What is this soundcard?

[Keatah]

Oh never mind.

 

[eightbit]

I've discovered "weird" things with all of the Soundblaster cards. I know they are the "defacto standard" for folks when it comes to compatibility and so on, but between the MPU-401 bugs on many of them and other odd issues I moved away from them. You are much better off with an ESS Audiodrive or Crystal based sound card with DOS support (just my opinion).

 

I never have issues of your type or the MPU-401 bugs I had previously with my Crystal 4239-KQ card. Love it so much actually I purchased a spare for my next system build.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by eightbit

[wierd_w]

I think I voiced similar sentiments further back, when I made the hot-take that some of the knockoffs were perfectly serviceable, and just as good, if not better than the much more expensive authentic SB cards.

 

Aztech sound galaxy washington, for instance, is a SB16 clone with Crystal chipset, IIRC.  It's what I rocked in my 486 back in the day for many many years, before splurging on an SB32 for the AWE sound, with soundfont support.

It was perfectly serviceable, and had no significant hiccups that I recall.

 

Especially in light of the "retro computing craze" hitting Ebay, the knock-off cards are especially worth a look.