| Series | Model number |
Plug and Play |
DSP chip |
FM chip |
WT header |
MPU-401 hanging note bug |
MPU-401 slow- down /pauses |
Vibra CT250x clipping |
Vibra ringing/ hissing |
Single- cycle DMA clicking |
Potential self noise |
| SB 1.0 | CT1320A CT1320B |
no | CT1321 | OPL2 YM3812 |
no | N/A | N/A | no | no | no | High |
| SB 1.5 | CT1320C | no | CT1321 | OPL2 YM3812 |
no | N/A | N/A | no | no | no | High |
| SB 2.0 | CT1350B | no | CT1351 | OPL2 YM3812 |
no | N/A | N/A | no | no | no | High |
| SB Pro | CT1330A | no | CT1341 | OPL2 2x YM3812 |
no | N/A | N/A | no | no | no | High |
| SB Pro 2 | CT1600 CT1610 CT2600 |
no | CT1341 | OPL3 YMF262 |
no | N/A | N/A | no | no | no | High |
| SB16 | CT1730 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | no | yes | no | no | yes | Noisy |
| CT1740 | no | CT1738 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | Check DSP version | yes | no | no | yes | Noisy | |
| CT1750 | no | CT1739 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | Check DSP version | yes | no | no | yes | Noisy | |
| CT1770 | no | CT1740 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | Check DSP version | yes | no | no | yes | Noisy | |
| CT1780 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | Check DSP version | yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT1790 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | Check DSP version | yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2230 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
yes | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2290 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
yes | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2740 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
yes | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2920 | yes | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
yes | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2840 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
no | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Low | |
| CT2770 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
no | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2700 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2750 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2830 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2910 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF289 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2950 | yes | CT1741 | OPL3 YMF289 / CQM in CT1978 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT2260 | no | CT2501 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2800 | no | CT2504 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2810 | no | CT2501 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2860 | yes | CT2504 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2890 | yes | CT2504 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF262 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2900 | yes | CT2504 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF289 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2940 | yes | CT2502 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF289 / CQM in CT1978 |
yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2960 | yes | CT2505 Vibra |
CQM | yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2970 | yes | CT2505 Vibra |
CQM | yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT2980 | yes | CT2502 Vibra |
CQM | yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT4100 | yes | CT2508 Vibra |
CQM | yes | ? | yes | ? | ? | no | Low | |
| CT4170 | yes | CT2511 Vibra |
CQM | no | no | yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| CT4180 | yes | CT2505 Vibra |
CQM | no | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| AWE32 | CT2760 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
yes | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Noisy |
| CT3900 | semi | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
yes | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT3980 | yes | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
yes | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT3780 | no | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
no | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT3910 | semi | CT1741 | OPL3 CT1747 |
no | yes (Type 2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT3990 | yes | CT1741 | CQM | yes | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT4330 | yes | CT8903 | CQM | no | no | yes | no | no | no | Low | |
| CT3630 | yes | CT2502 Vibra |
CQM | no | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| SB32 | CT3930 | no | CT2501 Vibra |
OPL3 YMF262 |
no | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low |
| CT3670 | yes | CT8903 | CQM | no | no | yes | no | no | no | Low | |
| CT3620 | yes | CT1741 | CQM | no | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | no | no | yes | Check CT1703 |
|
| CT3600 | yes | CT2502 Vibra |
CQM | no | yes (Type 1+2) |
yes | yes | yes | no | Low | |
| AWE64 | CT4380 | yes | CT8903 | CQM | no | no | yes | no | no | no | Very Low |
| CT4500 | yes | CT8903 | CQM | no | no | yes | no | no | no | Very Low | |
| CT4520 | yes | CT8920 | CQM | no | no | yes | no | no | no | Very Low | |
| AWE64 Gold | CT4390 | yes | CT8903 | CQM | no | no | yes | no | no | no | Very Low |
