Games assume FM is at port 338. Multiple cards will just play FM at the same time, however you could mute or maybe even disable the FM portion in the card's drivers.

In my opinion SB16's are useless. Most DOS games don't need 16 bit sound, and if they do they might support Windows Sound System for that. If you really want SB16 compatibility, there's the ALS100 (non +) chip, but the cards themselves are often of subpar quality. They generally include an OPL3 or exact clone. There's also a SB16 compatible CMI8330 chipset, however I believe all of those use the Crystal chip's FM implementation.

You can get AWE32 with OPL3, no need for 2 cards just to do that.

Well. I like my CT2230 SB16 alot personally. It has a revision CT1703-A chip on it that, to my understanding, provides the cleanest, quietest audio you can get out of a 16'.

Yeah it's kinda glorified Sound Blaster 2.0 with the lack of 16bit support in games but. It's allways sounded pretty good IMO (better then some clones iv had) and the piping/clicks go away with high DMA disabled.

I'm indifferent to the midi bugs. FM in DOS for me.

Sooo...IDK. I guess a majority of SB16s just kinda...exist?
Their are crappy ones. Really crappy ones. And then good models with the right revision. And if you do stumble across one of those, I see no need to switch off unless midi on one card is really bugging ya.

Wich in that case. You could allways pair it with a cheepo clone card that has a functioning wavetable and just mix them together.

Yeah, I have several in my "collection", trying to decide which to use now that I'm finalizing builds. I do have a CT2230, wich CSP even. I thought the only downside was the type-2 hanging note bug, but then read about the clicks/pops too, and thought oh no....

Also have a CT3670, but that will be for my P1 233MMX build. Seems really nice except for no real OPL, which is another reason to ask about a second real OPL card.

I am able to buy now a CT-1770, CSP, midi bug free (4.05) and real OPL3, but I read it's super noisy (CT1701) and has clicks/pops bugs too, so put off by that...

LewisRaz wrote on 2020-07-27, 21:04:

You can get AWE32 with OPL3, no need for 2 cards just to do that.

Thought the 3980 did, but don't those have the midi bugs too?

Under Win98, it's fairly easy to use two sound cards since you can usually configure them to use different resources through Device Manager.

I have a Yamaha YMF724 and an AWE64 Value installed in one of my rigs and they work just fine together. If I want genuine OPL3, all I need to do is to disable the FM synth (CQM) of the AWE64 and set Yamaha to use port 388. Note that you usually need to use "Basic Configuration 004" or something like that in order to manually assign resources.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-07-27, 21:52:

Under Win98, it's fairly easy to use two sound cards since you can usually configure them to use different resources through Device Manager.

I have a Yamaha YMF724 and an AWE64 Value installed in one of my rigs and they work just fine together. If I want genuine OPL3, all I need to do is to disable the FM synth (CQM) of the AWE64 and set Yamaha to use port 388. Note that you usually need to use "Basic Configuration 004" or something like that in order to manually assign resources.

That's good for win. Thinking if it's possible for DOS too somehow.

walterg74 wrote on 2020-07-27, 22:15:

[...]

That's good for win. Thinking if it's possible for DOS too somehow.

Of course.

Set the one to 'default' SB A220 I5 (or 7 for earlier builds) D1, set the other to 'alternative' SB A240 I3 (or 7) D0 (or 3). In general I'd suggest using the defaults for the older standard card, so YMF in this case with SBPro2. The only thing they'd share is the AdLib 0x388, which doesn't matter as it's write-only. Music may play from both cards, but you can mute one or the other if that's a problem. Disable MIDI on the SB16 as it's buggy and not needed, disable at least one of the game ports too. Then they'll play nice together.

AWE64+YMF7x4 combo gang 👍

foil_fresh wrote on 2020-07-28, 02:58:

AWE64+YMF7x4 combo gang 👍

Well I have a CT3670, which is essentially an AWE64 with SIMMs... so, will try that. Not sire which Yamahas I have, but I do have a couple.