I found a lot of Maxis titles in Win3.11 to GPF after installing the YMF719 driver; never to the bottom of that, could just be my configuration

I would try picogus.
It has exelent adlib, cms and soundblaster emulation for older titles, very good hardware mpu-401 emulation and somewhat working gus emulation for later games.
I mostly use it for my xt and 286 builds.

Yeah.
I'm new to the whole 486 and DOS world of computing, up until now the oldest system I had was a Pentium 2 233 so you will have to use the big word version or picture book story version with me.

I mentioned those two cards because they both seem to be in a decent supply online and the price doesn't break the bank.

I was thinking Creative Sound blaster because it's thee name for sound cards but Yamaha is also mentioned and I found one about the same price.

I'm looking at spending about 40 quid on one from Ebay UK...

I want to play games as mentioned above.

That's all I know.
Words like picogus and adlib mean nothing to me at all. My idea of an add in sound card starts with a Li e 5.1 🤣

OPL3-SA(x) with YMF-71(x) chipset. The best for me.
Or ES186(x), very excellent choice.

In my personal opinion, if you never had any experience with setting up sound cards under DOS, I would go for the SB16. For me it was the easiest to set up out of all the cards I have ever tested. Also, I experienced some difficulties while trying to use Yamaha cards under DOS, but it might've been just a problem with my hardware.

Another thing you might want to check out is UNISOUND. A few weeks back I decided to test some new cars I bought with it, and it just worked. You just run the program and boom. Sound is working. Even if you decide to use the standard driver with the SB16, it is also really easy, and I never had any problems with it.

You can also look for cards with the ESS chip. They're quite cheap and are also really good. Personally I only own an ES1688f, which I bought for around £4 locally, and it's an awesome card. Also never experienced any problems with it.

Can't go wrong with ES1868/ES1869

vstrakh wrote on 2025-06-09, 09:42:

Can't go wrong with ES1868/ES1869

You can go wrong with the ES1868/ES1869 if you expect to get 16-bit sound from games that do not specifically support that card. The 16-bit mode of the ESS chips is proprietary, and neither compatible to SB16, nor to WSS. Everything else (i.e. you just want SB Pro support for DOS, and you don't mind the differences between ESFM and OPL3) is perfectly fine with that chip, so being aware of the limits, it might be a really good choice, especially if you get it very cheap because "it's not Creative Labs".

Between the Yamaha and Sound Blaster 16.
The SoundBlaster 16 looks to be affected by the "hanging note bug" Only an issue if you plan to use a external MIDI device, like a Roland sound canvas.
Both have a Yamaha OPL chip.
The Yamaha "only" has SB Pro support vs "full" Sound Blaster 16
You can get 16bit sound on the Yamaha if the game has WSS support.

Both cards are good choices.

chinny22 wrote on 2025-06-10, 01:34:

The SoundBlaster 16 looks to be affected by the "hanging note bug" Only an issue if you plan to use a external MIDI device, like a Roland sound canvas.

Just to avoid a possible misunderstanding: Regarding the hanging note bug, every MPU401-connected MIDI synthesizer is the same. So the hanging note bug applies to both internal wavetable daughter boards and external devices plugged into the game port. The hanging note bug does not affect FM synthesis.

EDIT: spelling only

In a 386+ for me no less than AWE64

I don't see any advantages with the AWE64 over the SB16, at least when you use the Value version. Never used it in DOS but under Windows it performs just like the SB16. When I select the AWE32 in any game it sounds absolutely horrible, and in some games it doesn't even play the music correctly and messes up the notes, so I just select Adlib instead. Paying more just to use it like a standard SB16 just makes no sense to me. Also in my test rig the AWE64 was really noisy. It might be something to do with the fact that I own the Value version, but I don't think the other versions perform any different.
I know a lot of people care about the hanging note bug, but if u don't plan to use midi I don't think it makes sense to pay for a more expensive card when you can get a cheaper one which performs the same.

The advantage of AWExx are the wavetable sounds, games that support AWE32, General Midi will have better (more realistic) music sound. You can find tests of same game with different soundcards on YT.
I don't know what the price for awe32/64,SB16 or even GUS, picoGUS could be alternative.

Like 90's when upgraded SB16 to AWE64, i prefer something like AWExx instead SB16, i don't think that "bugs" will be a problem

For a 486 system, I would go with a Yamaha card.

Sound Blaster cards tend to have various issues. Just looking at the Sound Blaster: From best to worst list, the CT 2890 model not only has the MPU-401 hanging note/slow down bugs, but also Vibra clipping and ringing/hissing audio issues.

There also aren't a lot of games that would necessarily take advantage of 16-bit sound on a 486 DX2 system.

Easy choice in my book—1992 saw the release of the Intel DX2, the Sound Blaster 16, and the Gravis Ultrasound.

ksiumaxx wrote on 2025-06-11, 07:08:

I don't see any advantages with the AWE64 over the SB16, at least when you use the Value version. Never used it in DOS but under Windows it performs just like the SB16. When I select the AWE32 in any game it sounds absolutely horrible, and in some games it doesn't even play the music correctly and messes up the notes, so I just select Adlib instead. Paying more just to use it like a standard SB16 just makes no sense to me. Also in my test rig the AWE64 was really noisy. It might be something to do with the fact that I own the Value version, but I don't think the other versions perform any different.
I know a lot of people care about the hanging note bug, but if u don't plan to use midi I don't think it makes sense to pay for a more expensive card when you can get a cheaper one which performs the same.

