Some sound cards do it. EWS64XL's onboard MIDI synth is presented through an MPU-401-compatible interface, but you can load samples in bare DOS and they work in games just fine. And they load reasonably fast (so its probably done through a separate interface).

hehe funny, first time I hear about an EWS! according to google images this soundcard seem to have an memory upgrade socket, something like 30 or 72 pins stuff ?

the point is I never see any demo or videogame asking about to use the ews

I just would like to add that the SB32 PnP, like the CT3600, lacks the effects processor for providing Reverb and Chorus.

The card uses the same drivers and utilities for AWE32, so you may see the display of reverb and chorus setting.

For eg., in Windows 3.1 AWE Control Panel, changing the REVERB / CHORUS settings does not produce any change with the SB32PnP card.

ElBrunzy wrote:

hehe funny, first time I hear about an EWS! according to google images this soundcard seem to have an memory upgrade socket, something like 30 or 72 pins stuff ?

the point is I never see any demo or videogame asking about to use the ews

It is 72-Pins memory. Games access it at as a normal General Midi Device (MPU-401 interface). The downside of the EWS is that there are few GM soundbanks available. AFAIK The Dream .94b bank format is secret, a real shame.

Malik wrote:

I just would like to add that the SB32 PnP, like the CT3600, lacks the effects processor for providing Reverb and Chorus.

The card uses the same drivers and utilities for AWE32, so you may see the display of reverb and chorus setting.

For eg., in Windows 3.1 AWE Control Panel, changing the REVERB / CHORUS settings does not produce any change with the SB32PnP card.

You sure of that ?! I have a sbpnp32 model ct3670 and I'm pretty damn sure the rev/chors change something on it. I remember playing with it, but I prefer to disable all that. But maybe my memory is wrong. But I'm sure I used it with "amp.exe" the mod player by Lada. I think you might be wrong, can I ask you why you affirm that ?

ElBrunzy wrote:

Malik wrote:

I just would like to add that the SB32 PnP, like the CT3600, lacks the effects processor for providing Reverb and Chorus.

The card uses the same drivers and utilities for AWE32, so you may see the display of reverb and chorus setting.

For eg., in Windows 3.1 AWE Control Panel, changing the REVERB / CHORUS settings does not produce any change with the SB32PnP card.

You sure of that ?! I have a sbpnp32 model ct3670 and I'm pretty damn sure the rev/chors change something on it. I remember playing with it, but I prefer to disable all that. But maybe my memory is wrong. But I'm sure I used it with "amp.exe" the mod player by Lada. I think you might be wrong, can I ask you why you affirm that ?

I believe because the CT3670's really a AWE64 with 2 30 Pin Sim slots, that it's not Vibra based.

wow awesome, that could be it. A chance in favor of me that software dont check card type before allowing to add or remove chr and rvb

Is it worth getting CT3620 (local guy is selling fairly cheap), if I already have CT3600? I am after model that support those reverb & chorus effects. I assuum that CT3620 does not have them either? If not, is there any advantage?

I need answer ASAP! http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.fi/2012/07/so … 64-options.html there's almost nothing about this CT3620 or CT1745A-S chip http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/ct3620.jpg

The CT3600 is newer and based on the CT2502 Crystal chip which is very quiet and free of the clicking DMA bug.
The CT3620 has the full array of chips as older SB16 models.

CT1703 is the DAC chip which is responsible for noise; CT1703-A and CT1703-TBS are quiet, CT1703-T is very noisy.
CT1745-A is the mixer chip, no difference in noise between versions.
CT1741 is the Audio DSP chip.
CT1746, CT1747 (includes OPL3), CT1749 are ISA Bus Controller chips.
CT1748 is the ASP/CSP unit.

The CT3600 has all the chips integrated into one excellent CT2502 chip.

I say don't bother with the CT3620 because the Crystal based CT3600 is the better and newer card, which you already own.

Thx for clarification. So the only SB32 model which have rvb&chro is CT3670 and the most of AWE models? Is "effects processor" seperate chip that has a codename ex. CTxxxx?

I believe so.
The "AWE" labeled CT8903 will give you Chorus & Reverb but it is much more common on the AWE64.

But I think EMU8000 (CT1971) chip on the SB32/AWE32 should have Reverb and Chorus too, no?
You can initialize it with AWEUTIL for the built in MIDI sounds and for FM.

http://www.oldschooldaw.com/forums/index.php?topic=624.0

Regarding Sound Blaster 32 Models (CT3672 CT3671 CT3620 CT3606 CT3600 ) […]
Show full quote

Regarding Sound Blaster 32 Models (CT3672 CT3671 CT3620 CT3606 CT3600 )

The Sound Blaster 32 is a standard Sound Blaster16 with the EMU 8000 Advanced WavEffect music synthesizer chip. The card includes all the standard Sound Blaster16 features.

The EMU8000 is a sub-system offering high quality music synthesis using advanced wave effects technology. It comes with an onboard dedicated effect engine. The effect engine provides high quality effects like reverb and chorus to MIDI playback. The EMU8000 supports up to 32 voices, and the effect amount for each voice can be controlled via MIDI.

The main difference between the AWE32 and Sound Blaster32 cards is the onboard memory, 512k memory on the AWE32 cards vs. 0 k on the Sound Blaster32 cards. In addition, there is a Wave Blaster Header on the AWE32 cards, not in Sound Blaster32 cards.

