deibit wrote:Well let's call it 1992-ish or just pre 1995 maybe (it's difficult to define an exact rannge)
I bought my DX2/66 when I started my first year at the university (and that was 1992), I bought my SB16 to play Doom and that was 1993 but then i had a DX5-133 (@160Mhz if my memory doesn't fail), and then at 1995 I switched to a P1-120@150 and AWE32.
I suspect you might be a bit optimistic about when you had that DX5 - that CPU wasn't introduced until 1995 😉
But if you want to extend to 1995, it makes a lot more sense.
In my mind Doom means Pentium era (same for X-wing vs Tie Fighter), that's why I want to focus my P4 build at the pre 1992-1995 times.
So basically you mean "DOS games" rather than any specific time.
Yes, so far i have the SC55, but the MT-32 is in my list 😀
Here your change of timeframe again changes the equation. SC-55 is (good) General MIDI with GS extensions. The first SC-55 dates to 1991, and by 1993 most PC MIDI music was composed for and on SC-55s, so you already have the ideal hardware for that. MT-32 was only really relevant for 1990-1993 - and even in that period only a subset of games did anything with it that wouldn't work on the SC-55. So you're pretty well covered for now.
I have (or rather my partner has) a Roland digital piano that is completely GM and GS compatible, so is essentially an SC-55 with keys. I also have an MT-32. Tbh, the biggest difference I notice is the cute little messages on the display of the MT-32 😉
I mean compatible-with-period-correct, my build is pretty Hipster, I'm combining modern and old components (for example Floppy Drive Emulators and CF-IDE HDD)
I'm not much into "period-correct" if that means (for example) noisy cards or hanging-MIDI notes. I want the best sounding card that makes the game sound like the creator would haved wanted to sound.
Unfortunately that still pushes you towards period correct, because a game composer in 1993 at best had access to high-end 1993 stuff, not better things without bugs that came later.
Still, not going for SB16 with hanging notes is definitely a good idea. In fact it's not too difficult, just avoid the earlier SB16s (and the later ones without real OPL.- i.e. just avoid the SB16s 😉 ).
Those are good recommendations, but sounds very 80s 😀
Yeah, well if you say <1992 you are talking mainly 1980s 😉
That said, all you lose with one of those Sound Galaxy NX cards is some SNR (they are noisy old beasts, I read articles recommending putting them at least two ISA slots away from other cards, preferably with a sheet of metal in between...)
In the middle term I want to configure 3 machines like this: […]
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In the middle term I want to configure 3 machines like this:
xx - 1990 --> 386 Build (pending)
1990-1995 --> DX2/66 (the built i'm doing now)
1995 - 2000 --> Pentium Build (pending)
OK, then the 'pre-1992' thing really set me off on the wrong track. That sort of stuff is what you need for the 386-build. For the 1990-1995 build you don't need Covox, Disney & Game Blaster stuff. Any SBPro2.0-clone should work in terms of compatibility, good OPL3 and low noise levels are added advantages for quality.
Of course, in that time period you could also start thinking about a Gravis Ultrasound - although that is only useful for a small number of games (and those demos) and increases costs significantly. Or more down-to-earth, a SB16 (or 32 or 64) alongside an SBPro2.
deibit wrote:oeuvre wrote:If you're on a budget you could also get a Yamaha YMF-719
I have one already 😀 but I can extend my budget if that means more quality (without getting ripped)
In terms of sound quality a Yamaha is hard to beat (unless the card designer really messed up). That's a solid SBPro2 clone with OPL3 from the people who invented it. You could do a lot worse.
The only single card-solution that has advantages over that is an ALS100-based card which supports both SBPro2 and SB16. The ALS100 (non-+) still has an external OPL3 (unlike the + and later that have a bad clone integrated) so if the card design is good it can deliver decent quality - but it's almost certainly going to be inferior to the YMF-719 card you already have. So using that one for starters makes a lot of sense.