From: craigbr@informix.com (Craig Browning)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
Subject: Re: Best soundcard for a non-audiophile
Keywords: Gravis UltraSound(GUS), SoundBlaster, Thundercard, games, educ. SW
Date: 5 Jan 93 17:58:42 GMT
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

In article <C04Dvy.59t@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca> ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) writes:
>In article <29017@optima.cs.arizona.edu> bakken@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Bakken) writes:
>>[...]
>>So my questions:
>>
>>	- Would the GUS really buy me that much more?  I guess
>>	  that $130+speakers is probably $170, or $50 more than
>>	  my Thunderboard setup.  I don't mind spending $50 if it
>>	  will buy me something, but I don't want to waste $50 if
>>	  it won't.
>>
>
>On just sound quality, the GUS is almost as good as a $300-400
>Roland Sound Canvas.  It uses the same synthesis technology as
>the Sound Canvas and other upper-end cards such as the Multisound.
>Currently, nothing really pushes the GUS to its potential, but the
>raw power is there.  Even if you're not an audiophile and don't
>care about things like frequency response and signal-to-noise
>ratios, you will be deeply impressed by the REALISM of the instruments
>and sounds the GUS produces compared to what the Thunderboard, SB,
>SBPro, etc. can cough up.

Are these sound improvements heard for what appears to be the large majority
of games, that only have AdLib/SoundBlaster compatibility for you to use,
or are they only heard for games you can find that are written for the Gravis?

i.e., is there an better sound to the Gravis than the Sounblaster, when
played with games that only support Soundblaster?

If the Gravis only sounds better with games written with support for Gravis,
than I think there's a real issue with the limited number of games that
will sound better with Gravis.

I got a Gravis to try, and have only been able to use it with the Soundblaster
mode. I don't want to buy a game I wouldn't otherwise get just to get
the Gravis sound.

Also, it was recommended to put 1MB in the card. How many games on the
market will use this extra memory for some improvement?

thanks,

Craig

>There is a catch, though.  The GUS is not a perfect SB emulator.
>After all, its synthesis technique is totally different from the
>FM synthesis that the SB uses.
>
>>	- Where can one buy a GUS mail order?  I looked through
>>	  the entire Computer Shopper and didn't find one.  Is
>>	  the best price really $130?
>>
>
>The best price I've seen in US mail order is $129.  If you had
>bought the card during Electronic Arts' summer promotion, you
>would have spent only $99 (and the price of whatever game you
>chose from their catalog.)
>
>>Finally, an unrelated (to soundcards) question I'll throw in
>>since many probably know it:
>>
>>	- How much memory will I want to add?  I don't care
>>	  if the games aren't blazing in speed.
>>
>
>You will probably want at least 4 Megs of RAM on the motherboard,
>and 1 Meg on the GUS (if that's the soundcard you decide on).  Yes, 
>the GUS has its own memory.
>
>Phat.


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Browning
Regency Support
Informix Software, Inc.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard