VOGONS


List of rarest PC soundcards

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Reply 120 of 247, by hard1k

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Added Core Dynamics DYNASonix Wave, added CT4600/CT4650 (and deleted AWE64D from the Mark II line), added my name in some other lines.

Fortex, the A3D & XG/OPL3 accelerator (Vortex 2 + YMF744 combo sound card)
AWE64 Legacy
Please have a look at my wishlist (hosted on Amibay)

Reply 121 of 247, by Batyra

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Hi,
I'm thinking about Aztech Sound Galaxy NX 1992 - the first Aztech card... especialy early revisions before Aztech was Aztech I supose... I've seen it only on the photo below:
51noBfh9pbL.jpg

In stead Aztech there is "AdPlus Galexy NX" (but on a paper label on back there is AZtech Sound Galaxy NX) and it's on this gree-amber PCB not green one... Of course there is Aztech logo on PCB and chip but there is not written AZTECH like on from the one AmoRetro.de but AVS

This is V2-1 (big photo so I put URL)
http://www.amoretro.de/wp-content/uploads/azt … undkarte_hq.jpg

And Im thinking ov versions V1-XX

Is the Sound Galaxy NX - enough rare to be on the list?

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Reply 122 of 247, by boxpressed

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I added my name to a few cards, including a couple that had no known owners (Guillemot MaxiSound Game Theater 64 and Reveal SC500).

Would this card count as the Covox Voice Master? It seems to be a variant based on research done in this thread: Is this the Covox Voice Master ISA card?

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Reply 123 of 247, by Batyra

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Do I understand it right - that if someone own cards from the list he can just add his nick to the table?

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Reply 124 of 247, by Tetrium

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Could the hoontech ST128PCI be considered rare?
I written about it here Bought these (retro) hardware today and searching its model number reveals only 5 hits, including the Vogons one. But of course could also be that I mistyped the part number or something.

And right after I written that reply I got some private message from some Korean person who wanted to purchase it 🤣

Also have a PCI sound card named "Darla" and made by "Echo", but that looks more to be some kind of professional thingy. It may have come with some breakout box which I don't have, but at least I have the adapter which fits right on a connector on the mounting bracket of the card.

The rest of my sound cards don't seem very interesting though.

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
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Reply 125 of 247, by j^aws

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Tetrium wrote:

Could the hoontech ST128PCI be considered rare?
I written about it here Bought these (retro) hardware today and searching its model number reveals only 5 hits, including the Vogons one. But of course could also be that I mistyped the part number or something.

This is a dual DSP, Dream x2 9707 chipset? I think I have a boxed version with a SPDIF daughterboard somewhere. I picked it up for peanuts. I'll probably use it in a build as an external MIDI device from another PC, someday. It takes soundfonts upto 64MB, IIRC.

Reply 126 of 247, by tikoellner

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Would you consider Creative Sound Blaster CT-1320A rare nowadays? I own one and love it - I've never seen any other on sale. Not featured anywhere on youtube, no reviews, nothing I could find.

The card is noisy as hell and obsolete, but somehow I love to have it.

I think it's almost as rare as the original Game Blaster card, and it is it's most direct successor.

Reply 127 of 247, by kanecvr

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I don't know how rare early Sound blaster clone cards are, but here she is:

MwhQBTRh.jpg

It's an Anchor Electronics Media Concept 2.0 (SB clone). As far as I can tell it uses a few parts found on the creative SB 1.0, some off the 2.0 and some custom parts. I tested it with the creative sb driver and it works, but doesn't sound quite right in some games. After tracking down and installing the correct driver for this card, all issues went away - and it sounds lovely. Then again the original driver only adds the SET BLASTER and SET MC arguments to autoexec. The big 74xxxx chip seems to be a regular OPL that has been re-etched, same for some of the other chips. The 3 empty sockets will take CMS chips off a genuine sound blaster. The only custom chip as far as I can tell is the MS1006.

With it's own drivers installed it has great output - no noise, no distortion and the OPL sounds genuine (at least to me). The card is made in 1992.

Games tested: Monkey island, Lemmings, Prince of Persia, Keen 2, Keen 4 and Supaplex.

P.S. - got it from a fellow vogons member.

Reply 128 of 247, by brostenen

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Nice to hear you found the correct Anchor drivers and got the card working. 😀

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Those cakes make you sick....

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Reply 129 of 247, by keropi

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I also have a similar clone card that uses the fake 74LSxxx ICs for OPL2 and DAC... I'll post a pic of it tomorrow - I can't say that I particularly like it though. I works but I think that the OPL2 is a little off and there is no easy way to use a real one since the clone ICs have more pins.

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Reply 131 of 247, by peklop

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shock__ wrote:

Kouwell Virtuoso - GF1 based soundcard (GUS compatible) ... I've only seen it once so far.

http://i.imgur.com/qmDzQSA.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/hIjvSRm.jpg

After hours of searching, i can confirm product number of the Kouwell GUS card.
Found here: http://web.archive.org/web/19980203085825/htt … glish/other.htm
KW - 651C 16 - BIT WAVETABLE SOUND CARD ( GRAVIS GFI )
Kouwell GUS clone is KW-651C !
Sadly no more info or picture for confirm. No drivers, no box photo or Virtuoso name.
I found only newer list with different Kouwell/Koutech soundcards: http://web.archive.org/web/19990417220409/htt … .com/mmedia.htm
KW-660A ISA Crystal sound chip CS4235
KW-661 ISA ESS sound chip ES1869
KW-662 PCI ESS Maestro-1
KW-663 PCI ESS solo
KW-901 PCI DVD decoding board
KW-902 DVD320 Card & 2X DVD Rom

Reply 132 of 247, by Batyra

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@peklop
can you help me do identyfi is it Kouwell Virtuoso or not?
Looks the same with three differences. Chips on top left are on pcb not in slots, different plugs and green pcb not "brown"... even print on pcb is the same....

Is it Kouwell?

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Reply 134 of 247, by QBiN

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I added the ATI VGA Stereo F/X underneath the standard Stereo F/X cards. I believe it is easily the rarest of the Stereo F/X, and still rare in it's own right overall.

Reply 135 of 247, by JidaiGeki

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Anyone else have/know much about the Cardinal Digital Sound Pro 16 Plus? Aka MPC700Plus.

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It has a ROM socket for upgrades, including wavetable - guessing the ROM will be impossible to find now.

Reply 136 of 247, by peklop

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Batyra wrote:
@peklop can you help me do identyfi is it Kouwell Virtuoso or not? Looks the same with three differences. Chips on top left ar […]
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@peklop
can you help me do identyfi is it Kouwell Virtuoso or not?
Looks the same with three differences. Chips on top left are on pcb not in slots, different plugs and green pcb not "brown"... even print on pcb is the same....

Is it Kouwell?

Sorry, i can´t confirm. Brown card with KW... sticker is probably Kouwell. Archived Kouwell page confirmed only existing GUS soundcard KW-651C, not name Virtuoso.
Green clone is totally unknown card for me.

Reply 139 of 247, by yawetaG

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Onkyo sells soundcards in Japan only aimed at audiophiles, some of which appear to have wavetable functionality. I've seen two ISA soundcards up til now, both softsynth only:

- Onkyo Wavio SE-50
- Onkyo Wavio SE-70 (product page)

Basically these were never sold outside Japan, so while they are decently easy to find in Japan, finding them anywhere else for sane prices is pretty much impossible.