I just read that myself. Totally worth posting here.

Well he can certainly be proud of his legacy. Easily one of the most successful companies and product lines of the technology era. I've certainly owned my share of Soundblaster products over the years.

God speed Mr. Hoo. Thank you for your most excellent and innovative contributions to the industry.

Brawndo wrote on 2023-01-08, 00:30:

I just read that myself. Totally worth posting here.

Well he can certainly be proud of his legacy. Easily one of the most successful companies and product lines of the technology era. I've certainly owned my share of Soundblaster products over the years.

God speed Mr. Hoo. Thank you for your most excellent and innovative contributions to the industry.

rip Mr soundblaster

Brawndo wrote on 2023-01-08, 00:30:

Easily one of the most successful companies and product lines of the technology era.

Creative Labs engaged in some pretty scummy business practices though (e.g. what CL did to both Adlib and Aureal). Creative may have been successful, but it wasn't entirely on the basis of better technology.

I liken Creative Labs to the Microsoft of the sound card world. Sim Wong is definitely a devisive figure just like Bill Gates but I guess you can't deny that he left his mark on history for better or for worse.

Aww 🙁 thanks for may hours of awesome gaming. RIP

Mister Sim Wong Hoo, helped establish a standard that allowed sound to become a ubiquitous part of PC gaming .
As many others before have said, while Creative (Labs/Tech)'s track record may not be unblemished, they helped usher in a new era and for that they are notable .

I mourn alongside Dr Sbaitso .

Rest in peace, father of the Sound Blaster.

RIP

RIP

RIP. Didn't know until today that aside from Creative / SB products, he also formulated a theory of social engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_U-turn_syndrome

The success story of Creative is always interesting. During that time, Adlib was the most widely supported sound card, perhaps due to its cheap price. What Creative did was making an Adlib clone plus the ability to play digitized sound, and it became huge success. Sound Blaster can play any games that only support Adlib, albeit without digitized sound, because such games don't have any. But games soon support Sound Blaster, in other words, support digitized sound --something that Adlib doesn't have. Thus, games that support Adlib automatically support Sound Blaster, but not the other way around. Soon, Sound Blaster toppled Adlib's position as the most popular sound card.

Back then, I wondered what could topple Sound Blaster's position. I remember about a Sound Blaster clone named Sound Commander, which is basically an SB Pro clone, but that's all about it. On the other hand, Sound Blaster is an Adlib clone that can do a quite important thing Adlib can't.

I often wondered: if Roland ever made a Sound Blaster clone (digitized sound-wise) but with LAPC or GS MIDI sound, would it topple Sound Blaster? Or how about Yamaha doing the same thing, with fully SB-compatible digitized sound, but with XG MIDI sound?

How about Covox? Never had one, but IIRC it can play anything from PC speaker (for example, digitized sound effects in SSI Gold Box games come from PC speaker), making it the most compatible sound card as long as digitized sound is concerned. What if Covox also slap an OPL 3 on their sound card, making it an Adlib clone with additional ability to play digitized sound? Would it be more popular than Sound Blaster?

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-01-08, 12:31:

I often wondered: if Roland ever made a Sound Blaster clone (digitized sound-wise) but with LAPC or GS MIDI sound, would it topple Sound Blaster?

Well, there was the Roland RAP-10, but I think it only had General MIDI (no GS). IIRC, it wasn't Sound Blaster compatible, but it did have its own digital audio, which worked nicely in supported games.

Or how about Yamaha doing the same thing, with fully SB-compatible digitized sound, but with XG MIDI sound?

This did exist. The ISA-based Yamaha YMF 71x cards were SBPro compatible and had an XG Lite software wavetable in Win9x. The later PCI-based YMF 7x4 cards had SBPro compatibility and the higher quality DS-XG software wavetable under Win9x.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-08, 13:12:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-01-08, 12:31:

I often wondered: if Roland ever made a Sound Blaster clone (digitized sound-wise) but with LAPC or GS MIDI sound, would it topple Sound Blaster?

Well, there was the Roland RAP-10, but I think it only had General MIDI (no GS). IIRC, it wasn't Sound Blaster compatible, but it did have its own digital audio, which worked nicely in supported games.

Indeed, and I guess that's the problem. I wonder what would happen if RAP-10 digitized audio is fully SB compatible, instead of requiring specific support.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-08, 13:12:

Or how about Yamaha doing the same thing, with fully SB-compatible digitized sound, but with XG MIDI sound?

This did exist. The ISA-based Yamaha YMF 71x cards were SBPro compatible and had an XG Lite software wavetable in Win9x. The later PCI-based YMF 7x4 cards had SBPro compatibility and the higher quality DS-XG software wavetable under Win9x.

Ah, you remind me. Of course, the Audician. They came too late to dethrone Sound Blaster though.

What made Sound Blaster less relevant, I believe, is Windows 95. As long as the game is compatible with Windows 95 sound, then it doesn't matter what sound card are you using.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-01-08, 00:50:

Creative Labs engaged in some pretty scummy business practices though (e.g. what CL did to both Adlib and Aureal).

While Creative wasn't saint, AdLib for some reason didn't make a proper intermediate card prior the original Sound Blaster card when they had the chance. In the case of Aureal, they won a lawsuit against Creative regarding patents but it was a pyrrhic victory that led them into bankruptcy.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2023-01-08, 12:31:

The success story of Creative is always interesting. During that time, Adlib was the most widely supported sound card, perhaps due to its cheap price. What Creative did was making an Adlib clone plus the ability to play digitized sound, and it became huge success. Sound Blaster can play any games that only support Adlib, albeit without digitized sound, because such games don't have any. But games soon support Sound Blaster, in other words, support digitized sound --something that Adlib doesn't have. Thus, games that support Adlib automatically support Sound Blaster, but not the other way around. Soon, Sound Blaster toppled Adlib's position as the most popular sound card.

The real reason why Sound Blaster toppled the AdLib and others failed was the addition of the gameport, eliminating the need of using a separate ISA card for that.

I often wondered: if Roland ever made a Sound Blaster clone (digitized sound-wise) but with LAPC or GS MIDI sound, would it topple Sound Blaster? Or how about Yamaha doing the same thing, with fully SB-compatible digitized sound, but with XG MIDI sound?

Would have been a very expensive high-end product at the time.