SUMMARY: Soundcards for OS/2 LAST REVISION: 11/19/95 BY: Rod Smith, rsmith@psych.colorado.edu This is a summary of information I've learned about sound cards for use under OS/2. This document focuses upon wavetable cards in the $100-$200 range, but cards in other price ranges are also included on a more sporadic basis. I update this post as I receive more information, so please send me any corrections or additional information you may have. * I post this to the comp.os.os2.misc, comp.os.os.multimedia, and * comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.advocacy newsgroups most Sundays. Anybody * wishing to make this document available via a web server or other means * has my permission to do so, though I ask that you try to keep the * document reasonably up to date with the current release. CHANGE SUMMARY -------------- 1) Miscellaneous small textual changes 2) Information on posting of document and permission to make it available on web servers added (above) 3) IBM's MPU-401 driver, while still not officially released, is starting to appear on BBSes and whatnot; but these "leaked" versions are UNSUPPORTED BY IBM 4) New e-mail address for Robert Manley, GUS shareware driver author (rjm@io.org) 5) Extensive re-writing of the Mwave "comments" section, including some new information on OS/2-native Mwave applications 6) Yet another MediaVision ProAudio card setup file (PASSETUP) mentioned 7) New street price information and CD-ROM address information for OPTi 928/929-based boards 8) CORRECTION: Orchid SoundWave chipset listed incorrectly in previous release; actually an Analog Devices DSP-2115 * In the text below, changed or new sections are marked with asterisks * to the left of the affected lines, like this. GENERAL COMMENTS ---------------- Getting solid information on sound cards under OS/2 has been a VERY frustrating experience for me. Tech support people are sometimes unclear, evasive, or incorrect, and sometimes totally unresponsive. Knowledgeable responses from the net have been rare. In general, it seems that sound card support under OS/2 is spotty at best. Many cards have either no drivers or flakey drivers, and many SoundBlaster-compatible cards don't work with OS/2's SoundBlaster drivers (one IBM employee says these were written by Creative Labs with code designed to render the drivers useless for unauthorized SB clones). Other SoundBlaster-compatible cards require initialization software which may or may not be available for OS/2. Fortunately, most of the manufacturers I contacted said they were working on OS/2 drivers, either as a first release or to fix buggy or limited drivers. Unfortunately, it's hard to say when any given "in progress" driver will become available because of the notorious slippage of ship dates in the industry. I'd therefore recommend going with a card for which OS/2 drivers are available NOW, if at all possible. Many sound cards these days offer "Windows Sound System" compatibility, frequently implemented with an AD1848, CS4231, or CS4248 chip. The IBM Business Audio AD1848 driver (which comes with OS/2) frequently works with cards designed for this standard, though one post (from lad@vnet.ibm.com) mentions adding some (unspecified) parameters to the driver for CS4231-based boards. Therefore, if you've got an unsupported sound card which does support this standard, and if you're having problems with the SoundBlaster driver, try this one instead. Similarly, the Compaq Business Audio driver that comes with OS/2 may work with many of these boards. In addition, Turtle Beach has recently placed drivers written by Crystal Semiconductor for a variety of CS-based boards on their ftp site. Check ftp.tbeach.com under /pub/tbeach/os2 for the file mctz_os2.zip if you have a Microsoft Windows Sound System, Boca Modem, Acer Magic S20, Gallant, Mozart (OTI601), Crystal Vivaldi, Thinkpad 750C, or Turtle Beach Tropez or Monte Carlo and can't get another driver to work. (These drivers are reputedly still a bit buggy and limited.) Some of the general information presented here comes from the March 28, 1995 issue of PC Magazine, which has a review of sound cards. Although I generally don't trust magazine reviews, this article does have a fair amount of useful information on different sound card types and whatnot, and is worth reading if you're not already familiar with the current market. Unfortunately, it contains NO information on OS/2 support for the reviewed cards. Other information comes from newsgroup posts and e-mail replies to my newsgroup posts or other queries, and from files downloaded from ftp sites and BBSes. The October, 1995 issue of Computer Shopper magazine also has a sound card review, but it only looks at a few boards, and mentions OS/2 in a very peripheral way. Finally, the November, 1995 issue of Computer Shopper has an article on combination sound/fax/modem/voicemail boards, but this focuses almost exclusively upon the Windows voicemail software for these boards. BASIC TECHNOLOGY ---------------- Sound boards today come in two main types: FM synthesis and wavetable. The former is exemplified by the classic SoundBlaster 8-bit and 16-bit boards. They can play back digitally-recorded sounds (Captain Picard saying "warp factor 3," for instance) and can produce music from MIDI files played from OS/2, Windows, etc., by combining various sine waves to roughly emulate the sounds of various instruments. Wavetable boards can almost always also play back digital sounds, but they produce MIDI sounds by using a "wavetable" -- digital samples of instruments, or simulations thereof, recorded in ROM (or sometimes in RAM, loaded from a disk file) on the board. Thus, a wavetable board will sound much better than an FM synthesis board when playing the music files in many multimedia games, or if you use music composition software on the computer; but wavetable boards don't have any necessary advantage when playing digitally-recorded sounds. The features of a sound board, however, require drivers in order to work. OS/2 drivers for many wavetable boards don't support the wavetable features from OS/2, so the MIDI music used in Galactic Civilizations, for instance, won't sound any better than on an FM synthesis board, if it plays at all. OS/2 drivers for many boards (of both types) also provide only limited access to the sound board for DOS and Windows programs, or such access will disrupt the OS/2 drivers. Much of my quest involved attempting to extract straight answers to the question of whether various features are supported under OS/2. Many (but not all) of the wavetable boards use what's known as an MPU-401 interface for playing MIDI files. There are sometimes ways to get wavetable sound without using the MPU-401 interface, but this is the preferred method for most cards. (Some people prefer cards that use other wavetable interface methods because the MPU-401 method reduces the number of external MIDI devices that can be connected to the card by one.) Unfortunately, OS/2 doesn't yet have an officially-released MMPM/2 MPU-401 driver, though there is a beta of an MPU-401 driver which has been released on the latest DevCon CD (a CD-ROM with developer's tools), but this has yet to attain full availability, and reportedly * doesn't come with MMPM/2 installation scripts. This driver, or other * versions of it, has made unauthorized appearances on various BBSes, and * was even posted to comp.os.os2.multimedia in early November. Be aware * that if you have such an unauthorized