
		Sound Cards for the PC
			  by 
		   Philip Moore



	You've all heard the hype and seen the ads.  You know a sound
card can add spectacular sounds and music to your games,
Multimedia efforts, or even to Windows.  But which one is best
for you?


	Installing a sound card in your PC has become almost as
commonplace as owning a VGA video card.  It won't be long before
they are bundled with all new PC's as a matter of course.  If
you are in the market for a sound card though it can be
confusing deciding which to buy - there are just so many about
now and they all seem to have features others lack.

	This round up of sound cards attempts to help you make that
choice.



Adlib
-----
	It's unlikely you will find the Adlib being sold any more, but
I include it for historical reference.  The Adlib was the first
sound card on the PC and introduced the almost universal
standard of FM synthesis.  It was mono, had no digital audio
capabilities, and took the PC games world by storm.  

	Since its release Adlib have been rather slack in developing
the card further and were overtaken by rival compatible cards -
notably the SoundBlaster.  

	The Adlib Gold card was set to change all that, but just as it
was to be released the company went bankrupt.  They have since
been rescued and the Adlib Gold is available in limited
quantities in the US, Canada and parts of Europe, but their
Australian distributors have no plans to import it here.


SoundBlaster
-----------
	This is the one everyone knows about - due more to sharp
marketing and continued development than anything else.

	The original SoundBlaster was basically an Adlib clone offering
Mono FM synthesis, with the added bonus of digital audio - also
mono only.  

	Games quickly saw the advantages of the digital audio section
and their support has helped make it and its descendant models
the most popular sound card in the world.

	There have been several confusing versions of the SoundBlaster
released over the years, each with subtle technical differences.
 I will confine myself to the most current, which come as
complete kits of a sound card and software bundle.



SoundBlaster (Deluxe)
---------------------
   The SoundBlaster(Deluxe) is actually the original
SoundBlaster card (V.2) repackaged.  A very straightforward card
for the budget conscious.  It uses the same mono FM synthesis
chips for music as the original Adlib, offering up to 11
simultaneous voices (this means you can have as many as 11 notes
playing at once, and it doesn't matter what instrument sound is
playing any of these notes).

	The Digital Audio is minimalist compared to some of the higher
end cards, but perfectly adequate for games.  It will record
wave audio in 8 bit from only 4 to 15 Khz sample rate in mono. 
Play back can handle sample rates up to 44Khz (8 bit, mono).

	Bundled with the card comes a suite of software.  In the
Windows domain you get Creative Wave Studio, a Wave editor
replacing the original VEDIT of earlier versions.  This is a
good program, with some effects like Reverse and Echo, though
the lack of an Undo function limits it.

	You also get Soundo'LE, a recorder which is not much different
to the Sound Recorder already in Windows; Mosaic, a puzzle game
with Sound effects; JukeBox for playing MIDI files; Talking
Scheduler, an interesting diary-like application with
appointments being announced verbally to you by a choice of
characters; and Monologue, a text to speech converter which
allows you to highlight text and have it read out to you through
the sound card in an almost human voice.  You can also define
phonetic pronunciation for individual words using the dictionary
utility - very clever.

	Some people complained about the lack of Windows software with
earlier releases.  That has certainly been addressed.  One could
argue as to the usefulness of some of it, but no denying there's
plenty of it.

	For DOS users there is the FM Intelligent Organ, a DOS jukebox
for music files; SBTalker, a command line text to speech
converter, great for use in batch files; Dr Sbaitso, a kind of
talking on-line psychiatrist; and the ever popular Talking
Parrot, which mimics what you say into the microphone and laughs
if you touch the keyboard.  All interesting stuff in a gimmicky
sort of way.

	As well there is a range of DOS utilities for converting
between Creative Labs VOC format files and WAV files; command
line players for both CMF and MIDI music files; and MMPlay, a
multimedia script player that allows you to combine sound files
with Autodesk Animator Pro FLI files.

	If you just want a sound card that will work fine with most
games, and gives plenty of bundled software to play around with,
then at $169 the Deluxe version of the SoundBlaster is a good
buy. 



