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CT4810 DOS Sound Issues (horrible)

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First post, by 4xtx

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I've picked up a cheap CT4810 and I am having quite a few issues with DOS FM & Synth sound.
In Stunts, Wolf, Doom, Jill music and sound are both absolutely horrible.
Death Rally the music seems to be OK but the sounds are distorted and the voice for some reason is in slow motion.

Now I know emulated synth is sucky but this is next level bad.
It's almost like the sounds are accurate but wrongly mapped?

I'm using DOS 6.22 with only the memory management and sound drivers loaded only.
I'd prefer not to use Windows for this project.

I've tried:
* AudioPCI and Creative drivers as supplied on Vogons for CT4810
* IRQ 7
* Disabling the Adlib, Enabling the MT-32 (I know, just affects music)
* 2, 4 & 8 MB wavetables
* Enabling and using Adlib only (even this sounds crap)
* Yelling at it

Can anyone get decent sound out of these things in the abovementioned games? Would love to know how you did it.

Side question: The PC SPK header is not populated on this card - could I install pins and will it work? Or is there other HW required to capture PC SPK?

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YT: https://www.youtube.com/@techdistractions

Reply 1 of 4, by jmarsh

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4xtx wrote on 2021-01-24, 04:01:

Now I know emulated synth is sucky but this is next level bad.
It's almost like the sounds are accurate but wrongly mapped?

That's just how the audiopci cards are. Stick to games that support general midi instead.

Reply 2 of 4, by darry

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jmarsh wrote on 2021-01-24, 04:15:
4xtx wrote on 2021-01-24, 04:01:

Now I know emulated synth is sucky but this is next level bad.
It's almost like the sounds are accurate but wrongly mapped?

That's just how the audiopci cards are. Stick to games that support general midi instead.

+1 to that .

FM Synth emulation on the AudioPCI and also on all Creative Live!/Audigy cards is really bad .

Here is an example of Doom II music being played with AudioPCI FM emulation and then its General MIDI softsynth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dOSDhPP3fM

EDIT : IMHO, FM emulation on AudioPCI family cards (ES137x variants and their rebranded Creative equivalents) sounds like somebody dropped a few of the cheaper Casio ToneBank keyboards down a flight of stairs . 😉

Reply 3 of 4, by Joseph_Joestar

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darry wrote on 2021-01-24, 05:19:

FM Synth emulation on the AudioPCI and also on all Creative Live!/Audigy cards is really bad .

The Audigy/SBLive emulation is not nearly as terrible as the AudioPCI. At least it tries to sound like OPL3, albeit with an annoying metallic undertone.

AudioPCI cards are in a league of their own. There is simply nothing worse for FM synth emulation out there.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

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