PCem

omarsis81 wrote: ↑Wed 04 Mar, 2020 2:25 pmWorks here

leilei wrote: ↑Thu 05 Mar, 2020 3:09 pm It's real behavior for non-PnP ("Plug 'n play") SB cards. If you didn't have the card in at Windows setup time, you'll have to add them manually through the Add New Hardware control panel applet (Automatically or not), and PCem doesn't emulate any later (>1994) variant of ISA Sound Blasters

JosepMa wrote: ↑Thu 05 Mar, 2020 10:14 pm Each card is useful for the software it is intended to be used with.

Oldest soundblaster or adlib cards are mostly for DOS based games that specifically use those.
Newer SB16 is the all-compatible soundcard for newer DOS and Windows.
AWE32 is specifically useful if the software uses it to play music, or on Windows if you play MIDI or games that have MIDI that is targeted for AWE32 or General Midi.
GUS is also interesting for specific DOS software that can use GUS.
GUS on Windows might be good for MIDI, (back in the days, people used the GUS patches for an alternative software MIDI player named timidity)

But once you're on Windows and you don't need the specific AWE32 characteristics, then the PCI-128 is a good 48Khz soundcard with software MIDI emulation. (AWE32 uses Soundfont bank, PCI128 uses a different bank format, but you had up to 8MB banks with the drivers CD).

One note to know about AWE32 is that the MIDI and its 32 channels are always running, even if not playing audio, so it adds to CPU usage. (And the reverb, chorus and equalization were never fully emulated, they just "may work")

leilei wrote: ↑Fri 06 Mar, 2020 1:06 am The PCI 128's a budget card and is pretty much a proto-SBLive, since Creative bought up Ensoniq for their PCI sound tech to create the Live (and all the later cards like Audigy, X-Fi etc), AudioPCI's a stopgap solution and a very popular common OEM card of choice. Early SBLive drivers had the same DOS TSRs with the bad fake FM 'emulation' even.

AudioPCI 128 does have driver advantages like A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0 support, and being AC'97 compliant. Some games will still be fussy about it though as it doesn't support a lot of voices. A good place to try out the PCI128's A3D is to immerse yourself in a room with chickens in Outlaws (an early A3D-marketed game)

There's also the earlier ES1370 / AudioPCI 64 which PCem doesn't currently emulate, which had driver advantages of DOS drivers supporting the Soundscape (which only a handful of mid-90s dos games recognize). There's other differences like 44khz, etc.





....and yes, I do have a soft spot for the AudioPCI approximating FM sound. It's one notable thing it can't do well, and it's also worthy of preserving. There's very very much a point of emulating the PCI128 even if the DOS compatibility isn't that great (but still, better than early MonsterSounds as far as early PCI sound goes)