Thread View: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
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Started by Joel Plutchak
Sat, 12 Jun 1993 12:42
Generic IBM PC Soundcard FAQ periodic posting
Author: Joel Plutchak
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1993 12:42
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1993 12:42
314 lines
15069 bytes
15069 bytes
Archive-name: PCsoundcards/generic-faq
Last-modified: 11-June-1993
Frequently Asked Questions of the
comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard Newsgroup
Last update: June 11, 1993 Previous posting: May 12, 1993
This is an attempt to answer a few non-product-specific questions that
get asked a lot in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard newsgroup. Here are
the topics currently addressed:
0) How can I contribute to this FAQ?
1) What sound card should I buy?
2) How do I get in touch with company XXX?
3) Where can I get software and/or documentation?
4) What programs can play XXX music files on YYY soundcard, or
convert them into ZZZ type files?
5) I don't run DOS. Am I out of luck when it comes to sound boards?
A current copy of this and many other FAQs can be obtained at the
anonymous FTP site rtfm.mit.edu, from the compressed file generic-faq.Z
in the /pub/usenet/news.answers/PCsoundcards directory. If you can't
use FTP, send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with
send usenet/news.answers/PCsoundcards/generic-faq
as the only text in the message body (NOT in the 'Subject:' field).
Corrections to, additions to, and comments regarding this FAQ should be
emailed to Joel Plutchak (plutchak@porter.geo.brown.edu).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
0) How can I contribute to this FAQ?
It's easy! Just send me Email at the above address, and I'll add
your useful information to this FAQ, and put your name in lights
for everybody to admire.
Most urgently needed items:
- Soundcard option/description grid
- Explanations of various synthesis techniques (e.g. FM, wave table)
- *Concise* descriptions of specific soundcards
1) What sound card should I buy?
As with any consumer purchase, what you buy depends upon what you
want to use it for and how much money you're willing to spend. As
of this writing, more and more new companies are jumping into the
field, new (improved! faster! better!) versions of the old cards
are coming out seemingly every month, and things are more confusing
than ever. Keep in mind that different people want different
things from a sound card, and every company will have both
fervent cheerleaders and rabid detractors.
Questions to ask yourself:
Do I want the highest quality sound possible? Do I want
stereo? Do I want MIDI capability? Do I want it to be
supported by a wide range of software? Am I interested
in multimedia? Does the company provide good documentation,
support, upgrades, etc? Is software available that does
want I want it to to?
One person assesses things this way: If you just want to enhance
your gameplaying experience, and don't want to spend much money,
pick up a low-end Soundblaster or Adlib card. If you have
high-end interests, and have the cash, buy from Turtle Beach.
For a good compromise, with MIDI, stereo, etc., get a Soundblaster
Pro or 16 ASP, a Gravis Ultrasound, or a Pro Audio Spectrum 16.
If you're strictly interested in MIDI, go with something with Roland
MPU-401 compatibility. The best thing to do, however, is to hear
the boards yourself, and test out any relevant software ahead of
time, if at all possible. Also, check into expandability and
upgradability, if you foresee a future need.
The diehard do-it-yourselfer can also build his/her own device
which attaches to the computer's parallel port. A fair number of
freeware/shareware programs support such devices, though commercial
support should not be expected. You can get schematics in the
Modplay Pro package, among other places.
A word about MIDI: MPU-401 functionality (in brief, a superset of
simple MIDI serial (aka UART) functionality) has been the de facto
standard in the music world for doing MIDI with computers. So far,
most game-oriented soundcard MIDI options are *NOT* MPU-401-compatible,
especially in so-called "smart" mode. A couple reported exceptions
are the Soundblaster 16 ASP and the Logitech Soundman 16, but they
reportedly don't use "smart" mode. And of course, if you want a board
primarily for MIDI, make sure it can run the software you want to use.
A word about SCSI: some sound boards have ports which allow you to
connect a CD-ROM drive. These are NOT necessarily SCSI ports, i.e.
you may not be about to daisy-chain other SCSI devices, and you may
be limited to a particular make or model of CD drive. If you value
expandability, this may be significant to you. To the best of my
knowledge, the only board which currently has a true SCSI port is
the PAS-16.
