LGR Oddware - Creative Game Blaster / CMS Sound Card
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
AudieHolland
When I bought my first PC, a 386 SX 33, I examined all the pros and cons of existing sound systems. Then I came to the conclusion that Soundblaster was supported by most games developers so I got a Soundblaster 2. 0 (I think) but mine also featured synthesized sound effects. The music was great and who could afford a Roland card anyway. That one cost as much as a high-end PC in fact. Never regretted buying the Soundblaster but when it was time to get a new PC, the overall quality of brandless PC-soundcards that came with the system, was high enough that I didn't decide to buy a 16 bit AWE) Soundblaster card. But compared to the Amiga that we first used before switching to PC, the sound from the Soundblaster was inferior to the Amiga sound. Just compare both -Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade- (adventure) versions for Amiga and PC. The PC, with Soundblaster, sounded like a reliable electric organ player. The Amiga blew it away like a rockstar.
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When I bought my first PC, a 386 SX 33, I examined all the pros and cons of existing sound systems. Then I came to the conclusion that Soundblaster was supported by most games developers so I got a Soundblaster 2. 0 (I think) but mine also featured synthesized sound effects. The music was great and who could afford a Roland card anyway. That one cost as much as a high-end PC in fact. Never regretted buying the Soundblaster but when it was time to get a new PC, the overall quality of brandless PC-soundcards that came with the system, was high enough that I didn't decide to buy a 16 bit AWE) Soundblaster card. But compared to the Amiga that we first used before switching to PC, the sound from the Soundblaster was inferior to the Amiga sound. Just compare both -Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade- (adventure) versions for Amiga and PC. The PC, with Soundblaster, sounded like a reliable electric organ player. The Amiga blew it away like a rockstar.
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Liviu-Dan
It's missing the -live- side of things, That soundcard is actually a musical instrument, is it not? (Yamaha chip): ) Plus the many -obstacles- high frequencies encounters both on the input circuit (hardware, but also software-wise. And square waves are known to have infinite harmonic spectra, so you've stumbled upon a good example of why -at least- in the beginning of digital studio recording and mastering, analog was -I'd say still is- far superior. -note early digital studio recording machine still used magnetic tape as storage medium, but in a digital format. the choice was obvious and sometimes still is. :D Thank you for caring after all those -machines- and pets you got there, and for sharing. -Live long and prosper -! -: )
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It's missing the -live- side of things, That soundcard is actually a musical instrument, is it not? (Yamaha chip): ) Plus the many -obstacles- high frequencies encounters both on the input circuit (hardware, but also software-wise. And square waves are known to have infinite harmonic spectra, so you've stumbled upon a good example of why -at least- in the beginning of digital studio recording and mastering, analog was -I'd say still is- far superior. -note early digital studio recording machine still used magnetic tape as storage medium, but in a digital format. the choice was obvious and sometimes still is. :D Thank you for caring after all those -machines- and pets you got there, and for sharing. -Live long and prosper -! -: )
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superfury
UniPCemu(made by me) has a better CMS emulation than Dosbox: it actually renders like an actual Game Blaster does(in it's PWM-rendering fashion) at 4MHz, then low-pass filters it(at 4MHz with a pass-filter of the output frequency(e. g. 44. 1kHz/50kHz) to the output sampling frequency(up to 50kHz. So if the computer running UniPCemu supports it(it usually does, it will run at up to 50kHz stereo audio at hardware quality. The output should match real audio cards afaik(although unverified since I don't have the card myself, just the Dosbox code as a reference. The only con at the moment is that it's not running at full speed(mainly due to the CPU and video card emulation being too heavy on the host CPU.
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UniPCemu(made by me) has a better CMS emulation than Dosbox: it actually renders like an actual Game Blaster does(in it's PWM-rendering fashion) at 4MHz, then low-pass filters it(at 4MHz with a pass-filter of the output frequency(e. g. 44. 1kHz/50kHz) to the output sampling frequency(up to 50kHz. So if the computer running UniPCemu supports it(it usually does, it will run at up to 50kHz stereo audio at hardware quality. The output should match real audio cards afaik(although unverified since I don't have the card myself, just the Dosbox code as a reference. The only con at the moment is that it's not running at full speed(mainly due to the CPU and video card emulation being too heavy on the host CPU.
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Bark
When I was 12 years old my friend got an old 486 from his dads work and he had this old sound card, a Aztech 8bit ISA laying around since before.
After some try and errors we finally found IRQ and DMA settings that worked. We were so excited about it cause now we had sound and could hook it up with nullmodem cable against his parents Pentium 90 and play Rise of the Triad death match, although you had to press F11 or something to get rid of the floor and sky textures for it to run smooth on the 486.
Warcraft 2 was also a big hit. Unfortunately Quake didn't run on the 486: -(
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When I was 12 years old my friend got an old 486 from his dads work and he had this old sound card, a Aztech 8bit ISA laying around since before.
After some try and errors we finally found IRQ and DMA settings that worked. We were so excited about it cause now we had sound and could hook it up with nullmodem cable against his parents Pentium 90 and play Rise of the Triad death match, although you had to press F11 or something to get rid of the floor and sky textures for it to run smooth on the 486.
