcard ? I would say overal main compatibility and soundquality with games ? Is there a certain soundcard that fits that bill to good degree ?

I agree with you. And the Audician fits the bill. I have one in my 486 and one in my K6. No issues with any of my games, high sound quality, genuine Yamaha OPL.

There are plenty of other good options, but IMO, you can't go wrong with a YMF. Both my cards are paired with DreamBlaster MIDI daughterboards (an S1 and X2) and I'm super happy with them.

For me, a big factor was the "hanging note bug" that most Sound Blasters have. I first bought a CT2800. It had a Yamaha OPL, so the sound quality was good, but when I played some popular games with General MIDI music (X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Duke Nukem 3D), the hanging note bug was unbearable. If you think you'll never use a MIDI daughterboard, then a Sound Blaster will probably suit you fine.

I don't really notice it? If I reset the machine a note will hang if something is playing, but only if I reset it, and if I turn the machine off then back on again, it's fine.

okay I have ordered the Audician 32 Plus from UK after watching Phils excellent YouTube review on it. I am really curious how well it will perform. Also interesting enough there seem to be boxed new models available 😒

Ampera wrote:

I don't really notice it? If I reset the machine a note will hang if something is playing, but only if I reset it, and if I turn the machine off then back on again, it's fine.

I didn't think it would be a big deal myself. But my wife could hear it from the other room. Or rather, feel it. It was a very high pitch, kind of like when old tube TVs whine. It drove me crazy.

AlucarD86 wrote:

thanks a lot for the insight, very interesting to hear these opinions, one thing that confuses me even more is that I do get

sound in mech warrior 2 from my SB0160 but I dont get any sound in Tomb Raider or Mega Man X, I do get sound thou if I emulate them with DOS box 😒

how can dosbox emulate sound on these two games but a real soundcard doesnt 🤣

I would never play DOS games under Windows98. Again, just a conviction.
To get sound you have to set your Audigy to emulate Sound Blaster 16.

AlucarD86 wrote:

okay I have ordered the Audician 32 Plus from UK after watching Phils excellent YouTube review on it. I am really curious how

well it will perform. Also interesting enough there seem to be boxed new models available 😒

Awesome, man. You gotta love new parts. I own two Yamaha and two AWE32 CT3670.
If only we could find another seller giving away DB60XG's!
I didn't have vision for the future, so I only purchased one.
Only take heed if you get your hands on this master piece and install it carefully (in most cases a custom cable is needed so that the sound card
fits perfectly in the ISA slot).

Talking about the AWE32, there are some bugs in this card and the average Joe probably won't overcome them.
A power user like me **** 😀 cut it out ***** can do that through persistence.
I have a natural force to go to the ends of the world to solve issues (virtual issues if you get my drift).

yeah I hear you. Originally I drifted to this board in the search of building a PowerVR PC to run Resident Evil but I just stayed here for the love of retro hardware and I am always fascinated by old tech and 90ties PCs, call it nostalgia if you like. I am quite often on eBay and look out for some parts, recently I managed to score 2 x Voodoo 2 in SLI and cant wait for them to arrive, so I do need a good ISA card for the setup and thats why I started this thread.

also clueless1 I saw on phils review that there is a way to attach a MIDI daughterboard to the Audician 32 plus, do you have any clues on where to find those ? No luck with eBay at my end.

Ampera wrote:

My sounds card of choice is the Sound Blaster AWE32 CT3670. […]
Show full quote

My sounds card of choice is the Sound Blaster AWE32 CT3670.

It's basically an AWE64 EMU on an AWE32 card. This means it will do MIDI, Sound Blaster compatible 8&16 bit audio, as well as OPL3 emulation through CQM (Not for a purist, but for me, and the average Joe, few could tell the difference without a side by side.

They can also be found on the cheap, with my newest card costing 25 USD + shipping.

The only downside is that MIDI is not usable on 32-bit DOS extenders unless they have been patched for it or support it natively.

What's the advantage of that over the regular AWE64 (Value)? If it's still CQM, and it still does not have a Wavetable header (at least I don't see one), and you are unlikely to install extra RAM for sound fonts, what can it do that the AWE64 cannot?

The AWE64 Value is more compact and not more expensive in the second hand market.

AlucarD86 wrote:

also clueless1 I saw on phils review that there is a way to attach a MIDI daughterboard to the Audician 32 plus, do you have any clues on where to find those ? No luck with eBay at my end.

