Old school computer question.... best ISA sound card?

[glenn1]

Trying to help out my brother with an older system he's salvaged. He was looking for sound, but no PCI slots to be had, so that immediately cuts out quite a few good choices. So what's a good ISA card to look for, with solid driver support and relatively trouble free?

 

[Jeff7]

Aside of getting a Soundblaster, I've had good luck with cards based on the ESS1869 chip. It seems to be supported by pretty much any OS out there, and offers ok performance.

 

[mrbios]

I'd say the good ol' Sound Blaster AWE64 would be your best bet. It can't touch any of the new PCI sound cards, but it is definately better that any other ISA sound card I've heard.

Russell "Mr.Bios" Sampson

 

[zephyrprime]

I have one with 28mb of memory that you can buy if you'd like.

 

[Erasmus-X]

The Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold was by far the best consumer-level ISA sound card ever made. I used to have one with 20 MB of memory (4 MB onboard + 16 MB memory module). But I ended up giving it to a friend of mine (silly me).

You can find a Gold edition AWE64 for around $40-50 in OEM variety on Pricewatch. The non-Gold versions have 512 k of memory, which is really not enough for good wavetable (if that's your thing, of course......). Besides, the Gold has RCA preouts instead of a minijack line out. It would be kind of cool if they made the Live! and the Audigy that way.

 

[tboo]

Awe 64 Gold

 

[GRIFFIN1]

Pro Audio Spectrum 16


Just kidding... The only reason you would want to add memory to your SB AWE sound card is if you want to do MIDI stuff. Other than that, you will just be wasting your time.

 

[Goi]

The SB AWE32 or 64 were very good. You won't need the extra memory if you're not listening to midi files seriously.

The Gravis UltraSound Max was also very good, but lacked the driver support. I used to own one when I was crazy about midi, it ruled for its time

 

[spanky]

awe64. i would still be using it if my mobo had an isa slot

 

[AndyHui]

Definitely the AWE64 Gold. Unlike the standard AWE64, it does not have an onboard amp (like all of today's PCI soundcards), so the output was much better.

 

[Pariah]

AWE64 Gold. None of the Live/Audigy series dating back to the original have an onboard amp.

 

[MWink]

Yet another vote for the SB AWE64. That was the BEST card I ever used. (except for maybe the Santa Cruz).

 

[sharkeeper]

The AWE64 Gold is a little hissy. Of course that's why it sounds better to a critical listener because the low SNR provides dither so the low notes of subtle classical music don't fall into the clutches of 16 bit digital oblivion. OK, so that was a ramble...

ISA!

I remember the AVM Apex and TB Pinnacle. These were pro class ISA sound cards based on a Kurzweil synth and sounded VERY good. You could probably find one out there. I doubt that driver support exists for anything later than Win98 though.

This is when TB was the real thing!

Cheers!

 

[Fun Guy]

Originally posted by: Erasmus-X
The Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold was by far the best consumer-level ISA sound card ever made. I used to have one with 20 MB of memory (4 MB onboard + 16 MB memory module). But I ended up giving it to a friend of mine (silly me).

You can find a Gold edition AWE64 for around $40-50 in OEM variety on Pricewatch. The non-Gold versions have 512 k of memory, which is really not enough for good wavetable (if that's your thing, of course......). Besides, the Gold has RCA preouts instead of a minijack line out. It would be kind of cool if they made the Live! and the Audigy that way.

What he said.

 

[bluemax]

I can't believe I missed this thread! This in only my area of expertise!!

I've covered a lot of ground here over the years. You just can't go wrong with an AWE64 as an "average joe" card. Fewest "issues" you'll ever have. It's clean, runs EVERYTHING, and never a hitch. Sounds decent too.

Now if you want specialty.....
MOD-music creation; the Gravis Ultrasound series (especially the PnP w/ 8MB!) is king.
MIDI creation; Yamaha DB50XG or Roland SCDB10/15 daughterboards on a SB16/32, or something else with a good internal synth is a good, cheap starting place.
Clean recording; Turtle Beach had a few- Multisound started it all. Whew... that card was introduced over $800US!
Soundfonts; AWE32 + 8MB in 4MB 30-pin sticks, or best, AWE64 plus a memory module. (I don't know why creative did such a thing.... ugh.)
That's about it for ISA.

