Why Wave Blaster IIwith AWE32
Kevin E. Zsenak
I'm trying to figure out which sound card to buy. I see that the
AWE32 supports the Wave Blaster II. Since the AWE32 can do wave table
by itself, why would I want to by a Wave Blaster II. Also, if the
Wave Blaster II is better than the AWE32, wouldn't it make sense to
buy a SB16 and put the Wave Blaster II on that? Your opinions please.
no...@nuc.net
The Wave Blaster II uses basically the same ROM and synth (EMU8000) as
the AWE. It is not going to net you very much by getting one. One
advantage that it does provide is hardware MPU-401 compatibility, but
any daughterboard will provide this. It is best to get a Yamaha
DB50xg or a Roland SCD-10\15 daughterboard to add to an AWE. I use a
DB50xg on my AWE and it is excellent. The main advantages of the AWE
over the SB16 have to do with the AWE's ability to load samples into
RAM. The AWE is a better card than the SB16 since it is more
expandable, but buying an AWE isn't going to net you very much unless
you add RAM to it. Take care.
_ __ __
/ | / / ____ _ __ ____ _ / /__
/ |/ / / __ \ | / // __ `/ / //_/
/ /| / / /_/ / |/ // /_/ / / ,<
/_/ |_/ \____/|___/ \__,_/ /_/|_|
no...@nuc.net
Reposting article removed by rogue canceller.
Kevin E. Zsenak
Ken Bourgeois
In article <32456d72...@news.alt.net>, no...@nuc.net (no...@nuc.net) wrote:
Snip==
>RAM. The AWE is a better card than the SB16 since it is more
>expandable, but buying an AWE isn't going to net you very much unless
>you add RAM to it. Take care.
>
SB32Pnp. All it is used for is cd music with some game use. I would guess
nothing.
Also in the Control Panel, Multimedia. Midi section, I have the...
*Midi for Internal OPL2/OPL3 FM Synthesis loaded. If I load the
*Midi for Creative Advanced Wave Effects Synthesis for AWE32 loaded
get the messed up notes when I play any midi files.
Please help me with the above.
Ken
ken rahmoeller
> the AWE. It is not going to net you very much by getting one. One
> advantage that it does provide is hardware MPU-401 compatibility, but
> any daughterboard will provide this. It is best to get a Yamaha
> DB50xg or a Roland SCD-10\15 daughterboard to add to an AWE. I use a
> DB50xg on my AWE and it is excellent. The main advantages of the AWE
> over the SB16 have to do with the AWE's ability to load samples into
> expandable, but buying an AWE isn't going to net you very much unless
> you add RAM to it. Take care.
>
> / | / / ____ _ __ ____ _ / /__
> / |/ / / __ \ | / // __ `/ / //_/
> / /| / / /_/ / |/ // /_/ / / ,<
> /_/ |_/ \____/|___/ \__,_/ /_/|_|
If you have add the Yamaha DB50xg, is there any reason to get the AWE
instead of the SB16. Does the AWE's ability to load samples into RAM help
in this case?
I'm planning to get a Pentium within the next few months and am trying to
decide what sound card setup is best for playing games. Thanks.
Martin Duensing
no...@nuc.net (no...@nuc.net) wrote:
>The Wave Blaster II uses basically the same ROM and synth (EMU8000) as
>the AWE. It is not going to net you very much by getting one. One
>advantage that it does provide is hardware MPU-401 compatibility, but
>any daughterboard will provide this. It is best to get a Yamaha
>DB50xg or a Roland SCD-10\15 daughterboard to add to an AWE. I use a
>DB50xg on my AWE and it is excellent. The main advantages of the AWE
>over the SB16 have to do with the AWE's ability to load samples into
>RAM. The AWE is a better card than the SB16 since it is more
>expandable, but buying an AWE isn't going to net you very much unless
>you add RAM to it. Take care.
I also have an AWE 32 PnP with a Yamaha DB50XG. Would adding 8MB or
more RAM onto the AWE 32 achieve a similar quality of midi music? I
currently get the dreaded "hanging note" problem when I select GM for
some games, but no problem with AWE midi.
Thanks,
Martin
Jon Hoffman aka Fred the Cat
no...@nuc.net (no...@nuc.net) wrote:
: DB50xg or a Roland SCD-10\15 daughterboard to add to an AWE. I use a
: DB50xg on my AWE and it is excellent. The main advantages of the AWE
Have you had any "Hanging Note" problems with the AWE+Yahmaha? Is
this a new plug and play AWE? I found that the SB16pnp+Yahmaha would hang
sometimes. Gotta admit that Yahmaha is a killer! Im back with a SB32 for
a little while and the 1meg Rom while not "Bad" is no match. I was enticed
by this "NEW" SB32 because it had a new model # and internet stuff written
on the box and the picture on the back showed a sleek NEW model of the
SB32 with JUMPERS for the IDE port. Unfortunately when opening the box I
found it was the same old Model without the jumpers. :( There was a
disclaimer on the back that card pictured may NOT be the one inside, also
I found that in the Serial # they give the model # clearly: 3600 not the
like 3876 or whatever that was in red on the front. Hopefully the stores
will get the new models I'd like to check out the IDE thing. Of course
what I really want is a NON-Hanging Sb16 or AWE with jumpers so I can
disable the IDE and joystick because without this I can't add a SCSI card
(IRQ) and can't use the Yahmaha that I love (hanging notes). I suppose an
OLD AWE or SB16 or if yours works fine tell me the Model # if you know It,
I can search the want ads.