SoundBlaster Pro
----------------
	This was released over two years ago now and was seen as a
major improvement over the original SB.  The FM synthesis was
made stereo, and the Digital Audio recording now goes as high as
44.1 Khz in 8 bit mono, or 22.05Khz/8 bit stereo. (There are in
fact three versions of the SB Pro, the most current being V.2. 
Be sure this is the one you get as the quality of the FM music
is potentially much better due to a different chipset - the 4
operator OPL3 - being used).

	For some games the SB Pro will make a marked difference in the
sound quality, offering full stereo music and effects.  The FM
synthesiser is now capable of 20 voice polyphony in stereo.  For
Windows Multimedia the SB Pro is also a more viable choice as it
comes with a CD-ROM interface.  This until recently used the
Matsushita/Panasonic standard and as such would only work with
the CD-ROM supplied by Creative Labs.  These drives are good,
but there are certainly faster ones around.  You can now also
get the SB Pro with a SCSI or Sony 31A CD-ROM interface.  As a
rule SCSI is the best way to go as it will work with any SCSI
drive and operate at faster speeds.

	The card has sockets for Line-in, Microphone in, and Line-out. 
You can also buy separately a MIDI breakout box that connects to
the joystick port and which allows you to attach a MIDI keyboard
to the SoundBlaster for MIDI recording.

	The supplied software is identical to the Deluxe, with a couple
of additions.  HSC Interactive is a Windows multimedia authoring
package.  It is very well presented and easy to use.  You just
place icons on the page in a tree-like structure to create a
linear presentation.  You can play WAV, MIDI and CD-Audio files
using standard Windows MCI commands, and visuals can be handled
by Microsoft Video clips or ANI animations.  

	The only real drawback I found was that it does not import
Animations from any package apart from its own proprietary one. 
Autodesk FLI and FLC files are considered a standard for this
sort of work these days and should be included.

	Also there is a CD-ROM disk of Software Toolworks'
Encyclopedia.  This is whether you buy a CD-ROM or not and is
meant as an inducement to get one.	I can vouch for it as an
excellent reference tool.

	For gamers and multimedia developers the SoundBlaster Pro is an
god choice at $299.  There is also a Microchannel version
available for those with an IBM PS/2 machine.



SoundBlaster 16 & WaveBlaster  
------------------------------
   The latest offering from Creative Labs is the SB-16 and much
has been made of its 16 bit capabilities.  This refers to the
fact that the Digital Audio section of the card can now sample
and play back WAV files at 16 bit as well as 8 bit resolution,
at sample rates up to 44.1Khz in stereo.  This is CD quality and
very professional for what is still essentially a domestic
market card.  

	There are actually two versions of this card - the SB-16 and
the SB-16 ASP.  The ASP stands for Advanced Signal Processing,
which comes in the form of an additional chip on the card to
handle some of the Digital processing.  Part of this is the use
of DMA (Direct Memory Access) to process the incredible amount
of data in 16 bit sound files.

	The digital audio in the SB-16 is excellent, though it must be
said that if you are only interested in playing games, no game
in the near future is likely to support 16 bit sound - except
perhaps some CD-ROM titles.  If however you intend making your
own quality recordings, or recording from audio CD's from the
CD-ROM drive, 16 bit sound is the way to go.

	As far as the FM synthesiser goes it is no different to the SB
Pro.  Good, but still FM.  In an attempt to upgrade the card
while maintaining downward compatibility, Creative Labs have
added an option for a daughter board called the Wave Blaster,
which uses an industry standard MPU-401 MIDI interface.  

	The Wave Blaster is a complete extra sound card that just clips
on to the SB-16.  It is in fact an Emu Proteus/1XR synthesizer
on a card and conforms to General MIDI.  The Proteus, though old
technology in professional music circles, nonetheless provides
far superior sounds to the FM of earlier cards as it uses
samples of real instruments - so a piano will actually sound
like a piano.  

	With a WaveBlaster board attached you will have two separate
sound devices to choose from.  Under Windows there are two
drivers in the control panel (FM and MIDI), and most DOS games
should work with the WaveBlaster if you select either MT-32 or
General MIDI options (though you may not get the correct
instrument sounds).  Creative Labs have since bought out Emu
Systems, so expect to see more SoundBlaster products using this
technology.

