Editing Sound card (section)

==History of sound cards for the IBM PC architecture==
[[File:AdLib.png|thumb|right|The [[AdLib]] Music Synthesizer Card was one of the first sound cards {{circa|1990}}. Note the manual volume adjustment knob. [[Industry Standard Architecture|ISA-8]] bus.]]
[[File:Mozart 16 (Oak OTI601).png|thumb|right|Sound card Mozart 16 for [[Industry Standard Architecture|ISA-16]] bus]]
[[File:Turtle Beach Sound Card (Catalina).png|thumb|A [[Turtle Beach Systems|Turtle Beach]] sound card for [[Conventional PCI|PCI]] bus]]
[[File:Echo Digital Audio Corporation's Indigo IO.png|thumb|Echo Digital Audio's Indigo IO{{snd}} [[PCMCIA card]] [[24-bit]] 96&nbsp;kHz stereo in/out sound card]]
[[File:A VIA Envy Sound Card 5.1 6 Channels (VIA VT1617A).jpg|thumb|A [[VIA Technologies]] Envy sound card for PC, 5.1 channel for [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] slot]]

Sound cards for [[IBM PC–compatible]] computers were very uncommon until 1988. For the majority IBM PC users, the internal [[PC speaker]] was the only way for early PC software to produce sound and music.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.joeylatimer.com/pdf/Compute!%20April%201990%20PC%20Sound%20Gets%20Serious%20by%20Joey%20Latimer.pdf|title=PC Sound Gets Serious!|author=Latimer, Joey|work=Compute!|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906061745/http://www.joeylatimer.com/pdf/Compute!%20April%201990%20PC%20Sound%20Gets%20Serious%20by%20Joey%20Latimer.pdf|archive-date=September 6, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> The speaker hardware was typically limited to [[Square wave (waveform)|square wave]]s. The resulting sound was generally described as "beeps and boops" which resulted in the common nickname ''beeper''. Several companies, most notably [[Access Software]], developed techniques for digital sound reproduction over the PC speaker like [[RealSound]]. The resulting audio, while functional, suffered from the heavily distorted output and low volume, and usually required all other processing to be stopped while sounds were played. Other home computers of the 1980s like the [[Commodore 64]] included hardware support for digital sound playback or music synthesis, leaving the IBM PC at a disadvantage when it came to multimedia applications. Early sound cards for the IBM PC platform were not designed for gaming or multimedia applications, but rather on specific audio applications, such as music composition with the [[AdLib|AdLib Personal Music System]], [[IBM Music Feature Card]], and [[Creative Music System]], or on speech synthesis like Digispeech ''DS201'', [[Covox Speech Thing]], and Street Electronics ''Echo''.

In 1988, a panel of computer-game CEOs stated at the [[Consumer Electronics Show]] that the PC's limited sound capability prevented it from becoming the leading home computer, that it needed a $49–79 sound card with better capability than current products, and that once such hardware was widely installed, their companies would support it. [[Sierra On-Line]], which had pioneered supporting [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]] and [[VGA]] video, and 3-1/2" disks, promised that year to support the AdLib, IBM Music Feature, and [[Roland MT-32]] sound cards in its games.<ref name="cgw198807">{{cite magazine|title=Winds of Progress Unleashed in "Windy City"|magazine=Computer Gaming World|date=July 1988|url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1988&pub=2&id=49|access-date=November 3, 2013|pages=8}}</ref> A 1989 ''Computer Gaming World'' survey found that 18 of 25 game companies planned to support AdLib, six Roland and Covox, and seven Creative Music System/Game Blaster.<ref name="cgw198909">{{cite magazine|title=The Gamer's Guide to Sound Boards|magazine=Computer Gaming World|date=September 1989|access-date=November 4, 2013|url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1989&pub=2&id=63|pages=18}}</ref>

===Hardware manufacturers===
One of the first manufacturers of sound cards for the IBM PC was AdLib,<ref name=autogenerated1 /> which produced a card based on the [[Yamaha YM3812]] sound chip, also known as the OPL2. The AdLib had two modes: A 9-voice mode where each voice could be fully programmed, and a less frequently used ''percussion'' mode with 3 regular voices producing 5 independent percussion-only voices for a total of 11.{{efn|The percussion mode was considered inflexible by most developers; it was used mostly by AdLib's own composition software.}}

[[Creative Labs]] also marketed a sound card called the Creative Music System (C/MS) at about the same time. Although the C/MS had twelve voices to AdLib's nine and was a stereo card while the AdLib was mono, the basic technology behind it was based on the [[Philips SAA1099]] chip which was essentially a square-wave generator. It sounded much like twelve simultaneous PC speakers would have except for each channel having amplitude control, and failed to sell well, even after Creative renamed it the [[Game Blaster]] a year later, and marketed it through [[RadioShack]] in the US. The Game Blaster retailed for under $100 and was compatible with many popular games, such as [[Silpheed]].

