Pictures of Sound blaster 1.0

[Patrick Chang]

...you can't use all 24 voices at the same time

Why might this be? I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't all be simultaneously usable.

May be there is a way to use all the 24 voices simultaneously ...

But most game developed during that period of time use one of the following combination:

01. 11 voices of FM sound [music or SFX or music & SFX]
02. 12 voices of AM sound [music or SFX or music & SFX]
03. 11 voices of FM sound [music] + 1 voice of digital sound [SFX] (Prince of Persia)
04. 12 voices of AM sound [SFX] + 11 voices of FM sound [music] (Battle Chess II)
05. other combination not listed above, excluding utilizing all 24 voices.

I haven't seen a game developed during that period of time use all 24 voices together.

May be Cloud might have something that surprises me ...   

[Great Hierophant]

04. 12 voices of AM sound [SFX] + 11 voices of FM sound [music] (Battle Chess II)

I had never heard of a game using both the Game Blaster and Adlib capabilites of a Sound Blaster card together. 

[Cloudschatze]

May be Cloud might have something that surprises me ...   

I haven't encountered any games that use all 24 voices simultaneously, but supposedly there is at least  one Creative demo that does.

From the article:

But even better is the fact that programs can now simultaneously combine the 11 Ad Lib voices, the 12 CMS voices, and a digitized component for some terrific audio. Creative Labs aptly illustrated these possibilities on several demos it supplied with the card.

The first demo raised a voice from my computer: "You ain't seen nothing yet. You ain't heard nothing yet," it repeated. Behind the words an increasing fervor grew, with music and arcade-style sounds mirroring the action of graphics images. (The rotating spaceships were amateurish, but they did get the point across.) This particular demo used all 24 voices, and although the music and sound effects were simple in nature, the overall effect was impressive.

[Great Hierophant]

The original Sound Blaster package came with 4 disks, I only have two disks.  The demo you refer to probably came on the other two disks. 

[robertmo]

Patrick Chang: while all 1320A,B and C all look very simmilar look at the picture from this review. chips on the right side of the dsp are in line while on 1320abc the upper ones are closer to the dsp. What was that "photoshop" picture you mentioned about?

Greath Hierophant: notice that on the review thre is a 2.00 version of organ, while on drivers we have it is 2.02.

The article also says: "The Sound Blaster prototype I worked with took me just five minutes to install. (Straight from Singapore, it was one of the first in the country, and there were still some temporary wire bridges visible.)"

"Add to that the software that Creative Labs plans to bundle with the card (Intelligent Organ, the talking-parrot demo, and the Voice Kit), and a Sound Blaster purchase is even harder to resist."

So we have all the software (including even one demo: parrot) creative labs planned to bundle with the card. The reviewer recieved more demos (for the review as there were no games/software that used the card that time) that were not included for users to cut costs (twice less floppies - and you had to record every single floppy that time - not like with todays CDs made like printed books.

So I can say the drivers we have are complete.

Patrick Chang what kind of floppys were used for sb1.5 drivers? two flopppies 3,5" 720kb or two floppies 5,25 720kb?

[Cloudschatze]

The reviewer recieved more demos ... that were not included for users to cut costs...

The 24-voice demo that the reviewer talks about was probably intended for trade-shows. Assuming that disk-space and cost were an issue in the retail package, I'd have much-preferred an omission of the talking parrot. 

...what kind of floppys were used for sb1.5 drivers?

Two 3.5" 720K disks, and four 5.25" 360K disks with mine.

[Patrick Chang]

04. 12 voices of AM sound [SFX] + 11 voices of FM sound [music] (Battle Chess II)

I had never heard of a game using both the Game Blaster and Adlib capabilites of a Sound Blaster card together. 

Go find a copy of Interplay's Battle Chess II and try it out. You can actually setup the game to use 12 voices of AM sound [SFX] + 11 voices of FM sound [music]. Haven't actually tried it on SB 1.5 with CMS chip.

