badmojo wrote:The ones I've tried (3 differnet ones) haven't been 100% SB compatible. Duke 2, Rapter are a couple of examples of games I had trouble with, but I assume that means there are more games it struggles with.
Give me more games to try. I just tried those 2 and they work perfectly with all my cards based on YMF-719 and YMF-718 chipsets.
badmojo wrote:
Most of them are not full height cards, so a full sized DB doesn't fit on, you need to make a cable.
Agree that is one disadvantage. But if you do make a cable, which is not so difficult, it works perfectly and there is no hanging note bug. Works well with all ports available, and absolutely no problems using a joystick and MPU at the same time.
badmojo wrote:
But my main issue is the mixer software, which is confusing at best.
I agree the software is not the best or the most good looking, but it works. You can always edit the .ini file manually. All in all, it's not that hard to configure and it works well enough.
badmojo wrote:
When compared to a real sound blaster, they just can't compete for ease of use which ranks high on my list of requirements.
I disagree, it is pretty easy to use, SETUPSA is pretty straight forward to configure the ports for initialization. Then all you need is run SETUPSA /S in AUTOEXEC.BAT and SET BLASTER. Which SETUPSA does automatically when you exit the program after configuring.
I accept that some people don't like the cards, but these cards are certainly not awful. In my opinion, the YMF-71x chipset deserved a better PCB design, with higher quality components. The only reason i would use a Sound Blaster 16 over a OPL3-SA would be nostalgia, which fortunately i don't feel for the SB 16.
For nostalgia reasons i would have to use my Aztech Sound Galaxy ProII 16, which with the exception of Covox/DSS support loses against the OPL3-SA in everything.
The Sound Blaster 16 is the symbol of sound card massification, in my opinion. A cool analogy would be comparing it with the MiG-21 fighter. The most produced fighter ever, with tons of variants, served in so many nations, was a simple design that worked and was not maitenance intensive. Worked well and it was pretty much fuel and go.
However, it is probably the most shot down type ever in jet history. Very nostalgic, but i would rather fly something else. 😀