2) How do I get in touch with company XXX?
Here are various names and addresses of soundcard manufacturers
and major software vendors. All telephone numbers are in the US
unless specified:
Adlib Multimedia Inc. - sound hardware
220 Grande Allee East, Suite 850, Quebec, QC, Canada G1R 2J1
Phone: (800) 463-2686
(418) 529-9676
Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Limited - sound hardware
111-7400 MacPherson Ave.
Burnaby, B.C.
CANADA V5J 5B6
Main: (604) 431-5020
Support: (604) 431-1807 (Email: tech@gravis.com)
FAX: (604) 431-5155
Creative Labs/Brown Wagh (Soundblaster) - sound hardware,
programming toolkit
2050 Duane Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Main: (800) 998-5227, 998-1461
Support: (408) 428-6622
FAX: (408) 986-1777
BBS: (408) 428-6660
Media Vision, Inc (Pro Audio Spectrum) - sound hardware
47221 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA 94539
Main: (800) 348-7116 or (510) 770-8600
Sales: (800) 845-5870
Support: (800) 638-2807 or (510) 770-9905
FAX: (510) 770-8648 or (510) 770-9592
BBS: (510) 770-0968 & 770-1661 (2400,8,N,1)
(510) 770-0527 (9600,8,N,1)
Microsoft Corporation - sound hardware, software
Main: (800) 426-9400
FAX: (206) 936-7329
Roland Corp. - MIDI hardware, software
7200 Dominion Circle
Los Angeles, CA 90040-3647
(213) 685-5141
Turtle Beach Systems - sound hardware
P.O. Box 5074, York, PA 17405
- or -
Cyber Center, Unit 33, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, York, PA 17404
Main: (717) 843-6916
FAX: (717) 854-8319
CompuServe: 75300.1374@CompuServe.com (Turtle Beach*Roy Smith)
Voyetra - MIDI hardware, software, programming toolkits
333 Fith Avenue, Pelham, NY USA
(800) 233-9377 (US only)
(914) 738-4500 (From anywhere)
(914) 738-4500 (FAX)
Companies not listed: ATI, Logitech, TecMar...
3) Where can I get software and/or documentation?
Various commercial and hobbyist bulletin board systems have forums
dedicated to soundcards, music files, etc. On the Internet, these
are a few of the anonymous FTP sites and mailing lists which cater
to the discerning PC sound enthusiast:
FTP site Description
-------------------------- ----------------------------------
archive.epas.utoronto.ca Sound files, Gravis site
(128.100.160.36)
ccb.ucsf.edu SND files and players
(192.94.75.2) (THIS SITE MAY BE DEFUNCT)
ftp.brad.ac.uk MOD files
(143.53.2.5)
ftp.ulowell.edu CMF and ROL files
(128.63.32.1)
ftp.uwp.edu Sound (and graphics) demos, PAS files
(131.210.1.4)
garbo.uwasa.fi Sound files
(128.214.87.1)
louie.udel.edu MIDI patches, samples, software
(128.175.1.3)
saffron.inset.com THIS SITE HAS CLOSED.
(192.94.75.2)
snake.mcs.kent.edu Soundblaster & Adlib stuff
(131.123.2.222)
sol.cs.ruu.nl MIDI documentation, software, songs
(131.211.80.17)
tybalt.cco.caltech.edu Soundblaster programming in /pub/heathh
(131.215.139.100)
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Sound players
(192.88.110.20)
wuarchive.wustl.edu Lots of stuff
(128.252.135.4)
Newsgroup Description
-------------------------- ----------------------------------
comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard This newsgroup. PC soundcard topics
alt.sb.programmer Soundblaster programming topics
comp.multimedia Multimedia topics
comp.music Computer music theory and research
alt.binaries.sounds.misc Digitized sounds and software
alt.binaries.sounds.d Discussion and follow-up group
alt.binaries.multimedia Supposedly multimedia sounds and software
Note: All the above newsgroups except the first two are generic
groups, so PC-specific topics probably aren't appropriate.
