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** SOUNDCARDS SUMMARY ** APRIL '93
**** SOUNDCARDS - Which is the best? - April 1993 ****
Here is the 4th revision of the article about soundcards. New to
the list is the Turtle Beach MultiSound. The description of this
card is based on a few articles in several magazines.
The text of this article is composed from a lot of messages of
different people. I hope they're not going to flame me for taking
their remarks and putting them into this article. But anyway...
Thanx to everyone who contributed to this article.
I'm not sure if everything in this article is correct. If you
find any mistakes, or have comments or suggestions, then let me
know by e-mail. The opinions in this article are my own, unless
stated otherwise; other people might have other opinions (I
certainly hope they do ;-)).
**** INTRODUCTION
Generally PC's can produce music in four different ways,
dependent on the type of soundcard used:
1. By Digital to Analogue (D/A) conversion. Samples stored in the
computer's memory are digitally processed and transformed to
analogue signals, that can be played over a stereo set or
headphones.
2. By synthesis. The computer sends note-information to the
soundcard, which produces analogue signals. There are two basic
forms of synthesis: FM and wavetable synthesis.
3. By MIDI. Note-information is send through a MIDI-interface to
a MIDI-device, which produces the music.
4. By controlling a CD-ROM drive. The music is stored on CD-ROM
which is controlled by the computer.
** FM synthesis
With FM synthesis the tones are produced by waveform generators,
called operators. The more operators are used, the better the
sound quality will be. A disadvantage of FM synthesis is that it
is very hard to produce realistic sounding instruments,
especially when playing high pitched notes (reeds, guitar, etc.).
The Adlib was the first soundcard that used this technique, using
a Yamaha YM3812 FM chip with two operators. Most Adlib compatible
cards (SoundBlaster, Pro Audio Spectrum) are also using this
techn ique. The newer cards are mostly using the new Yamaha
YMF262 (OPL-3) FM chip, which has four operators.
** Wavetable synthesis (WS)
With WS (mostly 16-bit PCM) samples are used to produce sound.
The samples are stored in ROM or RAM on the soundcard. A
WS-processor performs operations on the samples, such as altering
their pitch and length. Since the samples are taken from real
instruments, they generally sound very realistic. Until recently
this technique was only used by high-end soundcards, but it is
becoming more and more popular now. Examples of cards that use WS
are the Gravis UltraSound, the Roland SCC-1 and the Turtle Beach
MultiSound.
** MIDI
[The following explaination is from Teemu Mottonen]
(General) MIDI is a standard that many synth- and soundcards
manufacturers are starting to use. It assigns particular sounds
to certain sound (or patch) numbers. There are 128 of them. This
way, say, a MIDI file that uses sound number 1 will always play
an 'acoustic piano' on different synths.
In PCs, mainly two kinds of MIDI interfaces are used: UART MIDI
and MPU-401. The first can be found in soundblasters, Pro Audio
Spectrums, etc. With these the computer (or the program using
MIDI) handles everything. MPU-401 is the model of an early PC
MIDI interface by Roland. This interface has two modes: dumb and
intelligent. Many DOS programs use the MPU in the intelligent
mode, so compatibility is a must. In Windows things are
different; as long as you have a driver for the MIDI card, things
should work o.k.
Some cards use a mixture of these techniques, such as the Roland
LAPC-1.
** Sampling
Most cards nowadays support sampling. Usually this is done in
8-bit or 16-bit resolution, but there are cards that use other
resolutions (Adlib Gold 1000 uses 12-bit sampling). Sampling is
done by an Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC). Samples can be
compressed by using PCM (Puls Code Modulation) or AD-PCM, which
is an variant of PCM that yields higher compression. With AD-PCM
the sound quality usually is less than with PCM.
** MPC (Multimedia PC) specifications.
A PC may be called a "Multimedia PC" (MPC) if it conforms to a
number of specifications. For the soundcards these specs are:
* 8-bit DAC (16-bit recommended) with PCM and 11 and 22 KHz
sampling. Processor load may not be more than 10%.
