Editing Sound card (section)

===Sound cards on other platforms===
{{Gallery|align=right
|File:Melodik.jpg|Melodik sound card with the AY-3-8912 chip for the [[Didaktik]]
|File:ZXSpectrumFullerSoundBox.jpg|ZX Spectrum with Fuller soundbox
|File:Turbo sound revision a.jpg|Turbo Sound board manufactured by NedoPC, revision A
}}
The earliest known sound card used by computers was the [[Gooch Synthetic Woodwind]], a music device for [[PLATO terminals]], and is widely hailed as the precursor to sound cards and MIDI. It was invented in 1972.

Certain early arcade machines made use of sound cards to achieve playback of complex audio waveforms and digital music, despite being already equipped with onboard audio. An example of a sound card used in arcade machines is the [[Digital Compression System]] card, used in games from [[Midway Games|Midway]]. For example, ''[[Mortal Kombat II]]'' on the Midway T-Unit hardware. The T-Unit hardware already has an onboard [[YM2151]] OPL chip coupled with an OKI 6295 DAC, but said game uses an added-on DCS card instead.<ref name="mk2">{{cite web| url = http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=611&gid=1128#1128| title = System 16 – Midway T Unit Hardware}}</ref> The card is also used in the arcade version of Midway and [[Aerosmith]]'s [[Revolution X]] for complex looping music and speech playback.{{efn|Revolution X used fully sampled songs from the band's album that transparently looped{{snd}}an impressive feature at the time the game was released.}}

[[MSX]] computers, while equipped with built-in sound capabilities, also relied on sound cards to produce better-quality audio. The card, known as [[Moonsound]], uses a [[Yamaha YMF278|Yamaha OPL4]] sound chip. Prior to the Moonsound, there were also sound cards called ''MSX Music'' and ''MSX Audio'' for the system, which uses [[OPL2]] and [[OPL3]] chipsets.

The [[Apple II]] computers, which did not have sound capabilities beyond rapidly clicking a speaker until the [[IIGS]], could use [[Apple II sound cards|plug-in sound cards from a variety of manufacturers]]. The first, in 1978, was [[ALF Products#Apple Music Synthesizer / Music Card MC16|ALF's Apple Music Synthesizer]], with 3 voices; two or three cards could be used to create 6 or 9 voices in stereo. Later ALF created the [[ALF Products#Apple Music II / Music Card MC1|Apple Music II]], a 9-voice model. The most widely supported card, however, was the [[Mockingboard]]. Sweet Micro Systems sold the Mockingboard in various models. Early Mockingboard models ranged from 3 voices in mono, while some later designs had 6 voices in stereo. Some software supported use of two Mockingboard cards, which allowed 12-voice music and sound. A 12-voice, single-card clone of the Mockingboard called the [[Phasor (sound synthesizer)|Phasor]] was made by Applied Engineering.

The [[ZX Spectrum]] that initially only had a beeper had some sound cards made for it. Examples include TurboSound<ref>{{cite web| url = http://velesoft.speccy.cz/turbosound-cz.htm| title = VeleSoft}}</ref> Other examples are the Fuller Box,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=1000159| title = WoS: Fuller Box}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/review.aspx?gid=2744&rid=4769 |title=Crash Issue 01, February 1984 |access-date=2017-04-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404221012/http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/review.aspx?gid=2744&rid=4769 |archive-date=2017-04-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Zon X-81.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/hardware/ZONX81| title = ZON X-81 Programmable Sound Generator}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/hardware/ZONX81/mag/SinclairUser/Issue008/Pages/SinclairUser00800021.jpg| title = Sinclair User, issue 8, page 21}}</ref>

The Commodore 64, while having an integrated [[MOS Technology 6581|SID (Sound Interface Device)]] chip, also had sound cards made for it. For example, the Sound Expander, which added on an OPL FM synthesizer.

The [[PC-98]] series of computers, like their IBM PC cousins, also do not have integrated sound contrary to popular belief, and their default configuration is a PC speaker driven by a timer. Sound cards were made for the [[PC-9800 series#Expansion bus|C-Bus]] expansion slots that these computers had, most of which used Yamaha's FM and PSG chips and made by NEC themselves, although aftermarket clones can also be purchased, and Creative did release a C-Bus version of the SoundBlaster line of sound cards for the platform.