| CT4540 | yes | CT8903 | CQM | no | no | yes | no | no | no | Very Low | |
MPU-401 hanging note bug (HNB) The bug only occurs when affected cards are utilized for digital sound effects and MIDI music simultaneously, but it happens on any MIDI device regardless if connected to the internal Wave Blaster connector or externally through the game port. Type 1: Illegitimate hanging notes This variant of the bug manifests itself as "rogue" MIDI notes being generated during MIDI playback in games based on the Doom- and Build-Engines. Since these notes are not part of the soundtrack, they are not stopped and hang for a long time. Also, these 'illegitimate' notes tend to be high-pitched, which makes this variant of the bug a rather annoying experience. Type 2: Legitimate hanging notes This type of the bug has been witnessed in many games, but occurs very rarely. In this case, the hanging notes are part of the soundtrack, but for some reason the "Note off" command is missed. DSP versions 4.04, 4.05 & 4.16 will not suffer from this bug. Type 1 doesn't occur on cards with a CT1747 bus interface. Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=50071 (Thanks @James-F) Source: https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Hanging_note_bug |
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MPU-401 slowdown/pauses Build Engine games like Duke Nukem 3D experience slowdowns. Only happens when using Sound Blaster high quality PCM and MPU-401 (General MIDI) music at the same time. One solution is to reduce the sampling (playback) rate to 11 KHz. Tie Fighter experiences pauses when using Sound Blaster sound output in combination with MPU-401 (General MIDI). As a workaround for both titles AWE32/64 cards are available as music playback devices (using the integrated Creative wavetable). Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=50071 (Thanks @James-F) |
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Vibra CT250x clipping Distortion can be heard with especially loud games that cannot be fixed by lowering any volume settings in the Sound Blaster mixer settings. To test this: Doom, Sound max volume, idkfa, weapon 6, shoot straight ahead, you'll hear a crackling sound which can only be fixed by lowering the volume in the game. Another quick test is the game Skyroads when the ship explodes. Lowering the volumes in the mixer lowers the distortion along with the sound in a card that is affected by this bug. So the distortion is generated before the mixer and cannot be removed. Examples: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=526561#p526561 (Thanks @James-F) Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=525304#p525304 (Thanks @James-F) |
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Vibra ringing/hissing A faint high pitched ringing will be heard after a sample is done playing. Sometimes the card will hiss instead of ring, but the cause it the same. Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=50071 (Thanks @James-F) |
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Single Cycle DMA clicking A click will be heard after a sample is done playing with games that use Single-Cycle DMA mode for audio. All DSP 4.0x to 4.13 are affected including the AWE32. DSP 4.16 of the AWE64 is not affected, and is free of this bug. The Vibra cards are not affected by this bug, but have the ringing bug instead. Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=50071 (Thanks @James-F) |
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Self noise As far as we know self noise often originates from the generation of the DAC chip of the Sound Blaster. There are many contributing factors to the "noisyness" of an old sound card but until we have further data available we have to base our list on the used DAC chip model of the different cards: CT1701 is the oldest and noisiest mainly on the SB16 CT1740 cards. CT1703-T is slightly better but still considered noisy. CT1703-TBS and CT1703-A are noise free and appear on later cards. On cards using the CT1703-T DAC chip it seems that most of the noise comes from the MIDI slider in the Mixer with . The MIDI slider is responsible for the Wavetable header and OPL volumes combined. Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=528932 (Thanks @James-F) On early SB16 cards there is an integrated amplifer to drive external passive speakers which introduces a lot of noise. To disable the integrated amplifier and switch the outputs to line-level set the Jumpers OSPL and OSPR to the UPPER position on these cards. If the volume wheel stops working on the output of the card, the internal amplifiers are disabled. Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=944873#p944873 (Thanks @Cloudschatze) |
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Sources: http://www.amoretro.de/guides-workshops/creative-labs-sound-blaster-modellnummern https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=50071 http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2012/07/sound-blaster-16-trials-and-tribulations.html https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Hanging_note_bug https://ilovepa.ws/2017/06/13/the-legendary-sound-blaster/ Current snapshots available on the Wayback Machine at https://archive.org |
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