Diamond Sonic Sound
The Sonic Sound was Diamond's second sound card. The MAD16 (MediaChips 16-Bit Audio Controller) "Pro" chip provides Sound Blaster Pro, Windows Sound System, Ad Lib, and MPU-401 (UART) compatibility.
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Released | Late 1993 |
| Bus | ISA 16-bit | |
| Chipset | Yamaha YMF262, OPTi MAD16 Pro (82C929A), Crystal CS4248-KL | |
| Standards | Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, General MIDI, Roland MPU-401, Windows Sound System | |
| Memory | None | |
| CD-ROM | 4 x CD-ROM headers | |
| Ports | Line In, Line Out, Mic In, Speaker Out, Game/MIDI Port, Wavetable header | |
| Part # | ||
| FCC ID | K2Y-PRO16 | |
| Price | At launch: $299, Sep 1994: $189 | |
| See Also |
Some issues were reported with Windows drivers for MAD16 Pro. Any sound card with the 82C929A chip on it is really meant for use in pure DOS or alongside another sound card in Windows.
Board Revisions
One board revision is known for the Sonic Sound: 1.3.
In the Media
"Most people know Diamond for their hot-rod graphics cards such as the Speedstar 24X. Sonic Sound is one of the new breed of multimedia sound cards that, in the tradition of TV-advertised food processor products, does many things. The difference in this case is that the Sonic Sound does them all well. It has register-level compatibility with the 8-bit Sound Blaster and also emulates OPL2 FM 22 voice synthesis; in English, this means that it emulates the 8-bit Sound Blaster music and digital audio. MIDI for one's keyboard in handled with an MPU-401 full duplex MIDI port. However, one should note that this card does not have an on-board MIDI interpreter; in other words, one would not select the 'General MIDI' option in a game setup program and have his or her ears filled with killer game tunes. Its Aria chip must be supported directly.
Scott Kim, the Sonic Sound marketing manager at Diamond tells us that they have a driver that major game developers will be supporting in the near future. SCSI is handled with a Future Domain SCSI-2 host.. it is primarily intended as a CD-ROM host for a multimedia configuration. There is an upgrade available which includes voice recognition, larger wave table ROM, and a headset. Having these features as an upgrade gives this card a lower retail price. Any upgrades to the Sound Blaster emulation can be run from executable program which may be downloaded from the Diamond BBS. This executable is not a TSR and need only be run once prior to each use, due to the on-card Digital Signal Processor (DSP)." Computer Gaming World, October 1993
Scott Kim, the Sonic Sound marketing manager at Diamond tells us that they have a driver that major game developers will be supporting in the near future. SCSI is handled with a Future Domain SCSI-2 host.. it is primarily intended as a CD-ROM host for a multimedia configuration. There is an upgrade available which includes voice recognition, larger wave table ROM, and a headset. Having these features as an upgrade gives this card a lower retail price. Any upgrades to the Sound Blaster emulation can be run from executable program which may be downloaded from the Diamond BBS. This executable is not a TSR and need only be run once prior to each use, due to the on-card Digital Signal Processor (DSP)." Computer Gaming World, October 1993
"Diamond Computer Systems' $299 SonicSound is more expensive than the basic Cardinal [Digital Sound Pro 16] offering, but it comes standard with a 512K wavetable for MIDI synthesis and a SCSI controller.
A comparably configured version of Cardinal's card is also priced at $299.
The SonicSound is based on the Sierra Aria chipset, which is the basis for several other sound boards including those from AVM, Computer Peripherals, and Genoa. What distinguishes Diamond's entry from the other Sierra-based boards is its lower price tag and superior sound quality.
To keep the price low, Diamond chose to forego the Sierra-supported voice recognition feature that the other vendors offer standard on their versions. Most users won't mind the omission, but if you want voice recognition, Diamond offer a Listener upgrade package for approximately $90.
To improve the audio quality, Diamond added its own logic to the Aria chip set in order to raise the board's frequency response ceiling and sampling size. Like the Cardinal board, the SonicSound can reproduce and record sounds covering the audible hearing range, including full 16-bit stereo recording. Distortion and noise is also lower than many other sound boards in this price range.
The Diamond SonicSound comes equipped with one stereo output for external speakers, a joystick/MIDI connector, and two stereo input mini-jacks. One of the audio inputs can be set as a mono or stereo microphone input or switched to line-level input through software. The SonicSound also includes an internal audio input and SCSI-2 controller as standard features.
Diamond's board is potentially more difficult to install than Cardinal's Digital Sound Pro 16. Unlike Cardinal's, Diamond's board is littered with jumpers used to set interrupt, DMA, and Sound Blaster compatibility. Luckily, our installation worked with the board's defaults.
In order to support its audio features, Diamond bundles a strong group of Windows software applications, including Macromedia's Action!, MIDIsoft's Recording Session, MCS Music Rack for playing back audio CDs, and a set of DOS utilities."
PC Magazine, November 1993
The SonicSound is based on the Sierra Aria chipset, which is the basis for several other sound boards including those from AVM, Computer Peripherals, and Genoa. What distinguishes Diamond's entry from the other Sierra-based boards is its lower price tag and superior sound quality.
To keep the price low, Diamond chose to forego the Sierra-supported voice recognition feature that the other vendors offer standard on their versions. Most users won't mind the omission, but if you want voice recognition, Diamond offer a Listener upgrade package for approximately $90.
To improve the audio quality, Diamond added its own logic to the Aria chip set in order to raise the board's frequency response ceiling and sampling size. Like the Cardinal board, the SonicSound can reproduce and record sounds covering the audible hearing range, including full 16-bit stereo recording. Distortion and noise is also lower than many other sound boards in this price range.
The Diamond SonicSound comes equipped with one stereo output for external speakers, a joystick/MIDI connector, and two stereo input mini-jacks. One of the audio inputs can be set as a mono or stereo microphone input or switched to line-level input through software. The SonicSound also includes an internal audio input and SCSI-2 controller as standard features.
Diamond's board is potentially more difficult to install than Cardinal's Digital Sound Pro 16. Unlike Cardinal's, Diamond's board is littered with jumpers used to set interrupt, DMA, and Sound Blaster compatibility. Luckily, our installation worked with the board's defaults.
In order to support its audio features, Diamond bundles a strong group of Windows software applications, including Macromedia's Action!, MIDIsoft's Recording Session, MCS Music Rack for playing back audio CDs, and a set of DOS utilities."
PC Magazine, November 1993
Setting it Up
Downloads
Operation Manual Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
Driver & Utility Disk Get in touch if you can provide this missing item! |
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