This thread maybe can clarify something about using the drivers: Where to get Soundblaster 2.0 CT1600 drivers for DOS ?

To make the card work correctly in a DOS environment, just set the blaster variables .. the dos games then have their own drivers to reproduce the sound.

So I think the card has hardware problems. 🤔

As an owner of a CT1600 myself, I wouldn't buy one (or any other ISA card) from someone who has zero DOS experience.

Like igna78 said: most DOS games don't need AdLib / SB compatible sound card to load any driver at startup.

It's not worth for that amount - even if you can repair it. Tested and working go for that amount or a bit more - depends on where you look.

yeah this card is damaged
could be an easy fix , could be something complex
for 70e it does not worth it

red_avatar wrote on 2021-08-21, 07:51:

- 2 channel sound doesn't sound good - 4 channel sound does sound good - no digital sound […]
Show full quote

- 2 channel sound doesn't sound good
- 4 channel sound does sound good
- no digital sound

"I suspect this is due to using the wrong driver or bad jumpers"

[...]

Now this reeks to me of someone trying to make money out of a broken card. I mean, the jumpers are in their default position (220, 5,1) and while using the wrong drivers can stop digital from working, I'm confused about 2 channel not working properly because of that ...

It's possible that the mixer isn't initialized. I don't know whether the SB Pro powers up in a defined state, or it absolutely needs MIXERSET /s to set the initial volume for digital sound and music. If digital sound happens to be set to level zero, this could explain digital sound "not working". On the other hand, a lot of SB Pro games crank up the volume to maximum at start anyway. I don't know how the card was tested to come to the conclusion that there is "no digital sound", and whether mixer settings might be a problem there.

"4-channel" doesn't make any kind of sense. The SB Pro is a stero card, not a quadrophonic card. I guess the description mean "2-operator FM synthesis doesn't sound good, 4-operator FM synthesis does sound good". This would be very surprising, as 2-op FM is produced by the same chip using the same logic as 4-op FM. I can think of two reasons for this statement:

• 2-op FM synthesis isn't able to even approximately imitate a lot of MIDI instruments, so it sounds a lot like "a lot of different mid-level 80s keyboards" instead of orchestral MIDI music. If it's just this that gets described as "doesn't sound good", it's expected. 4-op FM is able to reproduce MIDI much better (as long as the reduced polyphony isn't a problem.
• if 2-op FM just uses the capabilities of the OPL2 chip and doesn't use anything the OPL3 has extra, it's monophonic. If the ground connector of the audio output connector is broken, you can hear the stereo difference, i.e. stuff that's different left and right, but you can't hear monophonic stuff. This would be an indicator for hardware damage.

I agree with the previous posters: I don't think it's worth the risk at that price.

mkarcher wrote on 2021-08-21, 12:18:

It's possible that the mixer isn't initialized. I don't know whether the SB Pro powers up in a defined state, or it absolutely n […]
Show full quote

red_avatar wrote on 2021-08-21, 07:51:

- 2 channel sound doesn't sound good - 4 channel sound does sound good - no digital sound […]
Show full quote

- 2 channel sound doesn't sound good
- 4 channel sound does sound good
- no digital sound

"I suspect this is due to using the wrong driver or bad jumpers"

[...]

Now this reeks to me of someone trying to make money out of a broken card. I mean, the jumpers are in their default position (220, 5,1) and while using the wrong drivers can stop digital from working, I'm confused about 2 channel not working properly because of that ...

It's possible that the mixer isn't initialized. I don't know whether the SB Pro powers up in a defined state, or it absolutely needs MIXERSET /s to set the initial volume for digital sound and music. If digital sound happens to be set to level zero, this could explain digital sound "not working". On the other hand, a lot of SB Pro games crank up the volume to maximum at start anyway. I don't know how the card was tested to come to the conclusion that there is "no digital sound", and whether mixer settings might be a problem there.

