The CT3600's more suited for 486s and Pentiums as that's when the SF2 fun happened post-1994. (it's an AWE card sans AWE branding and sans YMF262) Authentic SB16s would probably be too TSR heavy and muffled (and not much advantage taken of as all the 16-bit audio games were later) so leaning towards SB Pro 2 or a CS4231-48 card with SB Pro 2 compatibility (i.e. Aztech)

DISCLAIMER: I don't do midi modules so I have no 2c on the controversial hanging note bug

Ok that sounds good then. The cs4231 cards on ebay are ok prices and yea i just want to play games and hear the sound ok im not an audiophile so it doenst need to be perfect 🤣 must less with the price of the sb pros 🤣

leileilol wrote on 2024-04-16, 02:59:

Authentic SB16s would probably be too TSR heavy

SB16 cards don't need any memory-resident drivers.
First generation is configured by jumpers only, no need for drivers at all.
Later generations require software initialization, but it doesn't stay in memory.

But I do agree that SB16 may be overkill for a 386.
SB Pro compatible (Crystal, ESS, and many others) should be fine.