Ensoniq
Ensoniq was a popular musical instrument company that also produced sound cards during the 1990s. Their cards competed against Creative Labs' offerings.
Contents
Cards
Soundscape S-2000
Based upon the OttoR2/Sequoia/MC68EC000 chipset and an AD1848KP DAC/ADC, the Soundscape S-2000 was a high-quality wavetable sound card in 1994. It has clean, quality output, especially noticeable when compared to Creative Labs' cards. There is no MIDI effects processor but the patch ROM samples do have reverb/chorus pre-computed.
I/O ports are configured by jumpers. DMA, IRQ, SB emulation and some other settings are software configurable.
Soundscape DB
This is a Waveblaster-compatible daughtercard with the Otto/Sequoia/MC68EC000 chipset on board with 1 or 2MB ROM. Again there is no effects processor but the samples have pre-computed effects.
Soundscape PnP / OPUS
This card is an OEM cost-reduced product with similar specifications to the S-2000 but with some changes. It uses the AD1845JP and a MIDI chipset consisting of Cow and Opus. It has some compatibility problems with games because of the use of I/O ports atypical for the S-2000 (games don't always support them). Again there is no effects processor but the samples have pre-computed effects.
Hardware settings are configured by PnP and by the SSINIT program.
Soundscape Elite
This is a revision of the S-2000 board and is highly similar to it. The Elite model includes an effects DSP daughtercard, called the "ESP", that is fully programmable by a Windows application and by sysex commands. The patch set is revised and has notably stronger percussion samples. The Elite was released in 1995.
I/O ports are again configured by jumpers. DMA, IRQ, SB emulation and some other settings are software configurable. PnP is not supported.
Soundscape II
This card is the same as the Elite but it does not have the ESP daughtercard and it may have a different patch ROM.
Soundscape VIVO 90
This card uses the Mark 5 / OttoR2 MIDI chipset and an AD1845JP DAC/ADC. This card replaced the Opus card as an OEM favorite. It was also available at retail. It is less capable and less flexible than the large Soundscape boards based on Otto and Sequoia. Settings are configured by PnP and by the SSINIT program.
AudioPCI
The final sound card from Ensoniq is a very cost-reduced PCI card that is almost entirely host-driven (software-based). MIDI is a soft-synth in both Windows and DOS and has limitations that make it impossible to produce a patch set that rivals the older cards with 2 megabyte ROMs.
When Creative purchased Ensoniq, a driver update was released renaming the card to Sound Blaster PCI 64. This also added some new features. In Windows 9x it has rudimentary DirectSound3D 4-speaker support and minimal A3D/EAX emulation.
The ES1370 is not AC97 compatible and is actually natively 44.1 kHz. 48 kHz playback plays with a higher-than-normal pitch. Apparently the chip lacks sample rate conversion.
Soundscape S-2000
Soundscape OPUS
Soundscape Elite
Soundscape VIVO 90
AudioPCI
Comparison table
| Name | Model | Release Date | Bus | Chipset | PCM | MPU-401 | Patch Set | EMM386 req'd | Standards | SNR | I/O | CD Interface | OS Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundscape S-2000 | S2016 | 1994 | ISA | OttoR2B, Sequoia, MC68EC000, AD1848KP | 16-bit 48 kHz | hardware | 1, 2 MB | No | SB 2.0, Adlib, MT-32, General MIDI, WSS | 83db | aux-in, line-in/mic, line-out, gameport/MIDI | Panasonic, Sony, Mitsumi | DOS, W3.x, W9x, NT4, OS/2 | CD interfaces optional. OEM models may have 1MB ROM. |
| Soundscape DB | SSDB | 1994 | - | OttoR2, Sequoia, MC68EC000 | 16-bit 48 kHz | hardware | 1, 2 MB | No | General MIDI | waveblaster port | - | - | ||
| Soundscape OPUS | S3016 | 1995 | ISA | Opus, Cow, MC68EC000, AD1845JP | 16-bit 48 kHz | hardware | 1 MB | No | SB 2.0, Adlib, MT-32, General MIDI, WSS | aux-in, line-in/mic, line-out, gameport/MIDI | - | DOS, W3.x, W9x, NT4, OS/2 | PnP | |
| Soundscape Elite | S2016-II | 1995 | ISA | OttoR2C, Sequoia, MC68EC000, AD1848KP | 16-bit 48 kHz | hardware | 2 MB | No | SB 2.0, Adlib, MT-32, General MIDI, WSS | 83db | aux-in, line-in/mic, line-out, gameport/MIDI | IDE, Panasonic, Sony, Mitsumi | DOS, W3.x, W9x, NT4, OS/2 | effects processor daughtercard. New 2MB ROM. |
| Soundscape II | S2016-II | 1995 | ISA | OttoR2, Sequoia, MC68EC000, AD1848KP | 16-bit 48 kHz | hardware | 2 MB | No | SB 2.0, Adlib, MT-32, General MIDI, WSS | 83db | aux-in, line-in/mic, line-out, gameport/MIDI | IDE, Panasonic, Sony, Mitsumi | DOS, W3.x, W9x, NT4, OS/2 | Elite minus ESP |
| Soundscape VIVO 90 | VIVO-90DB | 1996 | ISA | Mark 5, OttoR2C, AD1845JP | 16-bit 48 kHz | software | 1 MB | Yes | SB Pro 2, Adlib, MT-32, General MIDI, WSS | 90db | aux-in, line-in/mic, line-out, gameport/MIDI | - | DOS, W3.x, W9x, NT4 | PnP |
| AudioPCI 3000 | 1997 | PCI | ES1370, AK4531 | 16-bit 48 kHz | software | 2, 4, 8 MB | Yes | SB Pro 2, Adlib, MT-32, General MIDI, WSS, Soundscape | 90db | aux-in, line-in/mic, line-out, gameport/MIDI | - | DOS, W3.x, W9x, NT4-6, OS/2 | MIDI FX in W9x. DS3D 2/4-speaker, EAX and A3D with SBPCI64 driver. |
