Subject: REVIEW: Cardinal SOUNDvision board for BridgeBoard users
From: [email-masked] (Richard L. Dyson)
Date: 28 Sep 1993 16:45:37 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	Cardinal SOUNDvision - Model MPC500S/1M

BRIEF DESCRIPTION                            

	An IBM-clone 16-bit ISA slot expansion board with a CD-quality sound
synthesizer, sound mixing/recording/playback capability, a MIDI port, a SCSI
CD-ROM interface, game port and a 1 MB Super-VGA interface in one full
length card.

	Requires a BridgeBoard or similar product in your Amiga.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Cardinal Technologies, Inc.
	Address:	1832 Freedom Road
			Lancaster, PA  17601
			USA

	Telephone:	(717) 293-3124
	FAX:		(717) 293-3043

LIST PRICE

	$289 (US) via "Computer Shopper" advertised mail-order prices.

	Though discontinued by Cardinal (they have newer models of boards
with faster, more color video boards, but not multi-function like the
SOUNDvision), the board was recently available via [email-masked] on
USENET for $125 (US).

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	Since this is not an Amiga product, you need to have a BridgeBoard
system such as (but not limited to) the Commodore A2286, A2386SX, or the
Vortex GoldenGate 486, and at least one 16-bit AT-bus slot after the
BridgeBoard is installed.  The following hardware and software requirements
apply to that of the BridgeBoard (or IBM-clone) environment and not to the
Amiga.

	HARDWARE

		A minimum of 512 KB of RAM.
	
		A hard drive is not required, but as with most software it is
		highly recommended.  A high density (1.44 MB) floppy drive
		is required to read the installation floppies.  A shared
		high density Amiga floppy drive can be used as well as a
		dedicated IBM floppy drive.

		To take full advantage of the SOUNDvision card, a VGA
		compatible or multi-sync monitor must be used.  The regular
		1080 or 1084S cannot be used with the VGA output from the
		SOUNDvision card.  A multisync monitor will allow you to
		make greater use of the Amiga's display modes as well as the
		IBM-clone VGA and SuperVGA modes.  A manual A/B switch box
		would be a recommended purchase along with your VGA or
		multi-sync monitor.  Otherwise, you will go crazy swapping
		video cables (as well as increasing your chance of
		accidentally shorting out your monitor, Amiga, and/or
		BridgeBoard).
		
	SOFTWARE
	
		DOS version 3.3 or higher (MicroSoft)

COPY PROTECTION

	None.  Hard drive installable.

MACHINES USED FOR TESTING

	Machine 1:

		Amiga 2000 (rev 6.2) with an A2386SX @ 25 MHz
		A2620 with 68881 and 68851 @ 14 MHz
		1 MB Chip RAM,2 MB 32-bit Fast RAM, 5 MB 16-bit Fast RAM
		Kickstart version 37.175 and WorkBench version 37.67
		Janus version 2.1
		generic IDE controller with Conner 30174, 170 MB hard drive
		Toshiba TXM-3201A1 External CD-ROM drive
		5 MB RAM on A2386SX
		MS-DOS version 6.0
		Windows version 3.1

	Machine 2:

		Amiga 3000 @ 16 MHz with an A2386SX @ 25 MHz
		AmigaDOS version 2.04 with soft Kickstart on hard disk
		2 MB Chip RAM,4 MB Fast RAM
		50 MB hard drive
		
	Machine 3:

		Amiga 3000T with an A2386SX @ 25 MHz
		Mercury 040 @ 35 MHz
		2 MB Chip RAM, 20 MB Fast RAM
		Kickstart version 37.175 and WorkBench version 38.35
		1 MB RAM on A2386SX
		MS-DOS version 6.0 on BridgeBoard

INSTALLATION

	The installation of the SOUNDvision card is conventional.  The
manual has general pictures and description for removing the cover all the
way down to setting all the DIP switches and jumpers.  In my case, it was
not necessary to change any of the factory default settings to get it to
work.  The board is a 16-bit ISA bus slot card that slips into one of the
Amiga's IBM/ISA slots and screws to the back of the computer case.  There is
also a daughter board and cable that can be mounted at the back of an empty
card slot space.  If you can not put the daughter board in the adjacent
"slot", then you will need to get a longer cable as the one provided is just
long enough to have this daughter board immediately adjacent to the
SOUNDvision card.  The daughter board does not actually use an ISA slot, it
just has the MIDI and Game port connectors on it and is designed to mount in
an empty "back of the case" opening.  This daughter board is not required if
you don't have the space to hold it or if you have no interest in the MIDI
port or game port.  The main board has three stereo mini-jacks for the audio
in/out as well as the VGA connector.  The SCSI interface is at the front of
the board as an internal 50-pin header.  There is no external SCSI (DB-25
style) connector for the SCSI controller.