* 8-bit ADC (16-bit recommended) with PCM and 11 and 22 KHz
sampling.
* Microphone (or Line) input.
* MIDI synthesizer, 6-tone polyphonic (6 tones at the same
time), FM-based and/or sample-based (WS). If sample-based, the
samples must at least be 8-bit.
* Audio mixer.
Since a MPC must be equipped with a CD-ROM, most soundcards
provide a CD-ROM interface, with a minimum throughput of 150
kB/sec.
** Channels, instruments and voices.
These words are common in the soundcard-business, but what do
they mean? It took a while before I understood what they were and
I am not sure if I do now, so correct me if I'm wrong. I will try
to explain.
First of all, instruments, patches and voices refer to the same
thing, namely one 'instance' of an instrument. An instrument can
be played in various notes. When you put these notes after each
other, then you have a (instrument) track.
"Polyphonic" means "multiple voices", i.e. more than one instance
of an instrument.
In MIDI, each instrument can be played "through" a single
channel. So if a card has 8 channels, it means that it can play 8
instrument tracks at the same time. In synth terms, this would
probably be called "multi-timbral", i.e. "playing multiple
instruments at once". A channel would then be simply "left" or
"right", to indicate the position of the sounds when playing
stereo.
Let me try to illustrate this with an example: Consider an
orchestra divided into 8 sections, where each section plays one
type of instrument (piano, violin, drums). Every section can
contain one or more musicians, lets say 16. In MIDI, this would
be called "8-channel, 16 multiple voices per channel". In general
synth terms it would say "8 voice multi-timbral, 16 voice
polyphonic".
**** REVIEWED CARDS
I will give an overview of some cards that looked interesting to
me. Most of them were released only recently. The reviewed cards
are: The SoundBlaster Pro, the SoundBlaster 16, the Pro Audio
Plus/16, the Gravis UltraSound, the Roland LAPC-1 and SCC-1 and
the Turtle Beach MultiSound. After that I'll give an short
description of some other cards. All these cards, except for the
Rolands, are MPC-compliant.
** The SoundBlaster Pro (SB-pro)
The SoundBlaster (SB) from Creative Labs was the first Adlib
compatible card that, besides FM music, was capable of recording
and playing (8-bit) samples. The original SB contained 1 (mono)
or 2 (stereo) Yamaha YM3812 chips. The first SB-pro was also
equipped with 2 YM3812 chips, but the newer version (SB-pro 2.0)
containes the new OPL-3 chip.
The SB-pro is capable of 8-bit sampling at 44.100 Hz in stereo
and supports AD-PCM compression. It has a CD-ROM interface
which is only compatible with Matsushita drives. A General
MIDI interface is present. The SB-pro has a 2 x 4 Watts
amplifier. Volume can be altered manually on the back of the
card or by software.
Inputs:
* Microphone,
* external line in.
Outputs:
* Audio,
* line out,
* SB compatible MIDI,
* SB CD-ROM interface.
The SB-pro is fully Adlib and SB compatible. It is supported by a
lot of games, but not all of these games use the extra
possibilities of the Pro version.
Sampling quality of the SB-pro is good. Since it uses
FM-synthesis to generate sound, the SB-pro is not a good card to
produce high quality music. However, FM-synthesis in combination
with sampling produces good results for games. Older versions of
the SB and SB-pro are not shielded very well: You can hear a lot
of background noise from the harddisk or the power supply.
There are several SB-pro version: The newest is the SB-pro
DeLuxe. It comes with four 3.5" HD, two 3.5" DD disks and a CD.
The software is not bad, especially the Windows applications are
nice. The most interesting programs are: Monologue, HSC InterActive,
Creative Wave Studio and the SB-pro mixer program.
The two DD disk contain two games: Lemmings 1 and Indianapolis
500. The CD contains an encyclopedia, but you need a CD-ROM
player if you want to use it!