[Patrick Chang]

Patrick Chang: while all 1320A,B and C all look very simmilar look at the picture from this review. chips on the right side of the dsp are in line while on 1320abc the upper ones are closer to the dsp. What was that "photoshop" picture you mentioned about?

I was joking with Cloud because he uses photoshop to put a big knob on the MT-32 in another post... 

Patrick Chang what kind of floppys were used for sb1.5 drivers? two flopppies 3,5" 720kb or two floppies 5,25 720kb?

My SB 1.5 same as Cloud. two 3.5" 720kb + four 5.25" 360kb floppy disks.

As for the testing... I'll let you know once I can allocate some time to do it. Please be patient... (my young padawan)   

[Patrick Chang]

So I can say the drivers we have are complete.

May be we should dig deeper to verify the version of each application. Since CMS Intelligent Organ have version 2.00 and 2.02 , may be there is a possibility different version of Voxkit and Talking Parrot.

I wouldn't say complete until we can find the "Missing 24 voices demo floppies" ... [sounds familiar? Yes! Larry 4 : The Missing Floppies!!!]

[pianoman72]

I am impressed about the CMSDRV.EXE driver, and as Great Hierophant suggested, it does play all the C/MS intelligent organ files from those disks, on my SB1.5 card with the CMS chips installed.

However, I still cannot get Rambo III ( a Taito game) to detect and play music on the Game Blaster setting.  Maybe it is because it probably doesn't like the Address 220h setting, which my Sound Blaster card is configured for. 

So, I guess a real C/MS or Game Blaster is still needed for those few games which employ a similar detection routine, such as Rambo III does.

[Great Hierophant]

I am impressed about the CMSDRV.EXE driver, and as Great Hierophant suggested, it does play all the C/MS intelligent organ files from those disks, on my SB1.5 card with the CMS chips installed.

However, I still cannot get Rambo III ( a Taito game) to detect and play music on the Game Blaster setting.  Maybe it is because it probably doesn't like the Address 220h setting, which my Sound Blaster card is configured for. 

So, I guess a real C/MS or Game Blaster is still needed for those few games which employ a similar detection routine, such as Rambo III does.

It is actually the right version of ORGAN.EXE that you need to play C/MS Intelligent Organ files.  CMSDRV.EXE works for the other Game Blaster & C/MS programs. 

The reason why Rambo III and other Taito games don't like our Sound Blaster 1.5s is because their detection schemes work only with a Game Blaster card.  I dn't believe it has anything to do with the I/O address, I believe it has everything to do with the mysterious big CT-1302 chip found on the C/MS & Game Blaster cards.  Operation Wolf works regardless of the detection scheme failing, however. 

[pianoman72]

I see, thanks for the clarification.

[robertmo]

Battle Chess 2 indeed allow to set adlib music and cms sfx although this game doesn't play music and sfx at the same time (there is music in intro, while units are moving, but while fighting there are only sfx).

I have just checked my C/MS Kit for Sound Blaster. Package includes:
- C/MS chipset,
- C/MS Intelligent Organ Software.

On the floppy there is:

- organ.exe v2.02 (although the .exe file is of a different size) and there is twice more .org files in the folder.

- cmsdrv.exe v3.20B

Our sb1.0 drivers have cmsdrv.exe v3.20A
Game "Miami Vice" has got cmsdrv.exe v3.10

So maybe our sb1.0 drivers are actually for ct1320A. And there are still different drivers for ct1310.

Is there a cmsdrv.exe among gameblaster drivers?

I also noticed that cmsdrv.exe v3.10 doesn't want to load with my sb2.0 (C/MS Mucis Card not install or wrong jumper setting). While v3.20A and v3.20B work with my sb2.0.

[robertmo]

game blaster drivers have cmsdrv.exe v3.10

What is the difference between CT-1300A and CT-1300B ?

[Patrick Chang]

May be Cloud might have something that surprises me ...   

I haven't encountered any games that use all 24 voices simultaneously, but supposedly there is at least  one Creative demo that does.

From the article:

But even better is the fact that programs can now simultaneously combine the 11 Ad Lib voices, the 12 CMS voices, and a digitized component for some terrific audio. Creative Labs aptly illustrated these possibilities on several demos it supplied with the card.