	Software-wise the SB 16's come with exactly the same suite of
applications as their lesser brothers, plus: PC Animate, the
animation program that accompanies HSC Interactive; and Voice
Assist, a Speech recognition program for Windows.  This allows
you to verbally give your computer commands via a microphone and
have it respond automatically - 'look ma, no hands!'  And we
thought this sort of technology was years away yet.

	Like the SB Pro there is a CD-ROM interface, for now only the
Panasonic/Matsushita type - but it works fine, and the MIDI Kit
can be bought separately to attach a MIDI keyboard to the SB16.

	Supplied with the WaveBlaster daughter board is a control panel
for creating your own banks of patches and altering the card's
settings.  This is handy for those who intend using it as a MIDI
music device and you can save as many of these setups to disk as
you like (some banks, including MT-32, are supplied).  The only
problem with it is there is no way of auditioning a sound, so
you can't actually hear what you are doing. 

 	Also included is Cakewalk Apprentice, a cut-down version of
Cakewalk Pro for Windows, one of the best MIDI sequencers on the
market.  This Apprentice version lacks some features like SMPTE
sync control and multiple MIDI ports but it is nonetheless an
excellent entry level sequencer.

	With the SB16 coming it at $399 and the SB16 ASP at $499 you
have to consider whether you really need this much sound card. 
Sixteen bit audio is the wave of the future, but unless you are
into serious multimedia or want to dabble with CD quality
digital audio you won't notice much difference.  With the
addition of the Wave Blaster daughter board at $299 though, this
adds a quality General MIDI synth to give much better MIDI music
- for games and Multimedia alike.



SoundBlaster range distributed by ComputaMart: (02)906 8887





MEDIA VISION

Pro Audio Spectrum 16 &
Pro Audio Studio 16 
-------------------------
	The range of sound cards from Media Vision are not all that
different to the SoundBlasters, and as such much of what I have
said about the SB range applies to these.  They deserve their
own special place in this feature however since they have come
to represent a major competitor for quality sound cards.

	The first Media Vision card was the Thunderboard, which to all
intents and purposes was the same as a SoundBlaster Basic.  Then
came the Pro Audio Spectrum (comparable to the SB Pro).

	Neither of these cards are readily available any more.  The
latest in the range is the Pro Audio Spectrum 16, which, as you
may have guessed, is comparable to the SB-16.  It uses the same
OPL3 FM chips, providing up to 20 voices for Music; and offers
16 bit Digital Audio at sample rates from 11.025 to 44.1Khz in
stereo - CD quality.  They are SoundBlaster compatible, but only
in mono.

	There are actually two different versions of this card - the
Pro Audio Spectrum 16 ($359), and the Pro Audio Studio 16
($465).  The cards themselves are virtually identical, the only
difference is in the bundled software.

	With the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 you get TrakBlaster Pro, an
excellent MOD file player and recorder for DOS.  Not to be
confused with MIDI files, MODs began life on the Amiga and are
like 4 track sequenced songs that use digital samples for their
instruments and play on the Digital Audio section of the sound
card.  	There is also a DOS MIDI sequencer, digital recorder,
mixer control, and the ubiquitous Monologue for Windows.

	With the Pro Audio Studio 16 you get all of the above, plus a
CD Audio player for Windows; MidiSoft's Recording Session for
Windows for a MIDI sequencer (and a good one it is, too);
ExecuVoice, a voice recognition program with a neat little clip
on microphone; and the superb Sound Impressions - a complete
suite of multimedia tools.

	Sound Impressions looks like a standard hi-fi rack and includes
a MIDI file player, CD Audio player, Digital Recorder and Mixer.
 The Digital Editor with this program is the best I have seen in
a sound card bundle.  It allows you to add effects like Flange,
Chorus and Echo, resample, noise filter, reverse, and more.  It
is fast, stable, and a joy to use.

	The Pro Audio cards are shielded to reduce RF interference and
use 16 bit DMA for digital processing.  As a result the sound
quality is excellent.  They also come with a SCSI CD-ROM
interface and a MIDI breakout box called the MIDI Mate can be
bought separately.  The only drawback on such a well specified
card is that it is still using FM synthesis for MIDI.  



Pro Audio Spectrum range distributed by Chips & Bits (03) 696
5955



LazerWave
----------
   Just to muddy the waters even more, the Media Vision range of
cards are also available under a different name and are
distributed by a different company - ACS.  

