If you're lucky enough to find one : Creative Soundblaster 1.0 / 1.5 / 2.0 or Soundblaster pro 1 / 2 would be more or less time-period correct (assuming you take into account upgrades) and pretty awesome to have in a 386 build 😀

The first SB was in 1990, but a very typical card for game sound for 1989/1990 would be an Adlib, if you had a sound card at all.

A Roland MT-32 via an original MPU-401 (or LAPC-1) next to an AdLib would be about the ultimate 1989 or early 1990 setup. Unfortunately back in the day almost no one had even one of these due to costs involved, and all are so rare/collectible now that you'd end up paying a similar amount to what they would have cost you new back then.

Tbh, the most realistic sound option for 1989 is a PC Speaker...

dionb wrote:

Tbh, the most realistic sound option for 1989 is a PC Speaker...

Hmmm, maby its a best option for my build

For the length of time Ad Libs existed, and how de-facto they were, they sure are hard to find (and outlandishly expensive) today. So unless you have one tucked away from when they were scrap parts, you can pretty much rule that out. Although there are plenty of clones... Really though, unless you just have to have "an Ad Lib", it's better to just get a Sound Blaster.

WHICH Sound Blaster depends mostly on what you want to play. For a 386, very little of what you're going to run needs anything more than 8-bit mono DAC + FM. So, any SB is fine. But:

SB 1.0 / 1.5 - Harder to find (and thus expensive), and a brain-dead DMA implementation means you get free pops and clicks in your audio. Nothing worth having here unless you're a collector.

SB 2.0 - Offers a better (although optional) DMA mode, so as long as the game uses it, it's a better choice than the 1.x. Unfortunately, they're still somewhat rare and pricey. About $100 on Ebay, give or take $50.

SB Pro 1.0 - Rare and expensive. The only thing unique about it is that it has 2x OPL2 FM chips -- which nothing uses. Otherwise the same as....

SB Pro 2.0 - Less rare and expensive, but still not common and cheap. Has 1x OPL3 FM and stereo DAC. Good for Wolf 3D and later games, but we're starting to push the end of the 386 era already.

SB 16 - Can be had for a reasonable sum. Lots of choices. If you're going to use it to control a CD-ROM, do you need an extra IDE interface? Or SCSI? Or MKE, Sony, and/or Mitsumi? If you want to use external MIDI devices (e.g., MT-32) then it has an emulated MPU-401 interface that ranges from partially-implemented to terrible. If you want "the real deal" Sound Blaster, this is probably the most economical choice, but with caveats and compromises that have been discussed to death around here.

AWE32 / AWE64 - Too new to pair well with a 386. Nothing you're going to run will use anything it has to offer over an SB16.

Then there are the clone boards -- ESS, Yamaha, and Aztech. In most ways, the first two are on-par or possibly better than a Sound Blaster of equivalent vintage. (But it's not a SB.) Aztech cards sometimes have cool features, but my past experience with them soured my desire to ever have one or use it for anything more than a paperweight.

I'm also very surprised how rare Adlib cards are. Tonnes of them must have been tossed in the trash. I remember in the late 90s, somebody offered to sell me a box full of them for next to nothing but I passed, because they were crappy 8-bit cards. I also recall seeing them fairly often in the junk boxes at surplus stores. I even remember once or twice stumbling on a CT1330A in a junk box and trying to figure out what the hell it was. I knew what an SB Pro 2 looked like, and it wasn't that. It appeared to be an advanced SB2.0, therefore it must have sucked. I think I may have even seen at least one Adlib Gold in a junk box...but this was in the 90s before anyone gave a rat's ass.

Yep, i threw an Adlib card away several years ago.

I do regret doing that, even though my motivation at the time was sound.

I don't think the original AdLib was actually sold all that much.
I think the "AdLib" was mainly popular because of the SoundBlaster and other clones. So developers built in "AdLib" support, which in practice was mostly used by SoundBlasters and clones.

SirNickity wrote:

SB 1.0 / 1.5 - Harder to find (and thus expensive), and a brain-dead DMA implementation means you get free pops and clicks in your audio. Nothing worth having here unless you're a collector.

The DSP can be upgraded on these though, to add the improved auto-init DMA from the SB 2.0, which cures the popping and clicking (in theory, because software has to make use of it, and most software targets the lowest common denominator, so you even get clicks and pops on SB16/AWE).

n0m4d wrote:

dionb wrote:

Tbh, the most realistic sound option for 1989 is a PC Speaker...

Hmmm, maby its a best option for my build

Covox ? when came it out ? 1987 ?

So a Covox Speech Thing is also possible %)

CMS/GameBlaster is also an option. And Tandy 😀

The C/MS and Adlib can be had as replicas now relatively cheaply. The SoundBlaster replica is now also available as a project. My version had its first successful test yesterday. 😀 But for a 1990 build I would indeed go for Adlib. The replicas or kits can be had for 60-80 USD/EUR, which is reasonable, albeit not cheap. Original cards will be in the hundreds and offer no technical advantage, only historical value.

Oh, and the IBM Music Feature Card was also an option in 89/90 😀
Good luck finding one 😀

Was arguably the most high-end solution after the MT-32 back in those days. But game support is poor.

If you want the authentic experience, You want those pops anc clicks of the old sound blaster card. I want to build similar PC I got back in 1991 some day with sound blaster 1.5. I already have the sound card and motherboard for it.

Best sound in 89/90 was definitely the Amiga.

For the PC though, I believe Sound Blaster Pro 1.0 was the most advanced at the time. Pro 2.0 would not come until 1991.

Check here: https://www.soundblaster.com/about/

If replicas are fine, then that would be a fun and educational alternative to finding the original unicorns.

I'll be trying to build one of root42's SB2.0 replicas soon and intend to stick that into a late 80's Olivetti XT. Not totally period-correct, but a config that would have occurred often enough in the early 90's. I also have an MT-32 and a MusicQuest MPU-401 clone, so I think I'm pretty much covered 😉

appiah4 wrote:

Check here: https://www.soundblaster.com/about/

Creative, lying as always 😀
Look closely at the timeline, those might be years Creative started projects, not dates cards entered the market. In the real world Pro was 1992, SB16 was 1993.
"100K Transistors" is cute, not only is this number a lie(8051 <10K transistors, opl2 <10K), but its worded to make you believe they designed some ASIC in 1989.
"100K Transistors" again next to SB16, added more chips but transistor budget stayed the same? impressive! /sarcasm
"launched Windows 3.1 in 1991", sure Creative, sure.
"E-MU 8000 APU, equipped with almost 500,000 transistors" and there we go, thats why some marketoid fabricated 100K figure above, to underline imaginary jump in technology.
Really like the way they fail to mention all the PCI designs taken over from Ensoniq.

dionb pretty much covered all the options + SB 1.0-2.0.

^The EMU-8000 wasn't even their own creation, afaik, but that of E-MU Systems.. 😀

I remember looking at that sound blaster article, and it seemed like it was written by some n00b who just cut and pasted stuff from wikipedia. There are a number of errors, and even a picture of unreleased AWE64G II.