DOS Days

Sound Blaster ViBRA

The ViBRA range was a cheap Sound Blaster 16 alternative for OEMs. The CT2504 retained the Yamaha OPL3 chip for FM music synthesis, but later (and more common) cards got the inferior CQM (Creative Quadratic Modulation) which was developed by E-Mu Systems. This included the CT2501 (ViBRA 16), CT2504 (ViBRA 16S), CT2505 (ViBRA 16C PnP), and CT2511 (ViBRA 16XV). The only advantage [for some] of the ViBRA range was the inclusion of a modem on-board. Otherwise, for DOS purposes, these cards are to be avoided.

All of the above variants of the ViBRA chip suffer from bad audio clipping that the earlier Creative DSPs (CT1321, CT1341, CT1351, CT1738, CT1739, CT1740, CT1741) do not. Furthermore all of these also suffer from hiss or ringing artifacts when playing back digital audio.

The CT2501 ViBRA 16 chip was also used on the Apple DOS-compatible Houdini II card as well as another DOS-compatible card that came with the Apple LC 630. Both of these came with a sound module [part #820-0594-A] based around the CT2501 and Yamaha YMF262.

The CT2505 was also supplied to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), such as ASUS for their I-A16C (FCC ID: MSQI-A16C) sound card, and Sound Forte for their RadioX SF16-FMI and SF16-FMP2-02 audio and FM radio cards.

The ViBRA range was succeeded in August 1998 by the Sound Blaster Live! range of sound cards which came with Creative's new E-Mu EMU10K1 audio processor. With this processor, Live! cards supported DirectSound and EAX 1.0 and 2.0 3D positional audio technology.

CT2260

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Mixer Chip: integrated in CT2501 ViBRA-16
DSP Chip: integrated in CT2501 ViBRA-16
Bus I/F Chip: integrated in CT2501 ViBRA-16
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 29438
FCC ID: IBACT-SBV16MCD

The CT2260 was an OEM version of the CT2230, though with some major differences. The CT2330's integrated CT1747 (FM synth chip) was replaced with Creative's new ViBRA-16 chip - CT2501. This was Creative's answer for the OEM market for Sound Blaster 16 - a cheap and cheerful solution that integrated the bus controller interface, DSP, mixer and codec into a single chip. This same chip would go on to be used on the Sound Blaster 32 range and many more budget ("Value edition") cards.

Since the ViBRA-16 chip did not have an FM synthesizer built-in, Creative also reverted back to using a discrete Yamaha YMF262 OPL3 chip, just like the 1st-generation Sound Blaster 16 cards.

Several versions of the CT2501 ViBRA-16 chip exist, including CT2501-TBQ, CT2501-TCQ and CT2501-TDQ.

Despite having the exact same model number and even board revision, some CT2260 cards have a Line Out socket in addition to the Speaker Out socket where others don't have a Line Out - for these ones other components around the right side of the board are also missing.

The CT2260 appeared to be pretty good compatibility-wise, working well for every game I tried. It has a wavetable connector which I tried and it worked well with my NEC XR385 daughterboard, however I can confirm the presence of the "hanging note" bug with this card.

It has a pretty good output signal but I experienced bad noise issues with my card. It should be verified with another card in case my card has a problem - it did not seem normal. The card had a rather loud background noise but moreover there seems to be some glitch that appears in some games at totally random times and it produces a severe high pitched hiss or ring - Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Descent all produce this background noise to different degrees. I have not yet found a pattern to it but it is audible.

CT2260 driver (same as for CT4180), ViBRA 16 Floppy Disks

More Images

CT2800

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes?
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging notes bug)
Known Board Revisions: 29809, 49517
FCC ID: IBACT-SBV16S

Following the success of the CT2260 and its first ViBRA-16 card, the CT2800 or Sound Blaster Vibra 16S, uses an updated chip - the ViBRA 16S (CT2504). Early ViBRA 16S models still had the Yamaha OPL3 FM synthesizer chip onboard as in the image above, whereas later ViBRA 16S, ViBRA 16C and ViBRA 16XV cards all have the CQM (Creative Quadrature Modulation) chips instead. These were Creative's own take on the Yamaha OPL and are generally considered to be sub-par compared to the Yamaha.

The CT2800 got an IDE CD-ROM interface and a wavetable connector.

Some boards with revision 49517 removed the Line Out socket on the backplate as well as the IDE interface connector. This must have been an unknown submodel of the CT2800, e.g. CT2801 or CT2809, though still kept the base model CT2800 code on the silkscreen (which was standard behaviour with Creative's sound cards).

A later board revision, 49517, was found on Dell OEM versions of the CT2800. This removed the IDE interface connector but kept the Line Out socket.

