The goldfinch is supposed to work with any sound card because in-fact it doesn't need a sound card in the system at all, it's a standalone card with its own drivers. In reality I've found that it works better with some sound cards than with others, why that is I don't know. But I do know that it'll work A-OK with that Vibra of yours, and the CT2940 even appears to have the relevant header so you can connect the Goldfinch directly to it internally.

I'm a big fan of the SB16 (CT2290 in my case) + Goldfinch + onboard RAM + sound fonts option. It's a 2 slot solution but covers a whole lot of ground relatively cheaply.

I have a system with a CT2940 combined with the Goldfinch card. It works well. Since I soldered on a jackplug and coax connector there are multiple ways to connect the goldfinch. But it is currently connected with an ordinary "CD-ROM analog audio cable". This cable goes to the CD-in header of the CT2940. Connecting it like this requires no soldering.

gerwin wrote:

But it is currently connected with an ordinary "CD-ROM analog audio cable". This cable goes to the CD-in header of the CT2940. Connecting it like this requires no soldering.

But then you can't use the CD-in header for the CD-ROM drive anymore, is that correct? A google images search of the CT2940 suggested to me that it had the "goldfinch" header, allowing a direct connection there. Is that not the case? Do any sound cards have this header, or were they only provided on motherboards?

No header on the CT2940, unfortunately. The CT2960 has that header, an entirely different card. But you do find AUX inputs beside the CD in.

So... Which is it? 😀

Seems like a picture of the goldfinch connector on the 2940 or on another card would settle this. I don't have a goldfinch card and I can't find much online about them so I don't know to look for.

This is similar to my card (except mine has the IDE connector and the row of five chips on the left edge):
http://www.yjfy.com/images/oldhard/video/ct2940.jpg

Is there any way to get a goldfinch card attached to this without losing CD audio or anything else?

Edit: I just realized that my ct2940 (like there one in the picture above) has two different types of CD inputs. I'd it possible to use one for CD audio and the other for the Goldfinch?

I don't use CD's much myself, so I never thought of it as a problem.
Pretty sure those two CD input connectors are electrically the same input channel. It may conflict if you attach two devices (CD-ROM+Goldfinch). You could use the line-in channel. Normally you use the jackplug line-in, but supposedly the MB_Pro header contains a line-in connector as well: Soundblaster MB_PRO pinout (This is untested!)

Would one of the aux inputs work?

Also, where can I find a pinout for the ct1922's various connectors?

Thanks so much for the help!

Here you go:

Just noticed there is a problem with the mentioned MB_Pro header pinout: Why is the MB_Pro pinout not showing Line-in Right and Left?

Thanks for that!

I found an extremely useful page with what looks like the pinouts for almost any Creative sound card under the sun:

http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=3026

Also, since things tend to go "missing" online (like all of the references I keep finding to "Quest Studios" forums, which no longer exist), I'm going to attach a copy of that page with pictures, zipped in an archive.

Some useful info:

Goldfinch Connector:

1 Right Channel
2 Ground
3 Left Channel
4 Ground
5 Key
6 Ground
7 Ground
8 Ground

MBPro Header:

1 AGND
2 Key
3 Line-In
4 AGND
5 Line-Left
6 ANGD
7 Line-Right
8 Modem-Spk
9 AGND
10 Mic-In

So, is it as simple as running 1,2,3,4 from the Goldfinch to 7,6,5,4 respectively on the MBPro header of my CT2940?

gerwin wrote:

Pretty sure those two CD input connectors are electrically the same input channel. It may conflict if you attach two devices (CD-ROM+Goldfinch).

Right you are, connecting an input to more than one CD-IN (or hacking up a cable to connect 2 devices to a single CD-IN) messes things up.

In the end I added a 3.5 stereo jack to my CT1920 and use the SB16's external line-in:

Pentium 166MMX tower of power

Woo hoo, managed to get two of these, brand new from eBay for $22 shipped. No cables sadly, but it looks like I'll be cobbling something together one way or another anyway.

Is there any reason that the MBPro to Goldfinch idea I posted above wouldn't work?

Also, what kind of software do I need to get this working in DOS and Windows 3.1?

I don't see any reason for it not to work, as long as your mixer software lets you set the MBpro channel to the right level.

Vogon drivers has your software needs covered for the Goldfinch.

I've looked in the Vogons Drivers and the only files I can find for the Goldfinch are the Windows 3.1 and 95 drivers in this collection:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=13

Also, what mixer would you recommend? This is totally new territory for me...

Okay, I found the driver on that page... somehow overlooked it because it was a CD image.

Anyway, I got my cards... and they are definitely brand new! They are marked CT1920 (not CT1922), and are basically identical to all the pictures online.

I created a cable to connect the MBPro header on my CT2940 to the Goldfinch connector on my CT1920. I wired it exactly as I mentioned in my earlier post (running 1,2,3,4 from the Goldfinch to 7,6,5,4 respectively on the MBPro) and after installing the drivers, it does work but the output is really scratchy and distorted when I run awediag. I can hear the music... but something's just wrong. When I do the music test in Descent's sound setup it does play but it sounds like its missing something... its very tinny and sort of scratchy sounding. I also noticed that the mixer "Line" volume doesn't seem to have any effect on the volume of the music in the awediag program.

Is it possible that I need to use different ground connections on the cards? Does this sound like a physical\electrical\wiring issue, or a software\setup issue?

I'll keep experimenting, but any feedback would be much appreciated!

Woohoo! I got it working!

My totally uneducated guess would be that the MBPro header does something "strange" with the Line In left and right signals, or is expecting something different than what the Goldfinch header is sending out. When I connect from the Goldfinch to the CD-IN connector (the wider, newer style because it was easier to swap in a flat four pin connector than the small white ones), it works beautifully! It is controlled with CD volume, rather than line-in, but that doesn't seem to be a problem at this point. I also just connected my CD audio cable to one of the "AUX" jacks and it also works perfectly fine. Apparently AUX1 (don't know about AUX2) is controlled as CD in the mixer, without having any of the issues that might arise from having both CDIN jacks in use (they are wired together directly).

As a side note, I almost considered doing the external Line-Out jack method, but when I used a continuity tester on all of the pins of my CT2940's "Line In" jack... it says all but ground are connected together... which blew my mind and I didn't even want to try to figure out... What's the deal with this? It can't be a mono input can it? Or does this circuit change when the card is powered?

Now, all I need to do is get some 30pin memory so I can play with some juicy sound fonts. I have lots of 72pin and newer, but no 30pin.

What is a cost effective way to get 30pin memory for a card like this, and how much is ideal? I know it goes to 28MB but is that practical?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351299385517?_trksid= … K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
That worked for me in AWE32. It says "Macintosh" but it's really just generic memory.