Windows Sound System (WSS) is a
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 au ...
specification developed by
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
released at the end of 1992 for
Windows 3.1. WSS featured support for up to 16-bit, 48 kHz digital sampling,
beyond the capabilities of the popular contemporary
Sound Blaster Pro, although it was less frequently supported than
Sound Blaster and
Gravis sound cards, as well as
Roland
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...
sound cards,
daughterboards, and
sound modules.
In addition, the WSS featured RCA analog audio outputs, an uncommon feature among sound cards of this era; other connections were a microphone input, a stereo line input and a stereo headphone output.
The Windows Sound System was sold as a bundle which included an
ISA
Isa or ISA may refer to:
Places
* Isa, Amur Oblast, Russia
* Isa, Kagoshima, Japan
* Isa, Nigeria
* Isa District, Kagoshima, former district in Japan
* Isa Town, middle class town located in Bahrain
* Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia
* Mount Is ...
sound card, a microphone, a pair of headphones and the software package.
WSS 1.0a drivers were released in February 1993. They introduced single-mode DMA, supported games in MS-DOS,
Ad Lib and
Sound Blaster emulation.
WSS 2.0 drivers, released in October 1993, added support for OEM sound cards (
Media Vision,
Creative Labs
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 ...
,
ESS Technology
ESS Technology Incorporated is a private manufacturer of computer multimedia products, Audio DACs and ADCs based in Fremont, California with R&D centers in Kelowna, BC, Canada and Beijing, China. It was founded by Forrest Mozer in 1983. Robe ...
) and included an improved DOS driver (WSSXLAT.EXE) that provided
Sound Blaster 16 compatibility for digital sampling.
However, they did not provide support for
FM or
wavetable synthesis.
WSS was supported by most popular DOS sound libraries developed in the 1990s, such as the
Miles Sound System and HMI Sound Operating System, and less popular ones, such as Loudness Sound System, Digital Sound Interface Kit, Digital Sound & Music Interface and Junglevision Sound Drive.
Much like today's
Intel High Definition Audio, the actual hardware was standardized as well. WSS was based on
Analog Devices
Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), also known simply as Analog, is an American multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion, signal processing and power management technology, headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
The c ...
AD1848
codec
A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.
In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or ...
chip and mounted the
Yamaha OPL3 (
YMF262-M) FM synthesis
sound chip
A sound chip is an integrated circuit (chip) designed to produce audio signals through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics. Sound chips are typically fabricated on metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) mixed-signal chips that proces ...
on-board for MIDI files playback
(supporting up to 20 simultaneous MIDI voices).
External links
Microsoft Windows Sound System soundcards YJFY Computer Component Museum
References
Sound cards
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