IMO, go play everything you wanna play on the ESS, if something sounds particularly horrible, make a note of it, if you get 2 or 3, and one card is confirmed to play all 3 better... get that card, but be prepared for a different 2 or 3 to sound horrible instead.

I like ESFM a lot, but then again I also don't mind Crystal FM either. For the record I despise CQM

maxtherabbit wrote on 2022-06-30, 20:32:

I like ESFM a lot, but then again I also don't mind Crystal FM either. For the record I despise CQM

That sounds like two votes for sticking with the ess and seeing where it may fall short before making any decisions. Definitely makes logical sense. One of my concerns is that warcraft 2 is one of my all time favorites- while I've never tried it with this ess, there definitely seem to be issues with it (eg Re: ESFM details). Any other experiences of poor esfm utilization like that?

That post mentions Miles Sound System implementation specifically- do you have recommendations for that use case?

That definitely invokes this point-

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-06-30, 20:16:

IMO, go play everything you wanna play on the ESS, if something sounds particularly horrible, make a note of it, if you get 2 or 3, and one card is confirmed to play all 3 better... get that card, but be prepared for a different 2 or 3 to sound horrible instead.

I guess I'm developing my list of use cases for a possible ISA card on top of the ESS on the fly as I think about the logic of using more than one DOS card. (people warned me this would happen once I started falling deeper down the dos gaming rabbit hole haha).

You could go with an AWE card for its built in synth, while using the ESFM and waveblaster of the ESS card. You could also go for a Gravis Ultrasound or clone. A third option would be some kind of intelligent mode MPU card to drive an MT32.

LAPC-I

jfarms wrote on 2022-06-30, 19:30:

What would give me the richest sounds and best compatibility? Which should I avoid because I already have a MIDI wavetable and it would be duplicative?

If the goal is "rich sound" and compatibility, I'd add an authentic Roland MT-32 and Sound Canvas SC-55 sound modules (or LAPC-I / SCC-1 if you wanted ISA cards specifically).

Not all MIDI wavetables sound the same. For early-to-mid 90's MIDI game music, most was composed with the the MT-32 or SC-55. From an authenticity and imho quality perspective, the best MIDI music results from playback on these modules.

Plus, the nice thing about having multiple MIDI modules / wave tables is that you can then choose which MIDI sound source you want for different games for the best listening experience.

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-06-30, 22:27:

LAPC-I

Only in combination with AdLib Gold.

Granted that it is not my intention to advertise to anyone (also because I do not think there is a need for it in the following case), but I think that an Orpheus card complete with PCMIDI option is what you are looking for: you would get an ISA card with great compatibility for DOS games and an MPU-401 interface also in intelligent mode 😉

Together with SB-Live and MX300 you have practically covered everything (if you really want to exaggerate add an AWE32 or 64 and also cover the CQM synthesis) 😆

If you’ve got 2 ISA slots you really should to put them to use- it’s almost a sin not to 😁. Can’t go wrong with a Yamaha opl3 based card like sb pro 2 or sb16/ awe32 (one with true opl and ideally non-pnp; avoid CQM at all costs.
If you want more bass-heavy sound then go for an ESFM-based card, they also sound great.

I'd go with 3 cards: sb live for w98, solo-1 for dos sb/sbpro compatibility and awe32/64 for sb16 compatibility.

jfarms wrote on 2022-06-30, 21:21:

That sounds like two votes for sticking with the ess and seeing where it may fall short before making any decisions. Definitely makes logical sense. One of my concerns is that warcraft 2 is one of my all time favorites- while I've never tried it with this ess, there definitely seem to be issues with it (eg Re: ESFM details). Any other experiences of poor esfm utilization like that?

To clarify, WarCraft 2 only sounds bad in enhanced ESFM mode, likely because the developers didn't spend enough QA time on that unique feature.

If you use an ESS card in normal ESFM mode (not enhanced), then WarCraft 2's FM synth music will sound just fine.

MK8330 : new soundcard based on the CMI 8330 chipset

I'm probably late on this, but, I think a Sound Blaster AWE64 can do the job. Used to have one on my retro PC and it worked pretty well! The MIDI synthesizer on it isn't too bad neither.

After trying quite a bit, I'm actually very happy with the ALS100, in combination with an SC-55 and an MT-32 Pi.

Details here (along with the shortcomings of some alternatives when you scroll up): Re: The quest for the right ISA sound card