From: mchen@groucho.cs.psu.edu (Michael Chen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Card Specifics
Date: 28 Jul 92 19:05:24 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Penn State Computer Science

In article <1992Jul28.162728.20459@cis.ohio-state.edu> jgeniec@cis.ohio-state.edu (Joseph Geniec) writes:
>
>OK, I need a few things straightened out. I'm new to soundcards, and I want
>to know how PAS-16 and SBPro stack up in every aspect. For Example:
>
>1) sample rate in kHz

The SB Pro is 44.1kHz; so is the PAS-16, I believe.

>2) compatibility with the other

Only if you count both of them being sound Blaster compatible (see below).

>3) bit resolution of samples

Here's the first difference.  The SB Pro is 8 bits (the SB Pro 16 is, as its 
name implies, 16 bits).  The PAS 16 is sixteen bits.

>4) approximate cost (with MIDI interfaces)

Sorry, these days I really don't know.  I paid about $200 for my SB Pro, and
at the time the PAS was another $30 more.

>5) bugs

None yet with the SB Pro.  There have been all kinds of people complaining
about Ultima 7 not doing digitized speech properly with the PAS-16; it would
appear that it is almost but not quite fully SB-compatible.

>6) programming support for BC++ or TC++ for win

If you're a developer, or not? I'm not, and I'd like to use it, but the only
stuff I can find so far is a TPU unit.  If someone can mail me specs, I can
work on it, but I'm kinda backlogged with mouse routines and the infamous
Mode X.

>7) general support by software (games, sequencers etc)

The huge selling point of the SB Pro is that there is just about nothing in 
God's creation that won't support it, or at least the SB (with which it is
entirely compatible).  The support for the PAS used to be nonexistent, but
now is pretty good.  I don't know about the PAS-16 MIDI interface, but the
SB Pro works with the SB stuff, and of course anything in Windows 3.1 after
you install your drivers.

>8) MIDI compatibility (I've heard some whine that one or the other does
>   not work properly with other MIDI devices)

I have no idea what incompatibilities you mean, unless it's the old "SB Pro is
not MPU-401 compatible" thing.  For most stuff like Cakewalk, it's irrelevant;
for ANYTHING in Windows (Cubase, etc.) the problem goes away.  But, if you're
interested, the SB Pro 16's MIDI setup is supposed to be MPU-401 compatible.

>9) s/n ratios of sampling

I really think this is a misleading question.  My experience has been, it's not
which card you're using, but how noisy your computer is.  I don't know, it's
not a listed spec for the SB Pro, and I wouldn't know about the PAS-16 anyway.

>10) best places to order either from

I think people have been mentioning Telemart.  If you really want to find out,
grab an issue of Computer Shopper.

>11) anything else I didn't think of

It's not really fair to compare the PAS-16 to the SB Pro.  You should compare
it to the new SB Pro-16, which apparently is just as good if not better. And
if the SB compatibility is a big deal (it is for me) I'd stick close to the
Creative Labs stuff.  A side note: the SCSI CD-ROM port on the SB Pro is a
proprietary interface; I don't know if the same is true for the Pro-16.

-- 
_____________________________________________________________________________
| Michael Chen			| From the depths of our most lucid horrors |
|				| spring our fond hopes and pure desires... |
| mchen@groucho.cs.psu.edu	| except what comes from HELL! :-) 7/23/92  |