PERSONAL OPINION: The big advantage of the SB is its support by a
lot of games. Too bad these games do not always support the extra
capabilities of the SB-pro. Therefore, if you're not looking for
a CD-ROM, I think you can better buy a normal SB than a SB-pro.
If you do want to have CD-ROM, you have to bear in mind that the
SB-pro supports only Matsushita CD-ROM drives.
** SoundBlaster 16
The SoundBlaster 16 (SB 16) is an improved version of the SB,
that offers real 16 bit stereo sound. Of course the SB16 is SB
and Adlib compatible, but it is NOT compatible with the SB-pro.
The SB-16 supports 8 and 16 bit stereo sampling and playing up to
44.1 KHz, has dynamic filtering and ADPCM compression. It also
contains a 16 bit ASP (Advanced (Digital) Signal Processor),
which enables you to download a compression and/or voice
recognition algorithm. On-board real-time (de)compression takes
much load off the processor (up to 75%). Compression also
minimizes the amount of data that must be transferred from memory
to the card (16 bit stereo sampling at 44.1 KHz requires 2x2x44 =
176 kB/sec uncompressed... *glug* that really keeps your PC busy!
No more smooth scrolling!).
Like the SB-pro the SB-16 has a Yamaha YMF262 (OPL-3) synthesizer
chip, with 4 voice operator FM synthesis. A WaveBlaster
daughterboard is optional. The WaveBlaster works according to the
General MIDI system and has 128 PCM sampled sounds.
Inputs:
* Microphone,
* external line in.
Outputs:
* Audio line out,
* MPU 401 UART and SB compatible MIDI,
* SB CD-ROM interface.
The MPU-interface is only supported in dumb mode.
The SB16 comes with quite a lot of software. I haven't seen it,
so I don't know if it is good stuff. Included are: Creative Wave
Studio, HCS Interactive, DB Talker, SB Sim, Creative Mosaic,
PC-Animate Plus, Intelligent Organ, MMPlay, Creative Talking
Scheduler, Monologue for Windows, SB MIDI and DOS and Windows 3.1
drivers.
The sampling quality of the SB-16 is good, but there is quite a
lot of noise (I've heard this from someone who's reviewing a test
version, which may not be entirely correct. Maybe the circuitry
isn't shielded very good?). Since there is no software for the
SB-16 yet, the special capabilities cannot be tested.
PERSONAL OPINION: Since it is a SoundBlaster, it is supported
by a lot of games. Together with the optional WaveBlaster it
forms a great, but quite expensive, combo. It's advantages are
its 16 bit sampling and the ASP. But it still has a SB-compatible
CD-ROM interface instead of a SCSI interface and, a major
disadvantage, it is not SB-pro compatible. I think it is best to
wait until software supports this card or else you can better buy
a SB or SB-pro (or other cards: read on!).
** Pro Audio Spectrum Plus and Pro Audio Spectrum 16
The Pro Audio Spectrum Plus and -16 (PAS+ and PAS-16) from Media
Vision are probably the SB's main competitors when it comes to
Adlib compatible cards. Both cards are almost identical, except
that the PAS-16 has 16 bit sampling and the PAS+ 8-bit.
The PAS-16 features 8, 12 and 16 bit stereo sampling and playback
(up to 44.1 KHz), dynamic filtering and ADPCM compression and
decompression. The PAS+ does not have 12 and 16 bit sampling.
Like the SB-pro and SB-16, the PAS has a Yamaha YMF262 (OPL-3)
synthesizer chip with 4 operator FM sounds. The PAS has shielded
circuitry and dynamic filtering.
Inputs:
* Microphone,
* External line in (stereo),
* PC speaker.
Outputs:
* Audio line out (headphones, amplifier),
* SCSI (not just for CD-ROM, but also for tape-streamers,
optical drives, etc),
* general MIDI (requires optional MIDI Mate),
* joystick.
S/N: 90 db.
Dynamic range: 90 db.
