VOGONS


Sound cards - from best to worst

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Reply 160 of 330, by TheLazy1

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I have an ATI VGA Stereo/FX card kicking around, what were they like?
I cannot test it since I don't have the cable required for the funky connector at the back.

Reply 161 of 330, by TheLazy1

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Has anyone set up something like a wiki where you can get samples of music/sound played through various cards?
Like, if you wanted to compare OPL implementations between Yamaha/ESS/Creative/Crystal/Whatever.

Reply 162 of 330, by Salient

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I'm starting a site that compares various wavetable devices. But a good addition would be to compare also the different OPL compatible devices of course.

http://www.wavetable.nl

MIDI comparison website: << Wavetable.nl >>
(Always) looking for: Any Wavetable daughterboard, MIDI Module (GM/GS/XG)

Reply 163 of 330, by TheLazy1

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I wondered because I made recordings of SimCity 2000 using a Vibra16C's OPL and my DB60XG clone.
It's still pretty cool to check out a lot of old games and notice how much better they sound with general midi. 😀

Reply 164 of 330, by 5u3

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Salient wrote:

I'm starting a site that compares various wavetable devices. But a good addition would be to compare also the different OPL compatible devices of course.
http://www.wavetable.nl

Very nice! Are you interested in some System Shock recordings to put on the site?

Reply 165 of 330, by Salient

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5u3 wrote:

Very nice! Are you interested in some System Shock recordings to put on the site?

All additions are welcome of course. 😀
Its a lot of work to record all the stuff myself so if people want to help with that (luckily some already do) I would be very grateful.

MIDI comparison website: << Wavetable.nl >>
(Always) looking for: Any Wavetable daughterboard, MIDI Module (GM/GS/XG)

Reply 166 of 330, by 5u3

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Salient wrote:

All additions are welcome of course. 😀
Its a lot of work to record all the stuff myself so if people want to help with that (luckily some already do) I would be very grateful.

You've got PM.

Reply 167 of 330, by Mau1wurf1977

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Salient wrote:

I'm starting a site that compares various wavetable devices. But a good addition would be to compare also the different OPL compatible devices of course.

http://www.wavetable.nl

Very cool site! I just started reading the information provided and it's very good!

Wow this thread is very large and there seem to be very strong opinions as to what soundcards people prefer...

I value authenticity very highly and also de facto standards of that time, so for me it has to be a Creative Labs soundcard. I am aware that there are clones that might offer unique or better features, but whatever flaws Creative Labs cards have, well they are all part of the authentic experience...

I have settled for using a Soundblaster Pro 2.0 for FM music and 8bit digtal sound and a Soundblaster AEW64 Gold for 16 bit digital sound. And for music the usual MT-32 and compatibles or Sound Canvas...

Reply 168 of 330, by Davros

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DT6011 wrote:

Low and behold it has no bass/treble tone control slider and I am forced to use tat retarded EQ to get anny kind of bass for my Seh HD555.

Get an xfi as much bass as you can shake a stick at
xfih.jpg

Guardian of the Sacred Five Terabyte's of Gaming Goodness

Reply 169 of 330, by Mau1wurf1977

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Video Sound Card comparison - Digital Speech - DOS Game Wing Commander II

This might be interesting for you guys!

Quite interested in what differences others can hear.

You really need to use headphones though.

Use 720 or 1080 for audio quality!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Zj1sioBBk

Reply 170 of 330, by elianda

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Let me give a bit more information:
Some Terratec cards feature a TerraTec Radio Connector as seen on this TerraTec Base-1:
http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/terrat … adio_module.jpg

this is also the case for the EWS64S:
http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/terratec_ews64s.jpg
So the EWS64S has no WBH, but this Radio Connector...

Aztech Sound Galaxy NX II:
http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/cps_sb2.5.jpg
This is a NX II rebranded as Soundblaster. I used this card as my first real PC soundcard, it is internally a SB 2.0x, so 44.1 kHz / 8 Bit Mono / OPL 2.
Special thing is, that it has a software configurable IRQ/DMA using a EEPROM?
Though if you configured it for IRQ7, IRQ5 isn't freed. So there were some quirks 😉.
CD-ROM connector is probably Sony?!?
The card overall works very well.

