rgehring@roof.es.com (06/10/91)
A while back, someone posted an article comparing the Soundblaster and Adlib cards. If anyone saved it or has good/bad experiences about them I would like to hear from you. Rick
ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) (06/11/91)
From article <1991Jun10.164804.5755@dsd.es.com>, by rgehring@roof.es.com: > A while back, someone posted an article comparing > the Soundblaster and Adlib cards. If anyone saved > it or has good/bad experiences about them I would > like to hear from you. > > Rick There you go. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Path: d.cs.okstate.edu!uokmax!unmvax!ariel.unm.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!samsung !rex!uflorida!pine.circa.ufl.edu!hans From: hans@pine.circa.ufl.edu (Hans van Oostrom) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Summary of which sound card to get Message-ID: <28137@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Date: 23 Apr 91 00:29:31 GMT Sender: news@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU Reply-To: hans@pine.circa.ufl.edu Organization: University of Florida - Dept. of Anesthesiology Lines: 81 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4 Summary of my posting about which sound card to get Adlib or SoundBlaster. Score: Soundblaster 5 - Adlib 0 Thanks to everyone that replied, I'm gonna order a SoundBlaster From: "Scott Preston" <sp4@reef.cis.ufl.edu> I have a Sound Blaster. I used to have an adlib, the sound blaster has many advantages, it has a joystick connector on it, a digitized sound capability (play and record), and it IS 100% adlib compatable. Go for the Sound Blaster, it is a much better deal! From: Jay Hofacker <jayh@ms.uky.edu> I recently bought a Soundblaster for my '386. The Soundblaster does everything the Adlib does plus it has a single voice digital channel. This DAC can be used to play digitized samples from 5000Hz to 23000Hz. Programs are available that will play digitized sounds from Macintoshes, Amigas, Sparc Stations and Next computers on the Soundblaster DAC. The Soundblaster can also digitize from nearly any audio source, which can later be played back on the Soundblaster. The SoundBlaster also has a joystick game port (which can be disabled if you already have one). For about $60 you can get an external Midi connector box with has 1 MIDI in and 5 MIDI out ports for connecting the Sound Blaster to electronic keyboards or other MIDI Instruments. For about $20 you can add two chips to the Sound Blaster which makes it compatible with C/MS or Game Blaster. The Game Blaster has 12 stereo voices, as opposed to Adlib's 11 Mono voices. From: Stephen M. Smith <smsmith@hpuxa.acs.ohio-state.edu> I have the soundblaster card and it's great. All the games that use the adlib will work on the soundblaster because the soundblaster is 100% adlib compatible. The soundblaster has added features, though, like text to speech sythesis, digitizing features, stereo sound, and other things. Don't get an adlib--get the soundblaster. You can also play Amiga files on the soundblaster with some shareware software. The Amiga files sound REALLY cool--they use digitized voices for instruments!! From: Mark Kern <mek4_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu> I think you will find the SoundBlaster card a much better investment over the Adlib. I have the Sound Blaster, and it sounds great. I read several review of sound cards before making my decision, and all of them agreed that the Sound Blaster sounded better than Adlib, even while emulating it! The Sound Blaster gives you a cleaner digital channel (8-bit 21khz), and all the voices of the Adlib plus optional CMS compatabilty (you need to add two small chips for this). CMS is another sound card that isn't really supported anymore. The Sound Blaster will even give you MIDI if you buy the optional MIDI box for the input and output. The Adlib is at the bottom edge of PC sound technology right now. It will probably be worthless in a year, especially since there are many new sound cards rumored to be coming out from Adlib,Sound Blaster and Roland. From: ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) Sound Blaster. You get 100% hardware Adlib compatible, joystick port, option CMS 12-voice stereo, optional MIDI, 2x4watts power amplifier (no need for external amplifier if you use headset or mini speakers, Adlib I *think* has only 1 watt, correct me if I am wrong), and most important of all, you get the 8-bit voice DMA input/output. The new games are beginning to use the 8-bit voice output. The other cards are simply too expensive. Even the new souped-up "Adlib" card by a company called Multi-Media (I think) wants $379 street-price (spoke to one guy in the company). There are close to 100,000 Sound Blasters in the US and nearly as many outside the US, game makers big and small cannot afford to ignore that kind of popularity! ------ Hans van Oostrom PO Box J-254, JHMHC hans@ufpine (BITNET) Gainesville, FL 32601, USA hans@pine.circa.ufl.edu (INTERNET) ------------------------------end_of_summary------------------------------
knudsen@cbnewsd.att.com (michael.j.knudsen) (06/14/91)
Say, how come I never hear about the IBM/Yamaha Music Feature Card on these newsgroups, along with the Soundblaster and AdLib? Is the MF old hat? Discontinued? Not supported by Sierra's games? Too much oriented towards professionals (ie, overpriced)? BTW I think it's kind of ironic that the PC is reversing the previous trends in home computer music. Way back when, there were lots of plug-in music generator cards and even (piano-type) keyboards, for Apple II, Commodore, Tandy Color Computer, etc. Then MIDI caught on, and everyone got a MIDI interface and some little synthesizer, and the specialized plug-in cards dried up overnite. Fun to see the PC world bringing them back, but frustrating to see the MIDI standard being ignored except by professional musicians. BTW, I think Music Feature card included a MIDI interface too. -- "What America needs is A Thousand Points When Lit..." knudsen@ihlpl.att.com