DOS Days

Sound Blaster 16

In June 1992, the Sound Blaster 16 was introduced as the successor to the Sound Blaster Pro, though the Pro was sold for a number of years alongside the SB16. The first '16' model was CT1740. For the first time you could get a Sound Blaster card with CD-quality (44 kHz) digital audio sampling.

A 1st-gen Sound Blaster 16 (model CT1740)

The Sound Blaster 16 also got a socket for the ASP, or "Advanced Signal Processor" which is chip CT1748A. This was later rebranded CSP, or "Creative Signal Processor" to avoid confusion with Microsoft's Active Server Pages. The SB16 also got a new expansion header for their "Wave Blaster" (CT1910) which was a wavetable daughterboard. "Value" and OEM versions tended to not have the new header nor the ASP/CSP.

In its early stages, Sound Blaster 16 retained the Yamaha OPL3 chip for FM music synthesis, so was still backward-compatible with the original Sound Blaster. Unfortunately, due to a flaw in the initial silicon, the Sound Blaster 16 range do not have proper Sound Blaster Pro compatibility (1 or 2) - so when it ran in "Sound Blaster Pro compatibility mode" (i.e. for all DOS games), it could only support mono playback.

"The Sound Blaster 16 Value is perfect as a low cost solution to crystal clear CD quality sound. It features the new IDE interface for connection to any compatible CD-ROM drive.

The 16 Pro offers the same high quality sound, plus the facility to upgrade. Also available with advanced signal processing for enhanced sound capability, it features both IDE and Creative/Panasonic CD Rom interface."
     
- Creative Labs advert in PC Review, September 1995

 

A PCI version of the Sound Blaster 16 was released, but this lost backward-compatibility with the Sound Blaster due to its lack of DMA for producing sound, so a software driver workaround was provided, although this proved to be less than 100% compatible for many games. In Windows, however, the card worked well.

Creative Labs produced an enormous number of variants of the Sound Blaster 16, which are all listed below. But before we get into the model-by-model breakdown, let's explore a few things that the SB16 range brought, both good and bad...

CSP (Creative Signal Processor) / ASP (Advanced Signal Processor) Chip
The CSP (ASP) chip added some new features to the Sound Blaster line, such as hardware-assisted speech synthesis (through the TextAssist software), "QSound" audio spatialization technology for digital (PCM) wave playback, and PCM audio compression and decompression. Software needed to be written to leverage its unique abilities, yet the offered capabilities lacked compelling applications. As a result, this chip was generally ignored by the market.


The CT1748 Creative Signal Processor chip

Creative renamed ASP to CSP at some point, but they are identical. TFX by Ocean Software is the only game known to support this chip. If your board has a CT1748 chip, either in a socket or soldered to the board, you have the CSP/ASP chip. The chip itself was an SGS-Thomson ST18932 DSP core with 16 KB of program RAM and 8 KB of data RAM built-in.

OPL3 vs CQM
The majority of Sound Blaster 16 cards feature either a discrete Yamaha YMF262 OPL-3 FM synthesizer as used on the Sound Blaster Pro II, or a Creative CT1747 chip which has this synthesizer integrated. Some post-1995 cards (notably the CT2910) feature the fully compatible Yamaha YMF289 FM synthesis chip instead. All of these contain true Yamaha OPL-3 circuitry.

A 2nd-gen Sound Blaster 16 (model CT2940)

Starting in late 1995, Creative designed a cost-reduced replacement for OPL-3 which they called "CQM" (Creative Quadrature Modulation) synthesis, which largely emulated the features of the OPL-3 chip. However, its emulation was far from perfect, producing considerable distortion in FM-synthesized music and sound effects. Click here for a YouTube video that plays the same track using CQM, then on an ESS card using their own OPL-3 compatible "ES-FM" (a good emulation), then from a true OPL3 card. Cards with CQM are to be avoided if you wish to hear true Yamaha FM synthesis as it was originally intended.

