Any AWE64 will be fine. Remember that if you use a Gold, it has RCA speaker outputs, not the standard 3.5mm stereo jack.

I'd give the AWE32 a miss, most of them are physically long which can be a pain to fit in your case, and their sound quality isn't so good, with audible hiss and crackles in most of them. AWE64 doesn't have these issues.

Some AWE32's have a real OPL3 on them, while all AWE64's have the Creative CQM synth instead, although its very much personal preference which one you prefer. I don't really mind the sound of the CQM, especially if you use AWEUTIL to add reverb and chorus effects to it.

AWE32 does give you a Waveblaster header, but those daughterboards are getting hard to find now.... and you said you weren't interested in that 😀 For a 386SX40 I'd be going for a Roland LA type synth instead, as most games suitable for your system will target that sound device. Some games that natively support the AWE or General MIDI may struggle on a 386SX40.

CT3670 is actually named Sound Blaster 32. It's more like AWE64 Value than AWE32, it's based on the same chips as AWE64 Value CT4380, but, unlike AWE 64 Value, it has 2 SIMM slots. No wavetable header, btw. A solid card, I'd say.

Of all those only CT3900 and CT3620 have high quality FM. With CT3620 being cut down in features and having a buggy MPU-401 interface, you better go CT3900.

Would any Yamaha-based card also be good?

I would just use two cards if you can. SB Pro or SB16 for SFX/FM music and whatever AWE for MIDI, for instance. That way you aren't confined to certain model numbers (except for choosing a SB16 without CQM).

As an all-in-one card the AWE64 is easily the best as far as Creative cards go. But not exactly period correct for a 386.

Based on the system and your requirements, I don't know how you could go past a Sound Blaster Pro 2.

badmojo wrote:

Based on the system and your requirements, I don't know how you could go past a Sound Blaster Pro 2.

Ive heard of the SB Pro, but not a Pro2. Do you have a CT number I can look up?

CT1600, it's the same as the Pro but has OPL3 instead of 2 OPL2's. It has no MPU401 so driving an external MIDI is out, but you said you weren't interested in any fancy MIDI anyway. It's the sort of card you set the jumpers for, drop it in, and never think about it again. It just works; all you need is a SET BLASTER line.

badmojo wrote:

CT1600, it's the same as the Pro but has OPL3 instead of 2 OPL2's. It has no MPU401 so driving an external MIDI is out, but you said you weren't interested in any fancy MIDI anyway. It's the sort of card you set the jumpers for, drop it in, and never think about it again. It just works; all you need is a SET BLASTER line.

Thanks for that =) It should be a perfect setup for my 386. I haven't tinkered in DOS & Win3 for many many years. So this should be an interesting experience. Speaking of, Ill quickly gauge interest here in starting a pic-laden thread about it.....

Why is everybuddy saying that AWE64 is good for FM ... it's not. They took out the FM chip after AWE32. The FM is emulated through the EMU8k and sounds nasty.

AWE64 has best quality for EMU8k MIDI or PCM audio. Early SB16 (pre-CQM) has the best quality for OPL3 FM. AWE32 or SB32 has the best compromise with both EMU8k and CQM (but never a Yahama OPL3 AFAIK).

Well it's all good now. Just bought a SBPro2 😀 Now I just need to find a 387 chip for the system.

MatureTech wrote:

Why is everybuddy saying that AWE64 is good for FM

Not for everyone, but many people like this feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIYYdfyNA_U

MatureTech wrote:

Why is everybuddy saying that AWE64 is good for FM ... it's not.

How long is a piece of string?

People often have different opinions, and some people are OK with CQM while others are not. If i were to use an AWE card it would be definitely the AWE64 Gold hands down. But, i would never use it for a 386, specially if i have Sound Blaster Pro's available, or even cards sporting the YMF-71x chipset, also known as OPL3-SAx cards. For 100% SB Pro compatibility go with the Pro CT1600, or if you prefer clearer output go with the YMF-71x chipset, albeit with slightly reduced compatibility (not a huge problem IMHO). One of the best things with the YMF-71x cards is that they can mix stereo @44KHz, something a CT1600 can't do. This is quite noticeable with tracker music, tracker programs that allow you to select mixing speed. Plus it's gameport is MPU-401 compatible and SoftMPU works great with it.

In my case i use both cards!

There are 386sx40 original?
show us THE mb.
Did you overclock or solder in an upgrade yourself?

MatureTech wrote:

Why is everybuddy saying that AWE64 is good for FM ... it's not. They took out the FM chip after AWE32. The FM is emulated through the EMU8k and sounds nasty.

It doesnt though. I prefer the Awe64 FM to an OPL2/3

Especially with chorus/reverb, which you can't do with an opl based card.

JaNoZ wrote:

There are 386sx40 original?
show us THE mb.
Did you overclock or solder in an upgrade yourself?

It is an AMD SX40 integrated onto the board.

Forevermore wrote:

Well it's all good now. Just bought a SBPro2 😀 Now I just need to find a 387 chip for the system.

Nice work! I vaguely remember there being different versions of the installer - I have a boxed SBPro2 Value and the included disks install a large TSR for some reason. If you use the one on Vogon Drivers then you'll be set:

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=59

Just to clear-up some of the misinformation...

- CQM is a form of FM synthesis.

- The "AWE" ASIC found on the AWE64 cards includes the CQM core.

- The CT1747 includes a Yamaha OPL3 core.

- The digital OPL3 output of the CT1747 is routed through the EMU8000 (on supporting AWE32 cards), to which chorus, reverb, and EQ can be applied.

JaNoZ wrote:

There are 386sx40 original?
show us THE mb.
Did you overclock or solder in an upgrade yourself?

This motherboard:

M396F motherboard

Is also available with a 386SX-40 😀