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Sound Blaster CT3900

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First post, by nizce

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Hi!

Never been much into sound cards until recently.
Just got my hand on a CT3900 which I read was supposed to be a quite good model(probably depending on ears and use cases) 😀
Paid approx. 90EUR(tested and working), hope that wasn't too much?

I've got 2x4MB 32-pin RAM modules somewhere, thought I'd add them to the card since it came with none.
Is 8MB enough or do I miss out on much better sound with bigger soundfonts?
Is it possible to source these in Europe, seems like the next step up in size is 16MB modules and can't seem to find any 🙁

Also is there any possibility to connect two external sound sources to this card somehow?
It got a line-on as most sound cards do, but is it possible and safe to connect a y-splitter to the line-in?
Or are there any other options that don't involve an external mixer?

Reply 1 of 7, by kolderman

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There are some excellent soundfonts that fit within 8MB, but obviously there are bigger and better ones that require more RAM.

RAM modules should be quite easy to buy almost everywhere on ebay. The CT3900 is usually quite an expensive card.

Reply 2 of 7, by nizce

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kolderman wrote on 2023-08-24, 21:53:

There are some excellent soundfonts that fit within 8MB, but obviously there are bigger and better ones that require more RAM.

RAM modules should be quite easy to buy almost everywhere on ebay. The CT3900 is usually quite an expensive card.

Thanks, any good recommendations to try out on the once that fits under 8MB?

Guess the bigger the better, but is it the number of instruments or the quality of the instruments that requires more ram?
If the later than I can just listen to the 8MB once and if happy with the actual sound quality, I don't need to look for more(on eBay only available in the US which adds taxes and everything). But if it changes more then I can hear with 8MB I'm curious 😀
Sorry don't really know how these soundfonts work.

Reply 3 of 7, by kolderman

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I liek this one and use it most often:

vcgs4mv4: GS Set: 4 Meg General Midi (GS)

It's the quality of the samples. The number of instruments is defined by the GM standard.

Balance is the key for soundfonts, and the one I mentioned is balanced really well.

Reply 4 of 7, by Gmlb256

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Both 8MBGM and 8MBGSFX SoundFonts are well balanced too.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce2 GTS 32 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 5 of 7, by nizce

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Thanks, will look them up.
Just read that not every format is usable under windows, so gonna look into what's possible or not.

Any ides about the line-in?
Possible to use cd-in as someone mentioned in another thread and just solder on wires?
I thought cd-in was digital, but perhaps there's both types(I want to be able to connect 2x analogue stereo sources).

Reply 6 of 7, by Disruptor

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8 MB is enough for most sound fonts.
Larger sound fonts can have a loading time of ~ 1 Minute.

But

As the SIMM sockets aren't that good quality It may be a pain to get the modules out without damaging the sockets.

So please don't try pairs of 256 kB or 1 MB modules.

Reply 7 of 7, by nizce

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Disruptor wrote on 2023-08-25, 19:02:
8 MB is enough for most sound fonts. Larger sound fonts can have a loading time of ~ 1 Minute. […]
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8 MB is enough for most sound fonts.
Larger sound fonts can have a loading time of ~ 1 Minute.

But

As the SIMM sockets aren't that good quality It may be a pain to get the modules out without damaging the sockets.

So please don't try pairs of 256 kB or 1 MB modules.

Thanks! I’ll go with the 2x4MB I have 😀
There’s no RAM installed on the card currently so will take care when installing them.

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