   
From left: Yamaha YMF262, Yamaha YMF289B, and Creative's CT1978 CQM

The design of the Sound Blaster 16 board, which varied from model to model, could further exacerbate CQM's inaccuracies. Despite its shortcomings, it was much more faithful-sounding than the sample-synthesis simulation that AudioPCI-based sound cards employ. Boards utilizing CQM synthesis have a CT1978 chip, or they may have CQM integrated into another chip, e.g. ViBRA16C/X-based boards.

Hanging MIDI Notes Bug
Cards with DSP version 4.11, 4.12, or 4.13 suffer from hanging notes when digital sounds and MIDI are played at the same time. It does not matter what MIDI device you use (an external device attached to the game/MIDI port or on the Wave Blaster header) - you will get this bug. The best workaround for this is to use a separate card for MIDI. Any card with the Creative CT1747 chip does not suffer from this bug, nor do those with DSP version 4.04, 4.05 or 4.16.


The CT1741 Digital Signal Processor version 4.13

You can check your DSP version by looking at the medium-sized CT1741 chip on the card. it will have a code after the text CT1741, for example "V405" - this would be DSP version 4.05.

Noise Issues
Different DAC chips were used on the Sound Blaster 16, including CT1701, CT1703-T, CT1703-TBS and CT1703-A. The first of these (which is the oldest variant) is rumoured to be the cause of noise on these cards, so if possible, check for a CT1701 or a variant of the CT1703 that is on the card before you buy it.

The CT1703-TBS is apparently decent for noise (low) and is also found on the CT2290, AWE32 and AWE64.
The CT1703-A is the most recent and quietest, and is found on numerous later SB16 cards up to AWE64 Gold. So in order of preference, get a card with the CT1703-A, then the CT1703-TBS, and avoid cards with either the CT1701 or CT1703-T.

Plug & Play or Not
The first generation Sound Blaster 16s came with the CT1746 bus interface chip - these cards were all non-PnP (configured by jumpers) and no software initialization was required. Second generation Sound Blaster 16s got the CT1747 bus interface chip which included an embedded Yamaha OPL3 chip. These required jumpers to set the I/O range (IOS0 & IOS1), joystick enable/disable (JYEN) and MIDI I/O Select 330/300 (MSEL). However, IRQ and DMA selection were done in software on startup - something Creative called "Auto Init". SBCONFIG.EXE or DIAGNOSE.EXE needed to be loaded in AUTOEXEC.BAT to tell the card which resources to use at boot. 

Regardless of whether your card is PnP or not, if you cannot find the original driver disk, or don't want to have the hassle of lots of utilities to initialise your card, you can try UniSound from Vogons member JazeFox - it's a simple utility that detects and initialises your card, making it ready for action. It works on SB16 cards including all the ViBRA-based ones, AWE32, AWE64, as well as many other manufacturers sound cards such as those with OPTi, Crystal, Analog Devices, Yamaha YMF71x, ESS1868/1869, and more! It is designed to work on systems from old 8088/8086 XTs up to Pentium-era and beyond.

So, pros and cons of the Sound Blaster 16 range...

+ CD-quality digital audio
+ On some cards: an MPU-401 compatible game/MIDI port.
+ On some cards: a Wavetable connector for the CT1900/CT1910 "Wave Blaster"
+ On some early cards: a true Yamaha OPL3 chip for best FM music quality
- "Hanging MIDI notes" bug on many cards
- Loss of full Sound Blaster Pro backward compatibility (mono only, not stereo)
- "noisy" audio

The CT2230 and CT2290 seem to be the most loved SB16s because they offer the lowest noise output of all the SB16 cards and are not Plug & Play. This is good because we retro gamers like to have our choices at the hardware level! Plug & Play was in its infancy in 1994, and would make configuring your card almost impossible outside of Windows.

The table below summarises the various Sound Blaster 16 models, in order of generation. Note that the CSP column qualifies as a 'yes' even if the card only has solder pads for the CSP/ASP chip:


Click to expand

First Generation (CT1xxx)

The CT1740 and CT1750 are the least hassle Sound Blaster 16s to buy (across all the generations). DSP versions 4.05 and lower don't have the hanging MIDI note bug (avoid later CT1750s with 4.11 and 4.12), they output genuine Yamaha FM audio, require no software initialisation, and don't take up any extra system resources.

