Kenneth wrote:

I'm trying to build the "Ultimate DOS/WINDOWS Games Machine", but am not sure what soundcard to put in it.

I am trying to find a soundcard that supports MIDI, Is something like the Soundblaster AWE32 good? Does the AWE64 play old Lucasart/Sierra games without any emulation required?
Thanks.

I would recommend you an ISA SB16 without plug and play features for this, so you don't have to fuss with plug and play managers and TSRs (memory resident programs) and get the maximum compatibility.

If you want some good music alongside that add an LAPC-I, SCC-1, or YAMAHA-DB50XG daughterboard to the mix. For more specific information check the other threads (in the PC+DOS subforum) out there -there are dozens of em - really. 😀

I use a SB CT4170 in one of my computers, but games with voice will get a "can't Initialize the audio card." error, also it has a Midi port on the back of it, but I can't get MIDI to work with it.

Kenneth wrote:

I use a SB CT4170 in one of my computers, but games with voice will get a "can't Initialize the audio card." error

if you are talking about the infamous Sierra SoundBlaster driver error, try the GOSiERRA patch. This is a speed bug, if your old PC has a turbo switch, you can do Sierra's work around of starting the game with the turbo off, and after the SB driver has Initialized, and the game has started, turn it back on. BTW, this work around can be simulated in DOSBox by starting the game with the cycles set low and hitting Ctl+F12 to increase the cycles after the game has started.

it has a Midi port on the back of it, but I can't get MIDI to work with it

Older Soundblasters had "SB MIDI" only which was not MPU-401 compatible. Unfortunately, not that many games supported SB MIDI.
The problem with sound card not initializing on fast systems goes beyond Sierra games. I've seen it in Lucasarts games and in two Prince of Persia games. You can thank Creative for giving bad advice to programmers in their official documentation and those programmers for following the advice.

I just bought an old Pentium 133 with screen, keyboard, mouse, etc. for 5 euros (6 dollars or £3). I already haev an old P166 IBM Aptiva with a DVD drive and 8Gb HDD inside (a LOT for a computer that age) but the problem is that the AWE64 I put inside it doesn't work with 8 bit sound 😢 Something to do with DMA 1 not being allowed on the system.

Anyway, my old P166 that had the AWE64 originally was brilliant - and the AWE64 is compatible with ALL games and those supporting AWE32/64 of course too, unlike the SB16.

The CT4170 model you mentioned seems to be a SoundBlaster Vibra 16XV card. I'm not very sure about the features of this particular card (since there seem to be more variants of it), but there are certain differences between the normal SB16 cards and the cut-down Vibra models.

Basically, the Vibra cards lack some of the functions normally found on SB16 cards:
- no ASP chip or socket (doesn't matter for games)
- some models cannot use 16 Bit DMA (only channels 0,1 or 3 possible, channels 5, 6 and 7 will not work)
- no WaveBlaster connector (can't be upgraded with a General Midi daughtercard)
- not sure about MPU401 compatibility on the external MIDI port
- Signal quality not as good as the standard models
Generally it's better to avoid the Vibra cards, especially when the normal models (classic SB16, AWE32, AWE64) are available for very little money.

If you just want to get the games running with digital and AdLib sound, the AWE cards work perfectly without special emulation. For high-end MIDI they are not recommended because they need a TSR program (aweutil), which does a poor emulation and is not compatible with some games.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

What's the cut off speed for sierra adventure games to not get timing issues, etc. Would it be around 90mhz?

You must have missed the GIANT sticky in the PC forum about this exact topic.