Sound Blaster 30th Anniversary! The latest product is verified by Mr. Kuroda, a model and gamer by Mr. Fujimoto, an audio expert

8 -bit monaural sound Sound Blaster

　The first version of Sound Blaster, its name, was born in 1989.The Sound Blaster, which connects to the PC at the time, the so -called IBM PC/AT compatible machine ISA bus, appeared as a truly primitive sound card, in terms of 8 -bit monaural sounds.

　In fact, as the company's sound card, the predecessor Creative Music System was released in 1987, but Sound Blaster was born in a form that has compatible with the AD Lib FM sound source function that existed at that time.Later, it spread all over the world and grew into a sound card de facto standard.

　Please refer to such a 30 -year history on the creative site.For old PC users, nostalgic products such as "Sound Blaster AWE32" and "Sound Blaster Live!"

　I first purchased Sound Blaster at the end of 1992.When it comes to PCs at that time, the NEC PC-9801 series still occupied an overwhelming position in Japan, but DOS/V, which displays Japanese on IBM PC/AT compatible machines, has gradually become a hot topic.around.Windows 3 so that audio can be handled in Windows 3.With the appearance of 0 mme, I was convinced that Japan would change to AT compatible machines = DOS/V machines in the future, so I bought a DOS/V machine for the first time, and at the same time I purchased Sound Blaster Pro 2.This Sound Blaster Pro 2 still remains at hand, but what I purchased at that time was a multimedia kit with this Sound Blaster Pro 2 core.

　This is because the PC at that time did not have any sound input / output functions, and the USB terminal was born, and the expansion was poor.The standard was equipped with only FDDs, and CD-ROM, which had become a big topic at that time, could not be handled.

　However, Sound Blaster's multimedia kit was a set of CD-ROM drive in addition to the Sound Blaster, which can produce the sound of FM sound sources, despite the price of about 30,000 yen.Yes, at that time, an interface such as a SCSI card was required separately to use the CD-ROM, but the Sound Blaster is also equipped with a Joystic port along with the CD-ROM interface.By using the attached cable for the joystick, it could be used as compatible with Roland's MIDI interface.

　Above all, it was a dream -like equipment equipped with a PCM function that allows digital audio input / output.Nowadays, it is natural that audio can be handled on a PC, but that was possible from Sound Blaster 30 years ago.

　After that, Sound Blaster has improved the sound quality and evolved into Sound Blaster 16, which can handle 16 -bit audio equivalent to CDs.In addition, E-MU Systems and Ensoniq, which are synonymous with Sampling Synthesizer, are included in the umbrella, and at the same time, the E-MU function has been developed in 1998, and the SOUND BLASTER LIVE!It had an overwhelming position in the world of.

　At that time, I also published a book called "Sound Blaster LIVE! Music Utilization Manual" from Litto Music, an affiliate of Impress, but let's return the story to the present age.