what's the best "sound mode"? \ VOGONS

what's the best "sound mode"?

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First post, by weldum

Posted on 2018-09-30, 15:25

weldum Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 500
Joined: 2016-02-16, 07:25
Location: Mendoza-Arg

hi to all.

while some has real sound blaster and/or clones in their machines, others just stick with what they have or can afford/get and many times will end in a clone or compatible card that has various sound modes (or compatibility modes)

for example, i have an advance logic als-100+, and a crystal cx-4237, both sound pretty well to me and i can't afford a better card or a real sound blaster.

there are games like turrican 2 that can use a great variety of sound cards and systems, one of these modes with best quality is Windows Sound System.

my idea is to make a list of these kind of games, and test them on various sound cards to see compatibility and what mode delivers the best sound quality.

can you name games? 'cause i don't know them, i was born in '96 and started gaming in late '06 so i have few knowledge on the dos era. thanks!

DT: R7-5800X3D/R5-3600/R3-1200/P-G5400/FX-6100/i3-3225/P-8400/D-900/K6-2_550
LT: C-N2840/A64-TK57/N2600/N455/N270/C-ULV353/PM-1.7/P4-2.6/P133
TC: Esther-1000/Esther-400/Vortex86-366
Others: Drean C64c/Czerweny Spectrum 48k/Talent MSX DPC200/M512K/MP475

Reply 1 of 1, by leileilol

Posted on 2018-09-30, 23:44

leileilol Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 12339
Joined: 2006-12-16, 18:03

Generally from memory:

AWE32/64 - for games with AWE samples (Eradicator, etc)
SB16 - Miles Sound System games particularly gives the best sound quality for their SB16 driver. The AWEs and SOME AC97s can work with this.
SBPro - as SB16 isn't SBPro compatible but most clones are, OPL3 etc
Gravis Ultrasound - if the game uses a tracker music sound system, it'll likely support this natively and sound very great beyond any other supported choice, otherwise it'll be either be software mixed like a SB with weird sample rates. no FM
WSS - there's many variants that support WSS but generally require either a TSR or Windows running which is not an option for many games. If this sounds better than your WSS variant's SB emulation TSR then use it

I'll not touch on the wide world of MIDI daughterboards, synths and modules.... that's a sensitive, subjective matter

long live PCem

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