Yet some said on this topic that there's no effect difference on CT3600, when change values? I found same text on http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=5800 (almost the middle of page, blue headline "c. Technical Specifications of the Sound Blaster 32 series").

http://files.mpoli.fi/drivers_1/SND/AWE64G/WIN95/AWEUTIL.TXT
http://archive.gamedev.net/archive/reference/ … article445.html

AWEUTIL /S to initialize the EMU8000 and all its glory.

Why don't you just try with your CT3600 ??

Next weekend, I hopefully have time to test it. I need to build pc for it from "scratch".

JackH wrote:

Thx for clarification. So the only SB32 model which have rvb&chro is CT3670 and the most of AWE models? Is "effects processor" seperate chip that has a codename ex. CTxxxx?

The effects processor is integrated into the EMU8000 chip.

All EMU8000 cards have Reverb & Chorus. The difference is the routing of the signals. On all AWE32/64 models and the SB32 CT3670, the CQM or OPL (FM-Music) output is routed THROUGH the EMU8000 processor and one can apply Reverb & Chorus even within DOS (with the AWEUTIL). SB32 models (except CT3670) don't have the CQM signal routed through the EMU hence one cannot apply Reverb & Chorus to the FM-Music with these cards. In reality, the CT3670 is a AWE64 in disguise. It acutally uses the AWE64 chipset (and has the 4.16 DSP).

Note that the effects can't be applied to the wavetable synth via the AWEUTIL in DOS. In pure DOS, there is no way to change the effects on the AWE wavetable including the GM / GS / MT32 emulation.

gerwin wrote:

The downside of the EWS is that there are few GM soundbanks available. AFAIK The Dream .94b bank format is secret, a real shame.

It's a downside only if you prefer homemade soundbanks.
For DOS games, the EWS and all other dream9407 cards have some top quality soundbanks avaialble in the .94B format, e.g:

- a 4MB bank with the original Roland SC-55 samples
- a 4MB bank with Yamaha samples that sounds very much like the DB5xXG boards
- the very high quality 8MB Hoontech soundbank which is a TOP soundbank for many games.

These three banks all sound different and all are of very good quality. That makes ISA based dream9407 cards very very useful for DOS games.

chrisNova777 wrote:

in the post above by "great heirophant" on his blog he said that the awe32 has ymf262 inside another chip? ok i see what you ar […]
Show full quote

alexanrs wrote:

CQM It is an OPL3-like implementation that doesn't sound like Yamaha's OPL3. Some tracks sound fine with it, while others don't fare nearly as well.
If your Creative card doesn't have a Yamaha chip or the CT-1747 chip (which contains a true OPL3 core), then it uses CQM, and not OPL3.

in the post above by "great heirophant" on his blog he said that the awe32 has ymf262 inside another chip?
ok i see what you are saying.. so i actually have to see the letters + numbers CT-1747 somewhere on the card otherwise its emulated

my cards are sb32/CT3600 + sb16/CT2960

the sb32 has a chip that says CT1978-BAP

Because it can be really confusing to determine which model of the SoundBlaster card has a real OPL3 or the Creative made CQM, I started to make a matrix which shows which card uses what method. It's still imcomplete but you may have a look:

http://www.amoretro.de/guides-workshops/creat … r-modellnummern

I always just assume if I can't find any chips on the card with "OPL" printed on it, it must be CQM, especially if it's a later model.

FGB wrote:

For DOS games, the EWS and all other dream9407 cards have some top quality soundbanks avaialble in the .94B format, e.g: […]
Show full quote

For DOS games, the EWS and all other dream9407 cards have some top quality soundbanks avaialble in the .94B format, e.g:

- a 4MB bank with the original Roland SC-55 samples
- a 4MB bank with Yamaha samples that sounds very much like the DB5xXG boards
- the very high quality 8MB Hoontech soundbank which is a TOP soundbank for many games.

These three banks all sound different and all are of very good quality. That makes ISA based dream9407 cards very very useful for DOS games.

Was not aware of the existence of these Yamaha and Hoontech soundbanks. That makes the Dream 9407 cards, like the EWS, more interesting indeed.
I noticed you are currently also putting effort in the Turtle Beach Wavefront soundbanks; how does it compare?

It's way too early to say anything about the possible quality of the soundbanks converted to the ICS WaveFront format (.WFB file). We are still in the stage of understanding how the format works because conversions von A to B with the AWAVE Studio program is not enough, instruments are missing or sounding strange. But the instruments that work sound very good, actually as good as they sound in their original format (which is .SF2 right not because we are working on SF2 to WFB conversions). It is still a lot of work to do but I think it's worth the effort. Bristlehog is doing a fantastic job parsing the converted .WFB files with a HEX editor, investigating the code corresponding to the feedback I gave him simply from loading the converted banks. If we finally succeed it will make the Turtle Beach Wavefront cards one of the best and versatile wavetable cards for DOS games.. Just imagine its potential..

I recently decided to build a system only for the purpose to work for this project with all the Turtle Beach software needed to take a deeper look into the soundfont format.

If you are interested I would recommend to frequently check the project thread: Project: Turning ICS WaveFront sound cards into MIDI Powerhouses for DOS games [Turtle Beach Maui, Tropez & Tropez+]
If you have a ICS Wavefront card with sample RAM or have good ideas, suggestions, interest, I invite you to join the conversation and participate in the project.

thanks alot for posting this into my thread FGB! I beleive that it is also why you get rev/chr on the SPDIF output jumper of the card.