In case of wavetable sure there are better alternatives. But overall it is a great card, and I really like it, too! It definitely has more style than the later AWE64, and it looks great
You should try the demo that came with the Sound Blaster 16 ASP; it's much better (the sound swirls around your head, with a graphic of... sound swirling around a head)
I dunno man. Never been a sound nut for games. As long as there IS sound, that was good enough for me. Obviously it's different with music, or watching a movie. But for gaming, it never bothered me to have an expensive card. A friend of mine bought an AWE32. I thought he was nuts. Huge card, cost him a fortune, and I thought he'd been had by the guy at the shop. BUT I gotta admit, Full Throttle and Doom II and whatnot, sure they sounded great - especially through his Creative speakers. But did they sound like ... 5x better than what my £35 soundcard sounded like? I don't think so. Maybe it's just me - not being so into sound in games as a major thing. Graphics card, processor speed, quality CRT - they were my focus. I bought a small (but expensive) Sony 2.1 mini hi-fi for around £300 back in the late 90's. Two heavy speakers and a small sub. Can't remember the RMS but it was beefy enough. I hooked that up to my Soundblaster Live! or whatever I had at the time, that was enough.
If I've learned something since I collection soundcards, then it is that you don't need to spend much money to get great sound. I never bought an expensive soundcard myself, my collection is based on 2nd hand and recycled hardware. I started collecting soundcards to experience the different sound standards, fm synths and wavetables, that's what fascinates me a lot! With graphics cards it is another story. Here the price usually is linked to raw compute power. The more you pay, the more you get, at least today. But the question is, how much power you really need. I run an GTX1660ti in my modern pc and can handle everything in acceptable resolution and details, so no need for me to pay a fortune for a flagship card. It suits my needs. Regarding your 2.1 HiFi system; it feels that back in the days there was a: much more different brands and offers of HiFi and b: they sound much better than today. I listen to a 2nd hand Denon Hifi from the 90s with huge speakers. It sounds awesome and still going strong! For PC gaming I prefere over ear headphones.
@@pc-sound-legacy Since I got DOSBox Staging the other week, and I played through X-Com : TFTD, it was my first experience of "Roland" sound, albeit through emulation. But I could definitely appreciate the better music - just like I appreciated my friends AWE32 back then. I guess I cannot miss what I never had! And yeah - the Hi-Fi craze of the 90's was very interesting. There is a shop here in my City called "Fanthorpes" and it sold top end sound gear since the 1980s and it's still going today! Although they sell strange stuff now, like £3000 TV's etc, but they do still have a dedicated few rooms to sound systems. Lots of it is digital stuff now, and DJ equipment BUT they have lots of old refurbished, second hand gear from the 90's. EVERYONE had a huge sound HiFi in the 90's! XD Either blasting out hip-hop, or rock, or whatever. Never Beethoven was it? XD But - yes, that small Sony system was very clear, had amazing bass and treble, no frills not many controls but the sound quality was superb for gaming and listening to music. Rockets really thundered on Quake. Strange how these days, it's almost all headsets! I have a few Skullcandy and Sennheiser headsets, nothing special just mid range, and they are nice but you can't beat the thundering of a subwoofer. And it made the neighbours angry! Which was always a bonus! XD
AWE32 was the first real Sound Card I purchased. Good card.
I know many that do not like the AWE32. Which I understand, but it's still one of my favorite soundcards.
In case of wavetable sure there are better alternatives. But overall it is a great card, and I really like it, too! It definitely has more style than the later AWE64, and it looks great
You should try the demo that came with the Sound Blaster 16 ASP; it's much better (the sound swirls around your head, with a graphic of... sound swirling around a head)
Thank you! I'll definitely look out for it
the gunshot is the cs 1.5 AK47 sound right??
I dunno man. Never been a sound nut for games. As long as there IS sound, that was good enough for me. Obviously it's different with music, or watching a movie. But for gaming, it never bothered me to have an expensive card. A friend of mine bought an AWE32. I thought he was nuts. Huge card, cost him a fortune, and I thought he'd been had by the guy at the shop. BUT I gotta admit, Full Throttle and Doom II and whatnot, sure they sounded great - especially through his Creative speakers. But did they sound like ... 5x better than what my £35 soundcard sounded like? I don't think so.
Maybe it's just me - not being so into sound in games as a major thing. Graphics card, processor speed, quality CRT - they were my focus.
I bought a small (but expensive) Sony 2.1 mini hi-fi for around £300 back in the late 90's. Two heavy speakers and a small sub. Can't remember the RMS but it was beefy enough. I hooked that up to my Soundblaster Live! or whatever I had at the time, that was enough.
If I've learned something since I collection soundcards, then it is that you don't need to spend much money to get great sound. I never bought an expensive soundcard myself, my collection is based on 2nd hand and recycled hardware. I started collecting soundcards to experience the different sound standards, fm synths and wavetables, that's what fascinates me a lot! With graphics cards it is another story. Here the price usually is linked to raw compute power. The more you pay, the more you get, at least today. But the question is, how much power you really need. I run an GTX1660ti in my modern pc and can handle everything in acceptable resolution and details, so no need for me to pay a fortune for a flagship card. It suits my needs. Regarding your 2.1 HiFi system; it feels that back in the days there was a: much more different brands and offers of HiFi and b: they sound much better than today. I listen to a 2nd hand Denon Hifi from the 90s with huge speakers. It sounds awesome and still going strong! For PC gaming I prefere over ear headphones.
@@pc-sound-legacy Since I got DOSBox Staging the other week, and I played through X-Com : TFTD, it was my first experience of "Roland" sound, albeit through emulation. But I could definitely appreciate the better music - just like I appreciated my friends AWE32 back then. I guess I cannot miss what I never had!
And yeah - the Hi-Fi craze of the 90's was very interesting. There is a shop here in my City called "Fanthorpes" and it sold top end sound gear since the 1980s and it's still going today! Although they sell strange stuff now, like £3000 TV's etc, but they do still have a dedicated few rooms to sound systems. Lots of it is digital stuff now, and DJ equipment BUT they have lots of old refurbished, second hand gear from the 90's. EVERYONE had a huge sound HiFi in the 90's! XD Either blasting out hip-hop, or rock, or whatever. Never Beethoven was it? XD But - yes, that small Sony system was very clear, had amazing bass and treble, no frills not many controls but the sound quality was superb for gaming and listening to music. Rockets really thundered on Quake.
Strange how these days, it's almost all headsets! I have a few Skullcandy and Sennheiser headsets, nothing special just mid range, and they are nice but you can't beat the thundering of a subwoofer. And it made the neighbours angry! Which was always a bonus! XD