SPECIFICATIONS

        Non-Interlaced SuperVGA Board:

	*1024x768 SuperVGA
	*1 Meg RAM on board
	*High Color 640x480 65K/32K colors
	*Flicker free non-interlaced monitor support
	*Fast 16-bit bus interface
	*Drivers for Windows, Lotus 1-2-3, Wordperfect, etc.

        16-Bit CD Quality Stereo Sound:

	* True Stereo 4 operator FM synthesizer (Yamaha OPL-3)
	* 16-bit stereo FM synthesizer
	* 20 Voice FM Synthesis
	* Sampling rates up to 44.1 KHz
	* Line-out for headphones, amplified stereo equipment/speakers.

        Advanced 12-Bit Digital Audio Recording:

	* 12-bit stereo recording and playback
	* Microphone input for speech and sound
	* Stereo line-in for tapes, CD's, other audio sources
	* Record and mix all stereo audio sources - microphone, line-in,
	  CD-audio, Digital audio, FM synthesizer
	* Up to 3:1 ADPCM hardware compression

	CD-ROM/SCSI description:

	* Supports Internal/External CD-ROM Drives
	* CD Audio connector

        MIDI Music Interface:

	* MIDI Input/Output to standard MIDI equipment

        IBM Standard Joystick Port:

	* Supports popular analog joy-sticks

        16-Bit PC Interface:

	* Fast 16-Bit DMA operation
	* Selectable IRQ, DMA settings

	SOUNDvision is compatible with Major Sound Standards:

	* Windows with Multi-media, Windows-3.1
	* Ad Lib (Works with Sound Blaster games in Ad Lib Mode)
	* Gold Sound
	* MPC (Multi-media PC)

	The package is bundled with several multi-media software
packages for both DOS and WINDOWS.  Here are some descriptions
paraphrased from the manual:

	Sequencer Plus, Jr. is a MIDI recording and editing program.  It
	takes advantage of the card's on-board FM synthesizer and MIDI
	interface capabilities. 

	WinDAT and DosDAT are a multi-media application that allows the user
	to play, record, and edit digital audio files.

	Juke Box is an application that lets the user assemble sound events
	into a playlist and then play them in the order they were arranged.
	The playlist can include WAVE and MIDI files and CD-Audio tracks or
	CD-ROM tracks.

	Mixer provides direct control over the mixing functions from Windows
	or DOS.  It allows the user to set the output volume, the playback
	level of the FM-synthesizer and digital audio, the playback and
	record levels of LINE, MICROPHONE, and CD-ROM audio inputs.

	Sound Script is a simple, but powerful multi-media authoring
	language to create scripts combining sound and animation.

	Mathematica's TEMPRA which includes Tempra-SHOW and Tempra-GIF for
	presentations, commercial design, and multi-media productions.
	(Similar in concept to AmigaVision.)

REVIEW

	The SOUNDvision card, along with the popular A2386SX at 25 MHz,
provide a nice IBM-clone working environment to accent the Amiga.  It is
particularly useful to Amiga BridgeBoard owners because of its ability to
provide several different functions in a single board.  This is crucial for
BridgeBoard users because the stock A2000 has only one 16-bit ISA slot and
two 8-bit XT slots, the A3000 has only one 16-bit ISA slot, and the A3000T
and A4000 have just two 16-bit ISA slots after installing the BridgeBoard
itself.

	Windows V3.1 for IBM-clones installed easily and works well with
the supplied VGA device driver or with one of the Oak Technologies
drivers supplied with the SOUNDvision Graphics Drivers Diskette.

	The SCSI controller works fine for my CD-ROM drive and reportedly
can control common SCSI hard disks as well.  This would be very useful for
Amiga users because of our prior familiarity with this family of hard drives.
With new SCSI hard drives selling for about $1 per megabyte, it would not be
too expensive to get a drive for this controller.  It MAY even be possible to
use this SCSI controller in parallel with your Amiga SCSI controller and
common devices.  I must point out that this is theoretically possible, but I
have not tried it and would not suggest you attempt it unless you know what
you are doing.  If it works, it would be very convenient though!

DOCUMENTATION

	The SOUNDvision board has a detailed, well written manual describing
the board's theory of operation, installation, and configuration.  Switch
and jumper settings are well described and preset by the factory to the most
common use setting.

	The IRQs and DMA addresses of the board's components are changeable.
This is important for its use in the Amiga BridgeBoard system, since the
Janus software that runs the BridgeBoard on the Amiga has certain memory
addresses and IRQ settings that must not be used to avoid conflicts.  The
ability to alter these settings on any IBM-clone device is essential for
reliable use an Amiga/BridgeBoard system.  I found it unnecessary to change
any factory settings to get the board to work in harmony with the Amiga and
Janus software.

