Can anyone tell me a little about Terratec 512i? \ VOGONS

Can anyone tell me a little about Terratec 512i?

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First post, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-12-18, 08:35

appiah4 Offline

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I kind of acquired this card just because it's a Terratec (have a fondness for them) but I can't seem to find much about it other than that it was a contemporary competitor to Live!. I'm particularly interested in its SB Pro emulation in DOS and Win9x, how good/bad its FM Synthesis sounds and what its MIDI capabilties are (MPU401 works in DOS? Win9x? SF2 Support? etc.) Thanks.

EDIT: Apparently it comes with Yamaha's Software XG Synth, which is a fine enough replacement for SF2 support in my book. However, I'm still curious about it's SB Pro emulation and FM quality.. I'm hoping it can replace the Audigy 2 / Solo -1 multi card configuration I have in my GX110, which will free up a precious PCI slot for use with USB2.0 cards.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 1 of 2, by schmatzler

Posted on 2017-12-18, 20:30

schmatzler Offline

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According to Amazon the card is based on a ForteMedia FM801 chipset.

DOS, 9x and NT drivers for that card are available here:
http://www.hwdrivers.com/ftp/fd_-slash-Audio- … 801-slash-.html

The FM801 has the advantage, that the DOS drivers might still work on newer motherboards as opposed to the ones from the Creative SoundBlaster Live! series. FM801 uses a different method for emulation.

But there is also the disadvantage that it doesn't work well with all of the games. I've written about my experience with that in this thread.

After using it for a few days now I also noticed that the Windows 9x drivers are pretty unstable. They lock up from time to time and I need to do a reboot to get any sound out of the card again.

All in all, not a very exciting card for DOS games at all. At least for the ones I want to play.

"Windows 98's natural state is locked up"

Reply 2 of 2, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-12-18, 21:42

appiah4 Offline

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I see.. One for the archive then, I guess. And I'm back to using Audigy 2 ZS + ESS Solo-1.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

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