Pierre32 wrote on 2021-01-31, 22:04:

My two cents: […]
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Shreddoc wrote on 2021-01-31, 21:46:

I was wondering - and I hope this is an ok place to ask the question - which of the Serda waveblaster boards is considered to be "the top, premium one"? It seems that the Dreamblaster S2 is the most expensive, so should I assume it to be the one?

There are quite a few options now, and choice becomes harder (when budget is not unlimited!, unfortunately).

My two cents:

With the two available Dream-based boards, you can safely go by price: Dreamblaster S2 vs X2

The overall "best" is probably a showdown between the X2 and the Yucatan FX (with its real Roland GS ROM). That's going to come down to your ears and feature preferences.

The Crystal Blaster, McFly and upcoming E-Wave are more 'special interest' items which aren't trying to compete with the above. My money's reserved for an E-Wave, personally 😀

Cheers man! I'll focus my detailed research onto the former trio, then.

On the GM/GS side of things, that is.

Yes, the e-wave, the e-wave [editor: actually I'm thinking of a different one] <looks dreamily into distance> .. I love my external modules, but a tidy, no-fuss internal waveblaster MT-32 is a very compelling prospect. The elegance of the self-contained. Waiting with anticipation to see what sort of price bracket it's going to fall into, and thus, how many I'll want. 🤣

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-01-31, 21:46:

I was wondering - and I hope this is an ok place to ask the question - which of the Serda waveblaster boards is considered to be "the top, premium one"? It seems that the Dreamblaster S2 is the most expensive, so should I assume it to be the one?

There are quite a few options now, and choice becomes harder (when budget is not unlimited!, unfortunately).

The premium is definitely Dreamblaster X2 at this point. YucatanFX is nice but as I already have an external Sound Canvas device I find myself going back to the X2, which is godly with the Buran sound bank and some equalizer tinkering. As a bonus, X2 can do (basic) MT-32 emulation (granted, Dreamblaster S2 also has this functionality with its soundbank but it sounds.. disagreeable to me when used in this manner.)

Buyer beware - the Yucatan FX has some issues. Phil found that the Yucatan FX is problematic. Its bass is too punchy and its equalizer levels are all wrong, leading to distortion.

The original SAM9733 boards have the exact same problems, so it isn't a Yucatan issue.

Tiido wrote on 2021-02-01, 16:17:

The original SAM9733 boards have the exact same problems, so it isn't a Yucatan issue.

If I understand correctly this couldn't be solved in hardware right, as the digital signal is already clipped before it goes into the DAC?

LightStruk wrote on 2021-02-01, 15:48:

Buyer beware - the Yucatan FX has some issues. Phil found that the Yucatan FX is problematic. Its bass is too punchy and its equalizer levels are all wrong, leading to distortion.

The issues in Phil's video can be fixed with EQ presets. See 26:40 of his vid for Descent comparison. Then see here where Serge addresses it, and scroll down a couple of posts for Hummtaro's contributions: Re: New Waveblaster card : Reptile Paradise - Yucatan FX

Oetker wrote on 2021-02-01, 19:28:

If I understand correctly this couldn't be solved in hardware right, as the digital signal is already clipped before it goes into the DAC?

Yeah, the signal clips already before it enters DAC and it happens on all SAM9733 based hardware using the GS ROM. The firmware in the sample ROM simply sets fairly unreasonable defaults for many parameters but they can be all fixed with some workarounds available, such as my DREAMFIX util and a sysex package that has few more features available (i.e EQ settings).

Added necroware AKA scorp's Silly Sound Bastard, a DIY configurable Covox Speech Thing clone.

Updated the status of the AWE64 Legacy - it's now available for pre-order.

Added the ISA Audio Interface by ALEKS, a new CS4231A + OPTi 82C924 card with a true YMF262. It is detected as a "generic OPTi sound card."

Also worth pointing out that ALEKS wrote a new DOS driver for this card, with a very clean command-line interface and a nice ASCII graphics mixer.

Thanks for adding my card.
While it's true that I programmed the entire driver, I also used some portions of code (especially the SBPRO and MPU interfaces) from Jan Knipperts. Without those parts the driver wouldn't be what it is.

Cheers,
A.

ALEKS wrote on 2021-03-16, 14:16:

Thanks for adding my card. While it's true that I programmed the entire driver, I also used some portions of code (especially th […]
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Thanks for adding my card.
While it's true that I programmed the entire driver, I also used some portions of code (especially the SBPRO and MPU interfaces) from Jan Knipperts. Without those parts the driver wouldn't be what it is.

Cheers,
A.

Can you post a link to more info on your card? I'm interested.

LightStruk already added it to the first page of the thread.
But here is a direct link.

Cheers,

I am surprised by this since it's mentioned in the thread, but the excellent Dreamblaster lineup of wavetable boards (X1, X2, X2GS and by extension the McFly module) is missing from the top post. They are in many ways superior boards to the Yucatan FX, which is listed instead.

BeastOfSoda wrote on 2021-06-06, 20:42:

I am surprised by this since it's mentioned in the thread, but the excellent Dreamblaster lineup of wavetable boards (X1, X2, X2GS and by extension the McFly module) is missing from the top post. They are in many ways superior boards to the Yucatan FX, which is listed instead.

As excellent as they are they are not reproductions of any retro hardware..

AWE64 Legacy, Orpheus and many others also not a reproduction of any retro hardware. But they are in the list.

Tend to agree. They're all modern reproductions of the vintage soundcard experience, even if there's no 1:1 product match.

appiah4 wrote on 2021-06-07, 05:50:

BeastOfSoda wrote on 2021-06-06, 20:42:

I am surprised by this since it's mentioned in the thread, but the excellent Dreamblaster lineup of wavetable boards (X1, X2, X2GS and by extension the McFly module) is missing from the top post. They are in many ways superior boards to the Yucatan FX, which is listed instead.

As excellent as they are they are not reproductions of any retro hardware..

Well, the X2GS contains an officially licensed Roland GS sound bank, which makes it sound very close to an SC-55 module. That should at least count as a reproduction with said sound bank loaded.

Also, going by the OP's definition: "I'm talking about drop-in replacements for old sound hardware that use unmodified old software." This is very much the case for recent wavetable boards, as they use the same interface as models from 30 years ago to provide the same functionality, with no differences in configuration or usage; to me, that looks like a valid reproduction of vintage hardware.

It may be argued that the sound signature does not reproduce any period correct model, but the same case could be made about original GUS or AWE boards, where developers could provide their own game-specific sound patches and make games sound completely different from the manufacturer's soundfonts.

MadLynx wrote on 2021-06-07, 08:16:

AWE64 Legacy, Orpheus and many others also not a reproduction of any retro hardware. But they are in the list.

I'd say these need to be removed rather than the dreamblaster cards be added, but.. touche.

I would think the list should contain all the recently made hardware that is explicitly designed to be used with the retro hardware with their software environments. I imagine primary purpose of this list is more or less to easily see what is available with intent to actually get and use these things instead of period correct hardware, whatever it may be as in the end it plays the sound and music in the games etc. just like the period correct hardware does, fulfilling the function.