Uncreative Labs

Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 261 Location: WisConSin

386er wrote:

packard bells had modem/soundcard ones, another PB odity, i got one, never tried it tho, its got an aztech chipset

Um, no... Packard bell was like American motors, you never knew what you would get, Aztech was in some, Reveal, Crystal, Chips, Digital Logic and just about anything else they got cheap would end up in those boxes and yes many were modem/sound combos including Crystal. The specific chip Coward is looking for I didn't see with a modem ever, maybe I didn't look hard enough though.

Anyway over the years I have had probably 40 packard bells of different models and vintages pass through my hands and probably a hundred cards with no systems pass through my hands (that were from PB)

PB liked off brand, slow and strange that is for sure.

Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Posts: 138 Location: Lynnwood,WA

Unknown_K wrote:

creepingnet wrote:

386er wrote:

packard bells had modem/soundcard ones, another PB odity, i got one, never tried it tho, its got an aztech chipset

Some older high end Packard Bells (The Legend 843+ is one of them) used REVEAL Sound cards. I had one of those, it was pretty nice, but you did have to tweak the left channel a little to get the sound output balanced between the two speakers correctly.

I use sound cards according to machine...

8088 = CT1600 SoundBlaster Pro II
80286 = SoundBlaster 16
80486 = SoundBlaster AWE32 with 2MB of Waveblaster RAM

I also redirect my internal speaker into the cards, so I can control the bleeper output. Most, if not all SoundBlasters have this option (look for a 2 prong connector marked SPKR).

Nothing for a 386?

I don't have one at the moment. My 286 and 486 cover those bases. However, if I did have one, I'd likely have a Compaq Deskpro 386 (one of the early big case ones, I really like those), and have a SoundBlaster 16 installed in it. If not, I'd have a similar whitebox clone.

Joined: 05 Mar 2010 Posts: 8

I had a Compaq Prolinea with a Packard Bell soundcard in it; turned out to really be Aztech when I checked the FCC ID. I later put it in a 486, and the Adlib option worked with it in the Sierra adventure games.

Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 274 Location: USA

Anonymous Coward wrote:

Now rumour has it that Crystal Semiconductor CS4232 based cards with real OPL3 is a good card to have as they have good SNR, good SB Pro compatibility and a functional wave blaster connector. I would consider one of those (I haven't yet been able to find one).

i managed to locate one in my pile of chaos, chip says cs4232-kq not sure how to tell if its got opl3, i'll take a pic and upload, is this worth sticking in a win98 pc?

edit: heres pic, its grainy

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

It wouldn't provide you with much useful functionality in windows 9x, but it might be useful in DOS depending on what your criteria are.

I mostly want a card like this card because it has both a working MPU-401 header and relatively good SB Pro compatibility. The MPU-401 headers on creative labs cards mostly don't work correctly.

Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 274 Location: USA

i tested this card out, drivers work, plays sound etc, as far as synth goes, haven't had much luck outside of a few games and diagnostic program, i fear its a conflict between the scsi card and the mpu401 only will goto adress 330

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

Yeah, SCSI and soundcard conflicts are very common. The 1542 and SB16 was always a real pain in the ass for me.

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

Are there any markings on the card that indicate make or model?

Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 274 Location: USA

says MJ-021-R00 CS32-3DI, the crystal chip is a cs4232-kq the crystal ware drivers for cs4232 work and the card plays digital audio ok, altho im having problems getting the synth worthing outside of the diag program an games, the card is not as loud, altho im used to creativ cards with the built in amplifiers, have to crank th volume all the way for this one, also, is a crystal reveal cs4248 based card any good?

edit, found this from google, same card as the bottom one, aparenrly, its a POS

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=23005&sid=99f8df37d19131c80ca3558a58d78a95

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

Ah damn, it's a shame it doesn't have a real OPL3. Though not everyone really cares about that. Supposedly it should still have fairly good SB Pro compatibility. The lack of amplifier isn't necessarily a problem either.

Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 274 Location: USA

heck, i dont even know what opl stands for, seems fairly compatible with Sound Blasters from what ive tried with it, and i got powered speakers, so its a ok card, i wouldn't hesatate to use a crystal sound card when no SB's are around, as a matter of fact, i did on other systems. crystal is a good SB compatible alternitive. one thing that bugs me is how there is the OPL3 in the setup/diag utils, and its taking up resources but its a fake.

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

It's not really "fake", it's actually a clone of OPL3. I'm not entirely sure what OPL stands for either, but it's the chip that generates the sounds of your FM midi. The "fake" OPL3 chips just don't sound exactly the same as say a real SoundBlaster card. Mostly it sounds different, not necessarily worse.

Joined: 14 Sep 2012 Posts: 1 Location: San Jose, CA

I know, I know... FORUM NECROMANCY!

But honestly, I would say the best SB16-based card is the actual AWE32 (not the SB32) because it is the only full-duplex card and so may be used with pure ASIO.

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

No such thing as the "best" SB16 based card. They were all flawed in some way. Though many members of the VOGONS forum would agree with you that AWE32 is best. Even then, there are still several versions of the AWE32. Some have real OPL3 and others don't.

I've Just given up and gone with a Yamaha YMF-719 based card + Yamaha DB60XG general midi card. YMF-719 gives virtually flawless SB Pro compatibility (something the SB16 can't do) + Windows sound system for 16-bit stuff, a working DB header and very clean sound (when amp is disabled). The software is kind of shitty, but I've been pretty happy with it otherwise.