Harmonic distortion: 0.05%
The PAS-16 is one of the cards I've tried myself (the others are
the SB-pro and the GUS). The 16-bit samples sounds incredibly
good. The example MOD-files that come with the PAS-16 sound
really awesome (great stereo, no noise)!
The PAS16 comes with quite a lot of software (compared to a lot
of the other cards): Stereo Studio F/X is a waveform editor. It
looks very neat but is incredibly slow. SP Spectrum is a MIDI
sequencer. TrakBlaster Pro is a very nice MOD-player.
Furthermore, there is a mixer (supports "loudness", which makes
low pitched sounds come out better), a multimedia application
(Audio Mate) and a speech synthesizer (Pro Speech). For Windows
there are three (!!) mixers and a number of drivers.
Although Media Vision claims the PAS is fully SB(-pro)
compatible, some people have problems when using the PAS as a SB.
It seems that the PAS is not 100% SB compatible.
PERSONAL OPINION: The PAS16 is a good soundcard but is not the
cheapest sound card. The 16-bit MOD files sound very good, but
playing MIDI songs through the internal FM chip is quite a
disappointment. I like the amount and quality of the software
that comes with the PAS16 and the standard SCSI interface for
CD-ROM. This, and the overall mechanical quality of the card,
IMHO makes the PAS a better card than the SB. Too bad the PAS16
is not 100% compatible with the SB(-pro).
** The Gravis UltraSound
The Gravis UltraSound (GUS) from Advanced Gravis is a brand new
16 bit soundcard that uses wavetable synthese (WS) to generate
sound. With WS 16-bit samples (called patches) are used to
generate sound effects and music. On the GUS, these samples are
stored in RAM.
Standard the GUS supports 8 bit stereo sampling and 16-bit
playback, up to 48 KHz. 16 bit recording is optional (requires a
daughter board). It is 32 voice multi-timbral and 32 voice
polyphonic. The wavetable synthesis enables you to create very
realistic instruments. Unlike the Roland SCC-1, the GUS stores
the samples for WS in RAM, so you have unlimited possibilities.
The instruments can be stored on disk and downloaded to the card
when needed. The GUS comes with 256 kB RAM, but this is a little
too short. However, it can be expanded to 1 MB. According to the
importer (for the Benelux this is Logitech), 1 MB will soon
become the standard amount of RAM for the GUS.
Inputs:
* Microphone,
* Audio Line In.
Outputs:
* Audio Line Out,
* Amplified Audio Out,
* speed compensating joystick (up to 50 Mhz),
* general MIDI (requires optional MIDI adapter),
* SCSI CD-ROM (requires optional SCSI interface card).
S/N: 80 db.
Dynamic range: 96 db.
Harmonic distortion: <0.014%
Gravis claims 100% compatibility with SB and Adlib. This
compatibility is achieved through software emulation by SBOS
(Sound Board Operating System). Unfortunately, in practice SBOS
is not 100% SB compatible. Newer releases are becoming more
compatible. Another big disadvantage of SBOS is that it degrades
performance considerable in some cases. In general SBOS doesn't
work good with demos and high speed animation. It works o.k. with
(for example) King's Quest VI, Dune and Links 386 Pro. Since the
GUS has no FM-chip, the FM-sounds are emulated through
samples/patches. This results in slightly different (but not
worse) sounds than the SB.
All of this is not really a big problem, since the GUS is not
intended to be a SB clone. MIDI files, for example, sound very
good. If you play a piano-song, then you _hear_ a piano and a
guitar sounds like a guitar. As soon as software companies are
going to support the GUS directly, the sound quality will be far
better than a SB. Sierra already announced support for the GUS.
The GUS has no special effects, like chorus and reverb. I am not
sure if the GUS has (dynamic) filtering, since documentation is
brief. The sound quality is very good, in most cases even better
than a Roland LAPC-1. However, the sound quality of the GUS is
dependent on the quality of the patches. Some patches are not so
good, so those instruments sound worse.
