The Sound Blaster AWE32 is an
ISA sound card
A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio ...
from
Creative Technology
Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley (where in the US it is known as Creative Labs). The principal activities of the compa ...
. It is an expansion board for
PCs and is part of the
Sound Blaster
Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs). Sound Blaster sound cards were the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system pl ...
family of products. The Sound Blaster AWE32, introduced in March 1994, was a near full-length ISA sound card, measuring 14 inches (356 mm) in length, due to the number of features included.
Sound Blaster AWE32
Backward compatibility
The AWE32's digital audio section was basically an entire
Sound Blaster 16
The Sound Blaster 16 is a series of sound cards by Creative Technology. They are add-on boards for PCs with an ISA or PCI slot.
Sound Blaster 16
Sound Blaster 16 (June 1992), the successor to the Sound Blaster Pro, introduced CD-quality dig ...
, and as such, was compatible with Creative's earlier Sound Blaster 2.0 (minus the C/MS audio chips.) Its specifications included 16-bit 44.1 kHz
AD/
DA conversion with real-time on-board compression / decompression and the
Yamaha OPL3 FM synthesizer chip. However, compatibility was not always perfect and there were situations where various bugs could arise in games. Many of the Sound Blaster AWE32 cards had codecs that supported bass, treble, and gain adjustments through Creative's included mixer software. There were many variants and revisions of the AWE32, however, with numerous variations in audio chipset, amplifier selection and design, and supported features. For example, the Sound Blaster AWE32 boards that utilize the VIBRA chip do not have bass and treble adjustments.
MIDI capability
The Sound Blaster AWE32 included two distinct audio sections; one being the Creative digital audio section with their audio codec and optional CSP/ASP chip socket, and the second being the
E-mu
E-mu Systems was a software synthesizer, audio interface, MIDI interface, and MIDI keyboard manufacturer. Founded in 1971 as a synthesizer maker, E-mu was a pioneer in samplers, sample-based drum machines and low-cost digital sampling music ...
MIDI synthesizer section. The synthesizer section consisted of the
EMU8000 synthesizer and effects processor chip, 1
MB EMU8011 sample ROM, and a variable amount of RAM (none on the SB32, 512
KB on the AWE32; RAM was expandable to 28
MB on both cards). These chips comprised a powerful and flexible
sample-based synthesis
Sample-based synthesis is a form of audio synthesis that can be contrasted to either subtractive synthesis or additive synthesis. The principal difference with sample-based synthesis is that the seed waveforms are sampled sounds or instruments ...
system, based on E-mu's high-end sampler systems such as the
E-mu Emulator III
The Emulator is a series of digital Sampling (music), sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use ...
and
E-mu Proteus
The E-mu Proteus was a range of digital sound modules and keyboards manufactured by E-mu Systems in the late twentieth century.
History
E-mu Systems came to prominence in the early 1980s with their relatively affordable Emulator sampler, and s ...
. The effects processor generated various effects (i.e.
reverb
Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abs ...
and
chorus) and
environments on MIDI output, similar to the later ''
EAX'' standard on Live! and newer cards. It can also add effects to the output from the Yamaha OPL3's FM synthesis. The AWE32 was the first sampler to support E-Mu's
SoundFont
SoundFont is a brand name that collectively refers to a file format and associated technology that uses sample-based synthesis to play MIDI files. It was first used on the Sound Blaster AWE32 sound card for its General MIDI support.
SoundF ...
standard, which allowed users to build custom sound sets using their own samples, the samples included in ROM, or both. The card was sold with software for building custom SoundFonts. All of Creative's subsequent cards, other than the ''
Sound Blaster PCI64/128'' series, support SoundFonts.
On the initial release, Creative promoted the EMU8000 as a
waveguide
A waveguide is a structure that guides waves, such as electromagnetic waves or sound, with minimal loss of energy by restricting the transmission of energy to one direction. Without the physical constraint of a waveguide, wave intensities de ...
physical modelling synthesis
Physical modelling synthesis refers to sound synthesis methods in which the waveform of the sound to be generated is computed using a mathematical model, a set of equations and algorithms to simulate a physical source of sound, usually a musica ...
engine, due to its ability to work with
delay lines. The option was used mostly as an effect engine for chorus and
flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, one signal delayed by a small and (usually) gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and no ...
effects. Actual physical modeling instruments were not popular on the AWE, although some support exists in the
SoundFont
SoundFont is a brand name that collectively refers to a file format and associated technology that uses sample-based synthesis to play MIDI files. It was first used on the Sound Blaster AWE32 sound card for its General MIDI support.
SoundF ...
format.
The AWE32 didn't use its
MPU-401
The MPU-401, where ''MPU'' stands for MIDI Processing Unit, is an important but now obsolete interface for connecting MIDI-equipped electronic music hardware to personal computers. It was designed by Roland Corporation, which also co-authored the ...
port to access the EMU8000 — Creative decided to expose the EMU8000's registers directly, through three sets of non-standard ports, and interpret MIDI commands in software on the host CPU. As with the
Gravis Ultrasound, software designers had to write special AWE32 support into their programs. To support older software, the AWE32 featured
OPL-3
The OPL (FM Operator Type-L) series are a family of Sound chip, sound chips developed by Yamaha Corporation, Yamaha. The OPL series are low-cost sound chips providing frequency modulation synthesis, FM synthesis for use in computing, music and vid ...
