6 ms·

Very cool project. But Sound Blaster is conspicuously missing from this list.

by csense 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
bryanlarsen 3y ago
Which is odd, because the Sound Blaster is basically a Game Blaster and an Adlib together on the same card.
- TonyTrapp 3y ago
  Not really, the Game Blaster had no sample playback and was based on two Philips SAA1099 synthesizer chip; those chips and thus Game Blaster compatibility was removed already in the Sound Blaster 1.5 cards. A Sound Blaster as it is known today has nothing in common with the Game Blaster. That said, it's more likely that the project doesn't support it (yet) because it's still much easier and cheaper to obtain a Sound Blaster than any of the other cards, since it was ubiquitous. GUSes typically go for hundreds of Euros these days while SBs can be had for much less than hundred.
  - pavlov 3y ago
    Gravis Ultrasounds really go for hundreds? Shoot. I think I had two in box that I threw out when cleaning my old office.
    - TonyTrapp 3y ago
      Yep, just look on ebay. It's completely crazy. And people actually buy them for that price, too, it's just not offers sitting there for years without a taker.
    - Sophistifunk 3y ago
      Many, many hundreds.
    - hondadriver 3y ago
      I threw away a Gravis Ultrasound with the 16-bit daughter board and a Terratec EWS64 XL a few years ago when we moved. .. oops ...
polpo 3y ago
It's on the list of things I want to support eventually. A friend I collaborate with on Discord is working on Sound Blaster support for his Pico-based retro PCMCIA project and I plan on using his code. I'd adapt DOSBox's SB code but it's surprisingly complex - DSP support for the whole gamut of SB cards from the Sound Blaster 1.0 to the Sound Blaster 16 are in the same source file, and extracting the parts that I'd need would be more pain than I'm willing to deal with right now. TonyTrapp's comment below raises a good point – I've tried to focus on emulating sound cards that are harder to find and are possible to do on the Pico. Old used Sound Blaster compatible cards are still relatively available and affordable, compared to the GUS or genuine MPU-401s with intelligent mode. CMS compatible boards are also hard to find, and Tandy compatible boards that you can plug into a normal non-Tandy PC are solely available via DIY projects.

Very cool project. But Sound Blaster is conspicuously missing from this list.

by csense 3y ago

Very cool project. But Sound Blaster is conspicuously missing from this list.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

bryanlarsen 3y ago

Which is odd, because the Sound Blaster is basically a Game Blaster and an Adlib together on the same card.

TonyTrapp 3y ago
Not really, the Game Blaster had no sample playback and was based on two Philips SAA1099 synthesizer chip; those chips and thus Game Blaster compatibility was removed already in the Sound Blaster 1.5 cards. A Sound Blaster as it is known today has nothing in common with the Game Blaster. That said, it's more likely that the project doesn't support it (yet) because it's still much easier and cheaper to obtain a Sound Blaster than any of the other cards, since it was ubiquitous. GUSes typically go for hundreds of Euros these days while SBs can be had for much less than hundred.
- pavlov 3y ago
  Gravis Ultrasounds really go for hundreds? Shoot. I think I had two in box that I threw out when cleaning my old office.
  - TonyTrapp 3y ago
    Yep, just look on ebay. It's completely crazy. And people actually buy them for that price, too, it's just not offers sitting there for years without a taker.
  - Sophistifunk 3y ago
    Many, many hundreds.
  - hondadriver 3y ago
    I threw away a Gravis Ultrasound with the 16-bit daughter board and a Terratec EWS64 XL a few years ago when we moved. .. oops ...

polpo 3y ago

It's on the list of things I want to support eventually. A friend I collaborate with on Discord is working on Sound Blaster support for his Pico-based retro PCMCIA project and I plan on using his code. I'd adapt DOSBox's SB code but it's surprisingly complex - DSP support for the whole gamut of SB cards from the Sound Blaster 1.0 to the Sound Blaster 16 are in the same source file, and extracting the parts that I'd need would be more pain than I'm willing to deal with right now. TonyTrapp's comment below raises a good point – I've tried to focus on emulating sound cards that are harder to find and are possible to do on the Pico. Old used Sound Blaster compatible cards are still relatively available and affordable, compared to the GUS or genuine MPU-401s with intelligent mode. CMS compatible boards are also hard to find, and Tandy compatible boards that you can plug into a normal non-Tandy PC are solely available via DIY projects.