So funny, I was literally just looking at a Vibra CT2940 with an OPL3 chip a few minutes ago 😁 The seller is asking ~ 25 euros for it
To answer your question, yes, as you can see, this card clearly has a Yamaha OPL3 chip (the YMF289, which is the newer, lower power version) and its YAC51x (DAC) companion.

Regarding the OPL3 vs CQM debate... my personal opinion is that CQM is trash. Now, there are some who like it or at least tolerate it, but not me. I only like OPL3 or ESFM - that's the sound that I heard as a kid and I will never forget it (also, nostalgia aside, I still objectively prefer how OPL3/ESFM sound compared to other clones).

Now, even though I have a pretty big sound card collection, I somehow never had a Vibra, so can't compare it to other Creative cards, but I know that they do have their own issues, which you can read about here: Sound Blaster: From best to worst

Rikintosh wrote on 2021-11-16, 18:19:

Everyone is looking for boards with the OPL chip, but what is the problem with CQM anyway? Is OPL emulation bad?

It's different enough that some people notice. How extensive those differences are varies depending on the music track that you're playing.

You can find some comparisons in this thread of mine: OPL3 vs. ESFM vs. CQM vs. SBLive

Basically creative is not a very good brand tbh, they released a lot of crap and did not care much for their brand. Very aggressive buy out strategy and marketing. I am still kind of a fan boy.. gotta catch en all..

Rikintosh wrote on 2021-11-16, 18:19:

Why is there sb16 and sb16 vibra? Vibra is some kind of cost-cutting?

Basically yes.

CQM is generally acceptable for sound effects, however for more melodic musical scores, it's horrible in general. It might sound OK for more industrial music tracks like that in DOOM.

Joakim wrote on 2021-11-16, 18:32:

Basically creative is not a very good brand tbh, they released a lot of crap and did not care much for their brand. Very aggressive buy out strategy and marketing. I am still kind of a fan boy.. gotta catch en all..

Truthfully, I like a lot how certain SB16/AWE32 cards sound (such as CT2230, CT2290, CT2770, CT3900, CT3980) + the fact that they're generally very compatible when used on period correct hardware (some tend to be speed sensitive when used with more modern hardware).I don't care at all about the MPU-401 issues (FM will always be my preference anyway).
I am a bit bothered by the single cycle DMA clicking but it's not game-breaking for me.

bloodem wrote on 2021-11-16, 18:25:

So funny, I was literally just looking at a Vibra CT2940 with an OPL3 chip a few minutes ago

What makes the CT2940 a Vibra? I don't see "Vibra" written anywhere on the PCB, and it's detected usually as "Sound Blaster 16 PnP".

dr_st wrote on 2021-11-16, 18:48:

What makes the CT2940 a Vibra? I don't see "Vibra" written anywhere on the PCB, and it's detected usually as "Sound Blaster 16 PnP".

AFAIK, the CT2502-SDQ is a VIBRA chip.

Yes, I frequently see it referred to as such. Sometimes "Vibra Pro", but I don't recall seeing it in any "official" Creative documentation. Is it some nomenclature used to refer to all integrated SB16 chipsets?

CQM is fine but if you grew up with OPL3 or a decent clone of it then it will sound different. The Vibra chipset is also fine but you don't get a fully functioning mixer like you do on a real SB16, so you can't turn the gain down, and that always results in clipping for me. Then of course there are the MPU401 bugs to deal with.

PNP - Plug n Pray.

For instance, for some unknown reason today my SB AWE 64 went A220 I5 D1 H6 P330 E620 T6 to A220 I10 D3 H6 P300 E620 T6
CTCM completely ignored my set blaster variable and decided to do its own thing.

Took booting in to Win 98Se, manually changing the settings back for it to work and get back the config that did not require me to reconfigure all my games.

badmojo wrote on 2021-11-16, 20:12:

The Vibra chipset is also fine but you don't get a fully functioning mixer like you do on a real SB16, so you can't turn the gain down, and that always results in clipping for me.

I seem to recall that I could in the CT2940 that I had installed for some time, but it's been quite a long time ago, so my memory might be hazy.

There is some text on Wikipedia that suggests things are not uniform:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_1 … laster_VIBRA_16
"It lacked separate bass, treble and gain control (except CT2502 chip)..."