Gravis has just finished the new GUS disk set. This disk set
includes 188 instrument patches, a MIDI player, a MOD player, a
Windows patch manager and mixer and some other stuff. The new
disk set also includes two Windows MIDI programs: Power Chords
and Midisoft Recording Session.
Since the GUS is mainly software controlled, it is very flexible.
Gravis continues working on better software support for the GUS.
Also, several game companies have announced GUS support and
almost all major demo groups are working on (or already having)
GUS support. The GUS is undoubtly a very good alternative for the
FM-based cards. (NOTE: This disk set is not yet included in the
packages, but will be sent to the owner if they fill in their
registration card).
PERSONAL OPINION: The GUS seems to be a good soundcard. It offers
high (sound) quality for a low price. Unfortunately it is not
100% SB compatible, but this may be solved by new software
upgrades. Since the card is becoming quite popular, software
developers will probably start to support it very soon. The GUS
is, at this moment, my favourite.
** The Roland LAPC-1 and SCC-1
The Roland LAPC-1 is a semi-professional soundcard based on the
Roland MT-32 module. In fact, the LAPC-1 is a MT-32 and MPU
MIDI-interface on a PC-card. The LAPC-1 contains 128 LA (Linear
Arithmetic) synthesized instruments. The LAPC-1 uses a
combination of samples and waveform synthesis to build a patch
(note): A patch consists of 4 "partials" that can be either a
sample or a linear part. The total number of partials is limited
to 32; up to 8 instruments can be played simultaneously and each
channel can play up to 16 voices at the same time. There is a
9th channel for percussion sounds (MIDI channel 10). Besides 128
instruments, the LAPC-1 has 30 pre-sampled drum- and
percussionsounds and 33 sound-effects.
The SCC-1 is the follow-up of the LAPC-1 and is compatible with
the SC-55. Like the LAPC-1, it is a module (in this case a
CM-300) and a MPU-MIDI interface on one card. The SCC-1 does not
use waveform-synthesis, but is fully WS-based. It contains 317
PCM samples in ROM. A patch can consist of 24 partials, but most
patches use only one partial. Like the LAPC-1 it can use 32
partials simultaneously, but it has 15 channels for instruments
(+ 1 for percussion). The sounds can be fully programmed, except
for the samples.
The LAPC-1 has two special effects: hall and echo; the SCC-1 has
chorus as well. The Roland cards do not have a DAC/ADC, so it is
not possible to record or play samples. They also don't have a
CD-ROM interface. This means that the Roland cards do not conform
to the MPC specifications.
The sound quality of the LAPC-1 is good. High pitched instruments
like piano or reeds do not sound as good as with the GUS. The
quality of the sound-effects in general is quite good. The sound
quality of the SCC-1 is outstanding. The PCM samples are of high
quality. The SCC-1 is not fully compatible with the LAPC-1.
The LAPC-1 comes with no software at all. The SCC-1 only has a
program for enabling the MT-32 emulation mode.
PERSONAL OPINION: The Roland cards are good cards for making
music, especially since they contain a MPU-MIDI interface.
However, the cards are quite expensive and offer less
functionality than other cards. In combination with a cheap SB
the Roland cards are very nice (just listen to Space Quest IV
:^))! But I think the GUS comes close to this combo and it is far
less expensive. It's a pity that the SCC-1 does not have RAM to
store samples in.
** The Turtle Beach MultiSound (TBM)
The TBM is certainly not designed for playing games: It is a
semi-professional card with a semi-professional price tag! The
card uses wavetable synthesis with 16-bits samples. The, in total
384, samples are stored in 4 MB ROM, so they can not be changed.
An E-mu Proteus-1/XR synthesizer processes these samples,
together with a Motorola 56001 Digital Signal Processor. With
this DSP you can add all kinds of effects. Standard supported are
Hall, Chorus and Echo.