copy of the MMPM/2 driver, it is * UNSUPPORTED by IBM. When officially released, though, this driver might provide access to wavetable sound for many wavetable boards in one fell swoop. Until that driver becomes available (and possibly after), users will be dependant upon manufacturers for OS/2 drivers that support wavetable features from their boards, and at this time, this support is almost non-existant. As mentioned above, many sound boards today are "Windows Sound System" compatible for digitized audio; but these boards also often require initialization software before they'll work. It seems that a handful of companies, such as OPTi and Crystal Semiconductor, provide the chipsets used in most sound boards, but I'm very unclear on precisely how these chipsets work together. What is clear is that drivers for one board will often work with boards bearing other brand names. I suspect the situation is similar to, but more chaotic than, the situation with video boards, in which, for instance, Brand X and Brand Y both make boards based upon the video Chipset A and Chipset B. OS/2 uses drivers for the chipsets, and the video board brand itself serves largely to confuse people about this. I try to cover sound boards by brand name in this document, but in some cases I lump several boards together by the chipset they use. If you're looking for drivers for an existing board, be aware that a listing for an unrelated-sounding board may have the information you require. As with video boards, but more so, it's not completely safe to assume that two boards using the same chipset will work equally well under OS/2, so if you've any doubts, try posting a question to comp.os.os2.multimedia and/or contact the board's manufacturer. Most sound boards don't allow playing more than one sound file at a time. In a multitasking OS such as OS/2, it is of course possible that two programs will want to play sound files at once, and this generally isn't possible, at least not with the current drivers. Similarly, if you install Windows sound drivers, these generally "take over" the card when you run any Windows program, unless you select "none" for the AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING option in the Settings notebook for a program. This happens whether or not the program is actually playing sounds. The MediaVision ProAudio series boards do have two "channels," and it's possible to assign one to Windows and one to OS/2, for a limited solution to this problem. (Note, however, that many people have problems configuring this properly.) Also, at least some boards allow playing MIDI and digitized sounds simultaneously. The latest (version 2.0) OPTi drivers allow playing OS/2 sounds when a Windows session is open, but not true concurrency of OS/2 and Windows sounds. These drivers reportedly work by having the OS/2 and Windows drivers "talk" to each other to avoid conflicts. Boards based on IBM's Mwave chip allow OS/2 sounds to play when the Windows sound drivers are loaded, and even to play more than one .WAV file simultaneously, though two MIDI files generally exceeds the board's processing capacity. In theory, drivers could be written to get around this problem in a more general way, as the new OPTi drivers do. I recently heard some rumblings that OS/2's MMPM/2 may be undergoing revisions which may make this more common in future versions of OS/2. Recently, sound boards have begun appearing using DSP (digital signal processing) technology. DSPs are general-purpose processing chips that can be used in a number of applications. For instance, DSPs are used in certain types of modems, such as US Robotics and ZyXEL 14,400 bps and faster models. IBM's Mwave chip is a DSP chip that's being used in sound boards which can usually also be used as modems. Most such extra-flexible sound boards don't yet have much in the way of OS/2 driver support, however (though the IBM Multimedia Modem and a few other Mwave boards are exceptions to this rule). Also, note that the presence of a DSP doesn't necessarily make the board unusually versatile; some DSPs (such as Ensoniq's OTTO) are still used as little more than special-purpose sound chips. Modern sound boards frequently have interfaces for one or more types of CD-ROMs. As I have a SCSI CD-ROM with a separate controller, I wasn't very concerned with this in my own search, but I've included a note for each of the boards I mention below on what types of interfaces it has. Interfaces can be SCSI (general, for any SCSI CD-ROM drive), IDE (general, for any IDE/EIDE/ATAPI CD-ROM), or proprietary (for Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi, etc. drives). In any case, you'll need a driver for the interface and/or CD-ROM drive. OS/2 comes with drivers for most of the proprietary standards and for IDE drives, though I can't guarantee these will work with all boards using these interfaces. OS/2 may or may not come with a driver for a specific SCSI interface. As with the sound features, many boards require initialization software be run before the CD-ROM interface becomes active, so this may be a prerequisite for using such interfaces under OS/2. Sound card CD-ROM interfaces can generally be disabled (or simply not initialized), and so won't cause problems if you've already got another type of CD-ROM. Sound boards require interrupts (IRQs) in order to function. Simple boards, such as the 8-bit SoundBlaster board I was replacing, require only a single IRQ (generally #5). More complex boards may require two or more IRQs for the sound board, and frequently another for the CD-ROM interface, if it's being used. The miroCONNECT 34 wave board takes FOUR IRQs, including one for its modem features, and I assume other Mwave boards would do the same. Thus, if you want an advanced wavetable board, be sure you've got enough free IRQs, and IRQs the board can use. Similarly, sound boards use address spaces for I/O and DMA channels. Most modern boards use software to set the IRQs, etc., that they use. In theory, PCI-based sound boards could get around some of the IRQ hogging inherent in advanced ISA-based boards. At the moment, though, I know of no PCI-based sound boards that are currently shipping or planned. I have heard a rumor that some combination audio/video PCI boards are in the works for release in a few months, but I've no idea who's doing this or whether these boards will have OS/2 support. Some FM synthesis boards include a connector for a wavetable daughter card, which allows one to upgrade to wavetable abilities relatively painlessly. I haven't seriously investigated such daughter cards, though, and don't know much about them. These daughter cards typically cost $60-$200. The wavetable features may or may not be automatically utilized by the OS/2 drivers for the main board. I've heard that the latest SoundBlaster drivers include a CONFIG.SYS option ("/EXT") to force use of the wavetable daughtercard. Therefore, a true SoundBlaster in combination with a wavetable daughtercard can make a good choice for wavetable sound under OS/2. There are also a few wavetable-only boards available that can be used in conjunction with an existing FM synthesis board -- but these are generally MPU-401 boards, and would require an MPU-401 driver to work. Since OS/2's MPU-401 driver is still in limited beta distribution, this is an iffy proposition unless you've got the latest DevCon CD. DRIVER INSTALLATION ------------------- I've found that driver installation can be a bit tricky, especially if you're replacing an existing board or driver. The problem in this case is that the driver installation software frequently doesn't properly eliminate the configuration for the previous driver. The result is that you'll get no sound. In order to avoid these problems, I suggest you take the following steps when updating your MMPM/2 sound card drivers: 1) Remove all references to the x:\MMOS2 directory (x: being your boot partition) from OS/2's CONFIG.SYS. Be sure to get the references in the PATH and LIBPATH statements. The best way to do this is to restore a CONFIG.SYS from a point before you ever installed multimedia support, but this usually isn't practical. Be sure to keep a backup of your old CONFIG.SYS and an emergency boot routine, in case you accidentally produce a non-bootable system. 