Unfortunately, some refer to these as "noise blasters", since everything will sound noisy on these cards. Most 8-bit digitized sound has an audible layer of hiss surrounding the sample playback.  This hiss is not observed when playing back FM music.  Mixing the audio from the Wave Blaster connector will also sound muffled.  When 8-bit digital samples play there are often pops and clicks in the audio output. 

CT1740

Launched: 1992
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) chip
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes, soldered-in or socketed
Mixer Chip: CT1745 (board 49251), CT1745A (board 59334)
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
Known DSP Versions: 4.04 or 4.05 (no hanging note bug on this card)
Known Board Revisions: 49251, 59325, 59334
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16
Price: $349 (Nov 1992, SB 16 ASP), $129 (Nov 1993, SB 16 Basic)

The CT1740 was the first Sound Blaster 16 to be introduced. Some board revisions come with a socket for the optional CT1748A "CSP/ASP" chip. Cards that were originally branded Sound Blaster 16 ASP came with this chip soldered directly on the board. The ones without the CSP/ASP chip were later sold as the Sound Blaster 16 Basic alongside the Sound Blaster 16 MCD and Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2.

The CT1745 mixer chip is the latest variant of mixer chip found on Creative cards. It succeeded the CT1335 found on the Sound Blaster 2.0, and CT1345 found on the Sound Blaster Pro. CT1745 provided 32 levels of independent software volume control on both left and right channels for Master, Voice, MIDI, CD and Line-In sources, 32 levels for the mono Microphone output source and 4 levels for the mono PC Speaker source. The output mixing path takes signals from the Voice, MIDI, CD, Line-In, Microphone and PC speaker sources. For input mixing, CT1745 is able to record from Mic, CD, Line-In and MIDI sources at the same time - something CT1345 was unable to do.

"The Sound Blaster 16 ASP follows the very successful 8-bit Sound Blaster Pro Basic and reinforces the notion that most business users require better sound quality. The new 16-bit Sound Blaster sounds far better than its 8-bit predecessor, although its sound quality falls short of the best audio boards.

In order to score the sound quality of the Sound Blaster 16 ASP, we conducted a blind taste test with seven judges. Each of our seven listeners were told in detail what to listen for when judging the quality of sound sampled at 11, 22, and 44 kHz frequencies in both 8- and 16-bit mode. The best score it received was a single very good when sampling at 44 kHz, 16-bit mode with U-Law compression. The setting should have produced the best quality, uncompressed sampling at 44 kHz 16-bit mode, was very distorted. Creative Labs visited the InfoWorld test center and tried to solve the problem, unsuccessfully. Creative Labs believes the distortion was caused by incompatibility between its driver and the ASPI4DOS.SYS used with fairly standard Adaptec 1542B SCSI controller.

The Sound Blaster 16 ASP has a 20-voice Yamaha YMF-262 chip for MIDI that produces a relatively disappointing range of sounds. (An optional daughterboard with a 32-voice E-MU chip would be a worthwhile addition if realistic sound synthesis is important. However with the daughterboard installed, you can't use the adjacent slot).

The Sound Blaster 16 ASP comes with a powerful mix of applications, including two programs for sampling in Windows. WaveStudio is limited to sampling and editing what will fit in system memory (about a minute of 44 kHz sampling). If that's enough, you'll enjoy its intuitive interface and strong editing capabilities. Soundo'LE is the appropriate application for creating longer samples and embedding them into OLE-aware applications. The Sound Blaster 16 mixer, which you can access from Soundo'LE's menus, is very powerful and easy to use."
     InfoWorld, 11 Jan 1993

 

The CT1740 came with a Panasonic CD-ROM interface. Note that this is *not* a standard IDE interface - Creative partnered with Panasonic to create their own, so it's often referred to as the Creative/Panasonic CD-ROM interface. The CT1740 also got a thumbwheel volume control on the backplate, which is a nice touch and a nod to the original 8-bit Sound Blaster cards.