Indeed AWE isn't for everyone, I think of it more as a SB16 with a budget MIDI device included, then something amazing.
Full professional Midi devices from Yamaha, Roland, produce much better sound but were much MUCH more expensive back in the 90's
AWE is very much consumer level but can sound good depending on the game, With the below games even loading custom soundfonts
(I believe all were limited to 512KB so even the Value is supported)

It's nice you know you have the capability if you want it and ignore it when you don't.

Battle Arena Toshinden
Dungeon Keeper
Eradicator
Hi-Octane
Magic Carpet 2
Nerves of Steel
Perfect General II
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri

ksiumaxx wrote on 2025-06-11, 07:08:

I don't see any advantages with the AWE64 over the SB16, at least when you use the Value version. Never used it in DOS but under Windows it performs just like the SB16. When I select the AWE32 in any game it sounds absolutely horrible, and in some games it doesn't even play the music correctly and messes up the notes, so I just select Adlib instead. Paying more just to use it like a standard SB16 just makes no sense to me. Also in my test rig the AWE64 was really noisy. It might be something to do with the fact that I own the Value version, but I don't think the other versions perform any different.
I know a lot of people care about the hanging note bug, but if u don't plan to use midi I don't think it makes sense to pay for a more expensive card when you can get a cheaper one which performs the same.

Man, big advantage for modules using awe players, sound so amazing and not worry about cpu usage

The quality is much beter than any software based player i tested

For me one of most important use in computers, audio players

ksiumaxx wrote on 2025-06-11, 07:08:

When I select the AWE32 in any game it sounds absolutely horrible, and in some games it doesn't even play the music correctly and messes up the notes, so I just select Adlib instead.

While the small onboard sample set of the AWE32 isn't necessarily great, especially compared to a Sound Canvas, it is definitely supposed to be a level up from AdLib, and that's how I remember my SB32 in DOS games with AWE support. I suspect your card was broken, given the experience you report.

There are indeed games which can make good use of AWE cards. I suggest checking out this thread by Cloudschatze: AWEstruck...

That said, for the OPs use case, I would recommend the Yamaha YMF719 + low-pass filter mod.

mkarcher wrote on 2025-06-12, 17:38:

ksiumaxx wrote on 2025-06-11, 07:08:

When I select the AWE32 in any game it sounds absolutely horrible, and in some games it doesn't even play the music correctly and messes up the notes, so I just select Adlib instead.

While the small onboard sample set of the AWE32 isn't necessarily great, especially compared to a Sound Canvas, it is definitely supposed to be a level up from AdLib, and that's how I remember my SB32 in DOS games with AWE support. I suspect your card was broken, given the experience you report.

I still own the card, and I tested it like 2 weeks ago – that's when I had my first ever impression of it. Like I said, the card is giving me some issues under Windows 95 when using its built-in wavetable. When listening to .mid files, it sounds worse than the Adlib interpretation it has. All the instruments have a cracking noise and are really low quality. In games it's a bit better, but this improvement is not consistent across all titles. Some games don't even recognise it as an AWE32, some games have issues with playing music (hanging notes or notes not playing at all), and in some games it sounds alright. Not what I would've expected from a card which has such a lot of positive opinions.
It has no problems with sound effects or Adlib emulation. That part of the AWE64 didn't produce any issues; that's why I said it just makes no sense to me to buy another one in the future when I can use an SB16 and get identical results. It might be better with the AWE32 or AWE64 Gold, but they are out of my price range – I got a really good deal for the Value I own.
I don't see one reason why the AWE64 would be a good choice for gaming apart from the built-in MIDI wavetable, which like I said, doesn't sound too great in my opinion. I see why people would buy the AWE32 or SB32, because they have built-in RAM connectors which allow for use of soundfonts. I know it's possible to buy a SIMMCONN adapter for the AWE64 – which I might buy in the future if I get a good deal on it – but what's even the point when you can buy the AWE32, which can have built-in OPL3 and ability to add more memory out of the box?
Also, you mentioned comparing it to the Sound Canvas. I don't own one, or any MIDI external device, but when comparing the AWE64 Value to a Yamaha built-in sound card in some Pentium 2 machine I have (I don't remember what card exactly it is), the difference is mind-blowing.
I don't want to cause an argument, this is just my opinion about the card. Mabye if I get another example in the future I will be amazed, but the one I currently own is just an SB16 with crappy MIDI.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-06-12, 17:42:

There are indeed games which can make good use of AWE cards. I suggest checking out this thread by Cloudschatze: AWEstruck...

I'm actually amazed by how good the AWE32 sounds in this comparison - nothing like the AWE64 I have. It might actually be a problem on my side, which caused the negative experience I had.