Other FAQs (some available in news.answers and at rtfm.mit.edu)
--------------------------------------------------------------
gravis-ultrasound/faq Gravis Ultrasound information
audio_fmts/part1
audio_fmts/part2 Audio file format descriptions
Mailing lists Description
-------------------------- ----------------------------------
MSDOS Sound Card Forum For PC sound card discussions and info.
Commands should be sent to the
listserv@brownvm.brown.edu address,
while the list address itself is
ibmsnd-l@brownvm.brown.edu.
Multisound Users For Turtle Beach Multisound users. To
subscribe, send a message to
listserv@lists.colorado.edu with a
SUBSCRIBE MULTISOUND <your-full-name>
form of command in the message body.
PAS Lovers For Pro Audio Spectrum discussion and
info. To subscribe, send a message to
pas-lovers-request@qiclab.scn.rain.com
with the word ADD as the subject.
Soundblaster Programming For discussion of Soundblaster
programming issues. For info,
contact plutchak@porter.geo.brown.edu
Ultrasound Digest For Gravis Ultrasound programmers
and users. Send requests to
ultrasound-request@dsd.es.com, or get
info from ultrasound-owner@dsd.es.com
Miscellaneous Description
-------------------------- ----------------------------------
Sound Site Newsletter An electronic newsletter devoted to the
computer sound hobbyist. Available on
many BBS' and anonymous FTP archives,
and posted to several newsgroups.
4) What programs can play XXX music files on YYY soundcard, or
convert them into ZZZ type files?
CD-Box - plays most sound files, needs supporting drivers (shareware)
DIGIStudio - VGA MOD editor for COVOX & Soundblaster (freeware?)
DMP - plays MOD files on most sound boards (shareware)
Modplay Pro - plays MOD files on Soundblaster & compatibles
and parallel port DACs (shareware)
Muzika - Windows MIDI editor (freeware)
PLAY410 - VGA raw sound file player (freeware?)
ScopeTrax - plays VOC, raw, and Amiga files on Soundblaster,
parallel port DACs, or the PC speaker (freeware)
SOX/Soundtool - converts between various sound file formats
(freeware, portable source distributed)
Visual Player - plays MOD files on Soundblaster (shareware)
Windows 3.1 - plays WAV and MID files on most sound boards ($$$)
WOWII - plays MOD files on Soundblaster and compatibles (freeware?)
Note: Past issues of The Sound Site Newsletter contain much more
exhaustive lists of music players.
5) I don't run DOS. Am I out of luck when it comes to sound boards?
As of this writing, commercial support is sketchy, though rumors of
vendor-supported OS/2 drivers for the PAS, Soundblaster, and GUS have
been heard. Also, the Soundblaster and PAS reportedly work under
OS/2's MMPM/2 (multimedia extensions), though the bugs are still
being shaken out of it, so your individual results may vary. The
latest rumor is that native GUS drivers for OS/2 will be out Real
Soon Now.
Various people in the community have written device drivers for the
Soundblaster which run under Unix (BSD and System V) and OS/2.
Contact Lance Norskog (thinman@netcom.com) for information about an
AT&T Unix V.3 and V.4 driver, or Steve Haehnichen (shaehnic@ucsd.edu)
for information about a BSD Unix driver. A preliminary version of an
OS/2 driver was spotted at the astro.as.arizona.edu (128.196.176.1)
FTP site.
A group of people are working on a Unix driver for the GUS.
Linux contains drivers for several sound boards, including the
PAS (including PAS16), SB (SB16 a little flaky), Adlib, and some
SB-compatibles.
Also, check the various archives, FTP sites, and hardware-specific
FAQs for updates and late-breaking news.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Joel Plutchak, Research Programmer/Analyst for hire
"Dies ist meine 12305te Nacht/Die erste paar tausend,
die kannst du vergessen/ich hab' es auch getan" - EN
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