Orpheus II: The Best Retro PC Sound Card in 2023? Perhaps!

[@mirage809]

That card is looking like the holy grail of 90s sound cards. A single ISA slot used to do literally all the sounds (assuming no memory conflicts). Zero compromises and the ability to add MIDI is just the icing on an already delectable cake. I wonder how many of these OPL and AMD sound chips are still out there in the wild. Also, what an era of computing. Where sound cards were a legit thing to upgrade your setup with and some of them had RAM slots.

[@nicwilson89]

It certainly makes up for the high price of 340euros/365bucks/290quid

[@mirage809]

@@nicwilson89 The holy grail of sound cards was never gonna be cheap.

[@christo930]

@@nicwilson89 It's probably a good investment. There are probably limited numbers of those chips available. It almost certainly won't be available in 5 or 10 years.

[@djhenyo]

It's the holy grail of 1985-1995 sound cards, but the later-90s introduced environmental audio effects and advanced surround sound which were mind-blowing at the time.

[@MauiWowie51]

@@djhenyo so... the holy grail of 90's sound cards like he said.... anything past 1996 you can just use a PCI SB LIVE

[@mazziecat]

Did you seriously just 3d-print a small thingumabob specifically made to show off computer cards? If so, approved!

[@LGR]

darn right I did

[@mmmhorsesteaks]

Is it a doodad, a thingamabob or a widget? Or maybe even a googaw...

[@richkawaiipikachu]

@@mmmhorsesteaks it could be a doozeewhatsits.

[@JaredConnell]

​@@richkawaiipikachui think its a chingadera

[@lerkzor]

@@JaredConnell do you know that you just used a swear word?

[@rigell2764]

I will never forget when we got a sound card and CD-ROM back in the early 90s. Completely blew my PC-speaker mind. It was a revolutionary experience.

[@vacantplanet]

Absolutely. It was interesting following the development of graphics throughout the 90s, but what absolutely changed everything for me was the sound. I could not believe that I could hook up my pentium win95 machine to my hi-fi and play my CDs and my mp3 from there. What a time to be alive

[@polariszene8542]

Flash back of finally getting a sound card and speakers and CD ROM for my 486 windows 3.1

[@erichkohl9317]

Same here, although I can't remember if I bought my Sound Blaster from CompUSA or Computer City. Definitely one of the two.

[@souravtosh]

Clearly remember that day back in 1996. After the upgrade launched Prince of Persia 2. Had been playing that game for quite a while but then there was human voice in the intro along with unbelievable good bgm . "In ancient Persia...". Almost fell off my chair....

[@My-Hunt]

I miss getting a disc drive but sound cards have evolved to sound just as good if not better on a tiny chip. Just look at all the portable DAC/Amp combos on the market, a fraction of the size

[@Norweeg]

This truly is the ultra-side sound of things.

[@tlmotorscbb]

...if had been combined with adlib gold ))

[@Murrlin27]

Yet another reason I continue loving this channel!

[@wrlrdqueek]

The AC97 Audio header is a nice touch. I remember back in the day adding a sound card to a pre-built system usually meant sacrificing the front panel ports.

[@Shadow.cyrohzin]

That Yucatan FX board playing the Duke nukem theme is a thing I did not know I needed!!! 🤯

[@AngelDemonn]

Unfortunately not available to buy anymore 😢

[@LGR]

The Dreamblaster X2GS is still available though and I believe uses the same or very similar GS sound chip

[@AngelDemonn]

@@LGR I have it, but I dare say I have yet to find a bank that sounds the Yucatan

[@ozzyp97]

@@AngelDemonn You should be using the hardware GS bank. The samples are more or less the same, Yucatan is just super bass heavy out of the box, as well as prone to clipping issues.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

When everything old is new again is taken to the next Level...

[@oddojaggins]

Man, I had a "10,000 in 1" shareware games and one must fall 2097 was on there. Our Presario definitely only had a Soundblaster card of some sort and I am blown away about the difference with the gravis

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

5:34 the more I listen to this, the more it sounds like something you'd find in those knockoff t-shirts. Now here's something to add to the LGR merch.