	In this range is the LaserWave Classic - same as the original
Thunderboard -  but with an added CD-ROM Interface.  Bundled
software is Thunder Master, a wave editor.  This retails for
$265.

	Next in line is the Lazerwave 16, identical to the Pro Audio
Spectrum 16, except there is less bundled software.  With this
you get Stereo Studio F/X, a digital wave editor; a mixer panel;
Pro Speech, a text to speech application similar to Monologue;
as well as Windows driver and sample wave and MIDI files. 
Retail price is $445.

	A new card in the range is the Supra 16 which offers, in
effect, a LazerWave 16 and Microsoft Sound System on the one
card.  It includes support for 8 bit file compression and is
still compatible with Adlib/Soundblaster.  Bundled software
includes Windat for wave recording and editing; AudioStation, a
hi-fi style player; Monologue For Windows; Dragon Talk, a voice
recognition program; and of course Windows and DOS drivers.  
This sells for $465.

	All in all a well rounded group of sound cards.  And if you
need MS Sound System compatiblity the Supra gives you the best
of both worlds.



LaserWave range distributed by ACS (03) 335 4100





Sound Galaxy
--------------
	This is another range of sound cards that have taken their lead
from the SB/Adlib cards.  There are four in the range currently
available, the Sound Galaxy BX at $169 (comparable to the SB
Deluxe); the NX Pro at $299 (comparable to the SB Pro V.2); and
the NX Pro 16 at $499 (you guessed it, comparable to the SB 16).
 All of these are Adlib/SoundBlaster compatible, as well as
Covox Speech Thing and Disney Sound Source (two far less common
standards).

	Bundled software is also comparable to the SoundBlaster range
in many respects.  The Sound Galaxy BX comes with two digital
sound editors - Windat and Galaxy Master; a Windows Jukebox;
diagnostic utilities and Windows driver; A Multimedia scripter
for DOS and demo songs.  It also provides speakers, though not
terribly good ones. 

	The NX Pro also offers HSC Interactive; Monologue for Windows;
a hi-fi style control panel for CD-Audio and Wave files, and a
CD Audio player.  A choice of the three main types of AT CD-ROM
interfaces as well an optional SCSI CD-ROM interface upgrade.

	The NX Pro 16 supports all the standards mentioned above as
well as the more recent Microsoft Sound System.  A microphone
and headphones are provided and the software included is the
same as the NX Pro.  It also has the same choice of CD-ROM
interfaces as the NX Pro.

	A wavetable daughterboard called the Wave Power can be boght
(just like the SB 16's WaveBlaster) to give much betters quality
MIDI music.  This uses the same Ensoniq EPS synth as that found
on the AudioMaster (see later) and is fully MPC and General MIDI
compliant. Bundled with it Midisoft Studio for Windows, another
decent entry level sequencer.

	The fourth offering from Sound Galaxy is the new Business Audio
Board (let's call it BABS) at $367.  This is fundamentally the
same as the NX Pro 16 mentioned above, with the same suite of
software exactly (which makes it no less desirable), and the
same technical specifications (16 bit, CD-ROM interface and so
on).

	The most noticable difference to the average user is that it
does not include the Covox Speech Thingy and Disney Sound Source
support (which is no great loss), or more importantly -
SoundBlaster compatibilty.  It is designed as an alternative to
the Microsoft SOund Sysytem under Windows only, so this is not
the card to get if you are into games.

	One good point of the Business Audio Board is that scince it
has been designed primarily for use under Windows 3.1 it does
not limit itself to the standard IRQ and Port Address settings,
using IRQ 10 and Address 530 by default.  This means that there
should be no problem installing BABs alongside another sound
card if you so desire, which you would need to do if you still
intend to use DOS applications.

	Sound Galaxy is proving to be the 'up and comer' in the sound
card market.  Its products are as good as, and in some respects
better than, the competition they set out to emulate thanks to
such things as software control of the card's settings rather
than jumper pins.

	The SOund Galaxy range is distributed by Total Peripherals,
(03) 646 7011, fax (03) 646 7207.



	There are other FM based sound cards not mentioned here, but
they are essentially the same as those discussed.  I have
compared most of the above cards against the SOundBlaster range
to avoid repeating myself - they all have so much in common, and
indeed some come from the same manufacturers.