2) Reboot. 3) Remove the entire x:\MMOS2 directory structure. If OS/2 complains that it can't remove some files because they're in use, you missed something in step #1; repeat it. Or there may be something else using the file (a reference in OS2.INI or OS2SYS.INI, maybe). You may be able to safely ignore this file, or a deletion from an emergency boot floppy or partition may do the trick. 4) Use Selective Install to install multimedia support. If you're installing drivers that don't come with OS/2, make sure that NO sound card is listed on the first dialog box; you want ONLY multimedia support for this step. If you're installing a driver that came with OS/2, be sure the appropriate card is selected. Note that multimedia support may not be checked on the second dialog box if you don't select a sound card, so be sure it's selected for installation. 5) After installing multimedia support, reboot. 6) If you're installing drivers that didn't come with OS/2, do so now. Follow the directions that came with the drivers. Most Warp sound card drivers require you to use the Multimedia Application Install program. 7) After installing the drivers, reboot. You should get Warp's startup sound when the desktop appears. One correspondent suggests also using an .INI file maintenance tool between steps 3 and 4 to remove references to MMPM/2 from OS/2's .INI files, but I haven't found that necessary, myself. It can't hurt to take the extra precaution IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. Mucking with .INI files can be DANGEROUS, so I DO NOT recommend this for relative novices. I've also experienced personally and seen posts relating problems using Warp's "Selective Uninstall" utility. My experience with it rendered my CONFIG.SYS file full of garbage and my system unbootable. I therefore recommend NOT using Selective Uninstall to remove multimedia support (or anything else). Another poster indicated problems removing the MMOS2 directory even after removing all references to it from CONFIG.SYS, but I've never experienced this myself when uninstalling SoundBlaster 8-bit or Reveal SC500 support, but I did when removing Mwave support. One poster reported that Selective Uninstall was the only way to get MMPM/2 removed. I used an emergency boot partition to delete the remaining errant .DLL file. MIDI FILE PLAYBACK ------------------ I've found in using various boards and drivers that OS/2 will respond differently to the same MIDI file depending upon the driver, and differently to different files with the same driver. For instance, some of the MIDI files that come with Galactic Civilizations play at VERY low volume with the Mwave drivers supplied by miro; and I've seen reports that OS/2's Media Player doesn't always reset sounds and tempo when loading a new MIDI file with at least some beta versions of IBM's MPU-401 driver (though this may change with the release version). One cause of such problems is MIDI files which aren't 100% "General MIDI" compatible, so loading and then saving them with MIDI utilities like those which come with most sound cards may help. Another possible "help" is to use the MakeGM utility, available from ftp.servtech.com in /pub/users/wraymond/os2midi. I recently got ahold of this program, and I HIGHLY recommend it for cleaning up troublesome MIDI files, and even non-troublesome ones which may be affected by a "problem" file. I do recommend, though, that you not delete the original file until you've confirmed that the modified file plays correctly. SOUND BOARDS ------------ This section goes over the sound boards about which I have any information, in alphabetical order. I don't pretend this is a comprehensive list, and I am far from certain about much of the information I've presented, since some of it is based upon only one or two comments from individuals who use the boards in question, or upon tech support people who may have an interest in minimizing the extent of problems with individual boards. I've tried to flag the least-reliable information as such. I've tried to include various ways of contacting the manufactuer, as well as where to find drivers, for each entry below. "OS/2 ftp" refers to the big OS/2 ftp sites, such as ftp-os2.nmsu.edu and ftp-os2.cdrom.com. Sound board drivers should normally be in the /os2/drivers or /pub/os2/32bit/drivers directories, respectively. IBM Europe also operates a driver repository ftp site at ftp.europe.ibm.com, or by web at www.europe.ibm.com. The "street price" line gives the approximate prices I've seen advertized in Computer Shopper or local stores, or which have been reported to me. Prices are usually given as an approximate value ("~" to the left), a range, or a minimum ("+" to the right). Advanced Gravis UltraSound/UltraSound Max: ------------------------------------------ Phone: 800-663-8558, 604-431-5020 Fax: 604-431-5155 BBS: 604-431-5927 * e-mail: os2.driver@gravis.com for Gravis, rjm@io.org for Robert Manley Type: Wavetable Chipset: ICS GF1 CD-ROM: none (GUS)/proprietary (GUS Max: Sony, Mitsumi, Panasonic) Street price: $130-$200 OS/2 Drivers: Available but limited Drivers from: BBS, OS/2 ftp: grav031a.zip, ultra08a.zip Comments: Gravis has "released alpha-level" drivers (an oxymoron), and judging by the documentation, they're OK for OS/2-only use, but DOS (and presumably Windows) programs will cause problems. Robert Manley has released $25 shareware drivers that have somewhat different limitations (digitized sound and .MOD [but no .MID] playback from OS/2, from what I can tell from the documentation; support for DOS and Windows MIDI file playback via external devices or through the board after registration; DOS/Windows "native" digitized sound but no SoundBlaster emulation). The latest word is that Gravis and Robert Manley are working on an arrangement to allow Manley to include the Gravis MIDI code in his drivers, but this is still in the planning stages. The board itself is reported to produce quite good sound. Note that this board does NOT use an MPU-401 hardware interface for wavetable sound, unlike most wavetable boards. Aria boards: ------------ Phone: 408-263-9300 (Sierra Semiconductor); 800-477-3473 or 503-692-9600 (Prometheus Customer Service) Fax: 408-263-3337 (Sierra Semiconductor) BBS: ? e-mail: 76004.527@compuserve.com (Prometheus) web: http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl/aria Type: Wavetable Chipset: Aria CD-ROM: Variable; usually none or SCSI Street price: ~$80-$280 OS/2 Drivers: Available Drivers from: OS/2 ftp: aria16.zip Comments: There are several sound boards, from manufacturers such as Prometheus, Genoa, Kingston, Diamond, Zoltrix, and others, which use Sierra Semiconductor's Aria