You could use the OPL3 card for music and a Covox/Disney Sound Source parallel port DAC for sfx.

You might want to keep an eye on this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aCy3ccLZzo

The goal here is the development of a "universal" sound card with compatibility with all sorts of sound cards from back in the day. Later in the video, the guy talks about plans to develop an MCA version of such a beast as well.

Not sure what the current status of that project is, though.

There is Adlib Replica for MCA.

Or you can just use OPL2LPT or OPL3LPT.

I use mostly LPTDAC.386 / Covox Driver for Windows 3.1 on my 55SX with a simple Covox Device i made.

And also a OPL2LPT from Serdashop for FM Music.

There were some LPT sound cards, eg. Portable Sound Plus, which seems to provide decent SB compatibility using V86 mode driver:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7VxWbCgWHk

But I'm afraid such cards are about as rare as MCA ones...

dr.zeissler wrote on 2020-08-26, 07:25:

Hi there, […]
Show full quote

Hi there,

I have got an IBM PS/2 Model 57 486SLC2 and this machine has only PC-Speaker and no sound-card/device. I have looked for an Soundblaster-Card but these are very rare an expensive as MCA device. I have already found out that there exits a opl3-card for mca. But LGR showed in his video that it has not a good compatibility or device-detection because it's opl only.

What options do I have? Are there PS/2 collecters/users here that can give me some advice?

Thx
Doc

Unless you feel rich hust don't do it 😉 I have several PS/2, none have audio because the cards useful for gaming are super expensive. If you want "business audio" look for an M-ACPA. Here you have a quite complete list of options: http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/sound/sound_index.html

The combination of a Disney Sound Source, Resound 2 or Plaid Bib, and serial-port MIDI (either via SoftMPU or modified drivers) would provide a fair amount of coverage.

Thx guys!

Currently I use an Unisys CWD-486 as main "Hub" between Atari and Amiga.
I am not sure if I will change to that IBM PS/2 because it's bigger.

This could prove interesting...

courtesy of TubeTimeUS
https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1299181 … 6755708928?s=20

Cloudschatze wrote on 2020-08-26, 15:53:

The combination of a Disney Sound Source, Resound 2 or Plaid Bib, and serial-port MIDI (either via SoftMPU or modified drivers) would provide a fair amount of coverage.

Now I got my hands on that Model 57 and I had some trouble of getting it working but now it does.
I will checkout the options that were recommended in this thread especialy from cloudschatze.

Doc

Also, keep an eye on @crazii's SBEMU project. It's a project that aims to solve the holy grail of providing Sound Blaster emulation that works with both real mode and protected mode games. Currently, SBEMU supports only contemporary audio devices such as AC'97 and Intel HDA as backend devices, but there is no technical reason why this project couldn't also be extended or forked to support Covox Speech Thing, Disney Sound Source and RS-232 MIDI adapters on an MCA-based PS/2 system as well.

I know the PS/2 is a lot slower than modern systems that SBEMU currently targets, but redirecting Adlib playback to an OPL3LPT device should require a lot less CPU cycles than emulating FM synthesis completely in software, which it currently does. Emulating DMA-based digital audio playback on a Covox Speech Thing will probably be more demanding, though.

Alternatively, a surprising number of games can be patched to support the Covox Speech Thing and Disney Sound Source. Notably games that use DIGPAK or Miles AILv2 (ADV) drivers.

How common are MCA LPT port expansion cards, by the way? I mean Micro Channel expansion cards that add an additional parallel port to the system. I've been searching on eBay and Google for them, but nothing came up.

If there is no feasible way to add a second parallel port to an IBM PS/2 with an MCA bus, then combining an OPLxLPT with a Covox Speech Thing or a Disney Sound Source is not a feasible option either.

As mentioned by someone before, it would indeed be best to combine a Speech Thing or DSS on the parallel port with an RS-232 MIDI adapter (such as the MPU-232) on the serial port, and rely on patching and emulation (SoftMPU and eventually hopefully also SBEMU) to provide both music and digital audio in at least some games.

I am not sure - maybe I am missing some points from this discussion, because "Snark Barker" MCA Sound card, which is clone of the original "SoundBlaster MCA" card :

https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker

gives both SB and OPL3 compatibility and yes and I understand - it's a lot of effort to DIY one of those "Snark Barker" cards for yourself, but there is commercially available "Snark Barker"-clone called "ReSound New Wave MCA" - it's on the expensive side, but I think still fairly priced.

mattw wrote on 2023-05-06, 20:29:

I am not sure - maybe I am missing some points from this discussion, because "Snark Barker" MCA Sound card, which is clone of the original "SoundBlaster MCA" card :

https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker

gives both SB and OPL3 compatibility and yes and I understand - it's a lot of effort to DIY one of those "Snark Barker" cards for yourself, but there is commercially available "Snark Barker"-clone called "ReSound New Wave MCA" - it's on the expensive side, but I think still fairly priced.

The Snark Barker MCA wasn't yet a purchasable option when the original suggestions were made. With that being available today, it's certainly the better route for Sound Blaster compatibility.

In the late 90s I briefly considered a few MCA systems which were constantly being dumped by local schools.
I seem to remember reading about MCA soundcards based on ESS and Creative Vibra. These *may* have been sold by Reply, the same company that made the replacement motherboards. I think back then you could still order those new. I guess they are also quite rare an expensive, but something to look out for.
Wasn't somebody on vcfed trying to clone one of these?

*edit* I briefly looked into this again. It seems there's a "Sound Piper" based on ESS.
https://www.recycledgoods.com/ibm-10020737-3a … mca-sound-card/

There's another one called "ChipChat" which I think it also ESS.
I believe the Replay Soundcard I mentioned uses Creative Vibra.
...and there should even be one based on Crystal.

Any of those are probably superior to the Creative Soundblaster Pro MCA.

digger wrote on 2023-05-06, 19:05:

How common are MCA LPT port expansion cards, by the way? I mean Micro Channel expansion cards that add an additional parallel port to the system.....

Afaik if you deactivate DMA on LPT of the PS/2 machine it should work like a regular LPT port or am I wrong here?

dr.zeissler wrote on 2023-05-10, 07:03:

digger wrote on 2023-05-06, 19:05:

How common are MCA LPT port expansion cards, by the way? I mean Micro Channel expansion cards that add an additional parallel port to the system.....

Afaik if you deactivate DMA on LPT of the PS/2 machine it should work like a regular LPT port or am I wrong here?

My point being that you'd need a second parallel port (in addition to the integrated one), if you wanted to use an OPLxLPT for music and a Covox Speech Thing or DSS clone for digitized sound output at the same time. Unless the PS/2 machines came with two parallel ports out of the box, but I'm fairly sure they didn't.

Cloudschatze wrote on 2023-05-09, 23:03:

wasn't yet a purchasable option when the original suggestions were made

yep, I missed to notice most posts in the thread are from 2020...

digger wrote on 2023-05-10, 08:58:

My point being that you'd need a second parallel port (in addition to the integrated one), if you wanted to use an OPLxLPT for music and a Covox Speech Thing or DSS clone for digitized sound output at the same time. Unless the PS/2 machines came with two parallel ports out of the box, but I'm fairly sure they didn't.

yes...but I never thought about this...cool idea indeed