One of the Dreamblasters from the Serdaco Shop. Prices vary depending on features. The S2 (successor to the S1) is good and affordable:
http://www.serdashop.com/waveblaster

AlucarD86 wrote:

also clueless1 I saw on phils review that there is a way to attach a MIDI daughterboard to the Audician 32 plus, do you have any clues on where to find those ? No luck with eBay at my end.

What dr_st said.

BTW, Phil also reviewed the DreamBlaster daughterboards, so you can hear what they sound like in his videos. The first generation was S1 and X1. Current gen are S2 and X2. The S2 sounds the same as the S1, but the X2 is nice improvement over the X1 (especially in programmability). There's a big price difference, and the S* sounds pretty good, so unless you really want the programmability of the X2 (which IS pretty cool, mind you), save your money and go for the S2.

What do you mean unlikely? That's primary reason I like the AWE32 CT3670, you can expand the RAM for about 12 bucks, while an AWE64 RAM expansion is borderline impossible to find, and when you do locate one, it will be smaller, and more expensive than regular 30-pin DRAM.

With 28MB of soundfont RAM you can do some pretty cool stuff, and get MIDI on the level, or even past that of a Gravis card. Even the stock MIDI sounds great on this card.

That's the main reason why I like this card. It has out of the box great general MIDI, and with a 28MB RAM expansion, you can load some pretty spicy soundfonts.

AlucarD86 wrote:

yeah I hear you. Originally I drifted to this board in the search of building a PowerVR PC to run Resident Evil but I just stayed here for the love of retro hardware and I am always fascinated by old tech and 90ties PCs, call it nostalgia if you like. I am quite often on eBay and look out for some parts, recently I managed to score 2 x Voodoo 2 in SLI and cant wait for them to arrive, so I do need a good ISA card for the setup and thats why I started this thread.

Now that your mission is terminated. Let me tell you some stories...

I wanted a PowerVR PC as well, but nowhere to be found. The question is, Is this so much better than a Voodoo to justify the ordeal and costs?
I like to strieve for the best, but every man has your limit.

As for Voodoo, I bought a Voodoo 2 from Creative (CT 6670) a few days ago and now my personal collection is almost fulfilled. The following is missing:

• Voodoo Rush - but I don't care about it
• Voodoo 3 3500 - Redundant when you own a Voodoo 3 3000
• Voodoo 4 4500 - What for ? I have a Voodoo 5 5500
• Voodoo 5 6000 - I don't care about it and feels like an unfinished product (don't take me wrong, the card is great. I just don't know the benefits over a Voodoo 5 5500 -
  and I guess money changes everything...)

However there is a catch on the Voodoo2:
It came along with 4 graphics card (AS-IS and very cheap). Of course this was the bait and as expected none of the cards worked, except for the Voodoo2.
How many people in the world can test a Voodoo2 properly ? 😈

So yeah, I payed peanuts for a working Voodoo2.
The problem is, there are three SMD capacitors missing (behind). Is there a device, some way to solve this?
In the end, I think I made a terrible deal.

I am always fascinated by old tech and 90ties PCs

Me too. This is where I started and it weighs a lot. I'm not into XT games. I hope someday enter in this world.

I had some strange timing issues when using a YMF719 based card. It'd skip buffers in Impulse Tracker and sounds in Duke3D played back too fast. I resolved the problem with a CT2890 (non PnP version is CT2800). However, it lacks a MIDI wavetable onboard (need Waveblaster) and also has the hanging note DSP, so you might have to use a separate MIDI solution if you don't wanna be stuck with FM music everywhere.

Ampera wrote:

That's the main reason why I like this card. It has out of the box great general MIDI, and with a 28MB RAM expansion, you can load some pretty spicy soundfonts.

OK, I understand. I just think most people don't care about RAM expansion that much. Is this fully and automatically supported in DOS, BTW?

Some titles natively support the EMU chipset and upload custom waveforms for music and sound effects. There is no MPU-401 interface for the EMU chip implemented in hardware, however, so you must load a somewhat large sized TSR in order to have wavetable GM support in raw DOS. Furthermore, you're limited to using SBK (version 1) soundfonts, not the more common SF2 (version 2) format.

Most of these limitations are lifted when executing DOS programs from within Windows which is really where AWE cards are strongest.