"4-channel" doesn't make any kind of sense. The SB Pro is a stero card, not a quadrophonic card. I guess the description mean "2-operator FM synthesis doesn't sound good, 4-operator FM synthesis does sound good". This would be very surprising, as 2-op FM is produced by the same chip using the same logic as 4-op FM. I can think of two reasons for this statement:

• 2-op FM synthesis isn't able to even approximately imitate a lot of MIDI instruments, so it sounds a lot like "a lot of different mid-level 80s keyboards" instead of orchestral MIDI music. If it's just this that gets described as "doesn't sound good", it's expected. 4-op FM is able to reproduce MIDI much better (as long as the reduced polyphony isn't a problem.
• if 2-op FM just uses the capabilities of the OPL2 chip and doesn't use anything the OPL3 has extra, it's monophonic. If the ground connector of the audio output connector is broken, you can hear the stereo difference, i.e. stuff that's different left and right, but you can't hear monophonic stuff. This would be an indicator for hardware damage.

I agree with the previous posters: I don't think it's worth the risk at that price.

The SBPro2 doesn't require any drivers for initialization, only the BLASTER environment and the mixer software is quite different compared to later Creative cards which in this case is SBP-SET and only uses command-line switches to adjust the volume. You may also need to adjust the volume wheel to get it near line-out level. I think the seller has no clue about configuring this card for DOS.

OPL2 (especially this one) and OPL3 chips aren't really suited for MIDI music and this led both the FM chips and MIDI a bad name. Games that properly takes advantage of the FM chips sound really great such as Tyrian and Cybersphere, the latter one requiring OPL3-compatible chip.

While I have a variant of this card (CT1690) and quite like it, the price isn't worth it considering the alternatives.

mkarcher wrote on 2021-08-21, 12:18:

"4-channel" doesn't make any kind of sense. The SB Pro is a stero card, not a quadrophonic card. I guess the description mean "2-operator FM synthesis doesn't sound good, 4-operator FM synthesis does sound good". This would be very surprising, as 2-op FM is produced by the same chip using the same logic as 4-op FM.

Seconded. I assume the seller refers to the final part of TEST-SBP as seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfo87tUdVCI

Side note: the green "Earth" element at 1:47 was "repeated" at 1:50; the demo had the same effect on my Pentium-MMX 233MHz (slowed down to 80386 ~40MHz with both L1 and L2 cache disabled), but I clearly remembered that on my old 80386DX-20 the "Earth" element would have a tree growing up.

Thanks for all the feedback folks. I'm always weary of buying stuff like this because if you buy it and it turns out broken, they can always hide behind the "well I did say it was not working properly" line.

I think I'll stick to my Sound Blaster 16 cards then 😉 sounds like a big hassle and not many benefits if any ...

My gut tells me that the card is probably fine and the seller just doesn't know what they are talking about.

Not sure I would pay €70 for even a tested working one though the eBay prices are crazy right now and will probably be that way permanently.

I will mention that I got almost all my SB Pro 2.0 cards from scrap lots though. I have one of every revision and then a few more as well.

The scrap lots with anything good have pretty much dried up though and now sellers want absurd amounts for what is literally trash.

€35 would be a good price for a fully functional CT1600.

Twice that for a malfunctioning card?

Errius wrote on 2021-08-22, 23:12:

€35 would be a good price for a fully functional CT1600.

Twice that for a malfunctioning card?

I mostly agree, but for areas like mine where there are no recycling centers like you lucky people seem to have in spades, the only real place to get anything is eBay or trash for the most part.

CT1600 cards have not been that cheap for at least a year, maybe more. And when they did pop up that cheap, they were snagged within a matter of minutes.

Theyre not exactly rare cards, just over priced. Very few cards from creative are rare, the ones that are usually fetch way more than that. Like Gold Finch.

red_avatar wrote on 2021-08-22, 18:14:

I'm always weary of buying stuff like this because if you buy it and it turns out broken, they can always hide behind the "well I did say it was not working properly" line.

No, they can't. If it's eBay we're talking about, and the item is sold as "Used" (which per the eBay rules means that the item is fully functional), then you will absolutely get your money back if the card is not working as intended.

This is a hard fact that, for some reason, a lot of sellers don't know. They think that just by mentioning in the description that "the item is untested and returns are not accepted" (or just playing dumb and hiding behind the driver/bad jumper argument) they will get away with selling a defective item.
No, they won't. 😀 If they want to sell a broken item, they need to CLEARLY specify that it's sold as "for parts or not working" and all the problems need to be specifically mentioned in the description - of course, most don't want to do that, since it will come with a severe price penalty 😉
All in all, the main point is that there's no risk for the buyer in this case. If the card turns out to be faulty, you will get your money back even if the seller refuses to issue a refund.