chipset. These boards have varying * capabilities and prices. I've received one report of 100% success * with the Aria drivers on an IBM PS/1 with an Aria board, though a parameter ("/P:310") was required on the CD-ROM driver to get it working. Another poster said that the driver worked, but produced low volume. I gather that the drivers were developed with the Prometheus boards in mind, so that should be the safest bet among Aria-based boards. Unfortunately, these boards are becoming very difficult to find. IBM PC Direct may still have them, but I've been unable to locate local vendors or other mail-order suppliers. Prometheus tech support suggested calling their Customer Service number (listed above) to help locate a supplier, though I haven't done that. Aztech Sound Galaxy 16: ----------------------- Phone: 800-886-8854, 510-623-8988 Fax: 510-623-8989 BBS: ? e-mail: aztechca@netcom.com or suppport@aztechCA.com, but **NOT** AZtech.com, which is an unrelated company! Type: FM synthesis Chipset: Aztech proprietary (?), Yamaha OPL3 (?) CD-ROM: IDE, proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi, Aztech) (?) Street price: ~$70 OS/2 Drivers: Available but possibly unreliable Drivers from: OS/2 box, ftp: ftp.aimnet.com, /pub/users/aztech Comments: OS/2 drivers exist, and have reportedly recently (late August, 1995) been updated. My one report on these updated drivers has them working fairly well, but with the major caveat that the system occasionally locks up when trying to open a Windows session after playing a DOS game that requires sound in OS/2. Net reports indicate only so-so DOS games compatibility with this board. Aztech Waverider 32+: --------------------- Phone: 800-886-8854, 510-623-8988 Fax: 510-623-8989 BBS: ? e-mail: aztechca@netcom.com or suppport@aztechCA.com, but **NOT** AZtech.com, which is an unrelated company! Type: Wavetable Chipset: Aztech AZT2316A, ICS WaveFront, Yamaha OPL3 CD-ROM: IDE, proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi, Aztech) Street price: $110-$150 OS/2 Drivers: Available but possibly unreliable Drivers from: OS/2 box, ftp: ftp.aimnet.com, /pub/users/aztech Comments: As with the Aztech Sound Galaxy 16, new drivers have apparently recently (late August, 1995) been released. My report on these indicates no OS/2-native wavetable support. See above for other caveats. PC Magazine reported so-so wavetable sound quality from this board. Net reports indicate only so-so DOS games compatibility with this board. ChipChat Sound Card-16 & Sound Card-32: --------------------------------------- Phone: 313-565-4000 Fax: 313-565-4001 BBS: ? e-mail: ? Web: http://www.chipchat.com Type: FM synthesis & wavetable, respectively Chipset: ? Street price: $200 & $260 list, respectively OS/2 Drivers: Available, unknown capabilities CD-ROM: none (?) Drivers from: OS/2 box, ChipChat box Comments: These are Microchannel (MCA) only boards. The information on the web site indicates that they work with the OS/2 SoundBlaster drivers, or with OS/2 drivers designed specifically for the boards themselves. Beyond this, I know relatively little; I don't know if the wavetable features of the 32 model are supported under OS/2, and I've received no reports from end users on how well the boards work. Creative Labs SoundBlaster 8-bit & 16-bit: ------------------------------------------ Phone: 800-998-5227 (customer assistance), 800-998-1000 (customer service), 405-742-6622 (automated tech support), 405-742-6655 (tech support) Fax: 405-742-6633 BBS: 405-742-6660 e-mail: 72662.1602@compuserve.com Type: FM synthesis Chipset: Proprietary (?), Yamaha OPL2 or OPL3 Street price: $60-$150+ OS/2 Drivers: Available CD-ROM: Variable; depends on specific model Drivers from: OS/2 box, OS/2 ftp, ftp.creaf.com, BBS Comments: These are well-supported under OS/2, and are "the" standard for DOS games. Some SB clones may not work with the OS/2 drivers, though. These are well-supported but uninspired cards by today's standards. I was having assorted minor problems with an 8-bit SoundBlaster, which was my main reason for upgrading, but most people report few or no problems with these cards. If you have problems getting sound from Windows to work, try the latest Windows driver for your model from ftp.creaf.com or the Creative Labs BBS. One report indicates that updated drivers may be released in the August- to-November (1995) time frame. Beta versions of these drivers are now reportedly available, and apparently include useful new features, but they are BETA, and so should not be considered stable. Check the ftp site if you want to try them. Creative Labs SoundBlaster AWE32/AWE32 Value Edition: ----------------------------------------------------- Phone: 800-998-5227 (customer assistance), 800-998-1000 (customer service), 405-742-6622 (automated tech support), 405-742-6655 (tech support) Fax: 405-742-6633 BBS: 405-742-6660 e-mail: 72662.1602@compuserve.com Type: Wavetable Chipset: E-mu 8000, Yamaha OPL3 CD-ROM: Proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi) Street price: ~$200-$300 OS/2 Drivers: Available Drivers from: OS/2 box, OS/2 ftp, ftp.creaf.com, BBS Comments: Similar comments as for the SB FM synthesis boards. I saw one post which indicated that MIDI sounds played from OS/2 result in both a wavetable and an FM synthesis implementation, though, which would be annoying at best. Another post indicates that MIDI files are played with FM synthesis only. Still others say that MIDI playback uses the wavetable features only. Windows sound reportedly will only work after installing the latest Windows drivers from the Creative Labs ftp site. Note that this board does NOT use an MPU-401 interface in hardware for wavetable support, unlike most wavetable boards. One report has it that updated OS/2 drivers may become available in the August-November (1995) range. Beta versions of these drivers are reportedly available now, and add new features; but as they are BETA drivers, caution is advisable. The Value Edition version of this board is discontinued, replaced by the SB32 board, which uses a Vibra-16 chip. The new "Plug-and-Play" version of the AWE32/SB32 reportedly does not work with OS/2, so be cautious with this. I've also seen reports that the DOS General MIDI support for this board doesn't work under OS/2, so if you've got DOS games or programs which rely upon this, you might want to look elsewhere. Creative Labs Vibra16-based boards: ----------------------------------- Phone: 800-998-5227 (customer assistance), 800-998-1000 (customer service), 405-742-6622 (automated tech support), 405-742-6655 (tech support); 800-955-5295 (Reply, Inc.) Fax: 405-742-6633 BBS: 405-742-6660 e-mail: 72662.1602@compuserve.com Type: Varies; Phone Blaster is FM Synthesis; SB32 is wavetable Chipset: Vibra 16; Rockwell (for modem on Phone Blaster); (& others [varies]) CD-ROM: Varies (CL boards have IDE interface) Street price: Varies; ~$200 for Phone Blaster; ~$160 for SB 32; different for other boards OS/2 Drivers: Available Drivers from: ftp.creaf.com, BBS Comments: The Vibra 16 is a relatively new chipset designed by Creative Technology and used in both Creative Labs' own Phone Blaster and Sound Blaster 32 boards and in various third-party ("OEM") boards. These boards reportedly often work with OS/2's SoundBlaster 16 drivers, but work better with the new Vibra 16 drivers from Creative's ftp site or BBS. The fax and voice-mail software for the Phone Blaster is written for Windows, and Creative Labs says they