The MultiSound supports fully 16-bit sampling, up to 44.1 KHz
stereo. It also has 64-times oversampling. The TBM supports 32
MIDI channels, the same as the GUS. A Turtle Beach compatible
MIDI interface is present as well.
Inputs:
* Auxilary,
* Audio Line In.
Outputs:
* Audio Line Out,
* TB MIDI,
* CD-ROM (requires optional interface card).
S/N: 89 db.
Dynamic range: >95 db.
Harmonic distortion: <0.01%
The sound quality of the TBM is incredible. It sounds almost as
good as a CD! Of course, this is not a surprise if you know that
the Proteus chip is used in professional keyboards. However, this
all has its price...
The TBM is not compatible with SB or Adlib. Only Windows 3.1 is
supported, the card is not intended to be used under DOS. The
software that comes with the TBM are all Windows based and
includes a MIDI mapper, a patch panel, a mixer program and Wave
Lite for Windows.
PERSONAL OPINION: From what I have heared, the TBM is a very
impressive card. But also quite expensive: Approx. US$ 500. The
card is not suitable for people who want to have music with their
games. It does not support SB or Adlib. But for semi-professional
use, it is a very interesting card. IMHO, if it had MPU-401 MIDI
interface, the TBM would definitively be a better choice than a
Roland SCC-1.
** Other cards
Here follows a list of other popular cards, with a short
description of each card:
* Covox/Disney Sound Source. Simple DAC plugged into your
computers printer port.
* Adlib Gold 1000. Adlib and SB compatible card with SCSI and
General MIDI interface. Yahama OPL-3 FM chip. 20 channels,
1-voice polyphonic. Surround processor to improve sound quality.
12 bit sampling and playing up to 44.1 KHz. Inputs: Mic and Line.
Outputs: Line.
* Adlib Gold 2000. Like the Adlib Gold 1000, but with 16 bit
sampling.
* Thunderboard. Adlib and SB compatible. Yamaha YMF3812 FM-chip.
11 channels, 1-voice polyphonic. 8 bit mono sampling up to 22
KHz. SB-compatible MIDI interface. Inputs: Mic. Outputs:
Headphones.
* ATI-Stereo F/X. Adlib and SB-compatible. Yamaha YM3812
FM-chips. 11 channels, 1-voice polyphonic. 8 bit stereo sampling
up to 44.1 KHz. SB-compatible MIDI-interface. Inputs: Mic, Line.
Outputs: Line. Also in combination with VGA card available.
* Turtle Beach MultiSound (TBM). GM/GS compatible. Proteus-1/XR
soundchip. Motorola 56001 DSP. 384 pre-sampled 16-bit PCM
instruments. 15 channels + Drums, 32 voices. Special effects:
Hall, Chorus and Echo. 16 bit stereo sampling up to 44.1 KHz.
Turtle Beach compatible MIDI interface. Inputs: Aux, Line.
Outputs: Line. The specs of this card are impressive, but it
costs about $1000 !!! (You can buy 8 GUSses for that money :-)).
* Sound Galaxy NX (Pro). A full SB(-pro) clone, with all features
of the SB(-pro).
**** OVERVIEW SPECIFICATIONS
===========================================================
SBpro SB16 PAS16 GUS
HARDWARE
ISA slot (bits) 16 16 16 16
Compatibility Adlib Adlib Adlib Adlib###
SB SBpro SB SB###
CONNECTIONS:
Mic in mono? mono? mono? mono?
