I wanted to take a break from my voodoo 5500 woes, so I carried out another batch of Soundblaster hanging note tests! These tests have proved to be the most promising.
Hardware: Creative SoundBlaster AWE32 Plug n Play model CT3980, DSP version 4.13. It looks like it could be a factory refurbished model? It has a small sticker on one of the chips that reads -
(c) Creative
0148292000
(That's all it says)
(@swaaye, please note that the midi daughterboard used was a Roland SCB-7, and it appeared to work fine.)
Two tests were performed -
1) Hexen -warp 02. I tried this about 12 times. Initially, every test worked. Edit (rewrote sentence) I left the computer alone for about 15 minutes for 4 of these tests, and then returned to check the music. 3 of these specific tests, no hanging note was detected. However, on one of these specific occasions, I could definitely hear one stuck note. It was not loud. It sounded "in the distance". Nevertheless, it was definitely a stuck note. Edit (added) (1 out of 12 tests failed.)
2) Blade of destiny. I tried this about 5 times. In fact, I'm listening to it right now as I type. I am listening to the introduction music - no stuck notes at all. Now, when I enter the game itself, please let me try to explain...
Do you know how a piano works, with those 2 pedals underneath it? Forget about the "quiet / soft" pedal, but think about the other pedal instead - I think it's called the sustain pedal. When you jam your foot on it, and hit the piano keys, the notes continue on and on...(The notes played are sustained.) Listening to the Blades of Destiny "in game" music, this "effect" occured regularly. But I don't know whether you would call this a "hanging note situation", or whether you would call this sound an intentional effect. To me, it sounded like it may be intentional, and therefore not really a problem.
My conclusion is that this CT3980 sound card does have the hanging note bug, but it seems to be much "tougher" at shaking off the effect of the hanging note problem than other Soundblasters, and consequently, it's almost worth recommending.