SAA1099 (CMS) Chips on a Sound Blaster 2.0

[Salient]

I bought myself a SB 1.5 (CT1320B, which turns out to be very rare??) and put the CMS chips to use on there

[Salient]

Reviving an old thread....

I finally found myself an SB 2.0 with the CMS chipset on-board and even the cms installation sheet that came with it.

Here is how i got it (and just for a few euros):

Sound Blaster 2.0 + CMS

[endre1952]

Congrats! I bought a card just like this in 1992. It's still working, but no CMS chips, and I've lost the disks and manuals a long time ago. I don't even remember the brand of my first sound card, it was an Adlib clone, and it worked perfect. I had it for a year, then sold it and bought an SB 2.0.

[jharris01]

Great find there Salient. I used to own a Game Blaster back in the day (bought it from Radio Shack). Played a lot of Silpheed and Codename: Iceman with it. I remember both games sounding very good with it (specially Iceman) --- considering the limitations at the time. I also played a bit with a DOS music player that came with it. I don't remember if it was midi or not, but it was kind of cool.

The card eventually stopped working after 3 years or so of use. I understand these are very hard to get these days.

[Great Hierophant]

Reviving an old thread....

I finally found myself an SB 2.0 with the CMS chipset on-board and even the cms installation sheet that came with it.

Here is how i got it (and just for a few euros):

Sound Blaster 2.0 + CMS

If you have access to a scanner, scans of all the documentation shown in the photo would be most welcome.  So would a disk image of the Intelligent Organ Floppy Disk

[Salient]

[If you have access to a scanner, scans of all the documentation shown in the photo would be most welcome.  So would a disk image of the Intelligent Organ Floppy Disk

No problem, I'll try to do that this weekend (or at least make a start on it).

[Salient]

Here is the documentation of the Sound Blaster 2.0:

Sound Blaster 2.0 user reference manual
C/MS Installation notes for Sound Blaster CT1350 Type 3
C/MS Programming information
Sound Blaster optional hardware & software catalog

[Great Hierophant]

Excellent, I especially like this bit:

Problem Sound Blaster Midi Port not Compatible with Roland MPU-401

Answer The Sound Blaster complies with the International MIDI Association recommended standard.  The MPU-401 has some intelligence in its midi implementation.  This intelligence could easily be emulated by a small driver routine in the PC.

I guess people did not find it quite as easy, as there are no common MPU-401 emulation drivers floating around.  Otherwise nobody really cared.

[mace]

"Intelligent" mode was actually made obsolete anyway.
And nowadays most games requiring a real MPU-401 do indeed have modified drivers for use with a UART only MPU-401 interface.

[endre1952]

I'm no expert at this, but DosBox does make all games work with any kind of midi interface.

[mace]

I'm no expert at this, but DosBox does make all games work with any kind of midi interface.

Yeah, dosbox can emulate the mpu-401 intelligent mode.

[Great Hierophant]

Fortunately we do have DOSBox today, which drastically cuts down (if not completely eliminates) the need for an intelligent MPU-401 interface. 

However, back in 1991 when this card was released, the vast number of games that had been released up to that time that worked with midi typically supported the MT-32, and the game assumed that the module was connected to a Roland MPU-401 interface or was an LAPC-I card.  Even if the original buyer of this card wanted to play games using his external synthesizer, he would have been very disappointed.  Pre-Sound Blaster 16s are not MPU-401 compatible in any way, they do not support UART mode and cannot be programmed through the typical MPU-401 I/O ports of 33x. 

[Patrick Chang]

[If you have access to a scanner, scans of all the documentation shown in the photo would be most welcome.  So would a disk image of the Intelligent Organ Floppy Disk

No problem, I'll try to do that this weekend (or at least make a start on it).

Hi Salient,

Any update on the CMS Intelligent Organ Floppy Disk Image?

PC

[Hopeapaa]

Ahhh, I just installed SAA1099P chips into my SB1.5. I ordered the chips from Hong Kong, thanks Salient for providing the link.

I encountered the usual problems: test-sbc didn't play FM-music, and in AdTrack2 + FMOrgan there was just noise. Anyway majority of the Adlib and Game Blaster SW worked without putting any extra effort into try, like all the games I found supporting GameBlaster/CMS and Adlib demos, musics...

I really have to say that it's best for all of us that there was so soon Adlib forcing this horrible AM-music off the market. Horrible, but still nostalgic.

[Mau1wurf1977]

A question regarding this "custom chip" for the third socket on the Soundblaster 2.0...

Can this chip be found on other soundblaster cards? Like on a 1.5 or 1.0?

Thanks!

[Salient]

The answer is very simple and short:

No.

[Mau1wurf1977]

The answer is very simple and short:

No.

Ah Ok I see!

So back in the day you could just order that chip from Creative (Or got sent 3 chips when you ordered the CMS upgrade)?

Looks like the 1.5 + 2xSAA1099 ships is the "easiest" way of sourcing a Gameblaster capable soundcard...

[Shadow Lord]

Here is the documentation of the Sound Blaster 2.0:

Sound Blaster 2.0 user reference manual
C/MS Installation notes for Sound Blaster CT1350 Type 3
C/MS Programming information
Sound Blaster optional hardware & software catalog

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone archived the above docs? The original links don't work anymore! Thanks!

[TheMAN]

Wondering the same thing also about the PDFs...
guess what my friend just found too: http://little-scale.blogspot.com/2010/03/phillips-saa-1099-royalty-free-sample.html

That's right, now you can have software SAA1099

[Mau1wurf1977]

That's right, now you can have software SAA1099

I guess you already know this, but DOSBox support CMS / Gameblaster...