FM synthesis, and came with the AWEUTIL program which attempted to provide GM/
MT-32/
GS redirection to the native AWE hardware; however, AWEUTIL wasn't compatible with all programs or motherboards due to its use of the
non-maskable interrupt
In computing, a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) is a hardware interrupt that standard interrupt-masking techniques in the system cannot ignore. It typically occurs to signal attention for non-recoverable hardware errors. Some NMIs may be masked, but ...
(a feature that was omitted or disabled on many
clone boards), and it used a lot of precious DOS
conventional memory
In DOS memory management, conventional memory, also called base memory, is the first 640 kilobytes of the memory on IBM PC or compatible systems. It is the read-write memory directly addressable by the processor for use by the operating system ...
. Also, if a game used DOS 32-bit
protected mode through a non-
DPMI compliant
DOS extender
A DOS extender is a computer software program running under DOS that enables software to run in a protected mode environment even though the host operating system is only capable of operating in real mode.
DOS extenders were initially develope ...
, then the MPU-401 emulation would not function and the EMU8000 would not be used unless directly supported by the software. This did not affect the
Creative Wave Blaster
The Wave Blaster was an add-on Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI-synthesizer for Creative Technology, Creative Sound Blaster 16 and Sound Blaster AWE32 family of PC soundcards. It was a sample-based synthesis General MIDI compliant sy ...
daughterboard
In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus s ...
header. AWE32's usage in Windows was simplified by the fact that
Windows 3.1x
Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0.
Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows 3 ...
had drivers which made the OPL3 and the EMU8000 appear like any other MIDI peripheral, on their own MIDI interfaces.
CD-ROM interfaces
Also on ''AWE32'' was a
Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...
/
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
/
Mitsumi
was a Japanese manufacturer of consumer electronic components, founded in 1954.
The company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was constituent of the Nikkei 225 stock index and provided its products through its subsidiaries in Asia, Euro ...
CD-ROM interface (to support proprietary non-
ATAPI CD-ROM drives), the Wave Blaster header and two 30-pin
SIMM
A SIMM (single in-line memory module) is a type of memory module containing random-access memory used in computers from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. It differs from a dual in-line memory module (DIMM), the most predominant form of memory ...
slots to increase sample memory. Later Sound Blaster AWE32 revisions replaced the proprietary CD-ROM interfaces with the ATAPI interface. The Sound Blaster AWE32 supported up to 28 MB of additional SIMM memory. A maximum of 32 MB could be added to the Sound Blaster AWE32 but the synthesizer could not address all of it (4MB of the EMU8000's address space was reserved for sample ROM).
Model numbers
The following model numbers were assigned to the Sound Blaster AWE32:
* CT27**: CT2760, CT2760 Rev3(issues with wavetable db reported)
* CT36**: CT3601, CT3602, CT3603, CT3607, CT3630, CT3631, CT3632, CT3636, CT3660, CT3661, CT3662, CT3665, CT3666, CT3670, CT3680
* CT37**: CT3780
* CT39**: CT3900, CT3910, CT3919, CT3940, CT3960, CT3980, CT3990, CT3991, CT3999
* CT43**: CT4330, CT4331, CT4332
Sound Blaster 32
The Sound Blaster 32 (SB32) was a value-oriented offering from Creative, announced on June 6, 1995, designed to fit below the AWE32 Value in the lineup. The SB32 lacked onboard
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
, the
Wave Blaster header, and the CSP socket. The boards also used ViBRA integrated audio chips, which lacked adjustments for bass, treble, and gain (except ViBRA CT2502
). The SB32 had the same
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
capabilities as the AWE32, and had the same
30-pin SIMM RAM expansion capability. The board was also fully compatible with the AWE32 option in software and used the same Windows drivers. Once the SB32 was outfitted with 30-pin SIMMs, its sampler section performed identically to the AWE32's. OPL-3 support varied among the models: the CT3930 came with a Yamaha YMF262 OPL-3 FM synthesis chip, whereas most models feature CQM synthesis either integrated into the ViBRA chip or via an external CT1978 chip. The majority of Sound Blaster 32 cards used ''TDA1517'' amplifiers.
Some Sound Blaster 32 PnP with onboard 512kB RAM was sold as AWE32 OEM in Dell computers.
Model numbers
The following model numbers were assigned to the Sound Blaster 32:
* CT36**: CT3600, CT3604, CT3605, CT3620, CT3640, CT3670, CT3671, CT3672, CT3681, CT3690
* CT39**: CT3930
* CT43**: CT4335, CT4336
Sound Blaster AWE32 Value
The Sound Blaster AWE32 Value was another value-oriented offering. It lacked SIMM slots and the ASP processor, but featured 512kB onboard RAM and an (empty) ASP chip socket.
References
External links
"Programming the Soundblaster AWE-32"
{{Sound Blaster
Creative Technology products
Sound cards
IBM PC compatibles
Computer-related introductions in 1994