Warcraft 2 was also a big hit. Unfortunately Quake didn't run on the 486: -(
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Traugott
Champions of Krynn! Ah yes. Good old (A)D&D on the computer. Oddly enough I only heard of Champions when I bought a box full of Amiga stuff a couple years back (the game was included in said box. It's pretty awesome for it's time. When I was a kid I totally would have loved a game like this (instead, I was stuck with the somewhat mediocre Hillsfar, but I still played the shit out of it, despite having little to none knowledge of the english language back then.
EDIT: I also love how we had to hook up Joysticks to the freaking SOUND CARD. Who ever thought that up?
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Champions of Krynn! Ah yes. Good old (A)D&D on the computer. Oddly enough I only heard of Champions when I bought a box full of Amiga stuff a couple years back (the game was included in said box. It's pretty awesome for it's time. When I was a kid I totally would have loved a game like this (instead, I was stuck with the somewhat mediocre Hillsfar, but I still played the shit out of it, despite having little to none knowledge of the english language back then.
EDIT: I also love how we had to hook up Joysticks to the freaking SOUND CARD. Who ever thought that up?
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Zenodilodon
Your sound card for recording is most likely capacitor coupled, this will end up changing the square wave a bit and will make for a more sinusoidal wave form. I have the same issue when trying to use my sound card to record ILDA laser signals for testing or using my sound card to capture wave forms off sensors and such. This is done in sound cards to protect them from input spikes and voltage differentials between the 2 devices thus only allowing changing electrical signals through but not a steady DC state. Not much you can do to get pas this.
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Your sound card for recording is most likely capacitor coupled, this will end up changing the square wave a bit and will make for a more sinusoidal wave form. I have the same issue when trying to use my sound card to record ILDA laser signals for testing or using my sound card to capture wave forms off sensors and such. This is done in sound cards to protect them from input spikes and voltage differentials between the 2 devices thus only allowing changing electrical signals through but not a steady DC state. Not much you can do to get pas this.
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bwc1976
I remember seeing a Game Blaster at Radio Shack, but my mom ended up ordering me an AdLib direct from Sierra instead. Silpheed was supposed to come bundled with it, but I never got it. :( I do remember reading about the early Sound Blasters including both AdLib and Game Blaster chips, and now after hearing both, I can see how the FM and square wave capabilities would have complemented each other nicely, each had its advantages and disadvantages, but I also see why the FM won out in the end. Firehawk and Test Drive 3 definitely sound better on FM.
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I remember seeing a Game Blaster at Radio Shack, but my mom ended up ordering me an AdLib direct from Sierra instead. Silpheed was supposed to come bundled with it, but I never got it. :( I do remember reading about the early Sound Blasters including both AdLib and Game Blaster chips, and now after hearing both, I can see how the FM and square wave capabilities would have complemented each other nicely, each had its advantages and disadvantages, but I also see why the FM won out in the end. Firehawk and Test Drive 3 definitely sound better on FM.
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CptJistuce
You probably know by now(it HAS been a decade, but Creative had good reason to be secretive about their parts.
The Adlib was made entirely of unobscured off-the-shelf parts, which made it very easy to clone(as Creative did when they built the Sound Blaster. They took great pains to make sure that no one could easily do to them what they did to Adlib(and also to make things sound fancier than they were: the -DSP- chip isn't a Digital Signal Processor.
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You probably know by now(it HAS been a decade, but Creative had good reason to be secretive about their parts.
The Adlib was made entirely of unobscured off-the-shelf parts, which made it very easy to clone(as Creative did when they built the Sound Blaster. They took great pains to make sure that no one could easily do to them what they did to Adlib(and also to make things sound fancier than they were: the -DSP- chip isn't a Digital Signal Processor.
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-=tAz=-
27: 12 What's missing in the playback -- the percussion is gone for sure! What else? It sounds like the instrument you normally hear is constructed by overlapping two square waves, with one detuned slightly. This is done sometimes on the C64 and NES to give an instrument more depth or complexity. The playback only includes part of the sound played on one voice. I don't know why. Maybe it's only recording the left or right, but not both.
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27: 12 What's missing in the playback -- the percussion is gone for sure! What else? It sounds like the instrument you normally hear is constructed by overlapping two square waves, with one detuned slightly. This is done sometimes on the C64 and NES to give an instrument more depth or complexity. The playback only includes part of the sound played on one voice. I don't know why. Maybe it's only recording the left or right, but not both.
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Daehawk
I miss these old days of gaming SO much sometimes. But if I went back I doubt Id have anywhere near the fun I had at those times. It was so new and high tech then and tech was progressing so much. Fun days. Fun time in my life when I was in my late teens and 20s. The late 80's and all the 90's were so great for PC.
Funny when anyone speaks of game music I think of LOOM. Yet I never played it. though I think I do own it now.
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I miss these old days of gaming SO much sometimes. But if I went back I doubt Id have anywhere near the fun I had at those times. It was so new and high tech then and tech was progressing so much. Fun days. Fun time in my life when I was in my late teens and 20s. The late 80's and all the 90's were so great for PC.
Funny when anyone speaks of game music I think of LOOM. Yet I never played it. though I think I do own it now.
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