PURCHASE RECOMMENDATIONS
Which board should you buy? It depends upon your needs. Different
people have different wants in a sound board, and I've tried to lay
out some common scenarios below. Note that some boards appear in more
than one category. Also keep in mind that I've personal experience
with a SoundBlaster 8-bit, a Reveal SC500 rev. 1, and a miroCONNECT 34
wave, so I'm most confident about placement of these boards.
Cheap sound:
- Crystal
Semiconductor-based -- OS/2 support for these chipsets
has been getting better and better, and many "generic" boards based on
these chipsets can be had at computer shows or by mail for $50 or so.
Unfortunately, because these bargain boards are often generic, I can't
offer specific contact information at this time.
- ESS-based -- similar
comments apply to these products as to the CS-based boards, including
the fact that the best bargains are to be had on generic boards for
which I have no specific contact information. ESS boards have a weaker
reputation for the quality of the sound they produce, though, so if
sound quality is important to you, I'd favor a Crystal Semiconductor
product.
- Yamaha OPL-3SA-based
-- These are starting to become common in some hardware, particularly
laptops, it seems. I've now seen enough reports of good luck with them
that I feel comfortable recommending them.
Upgrading from 16-bit FM synthesis to wavetable:
- Assorted manufacturers, including Yamaha, Creative
Labs, Aztech, Turtle Beach, and others, make wavetable
"daughtercards" to upgrade many 16-bit FM synthesis boards
to wavetable. Check your existing card's manual to see if it supports
this. The latest SoundBlaster drivers include an option
("/EXT" appended to the driver's CONFIG.SYS line) to
reliably force use of the daughtercard. I can make no guarantees about
support from other cards.
- MPU-401 standalone cards are an option, but be
aware that there may be conflicts between an existing sound card's FM
synthesis MIDI drivers and IBM's MPU-401
drivers.
Solid 16-bit .WAV and FM synthesis:
- Creative Labs SoundBlaster
series except for the AWE64 -- various boards of
different design ages and with different CD-ROM options exist. All have
good OS/2 support, and should provide superior DOS games compatibility.
Whether drivers for Creative products will continue to improve is
another matter, though. They're already well behind the competition
in terms of features such as full-duplex support. Sound quality is
reputed to be variable, with older models being so-so and newer models
pretty good.
- Crystal
Semiconductor-based -- OS/2 support for these chipsets
has been getting better and better, and many "generic" boards based on
these chipsets can be had at computer shows or by mail for $50 or so.
Unfortunately, because these bargain boards are often generic, I can't
offer specific contact information at this time.
- ESS-based -- similar
comments apply to these products as to the CS-based boards, including
the fact that the best bargains are to be had on generic boards for
which I have no specific contact information. Note that the Crystal
boards, on average, will probably produce slightly better sound than
the ESS boards.
Solid OS/2 wavetable support:
- Creative Labs SoundBlaster AWE or
32 series -- there are net reports of problems, but
others of success, so I suspect there may be some configuration tricks
or pitfalls. Otherwise, should work fine and provide superior
compatibility when running DOS games. Three caveats: MIDI tempo is
reportedly a bit off on at least some files with the latest drivers
for these boards; the PnP boards may give problems with some
motherboards or with OS/2 2.1; and whether driver updates will
continue to be available is still not 100% certain.
- Advanced Gravis UltraSound
Series or InterWave-based board
-- With the latest (1.20, beta-level as of 10/19/96) Manley
drivers, these boards should perform adequately for OS/2 use with OS/2
and Windows programs, and for DOS programs which are GUS- aware.
You'll have to pay the registration fee for the Manley drivers,
though, effectively raising the cost of the board. Be sure you have
at least 1MB of RAM on any GUS board you get, and preferably 2MB or
more. Note that the GUS line itself has recently been discontinued,
and so may not be widely available. The Core Dynamics DynaSonix 3D was still
available the last I checked, however, and may be a good alternative.
I can't guarantee that it will work with OS/2 and the Manley drivers,
but in theory it should.
- Crystal Semiconductor
boards with wavetable capabilities -- Those Crystal-based
boards that have wavetable hardware should work pretty well, provided
you get IBM's MPU-401 driver and do not install the OPL-3
(FM synthesis) driver that comes with the current CS drivers.
