The most versatile DOS soundcard.. maybe?

[@B24Fox]

The metal shroud of the GamePort connector, can also be borrowed from another ISA Sound Blaster, as they are not riveted in place. You can very easily pry them apart with your fingernail or a blade.

[@66mhzbrain]

Cool, I will do just that😁

[@chrisrudi7162]

I also have one where a bracket is already broken. It's still working, hopefully the other one doesn't break off too.

[@FizzoDizzo]

Great video, looking forward to the next one. Cheers.

[@66mhzbrain]

Thankyou for checking it out!

[@beltanewalk8797]

I purchased a SoundBlaster16 about 25 years ago. Maybe I got lucky with the silicon and components on it but considering it was not a high end card it produced the sweetest sound with decent speakers. Even though I still have the card but no pci slot to put it in, I just can't let it go.

[@66mhzbrain]

Worth keeping for sentimental reasons

[@lordwiadro83]

What about sound quality? Can you hear any background noise once you crank up the volume or when you listen with headphones? I recently gave up on a ESS card that was overall nice and compatible with many games, but I couldn't stand the subtle noise from the speakers. I'm currently using a AWE64 and there is no more noise. I am quite pleased with it.

[@66mhzbrain]

Didn't try with headphones but seemed clean through the speakers. On the vid any hiss you hear will be from the case fans.

[@tellyjoossens4186]

The taps on my AWE32 (non PnP version) luckily haven't broken of (yet). It only has 2mb of memory but even with that the quality of midi is already much better than any other Sound Blaster 16 or clone. The downside of my AWE32 is that the non PnP version is way longer (full side card) which make it much larger than even the Pentium-II motherboard it's in and I don't seem to find a more modern case where I could mount this setup in. Good find, keep it !

[@66mhzbrain]

Yes those first Awe32s are huge😬. Yes I love it, its not going anywhere😁

[@computer_toucher]

The original AWE32 was basically an SB16 with a WaveBlaster melted together in a single card, and a few goodies like expandable RAM added for soundfont stuff. It still had the OPL chip and was one of the better SB16's really. I had an o.g. Awe32 that replaced my SB16 (the good old kind, can't remember the model number though) back then.

[@66mhzbrain]

Yes, think the sb32s were the same but used the vibra chip with cqm. This ones a little different as it uses the awe64 chip for sound (also cqm), theyre all cool and interesting and a lot of variations of both the awe and the sb32 and I personally love the midi emulation.

[@damightyshabba439]

Quite funny that you mention the shield / shroud. The first thing I bin is that tin...... For anything - mobo's or cards....

[@RetroPcCupboard]

I have this card also. Bought it a couple of years ago. I am yet to use it in a build, as I want genuine OPL3. I may put this in a build alongside a soundcard that has OPL3.

[@66mhzbrain]

Cool, though personally I think the general midi set sounds way way better than opl 3. More on par with a waveblaster or a roland sc7 or something like that. Running 2 cards should be simple though 😁

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

Really enjoyed this coverage, with the new SIMM slot I'd still be careful about changing memory as it's still old plastic (Adrian from ADB had a lot of issues with these sockets on Macs). Also would you be able to increase the volume on your spoken parts in videos? It's a minor issue but I've been turning up my speakers only to get a shock when the live feed from the soundcard happens loudly 😂

[@66mhzbrain]

Thankyou for watching it! Will try and balance the sound better. I'm making a point of not touching the slots again, 2mb is enough to load the DOS gaming soundfonts which is all I want, so they shouldn't get stressed anymore.

[@billyjoejimbob75]

For some reason, I'm happy I never had to upgrade the ram on my sound cards. Maybe it's this pile of RAM I have sitting on a shelf dating back umpteen years.

[@RetroTinkerer]

Hi, yes you can install 2x16MB SIMMs but it will only Address 28MB, 4MB are reserved to the internal ROM or something like that.

[@66mhzbrain]

Ahh, cool cheers for the info!

[@theALFEST]

No, 3670 does not support 16 Mb SIMMs.

[@66mhzbrain]

@@theALFEST many seem to think that they do as @RetroTinkerer says, If I ever find any I'll try it.

[@theALFEST]

@@66mhzbrain I tried. I have 3670 and it doesn't work with 2 16mb simms that work fine in 3990. You can also find information that sb32 support only up to 8 mb (2x4mb)

[@RetroTinkerer]

OK, nice to know @theALFEST, this is a first hand knowledge using 16MB SIMMS that work in another model? I Never tried on my 3670 (just tested that It worked with 4MB SIMMs), the 2X16MB memory is currently installed on my AWE32 3980 but I don't have more than one pair so I never bothered trying.

