Sound Blaster 16 (CT2950, CT2959)
The CT2950 was one of the third-generation Sound Blaster 16 cards with CQM instead of Yamaha OPL3. It was a "Value" edition card.
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Released | 1995 |
| Bus | ISA 16-bit | |
| FM Synth | (Integrated Creative CQM in CT1978) | |
| Audio Codec | None | |
| Standards | Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16 | |
| Ports | Speaker-Out, Mic-In, Line-In, Line-Out Game/MIDI port |
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| CD-ROM | IDE | |
| Wavetable | Wave Blaster header | |
| Plug & Play | Yes | |
| FCC ID(s) | IBACT-SB16PROP49 | |
| Price | - | |
| See Also | Sound Blaster 16 (CT2980) Sound Blaster 16 (CT2910) |
With the CT2950, Creative Labs replaced the CT1747 chip used on almost all earlier Sound Blaster 16 cards with a CT1978 which had Creative's own flavour of OPL3 called CQM embedded.
The CT2959 was the OEM version of the card.
For this card, read the Noise Issues section on the main Sound Blaster 16 page.
In September 1995, SB16 Value cards would be bundled with 10 EA games for just £110. The games bundle would likely be on a single CD-ROM, and would comprise some good games like Wing Commander, PGA Tour Golf and Indianapolis 500, but largely pretty poor ones. If you didn't want the games bundle the card alone would retail for £85.
Board Revisions
Known board revisions include 19529 and 29538.
All revisions came with the CT1745A-S mixer chip and the CT1741 DSP chip. The DSP version was always v4.13 (with hanging note bug).
Competition
The Sound Blaster 16's primary enhancement over its predecessor (the Sound Blaster Pro) was its capability to playback 16-bit audio for a crisper, cleaner sound. Unfortunately, this wasn't heavily adopted by games developers who continued to use lower-quality samples. Because of this, buying a Sound Blaster 16 really didn't offer any benefit over a much cheaper 8-bit audio card unless you were into recording your own stuff. The marketing department at Creative Labs didn't care, however, and people bought Sound Blaster 16s like they were going out of fashion, thinking 16 bits were always twice as good as 8.
In 1995, the sound card market was awash with choice. Aztech as always were hot on the heels of Creative with a number of new cards that undercut Creative on price. Some of these included their end-of-2nd-gen Sound Galaxy Pro 16 II and Orion 16, and their brand new 3rd-gen cards such as the Waverider 32+,Washington 16, and Multimedia Pro 16.
Crystal launched their first chipset with an integrated FM synthesizer with the CS4232, and this found its way onto several off-brand cards.
ESS Technologies' introduced their ES1688, with ESFM(tm) FM synthesis, six-channel mixer, 16-bit stereo recording and playback, MPU-401 interface, and wavetable support with no hanging note bug.
OPTi released a number of new chipsets for all markets, including the 82C924 and 82C930 (both with reliance on an external FM synth), and the 82C925 with an embedded FM synth called OPTiFM(TM).
MediaVision were driven out of business in December 1994 due to fraud allegations, so we wouldn't see anything new in 1995 from them - a real shame as their cards were excellent quality.
Turtle Beach closed out their 2nd-generation cards in 1995, releasing the Tropez series and the budget Monte Carlo, all of which were Ad Lib and Sound Blaster Pro-compatible. The Tropez cards all came with onboard wavetables while the Monte Carlo offered a software-based wavetable and a hardware wavetable header if you wanted the real thing.
In the Media
Setting it Up
Downloads
Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
DOS and Windows 3.1 Utility Disks The original Sound Blaster 16 DOS and Windows 3.1 installation disks, marked Sound Blaster 16 |
. DOS and Windows 3.1 Utility Disks The original Sound Blaster 16/AWE DOS and Windows 3.1 installation disks, marked SDR-31STD-1-US (Revision 1). |
DOS and Windows 3.1 Utility Disks The original Sound Blaster 16 Value Edition disks, marked Sound Blaster 16 S16V-STD-01-ENG. |
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More Pictures
Sound Blaster 16 (CT2950, rev. 19529)
Sound Blaster 16 (CT2950, rev. 29538)
Sound Blaster 16 (CT2950, rev. 19529)
Sound Blaster 16 (CT2950, rev. 29538)
Sound
Blaster 16 (CT2950, rev. 19529)