First post, by swaaye
This is one of my favorite pieces of hardware from DOS times. The hardware wavetable MIDI cards just shocked me when I went from my SBPro to a Ensoniq Soundscape. Doom was unbelievable, TIE Fighter was so much more powerful, etc. It was amazing. The best part was the interactive sound that game programmers put into their games with the flexibility of MIDI. TIE Fighter is the best example of this IMO.
There were tons of different DOS MIDI cards to choose from, some really stunk, others were shockingly accurate. Roland, Creative, Ensoniq, Turtle Beach, Logitech, Yamaha: the list goes on and on. It was a time when cutting costs was seemingly less important than making a good sounding card (at least for some). So, what was your favorite?
I had 2 Soundscapes, the original S2000 and then the ELITE (which I still have today). I've also picked up a AWE64 Gold and a SB32 to mess with. When I got the Ensoniq AudioPCI I was disappointed because the quality was a lot lower than the old Soundscapes....and it was all software-based.
I'd say the SS ELITE was my favorite. The onboard MIDI for the SB32 stinks (512K). The AWE64 hasn't really been used much. Though I do like how I can load patchsets onto my SB32's 8MB RAM expansion and play games in Win98SE with even better sound. It's hit and miss with compatibility though.