	The documentation for the board itself is well done with diagrams
describing the hardware and user actions needed.  There is a Quick Start
section for experienced (read: "I don't read manuals!") users for both a
plain DOS or WINDOWS environment.

	The manual has a small but useful Troubleshooting appendix, as
well as some pin-out descriptions of the various connectors and memory
addresses used by the VGA graphics card.

	The extra programs (Voyetra, Tempra, Sequencer Plus Jr) all came
with their own manuals.  Voyetra also has an independent 1-800 phone number
to call to register the program, separate from registering the SOUNDvision
board with Cardinal.

	Overall the documentation is written at a level that a beginner
should be able to follow, and yet it won't totally bore an expert. :)

LIKES AND DISLIKES

	The part I like the best about the SOUNDvision is that it gives my
Amiga BridgeBoard access to the basics of the IBM world's MPC compatibility
all in one board.  Because of the small number of AT slots available to any
Amiga BridgeBoard user, this is a very important consideration.  The fact
that all components of the SOUNDvision seem to work well alongside the
Amiga is also a big plus!

	As for dislikes, the audio mini-jacks are not (easily)
interchangeable with Amiga phone-plugs, making a separate set of speakers
(or conversion cabling) necessary.  However, the mini-jacks are IBM/PC
"standards".  For other dislikes, see the BUGS section below.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	I have used a SuperVGA card in this BridgeBoard setup before, and the
SOUNDvision card compares favorably.  It uses the Oak Technology chip for
its video graphics support and comes with several VGA drivers, though I found
the plain VGA driver supplied with WINDOWS (V3.1) worked fine.

	I used to have a Future Domain 8-bit SCSI controller, and the
SOUNDvision's SCSI controller works as easily and slightly faster then the
Future Domain board.  I have not personally connected it to a SCSI hard
drive, but I have heard from several other users who have had no problems
doing so.  In particular, I have heard that a Quantum 105 and a Maxtor drive
have worked.  

BUGS

	My biggest and only real gripe with the board was that the copy of
the product I got was missing three floppies and two manuals.  In
particular, the CD-ROM device drivers diskette was not in the package when I
got it.  I got in touch with Cardinal Technologies immediately and they were
very pleasant on the phone.  However, three weeks later I still had
nothing.  I also contacted the vendor I got the board from (via mail order)
and he told me he would get the missing disks and books from another one of
his stock and send them to me.  They too were not here after 3 weeks.  I
talked with some others who purchased the same board from the same vendor
and some of them got everything fine, others got two copies of one disk and
none of another and one person was missing the exact same disks as I was.  I
have now gotten everything I was originally missing, but it appears that
Cardinal's packaging department took the day off when this batch was put
together!

	Some of the co-reviewers reported problems that some of the supplied
software did not work for them or other users they know.  In particular,
Tempra-GIF, run either from within the Tempra-Show program or by itself,
always has a "configuration error" or "out of memory error" when trying to
load.  There is a technical support phone number (toll call) that has not
been fully utilized at this time.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	All of the software and hardware has technical support phone
numbers.  The software is all from outside companies, not Cardinal, but
they are licensed for use with the SOUNDvision board.  Also, see the
above BUGS section.

WARRANTY

	The board comes with a 1 year warranty that the product will be
free of defects in workmanship and materials under normal use conditions.
Software is provided "as is" and is not covered by a warranty.

	The warranty is not transferrable.

CONCLUSIONS

	There are certainly better products available on the market for each
of the main support areas of the SOUNDvision, but none in this low price,
all-in-one configuration.  The price is important to some of us, but the low
board count for all of its features is a must for use in an Amiga
BridgeBoard based system.  If you are lucky enough to have your A2000
modified to support 3 16-bit ISA slots, you have a little room for other
products; but if you want to use an A3000 or A4000 with only the one ISA
slot, you certainly need a product like this board.

	Overall (after finally getting all the software and manuals!) I
would rate this board as a 7 out of 10 for its features, speed,
capabilities, etc.  If I also consider the inexpensive cost, I bump up my
rating to 8.5 out of 10.

	I feel it's a great deal for its cost-to-performance ratio.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	Copyright 1993 Richard L. Dyson, David B. Levi, and Chuck Andreas.
All rights reserved.

-- 
Richard L. Dyson               INTERNET:  [email-masked]
Graduate Research Assistant    INTERNET:             [email-masked]
Department of Physics & Astronomy  NSI/SPAN: IOWASP::DYSON or 7231::DYSON
The University of Iowa                         Phone (H): (319) 338--6117
Iowa City, IA 52242--1479                      Phone (O): (319) 335--1879

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