A large change in the IBM PC-compatible sound card market happened when Creative Labs introduced the [[Sound Blaster]] card.<ref name=autogenerated1/> Recommended by Microsoft to developers creating software based on the [[Multimedia PC]] standard,<ref name="english199206">{{cite news|url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue141/82_Sound_Blaster_turns_.php|title=Sound Blaster turns Pro|work=Compute!|date=June 1992|access-date=November 11, 2013|author=English, David|pages=82}}</ref> the Sound Blaster cloned the AdLib and added a sound coprocessor{{efn|This was likely an [[Intel]] microcontroller relabeled by Creative.}} for recording and playback of digital audio. The card also included a [[game port]] for adding a [[joystick]], and the capability to interface to MIDI equipment using the game port and a special cable. With AdLib compatibility and more features at nearly the same price, most buyers chose the Sound Blaster. It eventually outsold the AdLib and dominated the market.

Roland also made sound cards in the late 1980s such as the MT-32<ref name=autogenerated1 /> and [[Roland LAPC-I|LAPC-I]]. Roland cards sold for hundreds of dollars. Many games, such as Silpheed and Police Quest II, had music written for their cards. The cards were often poor at sound effects such as laughs, but for music were by far the best sound cards available until the mid-nineties. Some Roland cards, such as the SCC, and later versions of the MT-32 were made to be less expensive.

By 1992, one sound card vendor advertised that its product was "Sound Blaster, AdLib, Disney Sound Source and Covox Speech Thing Compatible!"<ref name="cgw199207">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1992&pub=2&id=96|title=Computing Will Never Sound the Same|magazine=Computer Gaming World|date=July 1992|access-date=July 3, 2014|type=advertisement|pages=90}}</ref> Responding to readers complaining about an article on sound cards that unfavorably mentioned the [[Gravis Ultrasound]], ''Computer Gaming World'' stated in January 1994 that, "The de facto standard in the gaming world is Sound Blaster compatibility ... It would have been unfair to have recommended anything else."<ref name="cgw199401">{{Cite magazine |date=January 1994 |title=Sound Philosophy |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=114 |department=Letters from Paradise |magazine=Computer Gaming World |pages=120, 122}}</ref> The magazine that year stated that ''[[Wing Commander II]]'' was "Probably the game responsible" for making it the standard card.<ref name="brooks199405">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Brooks
 |first=M. Evan
 |date=May 1994
 |title=Never Trust A Gazfluvian Flingschnogger!
 |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=118
 |magazine=Computer Gaming World
 |pages=42–58}}</ref> The Sound Blaster line of cards, together with the first inexpensive [[CD-ROM]] drives and evolving video technology, ushered in a new era of [[multimedia]] computer applications that could play back CD audio, add recorded dialogue to [[video game]]s, or even reproduce [[full motion video]] (albeit at much lower resolutions and quality in early days). The widespread decision to support the Sound Blaster design in multimedia and entertainment titles meant that future sound cards such as [[Media Vision]]'s [[Pro Audio Spectrum]] and the Gravis Ultrasound had to be Sound Blaster [[computer compatibility|compatible]] if they were to sell well. Until the early 2000s, when the AC'97 audio standard became more widespread and eventually usurped the SoundBlaster as a standard due to its low cost and integration into many motherboards, Sound Blaster compatibility was a standard that many other sound cards supported to maintain compatibility with many games and applications released.

===Industry adoption===
[[File:Three-isa-audio-cards.jpg|thumb|Three early ISA (16-bit) PC sound cards showing the progression toward integrated chipsets]]

When game company [[Sierra On-Line]] opted to support add-on music hardware in addition to built-in hardware such as the [[PC speaker]] and built-in sound capabilities of the [[IBM PCjr]] and [[Tandy 1000]], what could be done with sound and music on the IBM PC changed dramatically. Two of the companies Sierra partnered with were Roland and AdLib, opting to produce in-game music for [[King's Quest|King's Quest 4]] that supported the MT-32 and AdLib Music Synthesizer. The MT-32 had superior output quality, due in part to its method of sound synthesis as well as built-in reverb. Since it was the most sophisticated synthesizer they supported, Sierra chose to use most of the MT-32's custom features and unconventional instrument patches, producing background sound effects (e.g., chirping birds, clopping horse hooves, etc.) before the Sound Blaster brought digital audio playback to the PC. Many game companies also supported the MT-32, but supported the Adlib card as an alternative because of the latter's higher market base. The adoption of the MT-32 led the way for the creation of the [[MPU-401]], [[Roland Sound Canvas]] and [[General MIDI]] standards as the most common means of playing in-game music until the mid-1990s.

===Feature evolution===
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2024}}
Early [[ISA bus]] sound cards were [[half-duplex]], meaning they couldn't record and play digitized sound simultaneously. Later, ISA cards like the SoundBlaster AWE series and Plug-and-play Soundblaster clones supported simultaneous recording and playback, but at the expense of using up two IRQ and DMA channels instead of one. [[Conventional PCI]] bus cards generally do not have these limitations and are mostly full-duplex.