[@Steampunk915]

The way you describe sounds like the Sennheiser Orpheus, one of the best sounding headphones in the world

[@Obscusion2]

Hearing Clint mix up two consecutive words in a line, and then instead of simply fixing it in post simply points it out & laughs over what he just said during editing, is a constant joy. "The Ultra-side Sound of Things" is right up there with "Hoddware Oddness".

[@DryPaperHammerBro]

What ep was that on? I forgot

[@rommix0]

@@DryPaperHammerBro Look up "LGR Oddware - Thermaltake PC Drive Bay". That's the one with the "Hodware Oddness" in it. Also "The KeyStik Clip-on Joystick for Keyboards: LGR Oddware" has the "constructions" instead of "instructions".

[@djhenyo]

It was "Hoddware Oddities" and his laugh afterwards was legendary.

[@DerekLippold]

I didn’t realize how amazing Gravis Ultrasound is - I was always so attached to the Soundblaster

[@thomassmith4999]

No GUS no demoscene.. a wasted life. Lucky you are still alive and can fix this

[@marcelmolenaar5684]

I still have my GUS. ( in my display cabinet ) It was one of the best buys i have ever done. I have spend hours every day making music with programs like fasttracker.

[@MadMathMike]

5:28 "The Ultraside sound of *things*!" 😂

[@4Wilko]

5:29 - "the Ultraside sound of things." It does have a nice ring to it.

[@MaxQuagliotto]

So cool. I used to make S3M's and Impulse Tracker mods back in the day using my Gravis Ultrasound. What a gamechanger it was when I upgraded to it from my original Thunderboard.

[@PXAbstraction]

My name came up in the purchase list for this just before the video came out. Cost a damn fortune after converting to Canadian dollars, but I'm stoked to get it for a future DOS build project I'm planning. Can't wait! In terms of what I'd add to a next-gen model, I'd say probably the AdLib Gold (just to complete the trifecta) and I'd love to see genuine Sound Blaster chips in it, though I'm sure that would be a tall order. Other than maybe the ability to swap out the headphone amplifiers for the truly nutbar among us, I can't think of much else.

[@ATomRileyA]

I am always impressed with all the cool stuff being made like this, would have never imagined people would be making stuff like that now back in the day. The retro scene people are awesome.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Huge fan of my original Orpheus and the MK8330, these guys do amazing work. I'm on the fence about this one - not sure the GUS support is worth the upgrade as I doubt I'll use it outside of novelty value. Still very cool that it exists!

[@justchillinout2002]

Just hearing that opening explosion/thunder for one must fall instantly brought a smile to my face! Loved playing that game!

[@yellowblanka6058]

You still can, they released it as freeware ages ago. I load up DOSBox and play it every once in a while.

[@willielogan4811]

I suddenly went to grade school hearing the intro.

[@rkurbatov]

Just got mine a few days ago and totally happy to have it. Will put it in P100 build probably.

[@acomingextinction]

I gotta say, that is a satisfyingly well-designed PCB. Love the clean layout.

[@analogaudiorules1724]

I love the fact that in the audio sections on the card they didn't use normal electrolytic's and instead went for nichicon ufg Fine Gold audio grade electrolytic capacitors, really no expense spared AT ALL, the sound speaks for itself!

[@SNARC15]

Surprised we didn't hear how it played the LGR staple of CANYON.MID.

[@MizMite2002]

I really enjoy watching old LGR videos and seeing how far Clint has taken his channel. The channel could compete with any cable or tv show. Best KZbinr.

[@Vexonia_Music]

This sound card is what I've always wanted for a retro pc setup. I hope one day we can get some of the old stock chips replaced with FPGAs. Also respect for playing Jazz 3D music.

[@discocrisco]

A whole episode on Gravis would be appreciated. Have very fond memories of my Gravis joystick with its foamy grip and red buttons.

[@koszeggy]

There is one. It was even mentioned.

[@montecorbit8280]

At 10:02 The on-screen game.... Tyrian!!!! YESSSS!!!!!!!! Greatest game from the era!!