 

[mrchaotica]

This is just slightly off topic (by the way, I agree with the Awe64 crowd), but I just happen to have an ISA soundblaster sitting here in my room. The biggest chip on the card is labeled "Awe", but does not have a 32 or 64. It also says "Creative", "© Creative Tech '96", "CT8903-DAQ", and "643D". Exactly which card is this, Awe32 or Awe64 (Gold?)? I just started wondering from reading this thread...
Thanks!

EDIT: Also I just noticed on the corner of the PCB it says Model: CT3670

 

[SilentRunning]

I remember the AVM Apex and TB Pinnacle. These were pro class ISA sound cards based on a Kurzweil synth and sounded VERY good. You could probably find one out there. I doubt that driver support exists for anything later than Win98 though.

This is when TB was the real thing!


You mean before Creative Labs bought E-mu Systems (kurzweil), Ensoniq, and A3d

 

[Kindjal]

Originally posted by: mrchaotica
This is just slightly off topic (by the way, I agree with the Awe64 crowd), but I just happen to have an ISA soundblaster sitting here in my room. The biggest chip on the card is labeled "Awe", but does not have a 32 or 64. It also says "Creative", "© Creative Tech '96", "CT8903-DAQ", and "643D". Exactly which card is this, Awe32 or Awe64 (Gold?)? I just started wondering from reading this thread...
Thanks!

EDIT: Also I just noticed on the corner of the PCB it says Model: CT3670

Is this what you soundcard looks like: CT3670

If so it looks like you do have a SB 32 PnP, here is a quote from that site:

SB 32 PnP : 0KB Sample RAM, RAM upgradable: Uses AWE64 chipset (picture of CT3670 board) but has SIMM slots. While the ©1993 chipset had a 16bit wide bus hence could work with any mix of SIMMs, the ©1996 chipset had a 32bit wide bus hence needs two SIMMs, preferably of the same size.

Go there youself - SB Card Differences or just do a Google search!

 

[mrchaotica]

Yep, that's the one. Thanks!

 

[mrzed]

I have a TB pinnacle. It really was a beautiful card, but as someone said - no driver support past win98.

I eventually gave it up because I could not for the life of me resolve an upper memory resource conflict. I think it started when I put a Geforce 2 MX in. Either way, I spent many hellish hours in the bios settings, reserving memory and such. I found references to the problems I was having, but never got past it.

I was so sad to finally pull it out and throw in a cheap PCI soundblaster.

 

[Priit]

GUS PnP Pro w/32Mb RAM (can be done!!!). It may not have good Windoze drivers but it has VERY WELL supported under linux I have both GUS MAX and SB AWE64 myself and I found GUS sound quality and MIDI playing abilites to be much better than SoundBlaster's...

 

[Booster]

ESS 1868 generic ISA card... Yay! That was the soundcard for a mere 8 bux back in the days when the Quake came out! Schweet... I really enjoyed that extra cheap soundcard just b/c it just was my first one. It lasted me a really long time. If you can find one now, you won't regret, I'm sure.

EDIT: just remembered that I used a really fine ISA soundcard that's got support in all the present day OSes - I'm talking Crystal CS4235. It also costs 8 bux sharp, and is a great card. Generic, of course, but the Crystal drivers are great and flawless and it can run anything.

 

[ElFenix]

AWE 32!! uses regular ram

 

[Yobbo]

Just looked over in my dad's comp (that I built for him out of my then-current parts)...he has an ISA awe64 and thats been working for like 5 years now. Its been running damn well and I can't say I've had any real problems with it...I have a tvtuner card on that comp and the sound quality, even from our crappy cable, is decent.

I would recommend it, esp. since you can prob find it dirt cheap now

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
AWE 32!! uses regular ram

Heh but only 30pin simms.. do you have any left? I think I have like 4 x 1meg.