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Strauss 16 - ESS card (ES688f?) known to anyone?

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First post, by Jacques

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Hi Guys,
in my first PC that was bought in 1995 (P90) I used to have the sound card named "Strauss-16".
It was based on ESS chip (most likely ES688f), had the gameport/midi connector and a wheel for analog volume control.
It was sold in mostly white box with "Strauss 16" logo on it, some music notes for a decoration (IIRC) and description of 16-bit sound capability (in Windows, of course).
Oh, and also full-size microphone was included + 3 disks: drivers (DOS, Win 3.x), Blake Stone (demo), Raptor (demo).

Years on, I never came across that particular ESS card, it must have been one of many ESS-based cards in the era, but maybe someone did have it too, has some photos of actual card, etc?
Thanks in advance for help or any hint about the actual card (nostalgic case) 😀

Last edited by Jacques on 2020-11-23, 15:42. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 1 of 3, by Joseph_Joestar

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This Miss Melody card seems close to what you're describing, except for the name.

Maybe your card looked similar?

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 2 of 3, by Jacques

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Thank you for a hint.
Similiar? Size-wise - yes, but can't really tell if it had same or at least very close PCB playout. Too bad I can't remember placing of CD connectors (vertical vs horizontal) or CD audio-IN, but what I remember is, that Strauss-16 looked better manufactured than Miss Melody on that photo.
Whole package somehow looked rather high quality (box, mic, stickers on diskettes), altough the card itself must have been nothing unusual.

Reply 3 of 3, by Jacques

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Almost 2 years later my quest has come to an end 😀
The ES688 based Strauss16-boxed and named sound card I owned in the 90's turned out to be Formosa SC1610/11. It incorporates Yamaha OPL, too.
I learnt it was Formosa design from some PC offers in PC Magazine of May 1995, searched for it and bingo! The bell has also rung how I remembered it look-wise.
Today I managed to buy one in nice working condition - happy!

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