- Logitech SoundMan
Wave -- shareware OS/2 drivers exist, and are reportedly
reasonably robust. The latest MPU-401
driver reportedly does work with the board, though I've no details
on how to best set it up.
- SoundBlaster 16 with wavetable
option and separate wavetable daughter card -- although this
entails two purchases, it should provide reliable wavetable sound from
OS/2 if you use the latest drivers from Creative Labs and the
"/EXT" CONFIG.SYS driver option to force use of the daughter
card. This should work fine with any brand of daughter card, but be
cautious in trying different "base" cards, as they might
require different drivers that might not support daughter cards as
well, if at all. Also, note the cautions about Creative Labs having
dropped OS/2 support; the current OS/2 drivers work (most of the
time), but support is not guaranteed for the future.
- MPU-401 boards -- These are worth considering
mainly if you've got a .WAV-file-only sound card or if you know you
can avoid driver conflicts between the MPU-401
driver and whatever your current sound board uses for MIDI.
Solid Win-OS/2 support:
- Any Creative Labs product
except for the AWE64 -- some will require that you
download new Windows drivers from ftp.creaf.com, but all can be made to work
adequately, at least for most people (there are a few holdout reports
of problems, but given the installed base, this may be
understandable). Again, there's also the caveat about the uncertainty
of future Creative Labs support for OS/2, so future compatibility is
not guaranteed.
- Crystal Semiconductor-based boards --
I've seen a number of reports that these can work pretty well under
Win-OS/2, including an ability to run Windows programs without locking
out OS/2 sound, except when the Windows program is actually
playing a sound.
- Other boards -- this isn't exactly my area of
greatest interest or expertise, so I'm probably overlooking boards
that work well under Win-OS/2 but not-so-well for native OS/2 support.
Simultaneous OS/2 and Win-OS/2 use:
- MediaVision ProAudio
series -- if you can find one, these offer two sound boards
in one, and can in theory be used from both OS/2 and Windows programs
simultaneously, though I've seen a lot of problems posted about such
setups. FM synthesis only.
- Mwave boards --
These wavetable boards offer the best solution to simultaneous OS/2
and Windows program use, and often include modem features, too. They
can run out of DSP resources, though, if you try to do lots with them
(like play a MIDI file and use the modem simultaneously, at least at
high modem speeds and MIDI quality). They may be hard to find, but
a search for a used or closeout model may be worthwhile if this
functionality is important to you.
- OPTi 928/929 -- The
2.0 or above drivers put these boards barely within this
category, as they allow OS/2 sound when running Windows programs, so
long as the Windows programs aren't actually playing a sound when the
OS/2 sound request goes in. Note that these boards don't work with
VTD, though.
- Crystal Semiconductor-based
boards -- Recent drivers reportedly allow Windows programs to
run without shutting out OS/2 sound entirely, though it's not possible
to actually play sounds from both systems simultaneously. This puts
them in the same category as OPTi boards in this respect.
Superior wavetable sound quality:
- Check on the various soundcards newsgroups for
recommendations; I don't have enough experience with these boards to
make a judgment about where each falls, though the miroCONNECT is worse than the Reveal SC500 when using the medium samples but
a bit better when using the large samples. Chances are that a Roland
or other high-end dedicated MPU-401 board will provide the best
quality, in conjunction with the MPU-401
driver from IBM, if you can get that driver to work. Turtle Beach products are also reputed to get
good sound, as is the Mediatrix
board. IBM's MPU-401 driver is reported to work with at least some of
these, but may require booting DOS first to initialize the board.
Some wavetable daughter cards from Yamaha, Turtle Beach, and others
also have good reputations in this respect, so a SoundBlaster + daughter card combination may be
worth considering here.
Multifunction support
(sound/modem/fax/voicemail):
- Creative Labs
PhoneBlaster -- this is the only FM synthesis board with
modem functions which I know has OS/2 drivers. Be aware that the
voicemail functions aren't guaranteed to work under OS/2, though, and
Creative has dropped OS/2 support, so future compatibility is not
guaranteed.
- Separate boards -- Because the Mwave boards use a
multifunction processor, that processor can be overwhelmed if you try
to do too much with it, so if you want to use lots of functions at
once, separate fax/modem/voicemail and sound boards may offer a better
solution. Be aware, too, that an integrated board will save you a
slot if you'd otherwise use an internal modem, but will not
save you IRQs, etc.; the miro board, for instance, takes four
IRQs for full functionality.
