I have one of those, unfortunately it seems to be dead. I can't even get it to show up with lspci in Linux. Seems like it'd be a pretty decent card if it worked though.

While not answering your questions, if you want some more info, check out this portion of The Computer Chronicles!
https://youtu.be/1VzyG-wYwVI?t=417

I have one too yet to test interested in the outcome.

The chip on the card is based on technology from the newly acquired VLSI Technology, namely the VLSI ThunderBird128. Here you can listen how the Philips Acoustic Edge (PSC706) sounds in Doom.

Philips also made sound cards based on the CMI8738 like the PSC605, they even put their own branding on the chip.

I have the PSC706, Acoustic Edge. I didn't use the sound card too long except I can say MDK2's EAX effects sounded better to me than the SBLive.

I bought a PCS706 brand new back in the day. Still have it. I always had trouble with the DOS drivers for it as well as the Windows drivers. It would randomly lock up the computer.

Maybe it was just an incompatibility issue with the motherboard or something. I actually acquired another one in a lot of cards I bought.

I plan on testing it out again one day to see if I can actually get it to work properly without causing me all kinds of headaches.

I hate the host of Computer Chronicles. When somebody tries to explain something, and it takes more than 30 seconds, he'll just interrupt with some kind of over-simplified, sometimes completely missing the point, comment and just moves on. I get that they have a limited time, but his interruption takes time away from the actual explanations, and they might just have been able to finish if they'd been allowed to.

I own one, the Philips Seismic Edge (PSC704).

Bought it on a whim in late 2002, used it for about a month. Fairly decent in Windows 98 SE, very compatible with late 90s/early 2000s games, didn't care much for 3D audio/EAX (and still don't), came with registered version of the Yamaha S-YXG50 softsynth (which I like a lot). DOS performance was awful, the emulation driver crashed frequently; when it did work, it had good Sound Blaster Pro compatibility. No wavetable synth though, only OPL3 emulation.

Personally, I would categorize it as a Windows only PCI sound card. Look at other cards for DOS games - Sound Blaster Live, Aureal Vortex 2, Yamaha 724/744 or ESS Solo-1 are better choices IMO.

LunarG wrote:

I hate the host of Computer Chronicles. When somebody tries to explain something, and it takes more than 30 seconds, he'll just interrupt with some kind of over-simplified, sometimes completely missing the point, comment and just moves on. I get that they have a limited time, but his interruption takes time away from the actual explanations, and they might just have been able to finish if they'd been allowed to.

He actually addressed this at one point on the show, I'll update if I find it, but the idea was that these people would go on and on with their sales pitches if he didn't stop them., and sometimes he needed to bring it back to the important key point. It's subjective if he did it successfully or too aggressively.

There is interesting PCI Soundcard analysis (in german language): ftp://78.46.141.148/docs/pc_hardware/pcisoundcards_v12.pdf
Philips Seismic Edge (SAA7785) is mentioned here.

Kamerat wrote:

The chip on the card is based on technology from the newly acquired VLSI Technology, namely the VLSI ThunderBird128. Here you can listen how the Philips Acoustic Edge (PSC706) sounds in Doom.

That actually, sounds pretty good!

The psc706 was designed with multimedia in mind such as DVD playback. I got it brand new back in the day. I didn’t use it for long due to the awful sound in DOS.

cyclone3d wrote on 2018-10-31, 14:26:

I bought a PCS706 brand new back in the day. Still have it. I always had trouble with the DOS drivers for it as well as the Windows drivers…

That’s because the DOS drivers on the original CD were not programmed correctly.

If I recall correctly, you need to change the ven and dev to match. I even think I have an installation CD here that I burned with the driver fixed. I did this just for kicks.

The other solution is to update the driver to a newer version.

xjas wrote on 2018-10-31, 02:13:

I have one of those, unfortunately it seems to be dead. I can't even get it to show up with lspci in Linux. Seems like it'd be a pretty decent card if it worked though.

That’s because Philips never gave away the specs of the proprietary chips on that card.

insanitor wrote on 2024-01-20, 15:56:

The psc706 was designed with multimedia in mind such as DVD playback. I got it brand new back in the day. I didn’t use it for lo […]
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The psc706 was designed with multimedia in mind such as DVD playback. I got it brand new back in the day. I didn’t use it for long due to the awful sound in DOS.

cyclone3d wrote on 2018-10-31, 14:26:

I bought a PCS706 brand new back in the day. Still have it. I always had trouble with the DOS drivers for it as well as the Windows drivers…

That’s because the DOS drivers on the original CD were not programmed correctly.

If I recall correctly, you need to change the ven and dev to match. I even think I have an installation CD here that I burned with the driver fixed. I did this just for kicks.

The other solution is to update the driver to a newer version.

xjas wrote on 2018-10-31, 02:13:

I have one of those, unfortunately it seems to be dead. I can't even get it to show up with lspci in Linux. Seems like it'd be a pretty decent card if it worked though.

That’s because Philips never gave away the specs of the proprietary chips on that card.

The chips might be proprietary and undocumented and there may not even exist drivers for Linux (have not checked) but, regardless of this, a PCI device not showing up in lspci output has an issue (hardware fault, bad connection, missing voltage if card connector is mis-keyed, etc) and would be the Windows equivalent of not being detected at all .

im an original owner back in late 90's. Was the card i paired with my socket A athlon 1.2 ghz. Never had issues with sound in win98 or winxp. The dos driver is hit or miss but i dont think it was that bad.
right now i have it paired with a awe64 so i can use its gameport for a chill and phil + mt32-pi wavetable. But i can switch over to the phillips midi when i want.

I did a rough video trying to record some its ability in dos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUyRT4ijuc0