[@ClintTheriault]

I own a AWE64 gold so I've tested it a bunch with a bunch of stuff, here's my experiances. AWE synth really only works well in windows (with expanded ram). So avoiding dos is actually probably a wise move. Overall I'd consider the AWE series a sort of "Jack of all trades, master of none". The CQM "opl" replacement is pretty crap imho, but there are a few games that it actually sounds better with (Wold3D). The drivers on the original CD are probably the best ones to use. I find with these cards there isn't really any advantage in trying to find newer ones. FF7 will load it's own soundfont into your card, but it has to be configured correctly to do it, also I think you need at least 4mb of ram on the card. It's a pain in the ass, but it does sound a lot closer to the PSX version when you do it. Honestly though, the Yamaha syg50x synth is probably a better one to use for FF7 PC over the SF2 that it uses. I've been working on making my own 28mb sf2 file for the awe64. It sounds pretty good so far with FF7, but there's a few other games that still don't work quite right. Your soldering seems fine to me, it's pretty hard to safely desolder a old board like that, so it's best to go slow anyway. I've had to remove stubborn pins in a similar way several times. I find heating the whole card up with a hotair gun for a little bit helps a lot with removing connectors like that, but you gotta make sure the temp control on the heat gun is working properly and is set pretty low.

[@66mhzbrain]

Yes a jack of all trades, I thought some of the sounds were pretty rough and ready hut sill liked them. My ears aren't really discerning enough to have a problem with cqm. Haha, I have a heatgun but never even thought about using it🤔 I may experiment and strip down some of my non working things for I parts.

[@Pickle136]

I did the same with a ebay bought CT3600, i didnt need to replace the simm slots though. I wish for dos the tsr didnt take up so much memory. You might want to look at the pins on the ct8903 from the bottom right corner about 10 pins up looks like they are bent.

[@66mhzbrain]

Cool. Yes they are bent but arent touching and dont seem to be causing any issues. Coincidentally I have a ct3600 on the way I got cheap, looking forward to comparing them!

[@rogert151]

i have the same desolder gun, it helps to heat up the PCB with hot air for the more stubborn joints

[@66mhzbrain]

I like it, works pretty well

[@66mhzbrain]

I did

[@O.Shawabkeh]

Creative was selling seasonal fruit, not sound cards. I wish one day we got to know wth was going on and why they had to produce countless iterations.

[@66mhzbrain]

I guess chip design was moving quickly and they were always looking to cost reduce.

[@knghtbrd]

This card is reasonably nice as an owner of the AWE32 in the time period. I no longer have one, but it was great as a lot of games did support the AWE32 synth. What is kind of lacking is the FM synth. It doesn't have a real Yamaha OPL chip and the emulation is meh at best. Still, if you've got later DOS games to play, this is the card to play them with. Older DOS titles you might want an older SB card.

[@66mhzbrain]

It has adlib ans basic sb support so should be fine Inthink, and evennthe connector for the pc speaker. I'm not very discerning, I dont really hear much be5ween real ool and cqm and despite having a waveblaster (which won't fit this) and a bunchbof external midi boxes, I would be morenthan happy with the emulation, I did really like awe32, it sounded a bit rough and over the top but sounded nice.

[@knghtbrd]

@@66mhzbrain There's adlib support and there's adlib and OPL3 support that sound like the Yamaha chips or, failing that, sound good. The AWE chip's OPL emulation is better than some, but it's not amazing by any stretch. But then later era DOS games would be better served using something better. Many of those games supported AWE32 natively or began using CD audio.

[@Mokrator]

i got the SB 64 AWE32 still here... it is also very amazing as it plays midfiles with a very good set of instruments and midi-music sound much better than on a SB16. Was ist "Remote Control" or another software i am sure i had VoiceRecognizion wich well worked, but was a little impractical as it needed to be trained as heck. OMG Magic Carpet i also got XD.

[@66mhzbrain]

Yes much nicer sound on the awe cards!

[@josteinkallevik]

Looks like you got some damage on some of the pins of the U17 (CT8903-DAQ) chip near the isa connector.

[@66mhzbrain]

They are bent but aren't touching and still connected

[@MrAlan1828]

The best Creative sound card (ISA) is the AWE64 Gold period

[@66mhzbrain]

Yes and the rarest and most expensive now so not practically.

[@joaoc_PT]

Awe64 has an easy mem upgrade/swap, did that on mine to 4mb.

