First post, by Lazer42
I have a socket 7 build in which I have two soundcards: an SB16 CT2230 and an Aztech SG Pro 16II.
These are very similar cards of course. The main reason I got the Aztech was because some games have been nearly unplayable due to very bad single cycle DMA bug behavior out of the SB16. I originally intended the Aztech as a full on replacement for the SB16, but I'm now considering using both because the SB16, when it is working correctly with a game, really does seem to me to have much cleaner sound than the Aztech.
What I'd ideally like to do is use the Sb16 as the "default" card for most things and only have a game use Aztech if I need to. I will also probably use the Aztech as the full time MPU401 output to avoid any hanging note issues. Both cards require a physical jumper to set the IO, and also have jumpers for the MPU so I can set the Aztech to 330 and the Sb16 to 300.
My best idea for doing this right now is to set the Sb16 at more "secondary" values: IO240, IRQ7, DMA3 and the Aztech at more the "primary" values of IO220m IRQ5, DMA1. This is because from what I can tell, I'm more likely to encounter games which will actually require the Aztech (i.e., to click and pop on the SB16) that will have no way to set stuff specifically, will ignore the BLASTER variable, and will just look to IO220 for the sound card no matter what I do, whereas games which will work well with the SB16 will be more likely to be newer and let me specifically configure them to use 240/7/3.
The downside to this is that any older games which would work fine on the SB16 will be use the Aztech as well.
Is there any way around this, or a better way to configure things so I am using the SB16 most of the time and can actually use the Aztech only when absolutely necessary?