The first demo raised a voice from my computer: "You ain't seen nothing yet. You ain't heard nothing yet," it repeated. Behind the words an increasing fervor grew, with music and arcade-style sounds mirroring the action of graphics images. (The rotating spaceships were amateurish, but they did get the point across.) This particular demo used all 24 voices, and although the music and sound effects were simple in nature, the overall effect was impressive.

I believe Mr. Leinecker's ear wasn't good enough to tell whether the demo was using all 24 voices or less. Check out what I found below. The exact demo Mr. Leinecker was listening to 20 yrs ago!!

12 voices of AM sound [music] + 1 voice of digital sound [SFX]

Creative SB 1.0 Demo #1

Another demo animated a lip-syncing parrot with digitized sound. A human voice sped up to simulate a parrot's voice provided a glimpse of the card's audiovisual potential. Another digitized demo had two recordings on disk that sounded as good as my stereo and allowed me to change the replay rate and create vastly different effects. The playback quality rivaled any digitized sound I've heard on other personal computers.

I think this is the Talking Parrot Demo and Voxkit Demo found on the original SB1.0 disk.

A disk of sound effects completed my orientation to the Sound Blaster. Gongs, cars, and brooks accompanied animated graphics.

Another demo I found.

Creative SB 1.0 Demo #2

I guess there isn't a way to use all 24 voices together. If there is a way Creative Labs should have done it 20 yrs ago to show the world what their killer card can do. Utilizing all 24 voices simultaneously in their demo.

BTW ... The demo was intended to run on SB 1.0 but will work on SB 1.5 with CMS upgrade. May be will work on SB 2.0 with CMS upgrade.

PC

[Patrick Chang]

game blaster drivers have cmsdrv.exe v3.10

What is the difference between CT-1300A and CT-1300B ?

Below are what I can dig from the internet. The CT-1300A #1 should be with the original Creative Music System package, and the CT-1300A #2 should be with either the original Creative Music System package or the Game Blaster package. (My rough guess) My Game Blaster package bought 20 yrs ago (in 1989) was with CT-1300B.

CT-1300A #1's CMS-301 chip was not directly solder onboard. It can be removed easily. L1 & L2 no shielding, C35 in place.

CT-1300A #1

CT-1300A #2's CMS-301 chip was not directly solder onboard. It can be removed easily. L1 & L2 with shielding, C35 in place.

CT-1300A #2

CT-1300B's CMS-301 chip was directly solder onboard. It can't be removed easily. L1 & L2 with shielding, C35 missing.

CT-1300B


Beside these physical differences, I would say their functionality should be the same.

PC

[Cloudschatze]

Check out what I found below. The exact demo Mr. Leinecker was listening to 20 yrs ago!!

Hmm. Besides being rather speed sensitive, this demo seems somewhat unfinished. "VOICE.CMS" is obviously what ought to be playing. Load "VOICE.SHW" with the Presenter to see/hear what I mean...

Perhaps Mr. Leinecker had a later, more polished version. One with 24-voice playback even.

I guess there isn't a way to use all 24 voices together.

Such a doubter...

I take it you haven't yet tried playing a CMF song (or anything FM) while a CMS song is concurrently playing?

[robertmo]

BTW ... The demo was intended to run on SB 1.0 but will work on SB 1.5 with CMS upgrade. May be will work on SB 2.0 with CMS upgrade.

Both demos work on SB 2.0 with cms chips too.

[BlueMax]

Egad... I remember paying $400 CDN plus another $100 for the MIDI box (and being very disappointed it wasn't MPU-401 compliant.)  It didn't do anything my AdLib didn't do so we returned it with a 20% restocking fee.  My dad wasn't happy with me.   

[Patrick Chang]

BTW ... The demo was intended to run on SB 1.0 but will work on SB 1.5 with CMS upgrade. May be will work on SB 2.0 with CMS upgrade.

Both demos work on SB 2.0 with cms chips too.

How fast was your test PC?