Intel Pentium MMX
Soundcard · 1997
Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE64
Works
Images from The Retro Web, resized: Elke Wehmer (CC BY-SA 4.0, 3 images); Helen_Croft (CC BY-SA 4.0, 3 images); Hias1000 (CC BY-SA 4.0, 2 images)
Details
| Year | 1997 |
| Model | CT4500 |
| Interface | ISA 16Bit |
| Fm synth | CT8903 (EMU-8000) |
| Yamaha OPL | no |
| PnP | yes |
| Links | The Retro Web (external) |
Notes
The CT4500 was an AWE64 "Value" edition with 512K RAM for additional wavetable samples. It also had the IDE header removed and the 2-pin S/PDIF header removed (these can be soldered on and functionally will work just fine).
The AWE64 however, did get better backward-compatibility with older Sound Blaster models, and an improved signal-to-noise ratio than the AWE32/SB32. Game compatibility is excellent. No it doesn't have a true OPL3 chip for FM synthesis, and it does sound a bit different as it's emulated inside the EMU-8000 chip, but it's still good. AWE64 will also work just fine on any AWE32-enabled game.
The CT1703-TBS on this card is apparently decent for noise (low).
All AWE64s use DSP version 4.16, so there's no "hanging notes" MIDI bug.
MS-DOS
All you need to do to get SFX, FM and EMU8000 working in an AWE64 is the following lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT.
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 E620 T6
SET CTCM=C:\SBAWE64
C:\SBAWE64\CTCM.EXE /T
C:\SBAWE64\AWEUTIL.COM /S
C:\SBAWE64\MIXERSET.EXE /P /Q
CTCM /T
Configures card and sets BLASTER. The /T parameter is skips the DOS version check that would otherwise abort in MS-DOS 7.x or later (retronn.de Sound Blaster Configuration Guide).
DIAGNOSE /S
The DIAGNOSE /S switch makes DIAGNOSE.EXE act as a configuration tool, not just a test utility. However, for an AWE64 (which is PnP), you should rely on CTCM.EXE instead to handle resource configuration, since CTCM manages the PnP initialization automatically.
Muted OPL3 bug
All EMU8000-based cards have the "muted OPL3" bug. OPL3 is muted on some EMU8000 cards until you execute AWEUTIL /S or otherwise "flush" the card. On some examples it is not muted but is accompanied by quiet clicks which disappear after AWEUTIL /S. Some cards suffer from this bug right after boot, some just after listening to some EMU8000-synthesized music.
Links
Downloads
| PDFAWE64 User Guide Awe64_User_Guide.pdf | PDF · 623 KB |
| EXEAWE64 Creative Configuration Manager ctcmbbs.exe | EXE · 689 KB |
| EXEAWE64 Basic Disk for DOS/Windows 3.1 s64basic.exe | EXE · 1.1 MB |
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