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| Phonomenal! |
1991 - Competition!
(Advanced) Gravis Ultrasound
Fire red Gravis Ultrasound with 256K
The card was somehow revolutionary. Based on the Gravis GF1 (actually only a clone of the ICS 11614) and equipped with 256 KB RAM (maximum 1 MB) this card could mix at most 32 voices with 16 bits and at best 44,1 Khz. Therefore it followed the concept of wavetable cards.
Actually the card was directed at amateur musicians, however its abilities alerted a quite different group: the then demo scene!
This card was prized only little higher than SB Pro, however, offered an essentially better audio quality. But main argument was in the mixing in hardware. Until then, this was a task fullfilled by the CPU, and in times, where a 386 was still highend, this solution came as called. The only thing to do, was to load the samples on the card. Henceforth, one only provided the chip with playback commands, and this took care of the rest.
While playback quality was on CD level, the reception was was only possible at 8 bits, unfortunately. However Gravis offered an add on board, that also removed this deficiency. Titled as 16-bits upgrade module, it was not only this - in fact it was a whole Crystal-DSP with the ability to work with 48 Khz - the same, that was later standard on the Gravis Ultrasound Max (1994, 512K Wavetable).
This all sounded too beautiful to be true, if there was not one fault: the card neither possessed an OPL-Chip nor the ability to emulate a Soundblaster by 100 percent.
So in AdLib mode, the GF1 took over the role of the OPL2 together with a few Samples, and the software provided compatibility to the Soundblaster.
Despite that this was largely stressed, it didn't run usually, or only with a lot of effort. Consequently, Gravis had created a new hardware platform, for which there was practically not any support initially. Therefore they went to game producers, published extensive programming tools together with source codes, and not only few game patches, to crank the support. So the stone came gradually into rolling, and finally the first games came on the market, that supported the chip directly, also by 1992-1993.
One can see the card already as direct fight announcement to Creative Labs, hence they were forced to improve their Sound Blaster line.
Samples
| Monkey Island 1 | | [OGG] [MP3] | | GUS in MT-32 emulation mode; standard patch | | Epic Pinball | | [OGG] [MP3] | | The strentgh of the GUS: MOD playback with interpolation | | Descent | | [OGG] [MP3] | | Descent I intro - the card mustn't hide |
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Technical
The GF1 itself was a quite simple processor. It always ran at a fixed frequency in the loop, and so it calculated data continuously. Through the solid frequency and hence the fixed computing power, it happened that the sampling rate of 44,1 KHz under 16 used channels could sink down to 16 KHz when using the full 32 channels.
One fed it with mono data of 8 or 16 bits quality from the sample RAM, said whether to loop this or not, how fast and loud it should play, and that was all about it.
Then the chip mixed the data, while the its peculiarity was, that it interpolated it!
Instead of simply only stretching digital data, the chip calculated inter values. This way it gained the rendering quality that so many people were emphasizing. The topic "Interpolation" is explained more extensively in the glossary.
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AdLib Gold /1000 /2000
At almost the same time and price tag of the SB Pro, AdLib offered more value for the money. The ADC/DAC worked with 12 bits, instead of only 8 like with the SB Pro, while the card could even be fed with 16 bits sound data.
Additionally, playback runs at 44,1 Khz and stereo - while playing mono, the card could even mix both channels!
An OPL3 was used for the music rendering, and enabled stereo with 20 voices with 4 operators maximum each - at the time of the appearance Creative still offered the first revision the SB Pro, consequently AdLib also was in advance to the competitor there.
A golden sparkling paint finish underlines its name
A big peculiarity was the extremely fine gradation of the mixer, which offered 128 volume steps per channel. An add-on board, which offered the card virtual Surround sound together with echo, represented another highlight. I never have heard it, however it is said to improve sound quality significantly.
There were actually also different variations on the market: while there was a version dedicated to IBM's Microchannel ("2000 MC"), there also existed the Gold 2000 for a 16 bits ISA slot, and added SCSI-functionality.
Decidedly, they could cut out Creative with this card easily from the technical side. Crystal clear sound quality thanks to multiple filter steps, bus transfers could be monitored no more involuntarily, a higher resolution as well as sampling frequency and nevertheless the same price.
However all this had a catch: also this card was not compatible with the Sound Blaster! Surely downward compatible with the own AdLib - but nothing more. Annoyingly, however, games wanted to see a Sound Blaster for sample playback. On the AdLib Gold, they therefore didn't work, supporting Games should follow later.
Another problem was the late appeareance on the market. Promises already came early, however this - even if outstanding - result something too late. Consequently, this card is indeed very rare, and very difficult to get.
Mediavision Pro AudioSpectrum /16 (1991/1992)
What made this card a good challenger, was its compatibility with the SB Pro, as well as the OPL3 for the music rendering, and finally its 44,1 Khz, which it also offered when handling stereo data.
The compatibility lifted it up from the at the same time appeared AdLib Gold, and additionally it offered a SCSI interface for CD-ROMs - an outstanding feature for that time!
Pretty short after the first version, they pushed the 16 bits version of the card, which was pricely oriented by the SB Pro - namely $300.
These qualities and at the same time the good value for the money helped the card to get a quite wide spread, and so also little later its native support by games, where it's often presented in the abbreviation "PAS-16."
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