What was your first soundcard???

[yoda313]

I started on a 286 with no sound. Then we got a 386 and eventually got a 8 bit MONO Creative Labs SOUNDBLASTER soundcard. Wow those were the days. Manually setting programs to read it

So what was your first??? A 16 bit soundblaster??? A 4 speaker surround card??? A 5.1 card??? How far back do you go????

[VideoTechMan]

I remember the 286 days as well, as it was my first computer. Was the IBM PS/2, and it had built in sound which mainly came from the PC speaker. Couldnt add a sound card.

Then my mom gotten the Packard Bell 486, and the sound card I remember we gotten for that was the 8-bit SB stereo card. Those were the days though....having to worry about IRQ conflicts and everything else.

VTM

[shelbyGT]

some 386 that could make pinging sounds... other than that i don't remember.

[Super Warrior]

I started on a 286 with no sound. Then we got a 386 and eventually got a 8 bit MONO Creative Labs SOUNDBLASTER soundcard. Wow those were the days. Manually setting programs to read it

So what was your first??? A 16 bit soundblaster??? A 4 speaker surround card??? A 5.1 card??? How far back do you go????

None. Intergrated/on-board audio on the motherboard is all i've EVER needed

[gll99]

My oldest pc's had speaker sound only. I remember modifying little memory resident assemby routines copied from pc magazines etc... to play little tunes.

I'm pretty sure that my first sound card was an isa 8 bit clone that was supposed to be soundblaster equivalent and then I bought one like yours a creative labs 8 bit soundblaster.
I've had both on my 386dx40 and my first 486 before I bought my first 16 bit card soundblaster. That card was long. It went from the back of the case and was as wide as my mb almost reaching the front.
I've done some cleanup but I'm sure that I still have those cards stored in boxes in the basement with a few old mb and cases.

[MackemX]

soundblaster 16 I think

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I started on a 286 with no sound. Then we got a 386 and eventually got a 8 bit MONO Creative Labs SOUNDBLASTER soundcard. Wow those were the days. Manually setting programs to read it

So what was your first??? A 16 bit soundblaster??? A 4 speaker surround card??? A 5.1 card??? How far back do you go????

Ahhhhh, I remember those days, when I had to configure Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Mystic towers, etc, manually in order to get sounds; and also booting from a floppy to release some extra RAM... LOL

My first soundcard was also a soundblaster, and at that time it was AWESOME!.

[waheed]

Ive always used onbaord sound. My first sound card is a Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum I bought almost 3 years ago; and Im still using it today.

[mrtristan]

I don't even remember. It was something generic, from radio shack.

I've been wanting to get an M Audio card for some time, but I really don't have any justifiable reason to. Other than me just wanting to try one.

[lordsmurf]

Soundcard?

[Faustus]

Whatever was onboard with the packard bell my dad got me for an early graduation present. Crapzilla I guess.

I did help my cousin install his uhm... Mediavision, I think, card. Though neither of us had a clue what we were doing at the time.

I had never even used a computer at that point and was shocked to learn that it didn't automaticlly have sound. I mean my Nintendo came with sound after all right?

Anyone remember all those great Mediavision games?

[thecoalman]

Onboard on a C64, yep I'm old.

[Faustus]

Ah here is one lol

[guns1inger]

My first serious PC was an Amiga, with great built-in audio for it's day (better than the trs80, then vic20 that I started on). I didn't get a PC until the 486's were out, so it was a 16 bit soundblaster.

[MackemX]

Onboard on a C64, yep I'm old.

LMAO, mine was a ZX Spectrum with it's single channel tiny little speaker. Manic Miner did still produce a cool effect with it 8) The C64 had much better sound and graphics than the Spectrum though

[lordsmurf]

Anyone remember all those great Mediavision games?

MediaVision card (Pro Audio Studio, for example), was a card made for audio work, not games. If you bought it for games, you made a mistake. Now then, it DID work with most games, everything was DOS back then. You just had to have your CONFIG.SYS done correctly to emulate the SoundBlaster cards.

[lordsmurf]

Forum bug made a dupe.

[offline]

Good topic Yoda. Mine was a SAM card for an apple II Europlus. My 1st PC was an Amstrad 8080 4Mhz- speaker only (ughh); I upgraded to a 286-20Mhz and a "Speech Thing" then later got a Adlib Card mono which I quickly sold to get the 1st SoundBlaster 1 (also mono).

[Faustus]

Anyone remember all those great Mediavision games?

MediaVision card (Pro Audio Studio, for example), was a card made for audio work, not games. If you bought it for games, you made a mistake. Now then, it DID work with most games, everything was DOS back then. You just had to have your CONFIG.SYS done correctly to emulate the SoundBlaster cards.

No way they had a media vision card that CAME with games. It was a cheaper alternative to a sound blaster.

The game cover I posted above was put out by media vision.

[lordsmurf]

There must have been two brands using that name then. MediaVision audio cards that I am familiar with were never cheap, they often ran several hundred dollars each. One of them was specifically made for the software that existed before Pro Tools. None of these came with games, they came with some very nice (at the time) audio software. One of them was a DOS version of something similar to SoundForge.

The last official drivers that existed were for Windows 95, but with a couple of cheap tricks, 98, 98SE and ME would see the card.

[Faustus]

Or maybe they just made cards at different levels. The card he got at the time was expensive... but it was still cheaper then a sound blaster. Keep in mind this was about the time that the 386 with mathco processor was king of the heap.

[SquirrelDip]

First one on a PC for me was an Adlib sound card - I believe it was 1988... Shortly after was an original SoundBlaster.

[yoda313]

Good topic Yoda.

Thanks

It's nice to reminisce about the "simpler" days of computing

[offline]

*if anyone is bothered they can finish the list

1981 - Compact Disc invented
- Sim Wong Hoo (founder of Creative) opens computer repair shop in Singapore

1985 - Yamaha develops the FM Synthsis chip YM3812 "OPL2"
- CDROM devised (1x speed)

1987 - First soundcard for PC (Olivetti PC1)
- Creative Music System (C/MS) released but fails to sell (Philips SAA 1099 chip)
- Adlib soundcard released and takes over sales (YM3812 chip)
- Roland MIDI
- Dark Ages, first game to support Adlib card

1988 - Covox Speech Thing game sound system
- SoundBlaster by Creative Labs with additional digital audio capabilities (creative lies about stereo ability which is why it outsold Adlib)

1989 - First multimedia kits
- Adlib Gold with additional digital audio capabilities
- 1st clone cards (


1991 - Panasonic releases first x2 speed CDROM

1992 - SoundBlaster Pro (stereo) released
(more misleading specs published by Creative)


*some later cards to add*"
- Pro Audio Spectrum / 16
- Gravis UltraSound
- SoundBlaster 2, pro 2, 16, AWE, 16VE, AWE32, AWE64, 128,512, ect
(Creative lies about SB!6 able to do true 44.1hz recording)
- turtle beach