[@CarozQH]

The UltraSide sound of things, that's what you should call your first album

[@MrKillerno1]

I built my own 20 Mhz computer and added a simple soundcard. After those wonderful months I decided to step into Soundblaster mode. Never did anything really with midi because... For me it all started with a Pong computer, Atari 2600 (still have it) from there the C64 road to Amiga and now rely on pc with windows 10 almost 11. I had a blast time and love to see your passion still alive.

[@mightyb8679]

I had a gus and was very proud that I lived near the manufacturer!!! Burnaby BC I think

[@Spazilton1]

These are going to be in super limited supply, all of the new old stock chips required to make these are getting impossible to find. I am so glad I got ordered before this video went live. Just like the Goldlib.

[@callmememe1308]

The first thing I thought of on seeing it was wondering if it would be possible to replace the new old stock chips with some sort of FPGA replacement. The problem is that it would probably be very time consuming, and definitely expensive to make, though the likes of the MiSTer project and the Analogue clone consoles have shown it is possible in theory.

[@MaikKellerhals]

wow, my epic pinball never sounded this well!

[@destineerrush2632]

Honestly the only extra feature I could think to add for a possible Orpheus 3 would be the ability to apply reverb to the FM output like the AWE32 could. I'm no FPGA expert, but I imagine a simple Schroeder-style reverb like freeverb wouldn't take up too much space on the chip

[@LGR]

Or even the Surround Sound Module that the AdLib Gold card uses, that thing adds all kinds of neat DSP effects to the OPL3

[@johnnieduke95]

I think you are officially my favorite KZbinr man love the content! Inspired me to build my first PC working on it right now Dell Optiplex GX260 currently only upgrade is a 1gb ram chip just ordered 2 more of those. If anyone sees this what's a good place to learn and ask questions about the hobby for a new guy?

[@voicheci007]

I honestly don’t know what any of these audio technologies are, soundblaster midi wavetable midi, it’s all very confusing. How about a video explaining what they are? ❤

[@cooluser23]

Yes, that would be an awesome video topic!

[@absalomdraconis]

SoundBlaster is/was a brand of sound cards that became the standard that everyone else had to imitate for a while. MIDI is a standard for hooking digital synthesizer equipment (including both audio emitters and keyboards) together. It used to use a round DIN connector, and now gets routed over USB. Wavetables are sets of audio samples that are stored in a computer's memory, and are used to imitate MIDI synthesizers using a computer's soundcard.

[@SheepUndefined]

To be even more specific about midi, it's a system where, instead of sending over the audio you wanna play itself to the chip, you send commands to the chip saying like "play this note for this long, change to the fourth instrument," etc, with the chip able to use a different sound depending on your setup. In this case, the wavetable is a bank of various "instruments" available to the chip to pick from. It's basically like giving a chip sheet music instead of an audio CD.

[@ozzyp97]

@@SheepUndefined DOS games also make use of the General Midi standard, which is basically just a set of pre-defined instrument locations ensuring correct playback on any compatible device. The main exception being the MT-32, which is also a midi device but not a GM one (it didn't exist yet), relying on direct developer support instead. MT-32 can sort of do GM with a special init program, but GM devices can't really emulate the MT-32 outside some specific circumstances.

[@SheepUndefined]

@@ozzyp97 Ooh, that's super cool to know!

[@jasonknight1085]

What I really want is an 8 bit version. I'd be happy with a new card that was just a SB 1.5, with the SA1099's, with smart MPU-401 support that I could put into a PC/XT class machine. Maybe with tandy/jr sound? Maybe even do us a real solid by adding the holes for the "flat" T1K's (HX/EX) port since it's pin to pin?

[@DanielMReck]

Welcome... to the ULTRASIDE! This..... is the SOUND.... of THINGS!!

[@devikwolf]

Well, absolutely need to get one now. Jazz Jackrabbit GUS tunes sold me.

[@stnilus3294]

Hopefully someone uploads System Shock 1 playing on this. It's amazing how different cards and soundfonts change the music in that game.