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DOS Days contributor Tuomas Toropainen provided the following images of his complete Sound Blaster 16 ASP package with board revision 59325 (soldered-in ASP chip and DSP v4.05).

CT1750 / CT1759

Launched: 1993
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) chip
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Soldered-in (CT1750) or socketed (CT1759)
Mixer Chip: CT1745A
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
Known DSP Versions: 4.05 (no hanging note), 4.11 (hanging note), 4.12 (hanging note)
Known Board Revisions: 19334, 39346
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16MCD
Prices: $159 (Nov 1993, no ASP), $195 (Nov 1993, with ASP)

Called the Sound Blaster 16 MCD (Multi CD), the CT1750 was a CT1740 but with better support for CD-ROM drives - it got Panasonic, Sony and Mitsumi CD-ROM interface headers.

The CT1759 was almost identical to the CT1750. The CT1750 is sometimes branded Sound Blaster 16 MCD CSP whereas the CT1759 is just Sound Blaster 16 MCD, so it is believed the model number change was nothing more than a marketing decision with the CT1759 being sold without the CSP chip. This is backed up by the fact that the default jumper setting for the CSP chip was set to 'Enabled' on the CT1750, and 'Disabled' on the CT1759.

Just like the CT1740, the CT1750/CT1759 also got the thumbwheel volume control on the backplate.

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CT1770 / CT1779

Launched: 1993
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) chip
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Soldered-in (CT1770) or socketed (CT1779)
Mixer Chip: CT1745A
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
Known DSP Versions: 4.05 (no hanging note), 4.11 or 4.12 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 29346, 39352
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16SCSI
Prices: $179 (Nov 1993, no ASP), $209 (Nov 1993, with ASP), $169 (Jun 1994, no ASP), $199 (Jun 1994, with ASP)

The CT1770, actual name Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2, was the first Sound Blaster 16 card from Creative Labs to come with a SCSI-2 CD-ROM interface instead of IDE or other proprietary interfaces from Panasonic, Mitsumi and Sony. To support this SCSI interface, the card has an Adaptec AIC-6360L controller chip - you need to install an ASPI driver for this chipset from your CONFIG.SYS file followed by the usual MSCDEX in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.

The CT1779 was almost identical to the CT1770, with the only difference being that it came with an empty socket for the optional CSP/ASP chip, rather than being bundled with a CSP/ASP chip. Note that the boards themselves are the same - they all read "CT1770" as the model number.

They made these same cards from 1993 through 1995, so DSP versions 4.05 through 4.13 were all used.

The CT1770 and CT1779 came bundled with an Adaptec EZ-SCSI install disk, though you can also grab the drivers from a Windows 9x startup floppy disk. The files you need are ASPI2DOS.SYS and ASPICD.SYS. Click here for a text file with example startup file entries.

Strangely, the Sound Blaster 16 SCSI's game port is incompatible with the Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro joystick in both analog and digital modes. All other Sound Blaster cards' game ports are compatible with this joystick.

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CT1780

Launched: 1993
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) chip
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes, soldered-in
Mixer Chip: CT1745A
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: (unknown)
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16LMSI

The CT1780 was the same as the CT1750 with the exception that the CD-ROM interface was for LMSI (Laser Magnetic Storage International) drives. LMSI was a subsidiary of Philips. The interface itself is a 16-pin header. The only other sound cards that came with an LMSI connector were the MediaVision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 LMSI (FCC ID: ICW-PAS16P) and MediaVision Fusion CD16 S/E LMSI.

CT1790

Launched: 1993
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3) chip
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes, soldered-in or socketed
Mixer Chip: CT1745A
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
Known DSP Versions: 4.11 (hanging note)
Known Board Revisions: 29231
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16SONY

The CT1790, also called Sound Blaster 16 Sony is the same as the CT1740 but with a Sony CD-ROM interface.

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CT2700 / CT2709

Launched: 1993
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes soldered-in or socketed
Mixer Chip: CT1745A
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
Known DSP Versions: 4.11 and 4.13 (hanging note)
Known Board Revisions: 19334
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16MIT


Despite the model number, the CT2700 is still a 1st-generation card, being almost identical to the CT1740 and CT1750 cards, except that it gets only a Mitsumi CD-ROM interface.

