ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) (12/29/90)
From article <9895@lanl.gov>, by rdw2030@venus.tamu.edu: > I am interested in purchasing a sound card for my PC and am wondering what > the different advantages are to owning the various boards are. What I really > need is your opinion of such boards as AdLib, Sound Blaster, etc. > > Which ones support stereo, sampling, MIDI? Which ones can emulate other > boards? Any other pertinent info... Adlib supports 11-voice mono FM music (only?), while SoundBlaster supports the same 11-voice FM music, plus 12-voice stereo CMS music, digitized sound sampling (4kHz to 23kHz?), digitized voice output, MIDI (optional box required), joystick port, includes a voice synthesizer, and some user-play-around softwares. More important to microchannel computer users, the micro-channel SoundBlaster is coming out in about 2 months... E. Teng Ong (ong@d.cs.okstate.edu) Oklahoma State University
rdw2030@venus.tamu.edu (12/29/90)
I am interested in purchasing a sound card for my PC and am wondering what the different advantages are to owning the various boards are. What I really need is your opinion of such boards as AdLib, Sound Blaster, etc. Which ones support stereo, sampling, MIDI? Which ones can emulate other boards? Any other pertinent info... Thanks a ton. Mark C. "Bro!" Lowe - KB5III RDW2030@TAMVENUS.BITNET
ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) (12/31/90)
From article <1990Dec31.231057.20001@en.ecn.purdue.edu>, by bob@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Robert A Rusbasan): > In article <1990Dec28.165028.20181@d.cs.okstate.edu> ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) writes: >>Adlib supports 11-voice mono FM music (only?), while SoundBlaster supports >>the same 11-voice FM music, plus 12-voice stereo CMS music, digitized sound > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > This now costs extra. ^^^ $20 extra. Can you plug the CMS chips in any other card and get 12-voice stereo??? >>sampling (4kHz to 23kHz?), digitized voice output, MIDI (optional box > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > The "MIDI" is not > true MIDI and is not compatible with Roland or anything that would > make it useful. Would you like to define a "true" MIDI? According to the liturature, SB MIDI is done to spec that of the international MIDI association, whereas Roland's has additional (their own spec) intellegince built-in. Or if you are saying that because Roland has some users out there already, which makes them the "standard". Can you give any reliable number that there are more than 100,000 Roland's out there? If the number of SB users has not overtake the number of Roland users, I bet it would have by this Christmas. MIDI software makers, like any business enterprise, will change their minds real fast about what is "standard" when they see 200,000 SB users by the end of '91 (i.e. 200,000 potential sales). Voyetra, the software maker of SB MIDI, is currently laughing their way to the bank while the other MIDI software makers are having second thoughts. As for the user, with the optional $100 MIDI setup which includes the MIDI and the MIDI software (directly from Creative Labs), the whole setup totaled only $250, compared to Roland's $400 (more?). Plus you get Adlib sound, digitized voice output and sampling, and more. I have came across a few SB MIDI users and have yet to hear any "compatibility" complaint. Instead, what they said was that they wouldn't going to paid $400 just for MIDI alone. >>required), joystick port, includes a voice synthesizer, and some >>user-play-around softwares. More important to microchannel computer >>users, the micro-channel SoundBlaster is coming out in about 2 months... > > If you don't have a mint, the SB is the way to go though...just for > the digital sound that it adds to the AdLib compatibility. Total agreement here. More of the new games are using the digital sound output. Hhmmm... maybe they will start using the digital sampling (input). Will pay a lot more to input some game commands thru headset microphone instead of keyboard.
bob@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Robert A Rusbasan) (01/01/91)
In article <1990Dec28.165028.20181@d.cs.okstate.edu> ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) writes: >From article <9895@lanl.gov>, by rdw2030@venus.tamu.edu: >> Which ones support stereo, sampling, MIDI? Which ones can emulate other >> boards? Any other pertinent info... >Adlib supports 11-voice mono FM music (only?), while SoundBlaster supports >the same 11-voice FM music, plus 12-voice stereo CMS music, digitized sound ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This now costs extra. >sampling (4kHz to 23kHz?), digitized voice output, MIDI (optional box ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The "MIDI" is not true MIDI and is not compatible with Roland or anything that would make it useful. >required), joystick port, includes a voice synthesizer, and some >user-play-around softwares. More important to microchannel computer >users, the micro-channel SoundBlaster is coming out in about 2 months... If you don't have a mint, the SB is the way to go though...just for the digital sound that it adds to the AdLib compatibility. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- / Bob Rusbasan | "So many pitchforks, so little hay." \ / bob@en.ecn.purdue.edu | - Old MacDonald in hell \ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) (01/01/91)
The SoundBlaster card does not ship with 12-voice stereo CMS compatibility any more. You can buy the chips to add this directly from the company. It is now a 12-voice sound card (11 Adlib voices plus 1 DAC). Stuart W. Pierce
KRW1@Lehigh (01/02/91)
Yes, the SOUND BLASTER talks true MIDI, but no, it's not very useful. First, it is not Roland MPU compatible, which eliminates most MIDI software on the market. If the card were popular enough, developers would be inclinded to write to it, if not for the second difficulty - it is unable to simultaneously send and receive MIDI data. In typical multi-track sequencing software, that basically means that you can't lay down new tracks while listening to the ones already recorded. The only big player supporting the interface now is Voyetra with its scaled-down version of Seq Plus called Seq Jr. It uses the built-in FM sound generator to play back existing tracks while recording a new one via MIDI. Even there, they admit the solution is sub-optimal and recommend an additional Roland compatible board. Bottom line is, if all you want to do is MIDI playback or very simple recording, the SB is passable. Otherwise, if you can afford another $40-50, get a "compatible" interface. -- Kevin
dlcogswe@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Dan Cogswell) (05/11/91)
Could someone give me their opinion of the various sound cards for use in games for DOS machines? Specifically, 1) Do they provide sound effects or just music? 2) Is the AdLib card good enough? I.E., is the Sound Blaster worth the extra 60 bucks? 3) Are those of you with these cards happy with them? 4) Anybody know of a good (read "cheap") source for one? 5) Which of these boards has stereo output a la Amiga sound or something similar? 6) Anything else of interest, let me know... Thanks... -- Dan Cogswell dlcogswe@vela.acs.oakland.edu