[@JosepsGSX]

I am one of those lucky ones that purchased a Ultrasound (Max!) back in the day, and I have also collected over the years a nice lot of ISA Soundblasters, so I will not need this, but it is beyond fantastic seeing there is still passionate people creating amazing things like this. It is expensive, but back then that Gravis was also a massive amount of money, at least here. One of my favorite pieces of hardware I have been so lucky to get, and even luckier to preserve (I wish I could go back in time and prevent myself from selling my 1st gen Vodoo1 card) From this video, I am jumping into the card stand STL head first. I have been for ages being a lazy ass about finding a nice way to have my collection of cards properly displayed, and this design is awesome. Cant wait to test it.

[@matthewjbauer1990]

Hearing that Gravis music gave me nostalgic feeling spine tingling chills. Why can't modern games have music like that?

[@xXYannuschXx]

I wish we could go back to the times of hardware accelerated sound.

[@AmazonianBeauty]

Wow, I really enjoyed this review. I'd love to get one of these cards as it's pretty much a perfect card for everything i'd use for my own DOS/Windows Super Socket 7 system. SPDIF, Wavetable Header, Upgradeable memory and support for GUS would be really nice. Thanks for making a video about this card. I couldn't think of anything useful i'd want to add to this card, so here's something silly instead: I'd want to add the Hanging note bug from the AWE-32 sound cards to this card. (I wouldn't really want to see this annoying bug on this card)

[@lethal_guitar]

Something that would be neat for a successor: Switchable output filters for the SoundBlaster portion. SB Pro and earlier have a characteristic way of playing back low-sample rate sounds like those used in Doom, Duke 2 etc. On SB16 and later the same effects lack some punchiness. So being able to switch that to accomodate different games would be cool.

[@dingo596]

As someone slightly too young to have been around during this era i always wonder why sound cards were such a big thing during this time and why these days it's just a solved issue. You don't hear people upgrading their sound cards, the only thing they may do is get an external DAC+Amp.

[@larsbaggersgaard501]

I will never forget....One must fall.....great soundtrack, and great game. many many many hours spend in greatness right there

[@ranseus]

Anything that even suggests the Gravis Ultrasound makes me happy. I loved, loved, loved my UltraSound back in the day.

[@damjanmozetic]

This is really cool stuff. I guess the next thing I would like to see is a recreation of a classic motherboard.

[@theopenrift]

The only thing I would add to an Orpheus III would be the features seen in the AWE32, which essentially cover all (or at least most of) the bases in terms of DOS gaming audio, from the early adlib days of Sierra On-Line games, to the tracker greatness of the GUS in Jazz Jackrabbit, all the way to the advanced wave effects options found in the likes of Dungeon Keeper.

[@jruonti]

For some systems it would seem it would be cool if you could somehow choose to only have the SB or Gravis portion active to help with resouce conflicts. A dip switch or some other way.

[@troymeredith521]

Take that idea one step further with your "some other way". Additional breakout board and bracket that allows you to attach an external switch so you can choose which device you want active before you turn your computer on. Like the breakout box from the All-in-wonders, but for a different purpose. Can be connected to the Orpheus card through an IDC cable. All period correct for the type of boards we had back then. lol.

[@michaelmiller3012]

I don't know about the GUS PnP version using the AMD InterWave chip, but the original GF1-based GUS cards did not use ANY resources until you initialized the card, usually in autoexec on startup.

[@caydenharrison1181]

Hello Clint. Have you ever heard of the riptide sound card made by Rockwell? It is a great sound card and also has adlib / OPL3 emulation. I think you will enjoy the way this sound card sounds.

[@thunderslash94]

What to add to a theoretic Orpheus III? Considering all the DOS bases are practically covered (save for AdLib for fans of that memorable chipset), I would focus on the late 90s and early 2000s, with some Aureal 3D or SB Live 5.1/Audigy chip. It would make wonders for games of that era.