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Second Generation (CT2xxx)

Creative Labs introduced the 2nd generation of Sound Blaster 16 cards in 1994, starting with the CT2230. The key difference from the 1st generation is that the Yamaha YMF262 was now gone as a discrete chip. Instead Creative Labs integrated the YMF262 into their own chip called "CT1747". These chips got the official "OPL" logo stamped on them, as they did contain the Yamaha circuitry inside. Also sadly gone was the hardware thumbwheel volume control.

The CT1745A mixer chip from 1992 got an upgrade during this 2nd generation to CT1745-S (1993) and later to CT1745A-S (1994), though the first CT2230 cards still came with the original CT1745A.

They all supported the following sound standards:

  • Ad Lib
  • Sound Blaster
  • Sound Blaster Pro (in mono only)
  • Sound Blaster 16

The MPU-401 interface on the 15-pin game/MIDI port continued to be non-standard (the pinouts differ from the Roland standard).

The noise, pops and clicks associated with the first generation were now fully gone when paired with the later CODEC of the second generation.  The IRQ and DMA selection was now done by software settings on startup.  The settings that still required jumpers were the I/O address selection, the MIDI interface enable/disable and address selection, and the joystick enable/disable, so I would say this is "semi Plug & Play", and doesn't fully conform to the PnP standard.

The least noisy of the Sound Blaster 16 second-gen cards are the CT2940 and CT2980 with an embedded Yamaha YMF chip. These have the CT2502 (ViBRA) chips and are Plug & Play.

CT2230 / CT2239

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: CT1747 (integrated Yamaha YMF262 OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes, soldered-in or socketed
Mixer Chip: CT1745A (board 19413, 29417) or CT1745A-S (29417, 49432)
DSP Chip: CT1741
Known DSP Versions: 4.11 and 4.13 (hanging note)
Known Board Revisions: 19413, 29417, 49432
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16L2M
Price: $169 (June 1994)

The CT2230, full name Sound Blaster 16 MCD ASP (Multi-CD with ASP chip) was the first of the 2nd-generation Sound Blaster 16 cards. Like the 1st-gen CT1750 it got Panasonic, Sony and Mitsumi CD-ROM interface headers.

Board revision 29417 got either the old CT1745A mixer chip from the first generation, or the newer CT1745-S. Board revision 49432 got the even later CT1745A-S.

Some CT2230 cards (board revision 49432) do not get header pins on both the Sony and Mitsumi CD-ROM headers, leaving the Panasonic header as the only one you can use.

For these cards, read the Noise Issues section further up this page.

The CT2239 was identical to the CT2230 but was marketed without the CSP/ASP chip. Other variants of the CT2239 exist such as the CT2239S which replaced all the other CD-ROM interfaces with a single Sony CD-ROM interface, and CT2239M which came only with the Mitsumi CD-ROM interface. As with most "sub-models" like the CT2239, don't expect the model number on the silk-screen to identify it as a CT2239 - these will always just refer back to the base model, i.e. CT2230.

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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.

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CT2290 / CT2291 / CT2299

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: CT1747 (integrated Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3))
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Soldered-in or socketed (CT2290/CT2299), No, solder pads only (CT2291)
Mixer Chip: CT1745A-S
DSP Chip: CT1741
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 19439, 29445, 49513
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16IDE

The CT2290 is the same as CT2230 but with Panasonic and IDE CD-ROM interfaces.

The CT2299 was identical to the CT2290 but was marketed without the CSP/ASP chip (though still supported this option).

The CT2291 is the "Value Edition" version of the CT2290. These do not support having a CSP/ASP chip. These cards also only have an IDE connector - no 'Creative/Panasonic Drive' connector.

The CT2291 and CT2299 are still branded CT2290 on the front silkscreen. A sticker on the rear of the CT2291 will indicate it is a CT2291. All share the same FCC ID.