	Technically these cards are all essentially the same.  They use
the same FM synthesiser chips to produce music and digital audio
is a well established process now.  Incompatibilities arise
because each must find their own solution to the same problems
to avoid breaching one another's patents and copyrights, and
because of this you get the mess of standards we have now. 
Sound Blaster, at least, is seen by one and all as the leader in
this area and its name carries weugith on any sound card box.



OmniLabs
---------
	The AudioMaster from OmniLabs is one of the big boys of sound
cards.  It's a full-length card with a professional quality
synth on board, as well as offering high quality digital audio, 
it does come with a snap on daughterboard for Soundblaster
compatibility  The MIDI section of the card uses a process known
as wavetable look-up to produce its sounds.  Put simply, the
card stores recordings of real instruments as a digital sample -
a waveform - rather than trying to synthesise something that
'sounds like' the real thing as FM does.  These waveforms can
then be played using MIDI.

	What it comes down to, as far as most people are concerned, is
more realistic music.  The Audiomaster uses the same chip set as
the Ensoniq EPS, a professional musician's instrument.

	The card's sounds are kept as patch files on your hard disk and
dumpled into the card's onboard RAM as you start up your
software.  THis causes a delay of only a few seconds and the
advantages of this far outweight any inconvenience.

	AudioMaster conforms to the WIndows Multimedia Stanrad playing 
up to 24 notes simultaneously, and using General MIDI patch
mapping with 128 instrument sounds.  Aa 15-pin D-Shell port is
included for attaching either a joystick or a MIDI breakout box
which can be bought separately.  It also offers connections for
a CD-ROM interface, with the option of choosing which interface
type you prefer.

	The digital recording section of the card has its own
microprocessor and noise filtering circuitry.  It will record
from either microphone (an excellent one is supplied with the
card) or Line-in at 11.025, 22.5, or 44.1KHz sampling rate in
mono, in 16 bits (playback can be either mono or stereo).  The
quality of the digital audio recording is excellent, though mono
input only may be a limitation for some.

	This card offers the kind of versatility well-heeled
professionals have been used to for a long time in much more
expensive hardware.  because all the instrument sounds are
stored on disk, it should be possaible to record original
samples to use in the MIDI section of the card.  Indeed, the
AudioMaster has ben designed for this purpose. Unfortunately no
software editor is avaliable yet to do this, and while promised
it has been a long time coming.

	Much of the bundled software comes from Voyetra, who seem to
have cornered the market on MIDI software support for sound
cards.  There is Sequencer Plus Junior; the DOS version of
Band-In-A-Box, a great MIDI accompaniment program; Monologue;
two music tutorial programs, Note Play and Rhythm Play;
command-line MIDI and digital file players; a decent DOS
multimeida scripting program, SoundScript; as well as jukeboxes,
mixers, CD-ROM control panles and digital recording programs for
both DOS and Winows.

	The card's MIDI interfacce however not MPU-401 compatible so
another DOS sequencer won't work with it - in Windows there
isn't a problem.  SOund-wise, the MIDI section of the card is
far superior to the FM of those reviewed above.

	At $499, the AudioMaster is one of the best value cards on the
market.  With the FM daughterboard you can use it for most
games, and it provides good functionality on a card for
professional and amatuer musicians alike.

	The AudioMaster is distributed by OmniLabs Australia, (02) 319
2022, fax (02) 310 1809.





Gravis Ultrasound
-----------------
	The Ultrasound is a new entry into the filed from Canadian
company Gravis, best known for their high performace joysticks. 
Like the Audiomaster, the Ultrasound uses samples of real
instrument sounds to give much more realistic music.  TO achieve
this it has 32 digital audio channels - two of these are
generally reserved for standard playback of digital voices and
sound effects, while the remaining channels are devoted to
sample playback via MIDI.  THis means that the MIDI synth on the
Ultrasound is a true sampler and sample player.

	Yet, the Ultrasound also manages SoundBlaster compatibility
even though it is not an FM card.  This it achieves through a
TSR driver called SBOS which, when loaded before a game, gives
music and digital effects, sounding just like any of the FM
cards.  This may not work on all games, however.

	Other third party drivers have also recently been developed
which allows the Ultrasound to emulate a Roland MT32, or General
MIDI synth using the MPU standard interface.

