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Aztech Sound Galaxy Nova 16 Extra- good card?

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Reply 20 of 30, by James-F

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Usually, the card that's not in the SET BLASTER variable should have its MIDI volume zeroed in its mixer.

P.S
SB16 CT2950 has the hanging note bug BAD, clicking single-cycle DMA, and CQM.
One of the worst variants of the SB16.

Last edited by James-F on 2017-05-17, 04:33. Edited 1 time in total.


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Reply 21 of 30, by SRQ

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Well it seems to slow the system down anyway- see the other thread- so rip.
Suggest me a good card?

Reply 22 of 30, by James-F

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Audician 32 Plus.
Abundantly available on ebay.

If you can find one, get a Sound Blaster Pro 2 CT1600, IMO a must have for any DOS gamer.


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Reply 23 of 30, by SRQ

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Holy shit they really are, and new in box too. What the heck.
When was it released? I am super weird about proper dating with this system.

Reply 24 of 30, by badmojo

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SRQ wrote:

Holy shit they really are, and new in box too. What the heck.
When was it released? I am super weird about proper dating with this system.

Yeah I get weird about that issue too 😊 The ISA OPLSAx cards were around circa '97 in my experience - I've found a few in systems from that era. Dunno why there's a never ending supply of NOS ones on the bays, but they're not newly made.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 25 of 30, by SRQ

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I guess I'll just keep it for now- it suits my needs, as far as I can tell.
How many games have stereo sound and run on a 486/66 anyway?

Reply 26 of 30, by jesolo

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SRQ wrote:

I guess I'll just keep it for now- it suits my needs, as far as I can tell.
How many games have stereo sound and run on a 486/66 anyway?

Most DOS games released after 1992 provided stereo sound playback and quite a number of these (up to around 1994) will run quite happily on a 486DX2-66.

Reply 27 of 30, by SRQ

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Sooo if I want working stereo sound and retaining period correct my only real option is
An SB-Pro ($$$)
A non-bugged SB16 ($)
?

Reply 28 of 30, by badmojo

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Don't forget about the PAS16! A very nice card, but does need support from the game for stereo. Otherwise it's only SB2.0 compatible.

And I have no proof but I also fancy that the ES688 based Audiodrives would be period correct for a 486 (I assume we're talking 94/95?). They can have a real OPL3 and do SB Pro.

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Reply 29 of 30, by SRQ

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Aiming for 1993.
Eh I'll just keep it as is and use the Pentium I've been unable to sell for Doom and work backwards until I can finance a new/better sound card.

Reply 30 of 30, by jesolo

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SRQ wrote:
Sooo if I want working stereo sound and retaining period correct my only real option is An SB-Pro ($$$) A non-bugged SB16 ($) ? […]
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Sooo if I want working stereo sound and retaining period correct my only real option is
An SB-Pro ($$$)
A non-bugged SB16 ($)
?

If you want to stay period correct, then there were a number of clone cards that were manufactured around that time, but some of them didn't offer 100 % Sound Blaster Pro compatibility (which is probably what you want). But, I agree with James-F that having a Sound Blaster Pro is ideal for any retro 386/486 PC.
Being a fan of the Aztech range of sound cards (the Sound Galaxy range), I can recommend perhaps one of the first generation cards, which were the Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16 (I38-MMSN803) or Basic 16/Pro 16 (I38-MMSN810). They offer excellent Sound Blaster Pro compatibility, are also 16-bit cards (under Windows) and as such are also Windows Sound System compatible. They are also Covox Speech Thing/Disney Sound Source compatible. These cards are speed sensitive and I wouldn't recommend installing them in anything faster than a 486DX4-100.
You can also look at the third generation of Aztech Sound Galaxy cards (those are the ones that has the AZT-2316 chipset which includes some of the following model numbers: I38-MMSN824, I38-MMSN830, I38-MMSN837, I38-MMSN845, I38-MMSN846, I38-MMSN850 & I38-SN96103). These are also Sound Blaster Pro & Windows Sound System compatible, but doesn't have the low pass filter of the original Sound Blaster Pro.