do NOT support it under OS/2, so caveat emptor in this respect. They say the modem features work fine under OS/2, however. Some respondents (but not Creative's tech support) hinted that Creative is moving to the Vibra 16 for all their boards, but I've no timetable on this switch, if it's real. A Microchannel board based on this chipset is available from a company called Reply (phone number above). Essentially, the Vibra-16 is a chipset (chip?) which replaces several chips in the original SB series boards with one chip. As such, these boards should be very compatible with the original SoundBlaster series boards. Ensoniq Soundscape/Soundscape Elite: ------------------------------------ Phone: 800-776-8637, 610-647-3930 Fax: 800-257-1439 BBS: 610-647-3195 e-mail: Davep@Ensoniq.com, multimedia@ensoniq.com, and soundscape-bugs@ensoniq.com Type: Wavetable Chipset: Ensoniq OTTO CD-ROM: Proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi) Street price: $150-$200 OS/2 Drivers: Available, but limited Drivers from: ftp.ensoniq.com Comments: According to both Ensoniq tech support and one respondant, OS/2 drivers exist but DOS/Windows access is tricky and unreliable. Drivers also don't yet support wavetable features from OS/2. New drivers have been promised for a long time, but recent posts indicate that Ensoniq has put this on a VERY low-priority status. Another recent post suggests that Ensoniq is promising full OS/2 support by the end of 1995. Wavetable quality is reputed to be good from native DOS/Windows. IBM Mwave-based boards: ----------------------- Phone: 800-549-6476 (miro, USA); 44-71-8310467 (miro, UK) Fax-back: 800-426-4329 (IBM; option 2, document 2006); 415-855-9494 (miro) Fax: 800-426-3396 (IBM), 415-855-0940 (miro) BBS: 919-517-0001 (IBM), 415-855-9944 (miro) e-mail: support@miro.mirousa.com (miro) web: http://watson.mbb.sfu.ca Type: Wavetable Chipset: IBM Mwave CD-ROM: IBM: Proprietary (Sony, Panasonic); miro: Proprietary (Mitsumi, Sony), IDE; others: varies * Street price: ~$300 for full function boards; ~$200 for audio-only (no * modem/fax/voicemail) boards OS/2 Drivers: Available for some models Drivers from: Board manufacturer -- usually in the box; ftp.pcco.ibm.com, /pub/os2_apps, /pub/mobiles (various files) * Comments: There are two lines of Mwave chips: the 1000 series and the * 2000 series, the latter being more powerful. Many Mwave boards can * function as modems, faxes, and voicemail systems as well as serving * as wavetable sound cards. These boards store their wavetable samples * on disk and use DSP code loaded from disk, so there are delays when * starting a new function; but this design gives unusual flexibility and * the capacity for software-only upgrades of the board's features. Most * modem-capable Mwave boards currently or soon will have 28,800 bps * (v.34) speed. The miroCONNECT 34 wave and IBM Multimedia Modem boards * are the ones with the best OS/2 support; the popular Spectrum Office * F/X, which is physically identical to the IBM board, comes with no * OS/2 drivers. IBM also offers a sound-only Mwave board which, * physically, lacks telephone connectors, but which comes with OS/2 * drivers. The miro's 7/95 drivers present many installation pitfalls * and cause problems with Galactic Civilizations, but otherwise work * well. I had no luck getting the miro's included Windows voicemail * software to work under OS/2, but I've received a message from somebody * who has gotten it working under "blue spine" Warp; e-mail me for * details. The Windows voicemail software that comes with IBM's board * reportedly works well from OS/2. Rumor has it that IBM is developing * a native OS/2 voicemail program for Mwave, but I don't know when it * will become available or under what conditions. IBM also has some * voice-control software for OS/2 and Mwave, but I don't have availability * information on this, except that this and other goodies come with * certain Aptiva models. There should be no problems using native OS/2 * modem and fax applications with these boards. Of the miro and IBM, I'd * have to recommend the IBM because of fewer problems with the included * Windows voicemail software and likelihood of better technical support and * updates (miro has been less than perfectly responsive to my queries). * The IBM board is hard to find, though; IBM PC Direct is probably the best * way to get ahold of one. Logitech SoundMan Wave: ----------------------- Phone: 800-231-7717, 510-795-8500 Fax: 510-792-8901 BBS: ? e-mail: jennings@dlj.ENET.dec.com (Dave Jennings) Type: Wavetable Chipset: MediaVision Jazz 16, Yamaha OPL4 CD-ROM: SCSI Street price: ~$100 OS/2 Drivers: shareware, but limited Drivers from: OS/2 ftp, ftp.digital.com in /pub/micro/OS2/smwdd021.zip Comments: Tech support says no OS/2 drivers exist, and don't count on them in the future, but that the board should work with SoundBlaster drivers. Dave Jennings has written shareware drivers, but they don't support the board's wavetable features, and I don't know how well DOS and Windows programs are supported with these drivers. Dave says he's not planning further development of his drivers, unfortunately, citing technical difficulties getting adequate timing from OS/2. Mediatrix Audiotrix Pro: ------------------------ Phone: 800-820-8749, 819-829-8749 Fax: 819-829-5100 BBS: ? e-mail: ? Type: Wavetable Chipset: CS4231, Yamaha OPL4 CD-ROM: optional: proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi, Philips) Street price: ~$225 (?) OS/2 Drivers: Available, but limited Drivers from: ? Comments: This board is well-respected for its sound quality, and I gather that OS/2 driver development is proceeding. The current OS/2 drivers are reputed to support everything but OS/2 MIDI (wavetable). MediaVision Jazz: ----------------- Phone: 800-845-5870, 510-770-8600 Fax: 510-770-8648 BBS: ? e-mail: ? web: http://www.mediavis.com/support/opro3d.htm Type: FM synthesis Chipset: MediaVision Jazz 16 (I assume) CD-ROM: ? Street price: ? OS/2 Drivers: Available, but possibly unreliable Drivers from: OS/2 box Comments: This is a relatively recent board from MediaVision, and OS/2 drivers are available with OS/2; however, I've seen some reports that these drivers may be difficult to get working correctly, especially with DOS/Windows support. One person reports that volume control doesn't work and that "some hardware configurations fail." Other reports indicate no such problems. MediaVision has announced that it will no longer be developing or updating its OS/2 drivers (the drivers that come with OS/2 were apparently written by MediaVision). MediaVision ProAudio Spectrum/ProAudio Studio: ---------------------------------------------- Phone: 800-845-5870, 510-770-8600 Fax: 510-770-8648 BBS: ? e-mail: ? web: http://www.mediavis.com/support/opro3d.htm Type: FM synthesis Chipset: ? CD-ROM: Variable; depends on specific board. * Street price: Discontinued OS/2 Drivers: Available Drivers from: OS/2 box Comments: Discontinued. Allows simultaneous use of sound from OS/2 and Windows programs, if you can get this feature working (it's frustrated a lot of people). The PROMIX/2 program is reputed to help get this card working correctly. Loading the DOS driver for the card in OS/2's * CONFIG.SYS is also reported to help. There's also a file called * PASSETUP.DOC available from various sources (it's listed on my March, * 1995 Hobbes CD-ROM, but not on the latest index files I have from * ftp-os2.nmsu.edu or ftp-os2.cdrom.com). Mediavision Pro 3-D: -------------------- Phone: 800-845-5870, 510-770-8600 Fax: 510-770-8648 BBS: ? e-mail: ? web: http://www.mediavis.com/support/opro3d.htm Type: Wavetable Chipset: MediaVision MVD1216, Korg wavetable, Yamaha OPL3 CD-ROM: SCSI Street price: ? OS/2 Drivers: Unavailable, but may work with Jazz drivers Drivers from: -- Comments: Obviously, I know very little about this board, but it's from a Big Name, so I thought I should mention it. ;-) I have heard that MediaVision has formally announced that they are NOT working on OS/2 drivers. The board reportedly works ("barely") with the Jazz drivers included with OS/2. MEI Premium 16a/i and WaveTable: -------------------------------- Phone: 800-634-3478 Fax: 614-486-6417 BBS: -- e-mail: -- Type: FM synthesis and wavetable, respectively Chipset: Aztech AZT2316A (?), ICS Wavefront (for WaveTable only), Yamaha OPL3 CD-ROM: IDE, proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi, Aztech) Street price: $68 and $106, respectively OS/2 Drivers: Mentioned for 16a/i; not mentioned for WaveTable Drivers from: OS/2 box, ftp.aimnet.com, /pub/users/aztech Comments: These are Aztech boards without the Aztech name, and as such, the comments and cautions for the Aztech boards apply to these. MEI primarily sells computer supplies, books, and CD-ROMs. OPTi 928/929 (MAD16?): ---------------------- Phone: 408-980-9774, 408-980-8178 (unknown precisely what each is; one or both may be fax numbers); 800-398-6784 Fax: ? BBS: 408-486-8555 e-mail: ? Type: FM synthesis/wavetable Chipset: CS4248, OPTi 928/929 CD-ROM: IDE, proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi) * Street price: ~$50 for non-wavetable [at a trade show]; ? for wavetable OS/2 Drivers: Available, limited for wavetable Drivers from: BBS, OS/2 ftp: 929_v2.zip or opti928.zip Comments: As near as I've figured out, OPTi sells a sound board design to other companies, and may sell this design themselves under the "MAD16" name. The Reveal SC400 rev. 4G and SC500 boards are based on this design, as is the card included with Diamond's MMK4000 package and boards from other manufacturers, including MediaMagic. The 929_v2.zip (aka opti928.zip) driver is a version 2.0 driver which adds official support for Windows sound and which activates the 929 board's MPU-401 port, officially for use with Windows; but one report has it that IBM's beta-level MPU-401 driver works with this feature. Another report indicates that this feature is automatically enabled for Windows even on OPTi 928-based systems, which don't support it. This can be defeated by editing Windows .INI files; send e-mail to tamerick@rmci.net for details. At least some specific versions of these boards work well with OS/2, though wavetable sound can as yet only be obtained with the beta-level MPU-401 driver. The 929_v2.zip drivers include Windows drivers which "talk to" the OS/2 drivers, thus allowing OS/2 sounds even when running Windows programs, so long as those Windows programs aren't actually playing sounds. In practice, there may be delays of several seconds if an attempt to play from both environments occurs, however. I've received one report that, in order to use the board's CD-ROM interface, a base address of H340 must be * specified on the CD-ROM driver line, and another report that H320 is * the "magic" address, so users may need to fiddle with this. Orchid SoundWave 32: -------------------- Phone: 800-767-2443, 510-683-0300 Fax: 510-490-9312 BBS: ? e-mail: ? Type: wavetable * Chipset: Analog Devices DSP-2115 CD-ROM: SCSI, proprietary (Mitsumi) Street price: ~$200-$300 OS/2 Drivers: beta-level SB initializer with OS/2 SB drivers Drivers from: ftp://cr1.see.plym.ac.uk/pub/orchid Comments: I know relatively little about this board, but Orchid is reportedly working on improving its OS/2 support. The above ftp site reportedly contains drivers which enable the board's Sound- Blaster emulation under OS/2, allowing the user to use OS/2's SoundBlaster drivers. I don't know what happens with wavetable sound using this option. Reveal SC400 ("SoundFX"), rev. 2: --------------------------------- Phone: 800-326-2222 (customer service), 800-535-0339 (orders), 818-704-6300 Fax: 818-594-8477 BBS: 818-713-8188 e-mail: 72662.3604@compuserve.com web: http://www.reveal.com Type: FM synthesis Chipset: Aztech (?) CD-ROM: ? Street price: Discontinued (?) OS/2 Drivers: Available, but may be unreliable Drivers from: BBS, OS/2 ftp: revsc4r2.zip; ftp.aimnet.com, /pub/users/aztech, ftp.reveal.com Comments: This board appears to be a close cousin or identical to an Aztech design. I've received conflicting reports on whether the revsc4r2.zip driver works correctly (the readme indicates that it's a beta-level driver for OS/2 2.1). The Aztech ftp site includes a variety of drivers, some of which may be a better bet (see above, under the Aztech boards). Reveal SC400 ("SoundFX"), rev. 3: --------------------------------- Phone: 800-326-2222 (customer service), 800-535-0339 (orders), 818-704-6300 Fax: 818-594-8477 BBS: 818-713-8188 e-mail: 72662.3604@compuserve.com web: http://www.reveal.com Type: FM synthesis Chipset: Aztech (?) CD-ROM: ? Street price: Discontinued (?) OS/2 Drivers: Uses Aztech NOVA 16 drivers, but unknown reliability Drivers from: OS/2 box Comments: The OS/2 ftp sites and the Reveal BBS and ftp site have a text file describing how to set up the board for use with the Aztech NOVA 16 drivers included with Warp. One net report indicates that the Sony CD-ROM drive which is sometimes bundled with this board doesn't work under OS/2. Reveal SC400 ("SoundFX"), rev. 4a: ---------------------------------- Phone: 800-326-2222 (customer service), 800-535-0339 (orders), 818-704-6300 Fax: 818-594-8477 BBS: 818-713-8188 e-mail: 72662.3604@compuserve.com web: http://www.reveal.com Type: FM synthesis Chipset: Aztech (???) CD-ROM: IDE (?), proprietary (???) Street price: Discontinued (?) OS/2 Drivers: Available, but unknown reliability Drivers from: BBS, ftp.reveal.com, OS/2 ftp: revsc4r4a.zip Comments: Drivers for this board look suspiciously Aztech-like, but I know essentially nothing else about it. Reveal SC400 ("SoundFX"), rev. 4g: ---------------------------------- Phone: 800-326-2222 (customer service), 800-535-0339 (orders), 818-704-6300 Fax: 818-594-8477 BBS: 818-713-8188 e-mail: 72662.3604@compuserve.com web: http://www.reveal.com Type: FM synthesis Chipset: CS4248 (??), OPTi 928 (?), OPL3 (??) CD-ROM: IDE, proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi) Street price: ~$70 OS/2 Drivers: Available Drivers from: BBS, ftp.reveal.com, OS/2 ftp: 929_v2.zip or opti928.zip Comments: This is based on the OPTi 928 design; see above. These boards are sold mainly through CompUSA, Sears, Best Buy, and other local stores, as well as by mail order direct from Reveal. Reveal SC500 ("SoundFX Wave"): ------------------------------ Phone: 800-326-2222 (customer service), 800-535-0339 (orders), 818-704-6300 Fax: 818-594-8477 BBS: 818-713-8188 e-mail: 72662.3604@compuserve.com web: http://www.reveal.com Type: Wavetable Chipset: CS4248, OPTi 929, OPL3 (??) CD-ROM: IDE, proprietary (Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi) Street price: ~$130 OS/2 Drivers: Available, but limited Drivers from: BBS, ftp.reveal.com, OS/2 ftp: 929_v2.zip or opti928.zip Comments: This is an OPTi 929-based board; see above. These boards are sold mainly through CompUSA, Sears, Best Buy, and other local stores, as well as by mail order direct from Reveal. Reveal SC600 ("SoundFX Wave 