Users interested in using their computer as an answering machine
may also want to check out the web page at http://www.he.net/~jubjub/,
which has information on OS/2 voicemail programs.
Microchannel (MCA) boards:
- Reply board -- I
know virtually nothing about this, other than that it's based upon the
Vibra-16 chip. I gather this is an
FM synthesis board, and it should work with OS/2's SoundBlaster
drivers, or better with the Vibra-16 drivers available from ftp.creaf.com. I would assume that
Creative Labs' dropping support for OS/2 might eventually impact
this board.
- ChipChat 16 and
32 -- These are FM synthesis and wavetable SoundBlaster
clones for MCA. I know little about them except that they exist,
though ChipChat claims full OS/2 functionality with their drivers.
- IBM Windsurfer for
MCA -- IBM made both ISA and MCA versions of its
(discontinued) Windsurfer Mwave board. If you can find a used or
closeout Windsurfer, this may be a good choice if you also want modem
features; but as this is based on the older 1000-series Mwave DSP, it
will run out of resources quickly, and has weak SoundBlaster emulation
for DOS programs.
Also-rans:
- Aztech boards --
these have a history of flakey OS/2 drivers and poor DOS games
compatibility. Some people have reported their Aztech boards working
reliably under OS/2, but the overall history doesn't inspire
confidence. I've seen more reports of success recently than a few
months ago, though, so things may be improving here -- except that my
one Aztech WaveRider 32+ report with the MPU-401
drivers is a "no-go." Also, these boards don't support
DART at the moment, and so they won't work with VTD in Warp 4.0.
- Mediatrix Audiotrix
Pro -- Mediatrix reportedly has OS/2 drivers, but
MPU-401 drivers aren't yet integrated, though they reportedly can
be made to work, if a bit spottily. If you don't reboot OS/2 often,
then, this might be worth considering, particularly if you prefer the
Mediatrix's wavetable samples to other boards; but the probable tedium
of getting it working correctly just barely pushes it down to
"also-ran" from fully-recommended.
- Orchid SoundWave
-- Orchid has recently released drivers that enable the board's
SoundBlaster mode under OS/2, which provides for some support. The
board reportedly works with the MPU-401
drivers from IBM, but the spotty nature of the support from Orchid
keeps this one, like the Mediatrix, just barely in the "also-ran"
category.
- Oak Mozart OTI 601
boards -- There are now beta drivers available, but they
apparently don't support wavetable sound and still have a few bugs.
- Most Turtle Beach
boards -- although the Tropez and Monte Carlo have been made
to work, at least partially, with the opti928.zip
drivers, other TB products have no OS/2 support at present, and should
be avoided. The Maui does work with the MPU-401
driver from IBM, and it's conceivable that others would, too, so
these boards may deserve a better placement; I'm being a bit
conservative on this one.
Avoid if at all possible:
- Ensoniq
SoundScape -- currently OS/2 .WAV drivers exist, but
major problems have been reported with DOS/Windows compatibility, and
these boards apprently don't work with VTD in Warp 4.0, so I'd
recommend avoiding this board, as well as the similar (but
discontinued) Reveal SC600
("SoundFX Wave 32"). The lack of Ensoniq's OS/2 support
after previous promises of support keep this one in the lowest
position.
- MediaVision Jazz
16 -- I've seen too many reports of problems with these
boards to be able to recommend them, though OS/2 comes with drivers
for the board. This is especially true since MediaVision seems to be
washing its hands of OS/2 support.
- MediaVision Pro
3D -- similar comments to the MediaVision Jazz 16, plus
no support under OS/2 for the board's wavetable features.
- Any Reveal
product. Reveal has now gone under, apparently for good.
Most of their products were based around Aztech or OPTi chipsets,
which don't work with OS/2's VTD. You might see a Reveal product
advertized used or in a clearance bin, but they should be pretty rare
these days.
- The Creative Labs AWE64
board. Whatever its other merits, it has no OS/2 support and
apparently doesn't work with drivers for other Creative Labs boards.
- Generic "SoundBlaster-compatible"
boards -- unless you've identified the board as something
with native OS/2 support (such as a direct clone of one of the above
boards), these may or may not work with OS/2, and so represent a poor
bet.
Copyright © 1996, 1997, Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
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