Line in stereo stereo stereo stereo
PC speaker in yes ? yes no
Line out stereo stereo stereo stereo
Amplified out 2x4 W 2x4 W 2x4 W 2x2 W
Joystick yes yes yes yes
MIDI UART UART & UART# UART#
MPU
CD-ROM SB SB SCSI SCSI#
SYNTHESIZER
Type FM FM FM WS
Chipset OPL-3 OPL-3 OPL-3 GF1
Voices* 1 1 1 32
Channels 20 20 20 16
Instruments 128 128 128 RAM
Effects - by ASP - -
Miscellaneous - ASP - -
SAMPLING
AD (bits) 8 16 16 8 (16#)
DA (bits) 8 16 16 16
Freq. stereo (Khz) 11-22 5-44 4-44 2-44
Freq. mono (Khz) 4-44 5-44 4-44 2-44
Compression ADPCM ADPCM ADPCM SB emulated
___:1 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 -
Decompression ADPCM ADPCM ADPCM SB-emulated
___:1 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 -
SNR (dB) 90 80
Dyn. range (dB) 90 96
Harmonic dis. (%) 0.05 0.014
MIXER**
Master 16 32 63 4096 (non-linear)
Synthesizer 16 32 31 4096 (")
DAC 16 32 31 4096 (")
Mic 8 32 31 on/off
Line in 16 32 31 on/off
Tone*** (dB) - 12 12 -
Balance - 31 31 15
PRICE (est.) $180 $280 $200 $150
===========================================================
LAPC-1 SCC-1 TBM
HARDWARE
ISA slot (bits) 8 8 16
Compatibility MT-32 GM/GS GM/GS
MPU MT-32###
MPU
CONNECTIONS:
Mic in - - -
Line in - - stereo
PC speaker in - - -
Line out stereo stereo stereo
Amplified out 2x? W 2x? W -
Joystick - - yes
MIDI MPU MPU TB#
CD-ROM - - #
SYNTHESIZER
Type LA WS WS
Chipset Roland Roland Proteus
Voices* 32 24 32
Channels 7+drum 15+drum 15+drum
Instruments 128 317 384
Effects Hall Hall Hall
Echo Echo Echo
Chorus Chorus
Miscellaneous DSP
SAMPLING
ADC (bits) - - 16
DAC (bits) 12##? 12## 16
Freq. stereo (Khz) - - 2-44
Freq. mono (Khz) - - 2-44
Compression - - by DSP
___:1 - - by DSP
Decompression - - by DSP
___:1 - - by DSP
SNR (dB)
Dyn. range (dB)
Harmonic dis. (%)
MIXER**
Master - - 128
Synthesizer - - 128
DAC - - ?
Mic - - ?
Line in - - ?
Tone*** (dB) - - -
Balance - - -
PRICE (est.) $495 $495 $499
REMARKS
* Number of voices per channel.
** Volume control in steps.
*** Bass and treble.
# Optional.
## Only for playing on-board samples.
### By emulation.
- Not present.
? I am not sure :-). PLEASE FILL IN!
**** CONCLUSION
Many manufacturers are now rapidly releasing new soundcards. Game
companies are already working on support of a new generation of
sound cards, that will offer significantly better quality over
the present cards. The GUS is an example of a card with great
potential. It's not the Ultimate Sound Card, but it is probably
the first of a whole series of high quality cards.
Secondly I think the FM-based cards are rapidly going to be
replaced by WS-based cards, since WS gives much better sound
quality than FM.
Watch which cards the software companies are going to support. If
you want to buy a card now, go for a cheap sound card. Maybe you
can get an old SB for just a few bucks. If you want a card with
better sound quality, the GUS is a good choice.
**** NOTE
The information in this article may not be entirely correct or
up-to-date! Some info is from my own experience, other is from
different sources. If anyone finds any mistake, please let me
know. If you want to contribute to this article, please send your
info. I'll put it in a next release (if it's interesting enough
and if you want me to ;-))!
** Thanx to:
Josha Munnik (for his GUS and SB-pro/16 info), Bjorn Haavard
Kleven, Phat Tran and Stefan Hartmann (for their useful tips and
info on the newsnet), Timo Veijola (for his info about the Roland
cards), Teemu Mottonen (for his info about MIDI) and a lot of
other csips-readers.
Jerry
*------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Jerry van Waardenberg _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/
Tele Informatics and Open Systems _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
Department of Computer Science _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
E-mail: waardenb@cs.utwente.nl _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/