These cards are highly-rated for producing a very clean output on the 'Grand OPL3 Comparison Run' both for FM and digital audio, though do check the Noise Issues section further up this page.

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CT2740 / CT2749

Launched: 1993
FM Synth: CT1747 (integrated Yamaha YMF262 OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes soldered-in or socketed
Mixer Chip: CT1745A
DSP Chip: CT1741
Known DSP Versions: 4.11 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 29349, 39350, 49351, 59352
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16S

The CT2740 was a "Value Edition" card. It pre-dates the "earliest" 2nd-gen SB16, the CT2230. Note the CT1747 chip did not yet have the "OPL" licence logo on it - this is most likely because Creative had not received permission to put it on there from Yamaha at the time this board was made.

Some board revisions came with the CT1703-T DAC while others got the CT1701-T DAC. Read the Noise Issues section further up this page.

All board revisions lack a Line-Out on the backplate, instead getting the thumbwheel volume control that was more common on 1st-gen Sound Blaster 16 cards.

The CT2749 was identical to the CT2740 but was marketed without the CSP/ASP chip (though still supported this option).

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CT2750

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes, Socketed
Mixer Chip: -
DSP Chip: -
Known DSP Versions: -
Known Board Revisions: -
FCC ID: -

Called the Sound Blaster Easy 16 ASP. Comes with the ASP/CSP socket and a DB-62 parallel CD-ROM port and a single headphone audio out. It also got a Wave Blaster header.

For this card, read the Noise Issues section further up this page.

CT2770 / CT2770A / CT2771 / CT2772

Launched: 1994
FM Synth: CT1747 (integrated Yamaha YMF262 OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Mixer Chip: CT1745-S
DSP Chip: CT1741
Known DSP Versions: 4.11 (hanging note bug), 4.12 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 19423 (CT2770A), 29409 (CT2770) and 39416 (CT2770A)
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16VAL, IBACT-SB16NCDR


The CT2770, full name, Sound Blaster 16 Value, was launched in 1994. Being a value edition card, it was pared down to the minimum - no wavetable header and only a Panasonic CD-ROM interface.

Board revision 29409 was the original CT2770 and still had the other CD-ROM interface solder pads for Mitsumi and Sony drives, plus the CSP/ASP chip solder pads.

CT2770A then followed, removing these obsolete CD-ROM interface headers from the board as well as the CSP/ASP chip area.

Board revision 19423 got a Line Out socket, but this was removed in the final 39416 revision.

CT2771 is an odd card with no information anywhere on the web - let me know if you have any details of this card. Other Creative cards often used the '1' suffix to indicate it was a "value" version of the "0"-suffixed card, so this is perhaps a "value" on top of a "value" card ;-) Either that, or it's some OEM variant.

CT2772 was the same as the CT2770A, but got FCC ID: IBACT-SB16NCDR, which I can only assume means "No CD-ROM", as it didn't come with a CD-ROM interface, but this card did come with a wavetable header which is odd for a value edition card...

For this card, read the Noise Issues section further up this page.

Fun fact... user Imperious on the Vogons forum says he successfully ran a CT2770 on an 8088 XT (8-bit ISA slots only). The 16-bit part of the card is used for the CD-ROM interface only! Imperious said it's great for running the PC speaker audio through the sound card and out of the speakers, though there's only a tiny amount of games that can use the card's abilities on a system that slow.

Audio from the CT2770 can be listened to on the following game pages:

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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.

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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.

CT2830 / CT2839

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF262 (OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: Yes, soldered-in or socketed
Mixer Chip: CT1745A
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
DAC Chip: CT1701-T or Asahi Kasei AK4501-VS
Known DSP Versions: 4.12 and 4.13 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 29508
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16IDE46

CT2830 is similar to the CT2700 and even the original CT1740 Sound Blaster 16, in that it has a real Yamaha OPL3 chip, has the same DSP and even still supports a CSP/ASP chip. It comes with an IDE CD-ROM interface.

For this card, read the Noise Issues section further up this page.

