Patch banks on sound cards

fabkebab1

New member
Hi there guys -

I am a real newbie so please excuse me if this question is really basic.

A while ago (1992), I upgraded my computer's soundcard with a "Gravis Ultrasound" card - It sounded great and I was able to record loads of really good music using it's "sounds" as a drum machine.

All of the drum sounds were quite realistic.

The wierd thing for me is that, 10 years later, I have a new computer, with the same software for creating drum loops (powerchords), but the sound is far inferior to the old computer with the old card.

Why is this? Why is a 10 year old card better than a fairly new one?

If i wanted to get a decent sound, is there some way to upgrade the stored sounds on my existing card, or do I need a new card?

I know that it has something to do with how the sample sounds are stored on the card (8bit vs. 16 bit etc) but I really want to upgrade to a better sound.

How can I select a card in a shop which I know will sound decent? What makes my own card (soundblaster I think) sound so rubbish?

Thanks for your thoughts!

AndrewR

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/371/dead_mans_corner.html
 
It has a lot to do with the card. The Gravis card had a pretty decent sound set and loaded the sounds out of memory.

Generic soundcards might or might not have an onboard synth that's usually inferior. Most really cheap ones now just use a cruddy wavetable synth to play MIDI with.

There are better cards. The better SB models over the last ten years (AWE, Live and Audigy) use a similar patch-loading scheme to the Ultrasound's, as do the Turtle Beach cards, and are hence capable of sounding really terrific.

There are also other ways to skin that cat now. With modern high-speed computers and peripherals, it's quite feasible to have a synth or sampler that's implemented entirely in software that runs on your PC. It outputs directly into the same audio data stream that anything else on the card uses.

What sound card do you have? If it's one of the better Sound Blasters, you can load up Sound Fonts. If not, you can get one or more soft synths or samplers.
 
Hi there, and thanks for the reply -
As for which soundcard I am using now; I am actually in the process of upgrading to a new PC, so once i have it, I will be looking to buy a decent soundcard. The one in my current, aged p.c. is of unknown type "soundblaster compatible"

thanks
AndrewR
 
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