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| A few months back when I picked up the phone and heard the words, "Hey
Tim", I paused and waited for what would come next. I'd know that voice
anywhere. It was Ted Lawson. About every other year I get the bright idea
to put a new computer system together. The first person I call is Ted.
A few weeks or months later we are sitting at my kitchen table putting
all the component parts together.
Actually, Ted hooks it up and makes it work. I am just his willing gopher who also supplies him with specialty coffee and an endless supply of Peanut M&Ms. (Sh-h-h-h. Don't tell Helen.) Since Ted does all the work, putting the system together is the easy part. The hard part is deciding what to put in the system. Ted doesn't make it easy, since he likes to experiment with cutting edge stuff. I don't, because it can cost you an arm and a leg, and I don't have any to spare this year. For example, Ted tried to get me to buy a dual CPU motherboard. I was tempted, but figured since I don't use one CPU to its fullest I didn't need two. Such extravagances can get expensive! Back to the phone call, and Ted. "Hey Tim, have you heard about the Ensoniq sound card?" he quizzed. "No, Ted," I shot back, "I've decided on the SoundBlaster Value card for a little less than $100." Well, Dr. Lawson was not to be put off. He went on to explain that the new Ensoniq card was every bit as good as the SoundBlaster and fit into a PCI slot, to boot. When he agreed to buy it back from me if I didn't like it, I bit. Almost two months later, I still have the card and am one happy camper. I want to share with you what makes the Ensoniq AudioPCI sound card a very good buy. Since I do have a good portion of Scotch/Irish blood, I am price conscious. Through a mail order deal I got the Ensoniq card shipped to my doorstep for only $45! That's right, only $45 delivered. You can pay more and get full technical support from the Ensoniq folks but I didn't feel the need to do so. What did I get for this low price? As already mentioned the AudioPCI card works in a PCI slot rather than an ISA slot. Considering that the PC 98 motherboard standard will feature only PCI slots, PCI sound cards are the new standard! This is good news for audio listeners. The PCI bus runs at a minimum 25Mhz (some systems run much faster) and has a 32 bit path. In contrast, the ISA bus runs at a meager 8Mhz and has only a 16 bit path. Such a significant increase in speed translates into a lower overhead on your system. The PCI bus speed eliminates costly wavetable ROM and allows system RAM to hold MIDI sounds. The result is roughly equivalent to the improvement of FM over AM. There is, of course, a certain downside. When RAM is used to hold instrument samples it can't be used by something else, but the AudioPCI can be configured to buffer only the instruments needed by a particular MIDI track. Frankly, I don't see RAM usage as much of a problem. I tried it with 32 and 64 MB of RAM on my system and never felt stretched or slowed. With RAM priced in the cellar most of us will be getting 64 MB anyhow. But there is a wonderful upside to RAM usage. It means that the folks at Ensoniq can upgrade the wavetable via software drivers. I hear you thinking, "Well, that's fine, but how does it sound?" After all, that's what you buy a sound card for, isn't it? Well, in a word, the sound is "crisp." It boasts –90 dBr and has minimal hiss, much better than the SoundBlaster 16 or AWE 32! The MIDI 4 MB wavetable is very good, and the 2 MB is not far behind. But hold onto your hats (or should I say, ears)! By the time you read this, Ensoniq will have introduced the 8 MB wavetable. For now, the percussion, strings, and horns are outstanding. Some might think the brass and guitars a little synthetic, but I couldn't notice it. It will soon feature surround sound support, too! By the time you read my review there should be a software driver update to provide 3d positional sound. You may be wondering, "What is 3d positional audio?" Simply stated, it is a feature which allows sound to come not only in stereo, but from behind, above, and below. This is especially great for 3d game players. How will the AudioPCI achieve 3d sound? In two ways. First, it will simulate 3d audio with two speakers, which will provide greater depth, but will certainly not provide correct positioning. The second method will support four different speakers, placed two in front and two behind the listener. So impressed with the Ensoniq AudioPCI are Gateway, Micron, Digital, Quantex, Intergraph, Infotel, Seanix and CyberMax that they are including it with their systems! AudioPCI integrated circuits are featured on Gateway 2000, Micron, Tyan, BioStar, and several other quality motherboards. Also I should add that the AudioPCI passed the Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) "Designed for Windows NT and Windows 95" certification program. Below are specifications for Ensoniq's AudioPCI sound card:
System RequirementsPentium 75 or higher or equivalent Cyrix / AMD K5 CPU. (Note that the early steppings of the AMD K6 CPU did not work properly with DOS legacy support. AMD has corrected this problem in the later revisions); one PCI slot; for Windows, one free IRQ; for DOS, one additional IRQ and DMA; 16 MB of system RAM ; DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or Windows NT.Where can you get the AudioPCI card? Unfortunately, Ensoniq has not yet tried to penetrate the retail market, nor do they have plans to do so. Hence, it is not on the shelves of leading computer stores. You can acquire it, however, by contacting Ensoniq directly at (800) 776-8637, ext. 550. The cost is $75 and is shipped UPS ground free. You can probably save $30, as I did, by purchasing from a computer vendor via the Internet. The catch is that Ensoniq will provide technical support only from those who buy directly from them. Otherwise you will need to get technical support from the vendor. If the vendor does not provide technical support, I recommend spending the extra money and getting the card directly from Ensoniq. In December Creative Labs, makers of the SoundBlaster sound cards, purchased Enconiq and the Audio PCI sound card. For more information please consult the Ensoniq homepage at (http://www.audiopci.ensoniq.com/) This is one honey of a sound card. Very highly recommended! Tim pastors Faith Presbyterian Church and is a long-time board member of Alamo PC. Currently he serves as president-elect. Tim, his wife Cheri and children Andrea and James,have lived in San Antonio since 1990. |