	If you are used to an 8-bit/FM sound card then the Ultrasound
is certainly a step up, but for those not technically minded, it
can be a bit of minefield.

	Like the AudioMaster it uses sampled instruments which are
stored on disk and must be loaded into the card's RAM before it
will do anything.  Unlike the Audiomaster, this is not an
automatic procedure, and there is nothing in the manual to tell
you what to do.  It took me a while to work out how to get it to
make any noise at all with my MIDI sequencer.

	Applications are evenly spread across DOS and Windows with a
few simple play and record utilities, including a well-dressed
though cludgy wave editor (Sound Studio 8) for DOS, and a Patch
Manager, Mixer and driver for Windows.  

	The Patch Manager is for selecting which instrument sounds
(patches) are to be loaded into the card before you can play
anything.  This can be fiddly and you are restricted in how many
instruments you can load by the amount of RAM on the card.  The
UltraSound ships with 256Kb only allowing you load on average
five to ten patches.  There are over 200 patches on disk
providing all the instruments and drums sounds for a General
MIDI synth.  It is impossible therefore to load the complete set
at any one time.

	For games using the SBOS driver this doesn't pose a problem,
but for Multimedia and MIDI music it is a severe limitation.  

	The UltraSound is a different kind of sound card though, and
shouldn't really be judged on the same terms as others reviewed
here.  It cannot be said to be MPC compatible as it does not
allow full General MIDI support, however, MIDIphiles familiar
with musical samplers have been praying for something like the
UltraSound for years.  It is the first sound card to deliver
true musical sampling and it opens up all sorts of
possibilities, both for musicians and software developers.

	But (there's always a but), while the card can play back
samples at up to 44Khz in 16 bit stereo (CD quality) you can
only record in 8 bit.  For musical applications this again, is
inadequate.  

	If you want to make the most of the UltraSound's sampling for
MIDI playback, you need a patch editor that can save in the .PAT
format that the card uses, a 16 bit upgrade in the form of a
daughter board, and more RAM.   This will allow you to record
your own sounds and then use these as instruments in the card. 

	The 16 bit upgrade is available for an extra $99 and a Patch
editor (primitive as it is) exist and works now, though it is
not yet available to the general public.

	The quality of the digital recording at 8 bit is okay, though
not brilliant.  Sixteen bit playback quality is also not as
clean as other 16 bit cards.  Again, not really good enough for
professional use.

	Gravis have chosen to initially release the UltraSound in a
basic configuration to keep the cost down.  A CD-ROM interface
can also be bought as an optional daughter board, as can a MIDI
break-out box.  

	So while the UltraSound is in most regards an good sound card
for the price, the limitations imposed on it make it difficult
for developers and MIDI musicians to get the most from it.  It
should have come standard with 1Mb Ram and 16 bit recording. And
this is probably what the next version (called The Max due later
this year) will be.  When this appears on the scene, with the
promise of improved software and hardware, there will be no
stopping Gravis as the card of choice for many home studios and
budget Audio/Visual work.



Gravis UltraSound distributed by PlayCorp (03) 329 2999



Turtle Beach MultiSound
------------------------
	This was the first serious multimedia card available and it
still stands as one of the best.  The synthesiser section of the
card uses a Proteus 1/XR (before Creative Labs bought it for the
WaveBlaster).  It uses wavetable look-up to produce its sounds,
so all the instruments on the card are high quality samples of
real instruments.

	The MultiSound conforms to the Windows Multimedia standard,
using General MIDI patch mapping with 128 instrument sounds and
supporting all 16 MIDI channels.  It has 4Mb of onboard memory
(expandable to 8) for instrument sounds and can play up to 32
notes simultaneously.  There is enough memory for 384 preset
sounds, and you can swap between General MIDI, Proteus 1/XR or
your own original bank.

	The Digital Audio section of the card supports all sample rates
up to 44.1khz at either 8 or 16 bits in stereo, recording and
playback.  It also states that this is with 64-times
oversampling, a figure other cards don't reveal in their
documentation and which guarantees excellent reproduction.

	Software provided includes a Proteus front panel for
controlling the synth section of the card.  This will allow the
experienced user to create their own preset sounds and save
these settings to disk as defaults.  There is also a patch bay
for re-routing MIDI data, a Mixer, a record monitor with real VU
Meters on screen, and a diagnostic program; as well as some
command line DOS utilities for recording and playing Digital
Audio files, and the sequencer program Trax for Windows - yet
another good entry level sequencer.