So I still have no idea what makes people refer to CT2502 as 'Vibra', if the name is not written anywhere, and it seemingly has a different feature set.

RobDos wrote on 2021-11-17, 01:44:

For instance, for some unknown reason today my SB AWE 64 went A220 I5 D1 H6 P330 E620 T6 to A220 I10 D3 H6 P300 E620 T6
CTCM completely ignored my set blaster variable and decided to do its own thing.

There must be a lot of confusion of what CTCM does. Apparently, when loaded from CONFIG.SYS and run from AUTOEXEC.BAT it does different things. You would think it read the config file and initialize the card based on the settings there, but no. It supposedly reads the PnP config from somewhere in the hardware (BIOS?) and writes the config file, then initializes the card. This has been established here, I think: Re: Sound Blaster Settings Keep Changing

dr_st wrote on 2021-11-17, 06:40:

I seem to recall that I could in the CT2940 that I had installed for some time, but it's been quite a long time ago, so my memory might be hazy.

Yes I didn't do any research before making that statement and have only really had Vibra experience with CT2800 / 2900 cards - assumptions get me every time.

Found this:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090210204303/htt … pic,2175.0.html
(previously referenced in ViBRA 16XV VLSI)

Don't know how official it is, and the post and table seem to contradict some things that are currently considered common knowledge.

There is some consistency in treating all integrated CT25xx as part of the same family, but they are not all the same. The CT2502 is the only one of them that has no ViBRA branding on the chip itself, and also seems to offer the best feature set and cleanest audio.

The rare specimens of CT2940 that have both a CT2502 and an OPL3 chip are probably the best Sound Blaster 16 cards out there. As already mentioned by gerwin 10 years ago. 😜 Unfortunately, my card did not have the OPL3 chip.

CTCM does not read the BLASTER variable, it only writes it

if you want to change how CTCM configures the card you need to use CTCU

maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-11-17, 13:50:

CTCM does not read the BLASTER variable, it only writes it

if you want to change how CTCM configures the card you need to use CTCU

So you can't run CTCU in Windows 98 SE dos, never mind you can. 😀

Found a post talking about how it checks for a variable called winbootdir, if it exists the program will 'detect' windows and not let you use it.

The fix?

copy ctcu.exe ctcu.old
edit /70 ctcu.exe
Search for winbootdir
change the text to read winlootdir
save

Now you can use CTCU.EXE

Note, I used to use the same trick in DOS 6.22 to edit command.com and create the 'hacker name' dos distribution. I was 12, give me a break on that. Back in the day executables tended to have strings in plain text without compression or encryption.

I think I saw a batch here on the forum that makes all settings automatically for you. I think he used choice asking what options you want, and he would create your autoexec and config.sys as if by magic

Thing about any sound card is it comes down to personal taste.
People do seem to get very passionate or even elitist about ISA sound cards though.

Truth is any SB16 is fine as a starting point.
PNP cards can be a bit more of a hassle to setup but plenty of people also use them without any issues.

OPL vs CQM? do the test in this post and see if you really can tell the difference
blind test : OPL vs CQM

Vibra is also fine, you just loose bass/treble controls. no issue at all with modern speakers.

I'd say go with any of the cards you have already, later on you may develop tastes or want to play around with external Midi devices where it may start to make scene to consider going out and spending more money.
Or you may be totally happy like I am with mine and not see any need to replace it.

chinny22 wrote on 2021-11-19, 16:42:

Vibra is also fine, you just loose bass/treble controls. no issue at all with modern speakers.

That's again too broad a statement, seeing as there are about 5 different ViBRA chipsets (if you include the CT2502), and some of them (again the CT2502) have bass/treble controls, while others have disadvantages that go far beyond bass/treble.

With that said, I completely agree with your general statement:

chinny22 wrote on 2021-11-19, 16:42:

Truth is any SB16 is fine as a starting point.

I understood. I guess I'm not a very picky person, although I particularly prefer to use SF2 samples and/or a midi sampler. I built a computer (out of an acer travelmate notebook) which has the sole purpose of processing SF2 samples for "less pretty" soundcards. It's almost a homemade MT32 or something.