When I worked for MicroAge, we sold many of those cards to schools that were looking to add audio to their early IBM EduQuest machines (models that didn't have a stock sound card option).
Great work man! I can see all the effort you put into this, and the way you evolved your style really works in this video. Really cool to see new-old-stock retro hardware! Although I'm not sure it's any "easier" than any other sound card of the era.
Thanks, much appreciated! I'll see if I stick with this sort of format or not, but at least in the case of "discovering" a piece of hardware this works for me! And come on... it has Easy printed right on the box!
Nice find and nice video! You will notice a little difference as it's OPL2 vs OPL3. I think the OPL3 is stereo capable, but the game needs to be able to take advantage of the OPL3 features, otherwise it'll be OPL2 compatible and will sound the same.
Thanks! Yeah I love rare stuff as much as everyone else... but it sure isn't what I used back then. It's a lot of fun just trying out and using the average options too.
So good opening up new goodies. I don't think a single piece of new tech would get me as excited as a new old stock item like this one. Great music on Nova9, too bad it has no sound effects. On Descent the musis sounds exactly the same, on tyrian for some reason the thunderboard sounds a bit muffled, but still pretty good on both. I can't hear any difference with noise suppressed or not. Great video!
Thanks for watching! It's always a bit fun to explore stuff you don't know quite how it's going to be. This card is actually pretty darn nice for DOS gaming.
Aye it definitely seems to have a bit more of a muffled sound! Now... I'm not exactly a sound engineer so take results with a grain of salt! That is to say my capture method, cables and volume tweaking isn't exactly on a pro level!
@@RiksRandomRetro with any decent modern sound card you could do a 96Khz recording and then plot the histogram. You might find interesting spikes at certain frequencies. One thing to check is to make sure you mute any unused inputs in the software. I think some cards will automatically output them, adding to the noise floor.
When I worked for MicroAge, we sold many of those cards to schools that were looking to add audio to their early IBM EduQuest machines (models that didn't have a stock sound card option).
Awesome! IBM's branding mission worked a treat then hah.
Nice Video Rik! The old new stock has always very unique filling and feeling!!! I love it! 🙂
Great work man! I can see all the effort you put into this, and the way you evolved your style really works in this video. Really cool to see new-old-stock retro hardware! Although I'm not sure it's any "easier" than any other sound card of the era.
Thanks, much appreciated! I'll see if I stick with this sort of format or not, but at least in the case of "discovering" a piece of hardware this works for me!
And come on... it has Easy printed right on the box!
Those DOS Westwood games have such iconic graphics and sound.
Oh yeah I just love Westwood from that era. Production quality even back then was through the roof. It's basically a treat every time!
Nice find and nice video! You will notice a little difference as it's OPL2 vs OPL3. I think the OPL3 is stereo capable, but the game needs to be able to take advantage of the OPL3 features, otherwise it'll be OPL2 compatible and will sound the same.
nice video :) Retro fun is not only about the high end or rare things, but the simpler things as well.
Thanks! Yeah I love rare stuff as much as everyone else... but it sure isn't what I used back then. It's a lot of fun just trying out and using the average options too.
Nice one Rik. Thunderboard! Worth having, just for the name!
Yep! Never gets old haha. Unique name for an average sounding card. Which is perfectly fine!
I heard a big difference in the two sound cards for Descent music!!!
So good opening up new goodies. I don't think a single piece of new tech would get me as excited as a new old stock item like this one. Great music on Nova9, too bad it has no sound effects. On Descent the musis sounds exactly the same, on tyrian for some reason the thunderboard sounds a bit muffled, but still pretty good on both. I can't hear any difference with noise suppressed or not. Great video!
Thanks for watching! It's always a bit fun to explore stuff you don't know quite how it's going to be. This card is actually pretty darn nice for DOS gaming.
sound card rik is my favourite type of rik :D
Haha, more sound card content inbound then. It is the Easy Option after all.
RiK.Happy New Year 2023.and good luck you
New Toys?this is sound card i never see beforce
Thanks and Happy New Year 2023! I've had this card for a while, just haven't gotten to opening and using it!
Thunderboard is definitely filtering more of the higher frequency out
Aye it definitely seems to have a bit more of a muffled sound! Now... I'm not exactly a sound engineer so take results with a grain of salt! That is to say my capture method, cables and volume tweaking isn't exactly on a pro level!
@@RiksRandomRetro with any decent modern sound card you could do a 96Khz recording and then plot the histogram. You might find interesting spikes at certain frequencies. One thing to check is to make sure you mute any unused inputs in the software. I think some cards will automatically output them, adding to the noise floor.
Okay
Interesting
Indeed. A cool sound card!