One dilemma I got is how many soundcards should I should support if I was to get into DOS programming because there is a large variety of resources I can utilize and many different cards, but I don't know which ones I should support and which I shouldn't. Would it be a good idea to just make it soundblaster 16 exclusive or not because that was I believe the most popular soundcard of the DOS era.
SB Pro was far more popular as a standard.
I had a SB16 in those days. It's backward compatible with the earlier mono 8-bit SB and Adlib, so if you want a simpler challenge you can start with those, and add 16-bit/stereo functionality later.
(I remember using the Turbo C 'outport' command to send random numbers to the SB16 ports, causing it to make crazy farting and beeping sounds, annoying my parents in the next room.)
Is this too much voodoo?
A large majority of DOS games were Sound Blaster 1 w/ OPL2 sound at best even with Pro/16 driver options. It's the safest lowest common denominator card that compatible clone cards are compatible with.
gus + awe32.
--/\-[ Stu : Bloody Cactus :: [ https://bloodycactus.com :: http://kråketær.com ]-/\--
Why not use the older free version of Miles Sound System? That way you automatically can support a ton of different cards without having to manually add support for the ones you want to support?
cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-09, 02:02:Why not use the older free version of Miles Sound System? That way you automatically can support a ton of different cards without having to manually add support for the ones you want to support?
My thoughts exactly.
https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys
If I were to pick one, Adlib.
If I were to pick two, Adlib & Sound Blaster
If I were to pick three, Adlib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro
If I had the luxury of four, Adlib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, General MIDI
Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.
Only OPL2/3 is sort of difficult to program compared to the others, due to sheer amount of registers to write to, but stuff like SB/pro/16 and WSS are very easy, as is MPU401/MIDI. There's little reason not to support all these.
T-04YBSC, a new YMF71x based sound card & Official VOGONS thread about it
Newly made 4MB 60ns 30pin SIMMs ~
mida sa loed ? nagunii aru ei saa 😜
You'll get the best coverage with a combination of Sound Blaster, Windows Sound System and AC'97.
This covers the majority of systems from the early to mid 90s, mid to late 90s and late 90s to 2000s.
AdLib (OPL2) is also interesting, but then you'd have to include a synthesizer for the later sound cards that don't support it natively.
The same applies to MIDI.