More Images

CT2810

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes?
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: 019449
FCC ID: IBACT-SBV16IDE

The CT2810 is another strange card in that it shares its FCC ID with the CT2290 range, but has the ViBRA-16 chip the same as the CT2260. But unlike the CT2260, the CT2810 gets an IDE CD-ROM interface.

It was produced for the OEM market.

CT2860

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: ?
Known Board Revisions: 19518, 29528
FCC ID: IBACT-MENUET

Value edition. Vibra 16S chipset. OEM version of CT2291 for the HP Menuet.
No CD-ROM interface.

More Images

CT2890

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Bus I/F Chip: CT1705-DCQ
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: 19518, 29610
FCC ID: IBACT-V16SPNP

This is a Value edition card and is the OEM version of a CT2959. It has the ViBRA 16S chipset and a real full-size Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) chip. This was the first Creative card to use their new CT1705 bus interface chip which provided it with full Plug & Play capability. Most other 2nd-generation SB16s had the bus interface logic embedded in the CT1747 chip or in the ViBRA chip (CT2501 or CT2504) on ViBRA cards.

No clicking noises in Prince of Persia.
Ringing in Tyrian, Descent, MPXPlay, all in SBPro Stereo (high-speed) mode. Distortion in high volumes which can NOT be fixed with the mixer. OPL3 sounds good. Good balance between FM and PCM. 75 SNR (great). Buggy MPU-401, hanging notes and stuttering Duke3D.

More Images

CT2940

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF289B (OPL3) or Creative CT1978-BAP
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: 4.13
Known Board Revisions: 19529
FCC ID: IBACT-V16FPNP

Value edition. ViBRA Pro chipset.
The CT2940 was an OEM version of the CT2959. Some have the real Yamaha YMF289-B OPL3 chip, but most have an undesirable FM chip instead (Creative's own CT1978 CQM chip). Check if it has a Creative CT1978 chip above the big chip. If so, it has the poorer-quality FM chip. If this spot is empty, look for a small OPL3-L chip elsewhere.
IDE CD-ROM interface.

Audio from a CT2940 can be listened to on the following game pages:

You can also compare this card's audio output side-by-side to numerous other cards in my Sound Blaster CT2770 Retro Review!

 

More Images

CT2960

Introduced: 1995
Plug & Play: Yes
FM Synth Chip: CT2505 with integrated Creative CT1978 (CQM)
DSP Versions: 4.16
Known Board Revisions: 19547
FCC ID: IBACT-SBPRELUDE

Value edition. OEM version.
The ViBRA 16C chip was more commonly used on motherboards to provide embedded audio.

This card has been reported to have the hanging note bug, but the only cards I have seen have DSP v4.16 which does not suffer this.

More Images

CT2961

Basic edition.
PnP.

CT2970

Introduced: 1996
FM Synth: Creative CT1978-TAP (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: 19606
FCC ID: IBACT-SONATE

The CT2970 was an OEM version for Hewlett-Packard. These have the CT2502 (ViBRA) chips and are Plug & Play.

More Images

CT4100

Launched: 1996
FM Synth: Creative ViBRA 16CL chipset (CT2508)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16C6
Known DSP Versions: 4.13
Known Board Revisions: 19631

CT4150

Launched: 1996
FM Synth: Creative ViBRA 16C chipset (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
FCC ID: ?
Known DSP Versions: 4.13
Known Board Revisions: 19640

CT4170

Launched: 1997
FM Synth: Creative ViBRA 16XV chipset (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
FCC ID: ?
Known DSP Versions: ?
Known Board Revisions: 19720, 49730

Called the Sound Blaster 16 WavEffects edition, or Sound Blaster 16 Value PnP. It has the Vibra-16XV chip with CQM.

The CT4170 was sold as a bundle with a pair of SBS10 speakers and a 32x CD-ROM drive, called the Sound Blaster Value 16/32X.

More Images

CT4180

Introduced in 1997.
MIDI synthesizer: CT2505 - VIBRA 16C.
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
FCC ID: ?
Known DSP Versions: ?
Known Board Revisions: 29717, 39750

Tends to be found on SB16s integrated on the motherboard. Integrated CT-1978 (CQM chip that emulates the OPL3).

Also found on:

CT2260 driver (same as for CT4180), ViBRA 16 Floppy Disks

More Images

CT4181

Value edition.
PnP.

CT4810

Introduced: 2000
Interface: PCI
FM Synthesizer: Embedded AudioPCI in ES1373
CD-ROM Headers: None
Known Board Revisions: -
FCC ID: -

The CT4810, or to give it its full title, Sound Blaster ViBRA 128, was based around the Ensoniq AudioPCI chip, ES1373. ES1373 was a slightly updated version of their earlier ES1371, adding I2S In or S/PDIF Output (the blue Line-In and green Line-Out sockets double up to support these respectively).

User Manual