Uploaded August 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Sorry for the fan in the background. Was a very hot day!
Taking a video for the Vogons community - Just got my Dreamblaster X1 wavetable daughterboard for my Sound Blaster 16 CT2230. Seems like Duke doesn't work well with it. Not sure why.
FM synth works fine. Doom works fine with the wavetable, though.
Update: Found out that Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 2 would hang/crash after a while when using the X1. Hexen and Heretic plays fine, though, just like Doom.
Update 2: After further talks, it seems that it only happens with trying to use General MIDI (the MPU401 interface) with Duke 3D and Mortal Kombat 1 and 2. When I removed the Dreamblaster X1, but still used General MIDI, there's no music of course, but it still stutters (or in MK's case, crashes).
Looking for a SB16 clone now. Might actually just give up and get a real Roland SC-55, too.
Conversation thread here:
vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=49459
Update 3: Apparently this is a known bug with Duke Nukem 3D and the Sound Blaster 16's MPU401 interface. Just like the hanging note bug is well known (I didn't know it myself), the SB16 is known to have stuttering issues with D3D and external midi devices over their MPU401 interface (wavetable header as well as the Joystick/MIDI port). This was a shocker since D3D was a very popular game, and the SB16 was a popular sound card - you would think these two would go together like peanut butter and jelly!
Lowering the Sound FX sampling rate to 11 khz fixed the stuttering problem, but you're stuck with crappy 11 khz audio.
I was informed that the Yamaha Audician 32 Plus (a YMF718-S based card) is a better Sound Blaster card than Sound Blaster. It has the authentic OPL3 FM synth chip that early Sound Blasters used, a wavetable header, and MPU401 interface that does not have the hanging note bug (and I presume no stuttering in D3D).
I did not find anything on MK1/MK2 issues with SB16's external MIDI, but the DOS versions of those games were not as popular as D3D.
I may do a video on MK1 and MK2 with the SB16's wavetable (have to use Roland option in the game).
Mystery solved, but there's no satisfying solution if you want to keep the SB16 for your retro DOS PC gaming rig and use General MIDI.
Please comment if you have a similar experience - OR if you actually found a fix/workaround.
PS: Sound Blaster 16 are actually cheaply built, and thus do not have good sound quality. It has a high noise floor so you hear a constant hiss (think cassette playback without Dolby Digital noise reduction).
Sorry for the fan in the background. Was a very hot day!
Taking a video for the Vogons community - Just got my Dreamblaster X1 wavetable daughterboard for my Sound Blaster 16 CT2230. Seems like Duke doesn't work well with it. Not sure why.
FM synth works fine. Doom works fine with the wavetable, though.
Update: Found out that Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 2 would hang/crash after a while when using the X1. Hexen and Heretic plays fine, though, just like Doom.
Update 2: After further talks, it seems that it only happens with trying to use General MIDI (the MPU401 interface) with Duke 3D and Mortal Kombat 1 and 2. When I removed the Dreamblaster X1, but still used General MIDI, there's no music of course, but it still stutters (or in MK's case, crashes).
Looking for a SB16 clone now. Might actually just give up and get a real Roland SC-55, too.
Conversation thread here:
vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=49459
Update 3: Apparently this is a known bug with Duke Nukem 3D and the Sound Blaster 16's MPU401 interface. Just like the hanging note bug is well known (I didn't know it myself), the SB16 is known to have stuttering issues with D3D and external midi devices over their MPU401 interface (wavetable header as well as the Joystick/MIDI port). This was a shocker since D3D was a very popular game, and the SB16 was a popular sound card - you would think these two would go together like peanut butter and jelly!
Lowering the Sound FX sampling rate to 11 khz fixed the stuttering problem, but you're stuck with crappy 11 khz audio.
I was informed that the Yamaha Audician 32 Plus (a YMF718-S based card) is a better Sound Blaster card than Sound Blaster. It has the authentic OPL3 FM synth chip that early Sound Blasters used, a wavetable header, and MPU401 interface that does not have the hanging note bug (and I presume no stuttering in D3D).
I did not find anything on MK1/MK2 issues with SB16's external MIDI, but the DOS versions of those games were not as popular as D3D.
I may do a video on MK1 and MK2 with the SB16's wavetable (have to use Roland option in the game).
Mystery solved, but there's no satisfying solution if you want to keep the SB16 for your retro DOS PC gaming rig and use General MIDI.
Please comment if you have a similar experience - OR if you actually found a fix/workaround.
PS: Sound Blaster 16 are actually cheaply built, and thus do not have good sound quality. It has a high noise floor so you hear a constant hiss (think cassette playback without Dolby Digital noise reduction).