[@66mhzbrain]

Cool, they still turn up fairly cheap so kay get another to experiment with

[@RockstarRunner7]

Yeah, I did that on my AWE64, change the 512kb SRAM to 2mb, and move like one or two jumpers, that's it.

[@judenihal]

Question, is the wolfson DAC in the iPods and Apple Macintosh computers better quality than the dedicated sound cards like creative labs? I always felt that Creative Labs were more professional than other branded sound cards, the sound quality is amazing. Is it worth going uncreative in 2024 by using onboard sound? The only functionality lost with downgrading is losing the ability to loopback analog audio.

[@66mhzbrain]

I think on board became good enough in the 2000s, for gaming etc. I always made music and stuff so kept using soundcards, last internal was a soundblaster z, now I use external audio interfaces for everything. Mostly for connectivity, on board, external, internal now all sound 'good enough' to my ears and Id be hapoy enough with the actuall sound quality of any of them. Backnthen you had no choice on oc butbto get a soundcard of some kind.

[@judenihal]

@@66mhzbrain The problem with external audio interfaces as windows audio devices is latency, and the cpu processing. I notice that creative sound blaster cards do all the processing in the sound card itself, and there is nearly zero latency for any audio that goes through it. This is why I have never used external audio before. If there was no latency, in this age where all the GPUs take up all the PCI slots and how compact PCs are becoming, I prefer external sound cards or DACs!

[@66mhzbrain]

@@judenihal asio drivers.

[@judenihal]

@@66mhzbrain windows audio doesn't talk directly to asio

[@bennetfox]

I think the most versatile doss sound card would be the pro audio spectrum 16.

[@66mhzbrain]

I would say solid rather than versatile, not having wavetable (I dont think🤔) etc. I have a couple of jazz 16s and like them a lot for dos. But youd need a bunch of external midi boxes/waveblaster to cover the same bases.

[@ianp711]

The followup Mediavision Premium 3D was better. Then pair that with a Roland SCC1 daughtercard and u couldn't be beat for years.

[@66mhzbrain]

I think pretty much anything is better with an add on card or seperate midi synth. My personal favourites are the aztech ore-pnp cards. None of tyem could support decent midi without buying more stuff though. I love mediavision though, my first soundcard was a thunderboard.

[@ianp711]

@@66mhzbrain OK, take the daughtercard out of the loop. What I'm saying is that the MVP3D is the followup/nextgen/etc. of the card you mentioned. Same company. Had all the same features of that card, newer chipset, Spatial 3D audio, and a daughtercard port. It was the best audiocard in its generation that could be paired with a daughtercard. It was awesome, I had it paired to a roland daughtercard. Stuck with that setup until basically support became moot (games stopped using midi) and the advent of compareable motherboad based audio. End of an era! >

[@benben341]

Flood it with rosen flux next time will help the braid suck up the solder.

[@66mhzbrain]

I will, I was dipping the wick into the flux but will douse the pads next time.

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Hello Sir Can you Record Passport.mid with GS and MT-32 Synth? If You Can Put On Vogons Becuase I Need Listen

[@66mhzbrain]

Hi yes. Not sure when I'll get time as the card isn't in a machine at the minute and I'm innthe middle of other stuff. I recently got another version of the sb32 so will be doing a vid soon and will do it then.

[@B24Fox]

The main AWE chip has a few bent (possibly shorted?) pins, towards the ISA connector. You might wanna address those.. P.S. You also might wanna watch a few soldering tutorials before you do that. Not saying this to be mean, but your soldering skills are dangerously bad...

[@66mhzbrain]

Yes I saw them and checked with a magnifier, they have been bashed but arent touching and the contacts are ok.

[@RockstarRunner7]

Ha, yeah, as soon as the chip came in to shot, I spotted those and was hoping you were going to check them before firing it up, in case of shorts.

[@mirabilis]

Daaaad, I'm bored.

[@66mhzbrain]

Youd better run along and play with your toys then!

[@wowitsshit9734]

i have audiodrive es1868, £15, i long gave up on getting a CT2230 sound card, they got for £100 !!!!!!

[@66mhzbrain]

Audiodrives are cool, who knows why some tuing become so fashionable and expensive. I wouldn't have spent too much but like having the chance to rescue something.

[@wowitsshit9734]

@@66mhzbrain yes it's good you got it working

[@RetroPcCupboard]

I just bought a CT2230 on ebay for £59.99 delivered. A lot more than the £15 you paid for the audiodrive. But should be relatively compatible and is apparently a fairly low noise card. I can't stand the hiss on my Soundblaster Pro 2.0 (CT1600).

[@wowitsshit9734]

@@RetroPcCupboard it commands a premium price!