32"): --------------------------------- Phone: 800-326-2222 (customer service), 800-535-0339 (orders), 818-704-6300 Fax: 818-594-8477 BBS: 818-713-8188 e-mail: 72662.3604@compuserve.com web: http://www.reveal.com Type: Wavetable Chipset: Ensoniq OTTO CD-ROM: ? Street price: ~$200 (Now discontinued) OS/2 Drivers: Uses Ensoniq Soundscape drivers (?); available but limited Drivers from: ftp.ensoniq.com (?) Comments: An announcement on the Reveal BBS confirms that this board has been discontinued, and that Reveal has no plans to develop drivers for it. As of mid-April, my local Sears store had it in stock but not the SC500. The brochures from Reveal say that it uses "Soundscape technology from Ensoniq," and the board does apparently use Ensoniq drivers, at least under DOS/Windows. I can't confirm that the same is true under OS/2. Turtle Beach (various boards): ------------------------------ Phone: 800-645-5640, 717-767-0200 Fax: 717-767-6033 BBS: ? e-mail: davez@tbeach.com, support@tbeach.com, sales@tbeach.com Type: Wavetable or FM synthesis Chipset: Variable (proprietary, CS4231, ICS WaveFront, Yamaha OPL3) CD-ROM: Varies depending upon model Street price: ~$100-$200+ OS/2 Drivers: Anybody's guess Drivers from: ftp.tbeach.com, /pub/tbeach/os2 Comments: Turtle Beach recently put some "generic" drivers on their ftp site which reportedly work with the Monte Carlo and Tropez, but reports are that these drivers are VERY minimal. The Tropez board will reportedly work for digital files (not MIDI) using the OS/2 Warp Business Audio AD1848 driver. Another post indicates that the Tropez will work with the Compaq audio driver included with OS/2, but again, only for digital audio (no MIDI support). Another post indicates limited success with the Monte Carlo using the drivers for the Reveal SC400 rev. 4G (OPTi 928). This same person indicated that his board bears a stencil of "revision 4G," suggesting the two may be one and the same hardware. A more recent post indicates that the Monte Carlo * works very well with the 929_v2.zip drivers (see the OPTi boards section for details). Most recently, timur@vnet.ibm.com posted an offer to write Tropez drivers if he were given a Tropez and development kit, and krzyszto@ifi.uio.no is apparently organizing a campaign to collect donations to make this purchase; e-mail him for more information. PURCHASE RECOMMENDATIONS ------------------------ Which board should you buy? It depends upon your needs. Different people have different wants in a sound board, and I've tried to lay out some common scenarios below. Note that some boards appear in more than one category. Also keep in mind that I've personal experience with a SoundBlaster 8-bit, a Reveal SC500, and a miroCONNECT 34 wave, so I'm most confident about placement of these boards. Cheap sound: SoundBlaster 8-bit (e.g., 8-bit "Value Edition") -- provide adequate .WAV file playback and tolerable FM synthesis for system sounds and non-critical game use. They're also THE standard for DOS games. I experienced a number of minor system problems with my 8-bit SB board, though others haven't reported this. These also aren't easily upgraded, and won't play back 16-bit .WAV files (but most files on ftp sites and whatnot, as well as most games, are 8-bit, so this isn't usually a major problem). * OPTi 928-based -- at about $50-$70 street price, these provide 16-bit .WAV playback and better FM synthesis than an 8-bit SB board, for a small increase in price. OS/2 drivers should be adequate. These cards also have a wavetable upgrade option, though I gather it's not well-documented, and I don't know how * well it works from OS/2. The Reveal SC400 rev. 4G is one such * board, but its street price in stores is higher than that of * similar boards at computer swap meets. Prometheus Aria-16 -- if you can find one, these boards reportedly go for about $80, which is as cheap as I've heard for wavetable boards. OS/2 drivers should be adequate, though I've seen a number of desparaging comments about the board's sound quality on the net (but this may have been from "sound snobs," so take it with a grain of salt if you've modest needs in this respect but still want something a cut above FM synthesis for MIDI files). Upgrading from 16-bit FM synthesis to wavetable: Assorted manufacturers, including Roland, Creative Labs, Aztech, Turtle Beach, and others, make wavetable "daughtercards" to upgrade many 16-bit FM synthesis boards to wavetable. Check your existing card's manual to see if it supports this. I gather that Roland makes some of the best-sounding of these boards, but I don't have the details. The latest SoundBlaster drivers include an option ("/EXT" appended to the driver's CONFIG.SYS line) to reliably force use of the daughtercard. I can make no guarantees about support from other cards. MPU-401 standalone cards are an option *IF* you've got access to IBM's MPU-401 driver, but as most people don't, this isn't a good "mainstream" option. Solid 16-bit .WAV and FM synthesis: Creative Labs SoundBlaster series -- various boards of different design ages and with different CD-ROM options exist. All have good OS/2 support, and should provide superior DOS games compatibility. * OPTi 928 (e.g., Reveal SC400 rev. 4g) -- a bit less expensive than the CL boards, with drivers from the manufacturer rather than in the OS/2 box, and less in the way of guaranteed compatibility. Solid OS/2 wavetable support: Creative Labs SoundBlaster AWE series -- there are net reports of problems, but others of success, so I suspect there may be some configuration tricks or pitfalls. Otherwise, should work fine and provide superior compatibility when running DOS games. I recommend against the new "Plug-and-Play" version of this board, though, as I've seen a couple of reports that it doesn't work with OS/2. Prometheus Aria16 or other Aria boards -- the fact that wavetable- enabled OS/2 drivers EXIST for these boards put them on the list for this heading. May be difficult to find, though. IBM Mwave-based boards -- my testing with the miro suggests that wavetable performance is OK overall. There's a pause whenever playing a new MIDI file, and an occasional minor timing glitch. Sound quality is improved if you modify the MWAVE.INI file to point to the large wavetable samples installed with Windows support rather than the default medium wavetable samples that may be installed with OS/2 support. SoundBlaster 16 with wavetable option and separate wavetable daughter card -- although this entails two purchases, it should provide reliable wavetable sound from OS/2 if you use the latest drivers from Creative Labs and the "/EXT" CONFIG.SYS driver option to force use of the daughter card. This should work fine with any brand of daughter card, but be cautious in trying different "base" cards, as they might require different drivers that might not support daughter cards as well, if at all. MPU-401 boards -- *IF* you've got access to the beta-level IBM MPU-401 driver, any board with solid MPU-401 capability should work fine, but many boards require initialization of their MPU-401 ports, and so may not work correctly under OS/2. Solid Win-OS/2 support: Any Creative Labs product -- some will require that you download new Windows drivers from ftp.creaf.com, but all can be made to work adequately, at least for most people (there are a few holdout reports of problems, but given the installed base, this may be understandable). Mwave boards -- aside from the incompatible Windows voicemail