[@VitorMach]

Pretty cool soundcard, but what really tickles my pickle is when that glorious MT-32 appears. ❤

[@AARON-K4RNA]

yes

[@twithnell]

This card with a SB audigy chip would be wicked awesome. I know that is a little too new for some of the systems this card is made for, but there was a weird time when there were MBs that had some of those chips on them while also having PCI slots and supporting up to windows XP.

[@MrAlan1828]

I seriously collect sound cards and sold a few because I got too many of them, currently I own all Creative Sound Blaster cards except the PCIe ones, best is Awe64 Gold. I have a Roland MPU-401 +MT32, MT100 with QD drive, SCC-1, Original Adlib and Adlib Gold GUS classic, Pnp and Ulrasound ACE ISA addon all boxed like new with all receipts and software documents. Although these new cards are great you can never replace them with original cards made, yes a lot of tinkering to do, conflicting irqs, ports but thats the beauty of the 80's 90's.

[@Tony-xn7sd]

Why do I always feel like crying whenever I watch one of your clips ;)

[@codecthelios]

I love those Roland speakers you have.

[@savagemadman2054]

As someone who ran exclusively off of a GUS MAX for several years back in the '90s, there isn't anything I'd add... Only reason I swapped out the GUS for an Aureal Vortex 2 was the relatively poor Win9x support. I never really had much trouble with the digital side of the SB compatibility except for it sometime being a struggle finding enough free RAM for the big SBOS and/or MegaEm TSRs. The fake FM took some acclimatizing though.

[@SteveChisnall]

for an Orpheus 3, I'd add a header to connect the optical drive's 2-pin SPDIF *digital* audio output instead of the 4-pin _analog_ audio output connector

[@YarisTex]

Adding CMS and Tandy sound capabilities would be a nice Orpheus 3

[@MasterHan]

I wonder they would make PCI version.

[@rommix0]

Better yet a PCI express card for the modern users.

[@woofy1988]

I never knew how good the menu music for OMF 2097 could sound...

[@ernestoditerribile]

Had a gravis ultrasound while I was still using a 486 DX2-66MHz. Feels like an eternity ago.

[@nemtudom5074]

That is one gorgeous PCB!

[@magetime29]

Honestly we all sometimes do have to look at the Ultra-side sound of things

[@bgsjust]

I would love to have one of those in pci or pci-express!

[@thepcenthusiastchannel2300]

The Gravis makes some nice sounds. I remember the Gravis UltraSound box on top of my Father's Desk in the 90s. I also remember the Gravis Gamepad I'd use to play Commander Keen on that thing. We had 4 computers, 286, 386, and two 486s back then. The 286 and 386 became our computers as kids (my parents old computers) whereas by Father got both he and my mother new 486s for work. I just remember I had basically every game imaginable on that computer because my Father would, umm, "Shareware" all the Warez. My first computer was either the Colleco Adam or the Commodore Vic-20, hard to remember which came first tbh as this was in the 80s.

[@Caarajack]

It’s great to see that sound cards like these are still made because music sounding just right is pretty much 50 % of the experience with the old games. Too bad for the price but it’s better to make a proper card with enough features so that it’s good enough for the job.

[@jaydeniemuth9366]

I still remember seeing prototypes of this card floating around at VCF and knew that projects like this will be an obvious solution for the future of PC gaming!

[@evarains2566]

imagine if there was something like this for pci. that would make it technically be able to be put in a completely modern computer. even one with pci-e if you use a bridge card. modern computers can still run ms-dos or freedos so it might work.

[@NJRoadfan]

Patiently awaiting mine in the mail. My slot came up last week and promptly paid. Hopefully I get a confirmation e-mail with tracking number soon......

[@ahha6304]

Man I'm not gonna lie, for that kinda sound from that speaker is really awesome

[@RickyDjauhar]

Ah, so basically a BitchinFast 3D 2000.... but for soundcards. And it really does work!

[@aleksandrbmelnikov]

I noticed PETSCII Robots.🤖 Cool shout-out to 8-Bit Guy.👍

[@CatFish107]

Ah memories of getting calls from classmates over the holidays. "I got a sound card for Christmas! Do you know how to get this thing working?" 😊

[@thewi2kbug]

One Must Fall 2097. one of my favorites!