	The digital editor supplied is a version of Wave for Windows
and is perhaps the best program of its kind for serious digital
recording, especially for longer pieces as it records direct to
disk.  With effects like Reverse and Time Compression, and the
ability to edit and mix up to four waveforms at once makes it a
truly professional tool.  Real-time file compression and sample
rate conversion is also supported.

	Digital Audio is impeccable due to a Motorola 56001 processor
on board to handle the heavy processing, with an architecture
that claims to move data 8 times faster than any other sound
card.  I don't doubt it.

	At $1,395 the MultiSound is not for the game players and is not
SB or MPU-401 compatible, but it is ideally suited to
professional musicians and Multimedia developers that want
quality sound.



MultiSound distributed by Mainly Multitrac (03) 558 1517



Roland 

MT32/LAPC-1
------------
	When Roland released the MT-32 sound module they caused an
unexpected revolution in computer sound.  The card version of
this popular module was the LAPC-1.  Neither are readily
available any more, but like the Adlib I include it here for
historical purposes.  

	They were MIDI synthesisers only, providing no Digital Audio or
CD-ROM interface, and no bundled software, but at the time it
was a giant leap forward from FM.  The same synth can still be
found in later modules - the CM32L, CM64, and CM500.  But Roland
seem to have abandoned the MT-32 technology in favour of their
newer, and far superior, GS range.



Roland SCC-1
------------
	The SCC-1 is a card version of the Sound Canvas module with an
MPU MIDI interface (the industry standard).  It provides a
stereo headphone socket, Left & Right Audio outs and `Mini-DIN'
connectors (with adaptor cables) for MIDI In & Out.  There is no
bundled software except for a basic utility program for testing
and playing sample songs.

	The Sound Canvas was the first synth module to support both the
new General MIDI and GS standards.	General MIDI defines, among
other things, a standard order for instrument patches - up to
128 of them.  The GS standard offers multiple banks of 128 with
potentially 16,384 patches stored in its memory.  The SCC-1
doesn't go this far though, it has effectively 317.  You can
also choose between 7 different drums sets, from Standard
through Power and TR-808 (for the rappers) to Orchestra.  

	The card is multi-timbral, offering 16 parts - one for each
MIDI channel.  All its sound sources are multi-sampled
waveforms, producing some excellent and very `life-like'
results.  There is also 8 Reverb and 8 Chorus effects built in
which can be controlled with MIDI commands.  

	The SCC-1 is 24 note polyphonic (meaning it can play 24 notes
at once), but some voices use a combination of two sound
sources, thus reducing the amount of polyphony possible.

	In terms of Multimedia and music applications the SCC-1 is an
excellent choice for MIDI.  It offers better sound, better
specs, and more variety than any other sound card on the market.

	It does not, however, provide Digital Audio capabilities, so
you cannot play WAV or VOC files on it.  For this you would
still need a SoundBlaster or similar type of card.  Both can be
installed quite happily, and some games even allow you to take
advantage of both at once.  

	As far as games are concerned, many are now starting to support
GS as a sound option, and those that don't usually support MT32.
 The SCC-1 has an MT-32 emulation bank which works well -
though, depending on the game, may sound a bit odd.

	As a subjective opinion the SCC-1 is the best sounding MIDI
card on the market at a list price of $795.  If bundled software
is not important, but quality sound is - this is the one.



RAP-10
------
	For those who want the quality MIDI of the SCC-1 as well as
16-bit digital audio Roland are about to release the RAP-10
giving you the best of both worlds.  It promises excellent
quality for both games and multimedia and will come with a
impressive suite of bundled software aimed primarily at
professional users.  

	It is difficult to say more since I have only briefly seen a
beta version and have not yet given it a good test run myself. 
But the hardware seems to be up to Roland's usual excellent
quality, and the software looks very promising.

	For Multimedia developers, MIDI musicians who want Digital
Audio capabilities, and hard-core gamers the RAP-10 is
definitely the one to wait for.  Price at this stage is expected
to be $1,195.



Roland range distributed by Roland Australia (02) 982 8266



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