Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Hello friends,
today I showcase another cheap soundcard that I recently bought for just 5€. It has the same suspiciously triangular-shaped Design like other budget-cards from the same era in the mid-to late "90s. Sound-controller is the single-chip ES1868F from ESS. It's compatible with Adlib and Soundblaster Pro. The integrated FM-circuity is developed by ESS, named ESFM. It's full compatible to OPL2 and OPL3 but has some advancements that can be discovered in supporting titles or in windows. In this demonstration I chose the same tunes as in the other cheap-soundcards videos for best comparison. These are OPL2 and OPL3 tunes. The ESFM-advancements are not shown here.
My conclusion: You can't to wrong with any ES1868F soundcards. Sound-quality is great, compatibility also is. The card is easily configured by unisound.
Recording Setup:
QDI Legend (Intel BX) with Pentium II 400 Mhz. Soundcard installed on the outer ISA-Slot. Initialized with unisound 0.81. Default unisound mixer-settings.
Analogue-record with Terratec DMX 6fire USB Audio interface unsing Audacity, 48khz 32 bit float. Comressed to 256kbit MP3 using lame-enc.
The music in this video is generated by the cards FM-Synthesizer.
It is played for demonstration purposes only.
Playlist:
00:00 Doom II Track No 3
01:57 Doom II Track 33 (readme)
06:46 The Whale's Voyage - Music from the Planet Nedax
09:59 Descent II Setup / Credits Music
12:21 Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo - Chun-Li's Theme
Please share your thoughts In the comment section down below, like/dislike to support my channel.
Ernie,
PC-SOUND-LEGACY
Hello friends,
today I showcase another cheap soundcard that I recently bought for just 5€. It has the same suspiciously triangular-shaped Design like other budget-cards from the same era in the mid-to late "90s. Sound-controller is the single-chip ES1868F from ESS. It's compatible with Adlib and Soundblaster Pro. The integrated FM-circuity is developed by ESS, named ESFM. It's full compatible to OPL2 and OPL3 but has some advancements that can be discovered in supporting titles or in windows. In this demonstration I chose the same tunes as in the other cheap-soundcards videos for best comparison. These are OPL2 and OPL3 tunes. The ESFM-advancements are not shown here.
My conclusion: You can't to wrong with any ES1868F soundcards. Sound-quality is great, compatibility also is. The card is easily configured by unisound.
Recording Setup:
QDI Legend (Intel BX) with Pentium II 400 Mhz. Soundcard installed on the outer ISA-Slot. Initialized with unisound 0.81. Default unisound mixer-settings.
Analogue-record with Terratec DMX 6fire USB Audio interface unsing Audacity, 48khz 32 bit float. Comressed to 256kbit MP3 using lame-enc.
The music in this video is generated by the cards FM-Synthesizer.
It is played for demonstration purposes only.
Playlist:
00:00 Doom II Track No 3
01:57 Doom II Track 33 (readme)
06:46 The Whale's Voyage - Music from the Planet Nedax
09:59 Descent II Setup / Credits Music
12:21 Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo - Chun-Li's Theme
Please share your thoughts In the comment section down below, like/dislike to support my channel.
Ernie,
PC-SOUND-LEGACY