software, the performance of my miro board was exemplary for Win-OS/2 use, once installed (it required installation of the Windows drivers under native DOS/Windows). Reveal SC500/OPTi 929 -- The latest (opti928.zip) drivers for these boards gives full Win-OS/2 support, though this may require initially installing drivers from DOS/Windows. OS/2 support is also good *IF* you've got access to IBM's beta MPU-401 drivers, otherwise you'll be missing wavetable sound in OS/2. Other boards -- this isn't exactly my area of greatest interest or expertise, so I'm probably overlooking boards that work well under Win-OS/2 but not-so-well for native OS/2 support. For the miro and Reveal, which I've tested, I've also not tested much or any under DOS/Windows once OS/2 support was installed, so this is an unknown. Simultaneous OS/2 and Win-OS/2 use: MediaVision ProAudio series -- if you can find one, these offer two sound boards in one, and can in theory be used from both OS/2 and Windows programs simultaneously, though I've seen a lot of problems posted about such setups. FM synthesis only. * Mwave boards -- these wavetable boards offers the best solution to * simultaneous OS/2 and Windows program use, and often include modem * features, too. They can run out of DSP resources, though, if you * try to do lots with them (like play a MIDI file and use the modem * simultaneously, at least at high modem speeds and MIDI quality). Reveal SC400 rev. 4g/SC500 (OPTi 928/929) -- The latest drivers put this board BARELY within this category, as they allow OS/2 sound when running Windows programs, so long as the Windows programs aren't actually playing a sound when the OS/2 sound request goes in. Superior wavetable sound quality: Check on the various soundcards newsgroups for recommendations; I don't have enough experience with these boards to make a judgment about where each falls, though the miroCONNECT is worse than the Reveal SC500 when using the medium samples but a bit better when using the large samples. Chances are that a Roland or other high-end dedicated MPU-401 board will provide the best quality, in conjunction with the beta-level MPU-401 driver from IBM, if you can get ahold of that driver. Turtle Beach products are also reputed to get good sound, as is the Mediatrix board; but neither currently has OS/2 wavetable drivers. Some wavetable daughter cards from Roland, Turtle Beach, and others also have good reputations in this respect, so a SoundBlaster + daughter card combination may be worth considering here. Multifunction support (sound/modem/fax/voicemail): Creative Labs PhoneBlaster -- this is the only FM synthesis board with modem functions which I know has OS/2 drivers. Be aware that the voicemail functions aren't guaranteed to work under OS/2, though. IBM Multimedia Modem -- this would be my wavetable board of choice with these features, if I had to buy just one board. Supports up to 14,400 bps (v.32bis) at the moment, with 28,800 bps (v.34) * support currently in beta. Windows voicemail software reportedly * works under OS/2, with native OS/2 software under development. miroCONNECT 34 wave -- Similar to the IBM Multimedia Modem in principle, but with different software. Supports up to 28,800 bps (v.34) right now, but that seems to be the beta driver. The fax/voicemail software provided is difficult to get running under OS/2. MIDI functions are unavailable when the modem is in use. Separate boards -- Because the Mwave boards use a multifunction processor, that processor can be overwhelmed if you try to do too much with it, so if you want to use lots of functions at once, separate fax/modem/voicemail and sound boards may offer a better solution. Be aware, too, that an integrated board will save you a slot if you'd otherwise use an internal modem, but will NOT save you IRQs, etc.; the miro board, for instance, takes FOUR IRQs for full functionality. Microchannel (MCA) boards: Reply board -- I know virtually nothing about this, other than that it's based upon the Vibra-16 chip (see that section for contact information). I gather this is an FM synthesis board, and it should work with OS/2's SoundBlaster drivers, or better with the Vibra-16 drivers available from ftp.creaf.com. ChipChat 16 and 32 -- These are FM synthesis and wavetable Sound- Blaster clones for MCA. I know little about them except that they exist, so I suggest proceeding with caution, especially if you require wavetable sound. IBM Multimedia Modem for MCA -- IBM makes both ISA and MCA versions of its Multimedia Modem, so this is a good choice for a higher- end sound board than the Reply one, with modem features thrown in. Also-rans: Advanced Gravis UltraSound series -- the Manley drivers support most, but not quite all, of the board's features, so this one doesn't quite make the grade yet. Gravis's lackluster OS/2 support also doesn't help this board any. Ensoniq SoundScape -- currently OS/2 .WAV drivers exist, but major problems have been reported with DOS/Windows compatibility, so I'd recommend avoiding this board, as well as the similar (but discontinued) Reveal SC600 ("SoundFX Wave 32"). Logitech SoundMan Wave -- shareware OS/2 drivers exist, but they don't yet support wavetable features in OS/2, and at last report, the author had no intention of adding this support. Mediatrix Audiotrix Pro -- Mediatrix reportedly has OS/2 drivers, but they don't yet support wavetable under OS/2. I don't know if IBM's beta MPU-401 driver works with this board; if so, it might be a good choice for good wavetable sound if you've got access to that driver. Orchid SoundWave -- Orchid has recently released drivers that enable the board's SoundBlaster mode under OS/2, which provides for some support; but I don't know if wavetable features are active in this mode, how well the board works like this, or how soon updates and improvements (if necessary) will be made available. Reveal SC500/OPTi 929 (MAD16) -- similar comments as to the Mediatrix board, with the exception that the latest 929_v2.zip drivers do enable the board's MPU-401 port, and IBM's MPU-401 drivers do reportedly work with this option enabled. This one will move to the "solid OS/2 wavetable support" heading as soon as the MPU-401 drivers are officially released, short of a major bug being found. Most Turtle Beach boards -- although the Tropez and Monte Carlo have been made to work, at least partially, with the 929_v2.zip drivers, other TB products have no OS/2 support at present, and should be avoided. Avoid if at all possible: Aztech boards -- these have a history of flakey OS/2 drivers and poor DOS games compatibility. Some people have reported their Aztech boards working reliably under OS/2, but the overall history doesn't inspire confidence. MediaVision Jazz 16 -- I've seen too many reports of problems with these boards to be able to recommend them, though OS/2 comes with drivers for the board. This is especially true since MediaVision seems to be washing its hands of OS/2 support. MediaVision Pro 3D -- similar comments to the MediaVision Jazz 16, plus no support under OS/2 for the board's wavetable features. Generic "SoundBlaster-compatible" boards -- unless you've identified the board as something with native OS/2 support (such as a direct clone of one of the above boards), these may or may not work with OS/2, and so represent a poor bet. So, I hope this has been helpful to somebody. As I mentioned earlier, if I get much feedback and/or more information, I'll revise this document and re-post it.