From: meier@ee.umanitoba.ca (Martin Meier)
Subject: Re: SB16 vs PAS16 (vs GUS)
Organization: Elect & Comp Engineering, U of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba,Canada
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 20:14:44 GMT

In article <1992Nov23.155707.5013@daffy.cs.wisc.edu>, mak@snake10.cs.wisc.edu (Wing Mak) writes:
> In article <By5pC1.Jwx@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) writes:
> >If a war does ignite, then I'm on your side, Adrian.  In the sub-$500
> >soundcard market, there's the GUS at $150, sounding better than anything
> >else, and arguably just as good as the $500 big boys.  Compatibility
> >aside, it's laughable that anyone should ponder whether to get a PAS-16
>              ^^^^^^^^^
> >or a SBPro (or -16) when there's such a clear winner on the side.
> >
> >Phat.
> 
> I have no intention to ignite a war, but just want to remind you that there 
> will be a daughter board for the SB16 that use wave table synthesis. That
> is, SB16 will have both compatibility and wave table synthesis. And of 
> course, the SB16 will not have any SB emulation problem that the GUS is 
> now being critized.


1. How much will this board cost. If it's over $50 then I doubt a significate number
   of SB16 owners will buy it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but SB16 is the low cost
   version of a the new SBPro. If your buying a low cost solution, why would you
   pay more money just to get a different sort of sound.

   But say wave table sythesis is sold to 15% of SB16 owners(an increadable
   amount). Would a game company writer 2 drivers for THE SAME BOARD?
   I say very few will go with the extra work of coding 2 drivers.

   Look a past history. The original SB offered optional sound chips. I
   believe they where called CMS chips. How well did this option sell. How many 
   game vendors used this feature? I think only Ultima 6 did.

   To this day the stereo capabilities of the SBPro are not used to by many
   game companies. They just default to the SB. 

   I say that this optional board will only be used as a midi player. Until there
   is a SB that is based on wave table with hardware SB compatiblity, don't
   bother with this optional card. There is even less reason to buy the wave table
   card than there is to buy a GUS.

   
2. I would be the first to say that GUS's SB compatibity is not 100%. In fact
   I would say overall it's around 95%. Yes, there are a few games that don't
   work with SBOS(the TSR). In my collection I have only one. Other games sound
   different when played on GUS( not bad, just different). But considering it's
   a software solution, it works surprisingly well! 

   Any FM sounds will not sound exactly the the same. The game that I found degrades
   the most under GUS is Commander Keen 4. If you can live with the sounds on this
   game, then you can live with any other game.

   The digital sounds are exactly the same as on an SB, if not clearer. A good
   example of this is the sound effects in Wolf3D.

> 
> I don't intent to say that the GUS is inferior to SB16, it is still a good deal
> at a price ~$150. Phat, but I personally don't buy your point that considering
> to buy the SB16 is laughable, the winner is not quite clear as you have 
> claimed. IMHO, which one is the best is still debatable, Phat, you have every
> right to insist in saying that GUS is the best, but don't expect everyone
> else in the world will agree on that.
> 
> --Eric.

The true winner will be decided by sales and software support. In about 1 year
from now you will be able to call a winner, or at least a leader.

From a purely technical stand point I would say the GUS is better. But many times
the best product from a technology standpoint doesn't become the standard. ie.
Beta vs. VHS, Mac vs. PC, DOS vs. anything else.

> 
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