[@patrickcollins118]

did you get a new camera? your picture quality is awesome

[@LGR]

Nope, but I’ve been improving my set and lighting!

[@davidt3563]

That's one pretty PCB! She sounds awesome too!

[@DAMND3Xx]

One Must Fall theme is so awesome.

[@railsrust]

About the only thing I'd like to see in an Orpheus III as an ISA card is MAYBE the addition of CMS capability. It like the GUS have JUST enough compatible games to be worthwhile to have onboard.

[@outtheredude]

What a ride of a card, that also resembles a Star Wars Sand Crawler! How you don't short out all your computers drooling over this stuff I don't know! ;-)

[@CuriouserArchive]

Wow... this is definitely a "shut up and take my money" product for me! As for the wish list... I don't think it's practical, but MT-32 support would be amazing! No idea how that could be pulled off though...

[@ozzyp97]

The WP32 McCake is basically what you're asking for, it's MT32-Pi (a bare metal implementation of the Munt emulator + basic SF2 support via Fluidsynth on the side) in a wavetable header format. While Munt isn't quite perfect, it's certainly very good and also the only realistic option. There doesn't seem to be much demand for an FPGA version, and there's no way they could use original chips. Even if they could find them, they wouldn't even fit on the card, just look at the LAPC-I. The Orpheus team could of course build in a CM4 slot and some support circuitry if they wanted to give the option to run MT32-Pi directly without taking up the wavetable header, but at some point the card is just too expensive and/or big.

[@Zerbey]

The GUS community was fantastic when it was current, so glad it's still around.

[@jonpeley]

The soundtrack of that last fighting game is something that Umek could produce in the mid to late 90's.

[@Reaperman4711]

2:03 Leo Dallas Multi-pass?

[@Conradlovesjoy]

There must be some mistake. I’M Leo Dallas.

[@AmaroqStarwind]

One of my friends is working on a rather hardcore FPGA-based analog synthesizer MIDI module. You should look into analog synthesizers and stuff like that.

[@RodBeauvex]

Gotta love -Cloud City- Castle. Such a great song.

[@ASD_Music]

A feature I'd like in a third revision is CMS/Game Blaster support. I just like the sound of that card!

[@thejackal007]

Ultra-side... that clip should go into BECK 2.0.

[@jameslaidler2152]

That music was legit. I'd buy the CD or high rez download.

[@thisisderricksilk]

LGR and it's Bill & Ted Day and it's Friday. Dang ✌

[@RockyPeroxide]

Hey Clint, since you're buying from Europe, I might have some old tech (some tested, some untested) that I can send you for the cost of shipping (mostly add-on cards, PCI, PCIe, AGP and maybe some ISA)

[@zero-ej6rt]

the ultraSIDE sound of things!

[@Xcile92-PX]

This sounds amazing on my headphones. Proper 90s sounds. I love it.

[@Omniplus-xi8ho]

Alexander Brandon tracker FTW!!!

[@benbreeck3363]

Oh, that one's easy. I would like the addition of either an OPL4 or an ESS ESWFMv for the extra audio functionality.j

[@EriolGaurhoth]

For an Orpheus III, I'd jump ahead in time a bit to the late 90s and put something like an Aureal Vortex II and AWE64 on the same card, a setup similar to what you've got in the Megaluminum Monster. As far as DOS sound is concerned, this is about as good as it can possibly get...maayyyybe a better quality SB chip, but it really doesn't need anything else to make every DOS game sound amazing.

[@Drakonpirata]

would have loved to had one in the 90's

[@LondenTower]

Wow. the Orpheus 2 might just be the ultimate GUS soundcard. (also, seeing the free amount of RAM of the interwave in Impulse Tracker, makes me happy and a little angry at the same time. cause no version of DOSBOX has support to add more RAM to the emulated GUS card)

[@pupaepedorra]

An Orpheus 3 should have E-MU or similar wavetable capabilities and onboard storage for banks.