Jon Hoffman aka Fred the Cat
Martin Duensing (duen...@onramp.net) wrote:
: I also have an AWE 32 PnP with a Yamaha DB50XG. Would adding 8MB or
: more RAM onto the AWE 32 achieve a similar quality of midi music? I
: currently get the dreaded "hanging note" problem when I select GM for
: some games, but no problem with AWE midi.
UGH! Thats what I figured ALL the new Creative cards have the
"Hanging Note" problem. Any response from creative? Will they fix this bug
in the future releases. Also hopefully it's a driver thing not a hardware
thing but I doubt it. There is a fix, getting a MPU401 ISA card and
plugging the yahmaha into it. This fix costs $100 plus an ISA slot. I need
the ISA slot for a SCSII card, of course I could spend the $200+ for a PCI
SCSI card, whew this would start to get costly!
John Hader
ken rahmoeller <krah...@cmsa.gmr.com> wrote in article
<324847...@cmsa.gmr.com>...
> no...@nuc.net wrote:
>
> > any daughterboard will provide this. It is best to get a Yamaha
> > DB50xg or a Roland SCD-10\15 daughterboard to add to an AWE. I use a
> > DB50xg on my AWE and it is excellent. The main advantages of the AWE
> > over the SB16 have to do with the AWE's ability to load samples into
> > RAM. The AWE is a better card than the SB16 since it is more
> > expandable, but buying an AWE isn't going to net you very much unless
> > you add RAM to it. Take care.
> >
> If you have add the Yamaha DB50xg, is there any reason to get the AWE
> instead of the SB16. Does the AWE's ability to load samples into RAM help
> in this case?
This is a real newbie question...
When you added the Yamaha DB50xg to the AWE does it automaticly
start using the yamaha or do you have to reconfigure something to tell it
to use the DB rather than the main board?
Martin Duensing
fm...@widget.ecn.purdue.edu (Frederick Y Mah) wrote:
>You can grab the 2MB GM/GS/MT32 sound bank free for the AWE from
>http://www.creaf.com (sign up on the Creative Xchange). Which is
>sufficient for game playing. The 8MB (actually 7.2MB) is thicker sounding
>than the 2MB and some instruments much better, but the mix of the EMu
>sets is quite a bit different than the Yamaha. Also, for games you'd
>have to run the Win95 DOS box emulation or Win95 based games to use
>the RAM loaded sounds. The Emu (8MB) is more open, treble, live-like while
>the Yamaha is more bassy and studio processed sounding. Basically for
>natural acoustic-ish MIDI the EMu would come across better while general
>rhythm based MIDI the Yamaha, though you can edit the Emu bank.
>Although if XG gets more support you'd want to keep the XG device.
>Either switch if for a SW60XG (ISA) or get a new DB carrying board like the
>new Crystalake 105. You could also test the 2MB bank borrowing or
>getting 2MB RAM, but you still would get real MPU401 support that way.
>--
>Fred Mah --- fm...@ecn.purdue.edu
>http://widget.ecn.purdue.edu/~fmah
Fred,
Thank you for the information. Is there anyway to use the RAM loaded
sounds in plain DOS or W95 DOS-Mode? I try to never play any game
inside windows, if I don't have to.
Martin
Frederick Y Mah
duen...@onramp.net (Martin Duensing) writes:
>Fred,
>Thank you for the information. Is there anyway to use the RAM loaded
>sounds in plain DOS or W95 DOS-Mode? I try to never play any game
>inside windows, if I don't have to.
>Martin
You can load it, but if you select AWE as the music card for the game,
the game has it's own internal SBK file it loads in the card ( usually
the default ROM) so it will overwrite it. If you use AWEUTIL and load
it as the GS bank it will work, but AWEUTIL is not so great.
Martin Duensing
fm...@widget.ecn.purdue.edu (Frederick Y Mah) wrote:
>You can load it, but if you select AWE as the music card for the game,
>the game has it's own internal SBK file it loads in the card ( usually
>the default ROM) so it will overwrite it. If you use AWEUTIL and load
>it as the GS bank it will work, but AWEUTIL is not so great.
>--
>Fred Mah --- fm...@ecn.purdue.edu
>http://widget.ecn.purdue.edu/~fmah
Fred,
Thanks again. One last question (convergence is near). Is GS similar
to GM (General Midi)? Is it possible to choose the GM option for
games rather than AWE option for music (Using the RAM sounds)? Or
would this default to or conflict with the attached Yamaha DB50XG? If
the loaded RAM sounds are close to the quality of the DB50XG, I might
consider removing the daughtercard.
Martin