Interestingly for a 2nd-generation SB16 card, this is the only one that is not Plug & Play. This confirms this card is really the same as a 1st-gen CT2700 / CT1740 but was released during the 2nd-gen period. You can configure the base address with jumpers IOS0/IOS1, the IRQ with jumpers IS0/IS1, and low/high DMA channels with jumpers DAS0/DAS1 and DBS0/DBS1.

Marc Sven Schulte informed me of the fact the DAC chip on these cards is sometimes the AK4501-VS by Asahi Kasei Microelectronics (AKM) and not the Creative-branded CT1701-T. It's possible Creative simply took this third-party DAC and got permission to rebrand it.

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Marc Sven Schulte's CT2830 with all caps replaced:

CT2840

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: CT1747 (integrated Yamaha YMF262 OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: No
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Mixer Chip: CT1743-CAP
DSP Chip: CT1741
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging note)
Known Board Revisions: 19526
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16M1


The CT2840 was a "Value Edition" card. It was the OEM version of a CT2291.
It came with an IDE interface.

This card is known for its low noise.

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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.

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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.

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Third Generation (CT29xx)

Most third-generation cards come with the Creative Labs CQM chip instead of true OPL3 Yamaha chip, but there are cases where a Yamaha chip is present. The vast majority of these cards are jumper-free and are fully ISA Plug & Play.

CT2910 /CT2911 / CT2919

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF289B (OPL3)
Plug & Play: No
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No, but has solder pads
Mixer Chip: CT1745A-S
DSP Chip: CT1741
Bus I/F Chip: CT1746B
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging note bug)
CD-ROM Headers: Creative/Panasonic and IDE/ATAPI
Known Board Revisions: 19519, 29522
FCC ID: IBACT-SBIDE

Called the Sound Blaster 16 Pro CSP.

The CT2910 usually came with the CT1703-TBS DAC, which is middling in quality - read the Noise Issues section further up this page. Some come with the better (lower noise) CT1703-A. On the downside, DSP versions found on this card are known for the hanging note bug.

The CT2911 was the "Value Edition" version of this card.
The CT2919 was the non-"Value Edition" version of this card, designed for the OEM market.

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CT2920

PnP
Very similar card to the CT2230.

For this card, read the Noise Issues section further up this page.

CT2929

Value edition.
PnP

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!

 

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CT2950

Launched: 1995
FM Synth: Creative CT1978 (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Mixer Chip: CT1745A-S
Known DSP Versions: 4.13 (hanging note bug)
Known Board Revisions: 19529, 29538
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16PROP49

Value Edition. For this card, read the Noise Issues section further up this 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.

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CT2959

Value edition.
PnP.

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.

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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.

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CT2980

Introduced: 1996
FM Synth: Yamaha YMF298 (OPL3) or Creative CT1978-TAP (CQM)
Plug & Play: Yes
Wavetable Header: Yes
CSP/ASP Chip: No
Known DSP Versions: (unknown)
Known Board Revisions: 39615
FCC ID: IBACT-SB16PNPBC, IBACT-SB16PNPSC

Sound Blaster 16 Value edition. Most of these have the CT1978 CQM FM synthesizer chip which is almost universally considered poorer quality than a true Yamaha OPL3 chip (some CT2980 cards have the original Yamaha chip which is preferable). If it has the Yamaha chip instead, this is one of the lowest-noise SB16 cards you will find.

Has an IDE CD-ROM header.

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Drivers and Install Disks

Original Sound Blaster 16 DOS Installation disks
Sound Blaster 16 Drivers
Sound Blaster 16 Value Edition - Drivers and Application disks
Original and Basic Edition floppy disks for CT1730
CT1730 Windows 95 Drivers and Applications disks
CT1730 Creative CR-563 and IDE CD-ROM Drivers Disk for Windows 95 (UPG-W95-01-ENG)
CT1730 Sound Blaster 16/AWE32 Drivers Disk for Windows NT 3.5 (revision 1)
CT2260 ViBRA16 Driver
CT2770 SB16 Value Edition floppy disks
CT2940 Installation Program Loader for SB16/AWE32/AWE64

Init utility to get some Sound Blaster PnP cards running on an XT or 286

UniSound v0.76b Driver