Retronn.de - Vintage Hardware Gallery, Drivers, Guides, Videos. Now with file search
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Reply 171 of 330, by DBob

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Well, let me summarize my opinion in "from best, to worst".

Pinball Fantasies played at Gravis (ACE).
Pinball Fantasies played at Orchid SoundWave 32 (yes, the card is fine btw, not malfunctioning).
Quite a difference, huh 😉

Not a quality issue, but take a look at this small samples.
Gravis, take this for the moment as a standard.
SB32, inserts some extra note at 0:07 and 0:14.
SBPro2, plays faster than the other two...
So subjective, which one is better than the other...

Reply 173 of 330, by schlang

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Great Hierophant wrote:

The MU10XG is the only one likely to have been affordable to a non-musician and has the same specs as a DB50XG. It will give a good sound, but any of the MU series will do justice to game midi.

I currently have a MU50, was that a bad choice for DB50XG compatibility?

PC#1: K6-III+ 400 | 512MB | Geforce4 | Voodoo1 | SB Live | AWE64 | GUS PNP Pro
PC#2: 486DX2-66 | 64MB | Riva128 | AWE64 | GUS PNP | PAS16
PC#3: 386DX-40 | 32MB | CL-GD5434 | SB Pro | GUS MAX | PAS16

Think you know your games music? Show us: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37532

Reply 174 of 330, by rfnagel

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schlang wrote:

I currently have a MU50, was that a bad choice for DB50XG compatibility?

An MU50 (as well as the Yamaha S-YXG50 siftware synthesizer, with the 4MB ROM installed) is a dead ringer for a Yamaha DB50XG daughterboard... same sound, same effects capabilities 😀

P.S. Surf here for some good XG discussion -> Yamaha S-YXG50 and DB50XG 😀

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 175 of 330, by schlang

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thanks for the info, I just tried the file from http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/Yamaha_XG/D_E1M1_XG.mid

awesome =)

PC#1: K6-III+ 400 | 512MB | Geforce4 | Voodoo1 | SB Live | AWE64 | GUS PNP Pro
PC#2: 486DX2-66 | 64MB | Riva128 | AWE64 | GUS PNP | PAS16
PC#3: 386DX-40 | 32MB | CL-GD5434 | SB Pro | GUS MAX | PAS16

Think you know your games music? Show us: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37532

Reply 176 of 330, by rfnagel

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schlang wrote:

thanks for the info, I just tried the file from http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/Yamaha_XG/D_E1M1_XG.mid
awesome =)

Glad ya liked it 😀

I'm sure I've prolly mentioned this elsewhere in the forum, but surf to the root of that directory as well ( http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/Yamaha_XG/ )... lots of goodies for the XG. You'll also find two of my own originals that have been XG-ified over at my web page at http://www.richnagel.net (search for the "Live!" versions) 😀

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 178 of 330, by rfnagel

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vikely wrote:

I recently changed my dear computer a new USB sound card

I recently applied foot to a spammers ass... maybe YOU could be next on my list? 😀

Rich ¥Weeds¥ Nagel
http://www.richnagel.net

Reply 179 of 330, by retrosound

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Hello
I'm here the first time at all. Sorry for mistakes but I learn english only.
I think that all USB sound cards are worth nothing. Deals with this topic since 6 years and collect cards from around the world. USB sound cards have large delays and charged CPU - sheets at all
I had several of these and I threw in the trash. I wonder that is no producing the pro-sound cards at all now. Chinese products are on top - it sad but is true

Best sound cards You see in my collection here:
www.rc4wd.republika.pl/komputery1.html

Vintage Sound card maniac from POLAND!
KORG, Roland, Terratec, Diamond, Yamaha/NEC and more wavetable daughterboards.
Sound Blaster AWE32 with 32MB RAM + CT1910 daughterboard - hard to find
Yamaha SW1000XG+DSP2416 combo with PLG-100VH