For the record, a SB Pro 2.0 doesn't need anything. It will just work. No drivers needed, not even a SET BLASTER environment variable (most games will work without it).

If the seller isn't cooperative even eBay might not side with you. Actually I have had more denied disputes then resolved in my favor.

One was really silly. I've bought a used HDD. When I received the shipping I didn't have time and checked it only after a few weeks... but still in the allowed time frame. I've tested it and it didn't work. Spins up and makes a lot of weird noises. I open a dispute and lost it because I've already had it for some time before opening a case. Their explanation was that I've already used the HDD for two weeks and seller didn't give any warranty.

kixs wrote on 2021-08-23, 08:56:

If the seller isn't cooperative even eBay might not side with you. Actually I have had more denied disputes then resolved in my favor.

One was really silly. I've bought a used HDD. When I received the shipping I didn't have time and checked it only after a few weeks... but still in the allowed time frame. I've tested it and it didn't work. Spins up and makes a lot of weird noises. I open a dispute and lost it because I've already had it for some time before opening a case. Their explanation was that I've already used the HDD for two weeks and seller didn't give any warranty.

This is normal. You want to bring up any issues immediately after receiving the item. I've never lost a dispute on eBay. Ever. 😀
But I always test the items within a day of receiving them, and for more expensive items I even make a video of the whole unboxing/testing process (just in case - even though I never actually needed this so far). 😀

To me it always seemed that eBay will always side with you if YOU are completely honest, open about the whole situation, give an accurate description of the events and, most importantly, follow the rules.

bloodem wrote on 2021-08-23, 08:16:

red_avatar wrote on 2021-08-22, 18:14:

I'm always weary of buying stuff like this because if you buy it and it turns out broken, they can always hide behind the "well I did say it was not working properly" line.

No, they can't. If it's eBay we're talking about, and the item is sold as "Used" (which per the eBay rules means that the item is fully functional), then you will absolutely get your money back if the card is not working as intended.

This is on another second hand website owned by eBay but even eBay has "sold as parts" which protects the seller against any such claims.

bloodem wrote on 2021-08-23, 09:12:

This is normal. You want to bring up any issues immediately after receiving the item. I've never lost a dispute on eBay. Ever. : […]
Show full quote

kixs wrote on 2021-08-23, 08:56:

If the seller isn't cooperative even eBay might not side with you. Actually I have had more denied disputes then resolved in my favor.

One was really silly. I've bought a used HDD. When I received the shipping I didn't have time and checked it only after a few weeks... but still in the allowed time frame. I've tested it and it didn't work. Spins up and makes a lot of weird noises. I open a dispute and lost it because I've already had it for some time before opening a case. Their explanation was that I've already used the HDD for two weeks and seller didn't give any warranty.

This is normal. You want to bring up any issues immediately after receiving the item. I've never lost a dispute on eBay. Ever. 😀
But I always test the items within a day of receiving them, and for more expensive items I even make a video of the whole unboxing/testing process (just in case - even though I never actually needed this so far). 😀

To me it always seemed that eBay will always side with you if YOU are completely honest, open about the whole situation, give an accurate description of the events and, most importantly, follow the rules.

How about another time. Bought a motherboard with "Used" condition and description: "Untested".

I received and tested the board. It didn't work. Seller didn't want to hear anything about refund/return. I opened the dispute and was denied by eBay as it was untested. I went completely bonkers about this!

I haven't bought anything from ebay for a while, but browsing the listings for a few things, and reading the posts on here the past few days, I'm kind of wondering if we are reaching closer to an end where most of the good or working stuff past a certain age is gone, and the stuff left is garbage / salvage level. Even if you are ok with buying something listed as used/untested, the price for these things are atrocious, and not worth the hassle. Good luck bidding on something that supposedly is in working condition.

Last thing I bought on ebay was for parts only, and it was priced accordingly, and so I got it, I only wanted the parts, but man, the stuff that was not described in much detail so you had to assume were outrageous. I think what I would do if there is risk involved, is to start putting pressure and make offers to get them down in price.

I guess I'm lucky since most of my stuff is stuff I hung on to from years ago, and I'm only interested in repairs. I can't imagine piecing together an entire system of a certain vintage at this point, unless you have a good connection in the business. Ebay is not really that.

I haven't bought any vintage hardware since last August, a little over a year ago. I used to buy a new computer almost every month, but now, forget it.