5u3 wrote:

elianda wrote:

I tested my CT3600 and the older AWEUTIL 1.20 offers the Reverb and Chorus options while the newer AWEUTIL 1.35 does not.

That's soo typical for Creative... Thanks for testing this!

I wonder if that makes the CT1978-equipped cards ideal for 32-channel tracker music, since the FM chip isn't blocking two channels in this case.

Well, the usual players do not distinguish between the cards, so e.g. OpenCP still has only 30 channels using devwsb32.

sliderider wrote:

The SoundBlaster32 was meant to be an even cheaper model than the AWE32 Value Edition so the feature set would have to be cut back even more than the Value Edition to justify the low price.

The last full AWE32 variants are affected as well. It's safe to say that this doesn't have anything to do with cost-cutting, as Creative obviously had to add a second DAC just for the FM output. There is some sort of technical limitation involved, but I don't know what it might be, and neither did Dave Rossum when I'd asked a few years back.

pyrogx wrote:

Now I'm confused: I have a CT3670, which also identifies as a SoundBlaster 32 PnP and it *does* have reverb and chorus effects on FM (I checked).

This card has the larger, "AWE"-labeled chip that includes the EMU8000 and CQM in a single ASIC (as also found on the AWE64 series) - all versions of which route the FM through the EMU8000.

elianda wrote:

5u3 wrote:

elianda wrote:

I tested my CT3600 and the older AWEUTIL 1.20 offers the Reverb and Chorus options while the newer AWEUTIL 1.35 does not.

That's soo typical for Creative... Thanks for testing this!
I wonder if that makes the CT1978-equipped cards ideal for 32-channel tracker music, since the FM chip isn't blocking two channels in this case.

Well, the usual players do not distinguish between the cards, so e.g. OpenCP still has only 30 channels using devwsb32.

Damn, there goes the last chance for this model to be cool in any way... 🤣

Theres so many variants of the AWE32/64 series, I don't know which is which anymore. I was really looking forward to the MT32 w/ reverb and chorus options after watching Mau1wurf1977's videos. Originally I needed one with an IDE controller (which I no longer need), and the first one I got, I believe an AWE64 Standard, was totally dead. Now I have 8MB of ram for an AWE card, and the card can't even do what I want. Ugh. So, what card should I get that can do all this? I don't want to spend more than say, $15, and one that could accept the ram would be nice.

Can you guys help? All these CTxxxx models really confuse me.

Look out for the AWE64 (non GOLD). They should be quite a bit cheaper...

Idk what the model number of a non-gold is.

MatthewH12 wrote:

Idk what the model number of a non-gold is. Like a CT4500?

I have a 4520 here.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

MatthewH12 wrote:

Idk what the model number of a non-gold is. Like a CT4500?

I have a 4520 here.

And it handles all the features of your videos?

Edit: Also, I'm getting conflicting info on if the CT3600 has CQM or not. I thought CQM=Midi Effects.

Tho I could be totally confused, and honestly, right now, I am. Creative, why you so confusing?

MatthewH12 wrote:

I was really looking forward to the MT32 w/ reverb and chorus options after watching Mau1wurf1977's videos.

As mentioned above, the reverb/chorus settings do not affect the MT-32/GM/GS emulation, only FM sound is affected by those switches. Mau1wurf1977s video is a bit misleading in this respect, when using the MT-32 emulation, it doesn't matter what you set for chorus/reverb, it will always sound the same.

CQM (Creative Quadratic Modulation) is Creative's clone of the Yamaha OPL3 FM chip. It has nothing to do with MIDI.

Before you buy another AWE64, did you try to troubleshoot the one you already have? You mention that the DIAGNOSE utility does not detect the card. What about the PnP-related utilities? Does CTCU see the card when you select Menu->PnP Cards?

I have two cards. The CT3600 works fine, but doesn't seem to have the Reverb and Chrorus options avaliable in AWEUtil.
The other card, a CT4380, doesn't detect with any AWE utilities or Diagnose. It basically acts as if the card isn't even installed, even if I use the same slot and drivers as the CT3600 which does work (except the above mentioned CQM stuff).

I haven't tried putting the CT4380 into a PNP system that would list it on boot (award bios's) as I didn't have a working modern ISA system until recently.

Pretty sure I made separate videos. One to show GM and MT-32 Emulation and another one to "improve" FM sound with reverb / chorus.

I enjoy your videos Mau1wurf, and I hope you keep doing them!

Sorry for all the confusion, I've never worked with the AWE cards before, and all the stuff about them confuses me (though I am learning!). I tried enabling MT32 emulation on the CT3600, which it said worked, but it sounded the same, maybe it only works with certain games/programs, and not in Windows? Anyway, I liked how the card in Mau1wurf's video sounded in terms of MIDI, and thats why I wanted one that sounded the same. The only card (and this may sound odd to you guys), that I think sounds just as good, is a Crystal CX/CS4237B with the Dream (Roland) Sound chip, that I have integrated to an old Packard Bell. That thing also has amazing MIDI. =)

MT-32 Emulation ONLY works with games that use the standard MT-32 instruments. Monkey Island is an example.

But 95% do not! So keep this in mind 😀

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Pretty sure I made separate videos. One to show GM and MT-32 Emulation and another one to "improve" FM sound with reverb / chorus.

I was referring to this video: Enabling General MIDI and MT-32 Emulation On Sound Blaster AWE32 AWE64. At 3:30 you configure the MT-32 emulation and set both chorus/reverb to 50 in the same command and then proceed playing MI1. People might get the impression that the chorus/reverb switches do affect the output of the MT-32 emulation, but they don't. 😉

MatthewH12 wrote:

Anyway, I liked how the card in Mau1wurf's video sounded in terms of MIDI, and thats why I wanted one that sounded the same.

But with your CT3600 card it is possible to do the same thing as Mau1wurf1977 did in the video. Do exactly what he did in the video, just leave out the AWEUTIL chorus/reverb parameters as they are irrelevant for MT-32 emulation.

Oh dear 😊

Okay, now I'm learning. So MT-32 requires certain games, it can't be applied to EVERY midi file. Thats what the C/R is for, which the CT3600 can NOT do.

Chorus / Reverb is for FM / Adlib. It adds Chorus and/or Reverb to these old games.

GM / MT-32 is MPU401 MIDI and personally I wouldn't bother. Many games support the AWE directly (Doom, Descent, Duke 3D...) and sound great.