Sound cards have evolved in terms of digital audio sampling rate (starting from 8-bit {{nowrap|11025 Hz}}, to 32-bit, {{nowrap|192 kHz}} that the latest solutions support). Along the way, some cards started offering [[wavetable synthesis]], which provides superior [[MIDI]] synthesis quality relative to the earlier [[Yamaha OPL]] based solutions, which uses [[Frequency modulation synthesis|FM-synthesis]]. Some higher-end cards (such as [[Sound Blaster AWE32]], [[Sound Blaster AWE64]] and [[Sound Blaster Live!]]) introduced their own RAM and processor for user-definable sound samples and MIDI instruments as well as to offload audio processing from the CPU. Later, the integrated audio ([[AC'97]] and later [[Intel HD Audio|HD Audio]]) prefer the use of a software MIDI synthesizer, for example, [[Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth]] in [[Microsoft Windows]].

With some exceptions,{{efn|The [[E-MU]] card family, the Gravis GF-1 and AMD Interwave support up to 32 channels.}} for years, sound cards, most notably the [[Sound Blaster]] series and their compatibles, had only one or two channels of digital sound. Early games and [[MOD (file format)|MOD]]-players needing more channels than a card could support had to resort to mixing multiple channels in software. Even today, the tendency is still to mix multiple sound streams in software, except in products specifically intended for gamers or professional musicians.

====Crippling of features====
{{Main|Crippleware}}
As of 2024, sound cards are not commonly programmed with the audio loopback systems commonly called ''stereo mix'', ''wave out mix'', ''mono mix'' or ''what u hear'', which previously allowed users to digitally record output otherwise only accessible to speakers.

[[Lenovo]] and other manufacturers fail to implement the feature in hardware, while other manufacturers disable the [[device driver|driver]] from supporting it. In some cases, loopback can be reinstated with driver updates.<ref>Installing an LG driver on many Dells with Sigmatel 92xx chip, including the Inspiron 6400 and other models can add support for stereo mix. [http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/p/18549377/18672363.aspx#18672363] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520132558/http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3517/p/18549377/18672363.aspx#18672363|date=2013-05-20}} Reference dates from 2007 and covers Windows XP and Vista.</ref> Alternatively, software such as [[Virtual Audio Cable|virtual audio cable]] applications can be purchased to enable the functionality. According to Microsoft, the functionality was hidden by default in Windows Vista to reduce user confusion, but is still available, as long as the underlying sound card drivers and hardware support it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/larryosterman/2008/07/11/whatever-happened-to-wave-out-mix/|title=Whatever happened to Wave Out Mix? – Larry Osterman's WebLog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs|website=Blogs.msdn.com|access-date=September 7, 2017}}</ref> 

Ultimately, the user can use the [[analog loophole]] and connect the line out directly to the line in on the sound card. However, in laptops, manufacturers have gradually moved from providing 3 separate jacks with TRS connectors{{snd}}usually for line in, line out/headphone out and microphone{{snd}}into just a single combo jack with TRRS connector that combines inputs and outputs.

===Outputs===
The number of physical sound channels has also increased. The first sound card solutions were mono. Stereo sound was introduced in the early 1980s, and [[quadraphonic sound]] came in 1989. This was shortly followed by [[5.1]] channel audio. The latest sound cards support up to 8 audio channels for the [[7.1]] speaker setup.<ref>{{cite web|title=Realtek|url=http://www.realtek.com/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=173|access-date=September 7, 2017|archive-date=August 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818001831/http://www.realtek.com/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=173|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A few early sound cards had sufficient power to drive unpowered speakers directly{{snd}}for example, two watts per channel. With the popularity of amplified speakers, sound cards no longer have a power stage, though in many cases they can adequately drive headphones.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000124124/why-is-the-volume-low-when-i-plug-my-headphones-directly-into-the-sound-card-jack |title=Why is the volume low when I plug my headphones directly into the sound card jack? |publisher=Dell |access-date=2021-11-24}}</ref>

===Professional sound cards===
{{main|Audio interface}}
[[File:MOTU Audio Interfaces 7849.jpg|right|thumb|A pair of professional [[19-inch rack|rackmount]] audio interfaces]]
Professional sound cards are sound cards optimized for high-fidelity, low-latency multichannel sound recording and playback. Their drivers usually follow the [[Audio Stream Input/Output]] protocol for use with professional sound engineering and music software.{{efn|[[Audio Stream Input/Output|ASIO]] drivers are also available for a range of consumer-grade sound cards.}}
[[File:MOTU Audio Interfaces 7851.jpg|thumb|right|Professional audio interfaces often have industry-standard inputs in addition to analogue audio, in this case [[ADAT Lightpipe|ADAT]], [[TDIF]], and [[S/PDIF]].]]
Professional sound cards are usually described as ''audio interfaces'', and sometimes have the form of external rack-mountable units using [[USB]], [[FireWire]], or an optical interface, to offer sufficient data rates. The emphasis in these products is, in general, on multiple input and output connectors, direct hardware support for multiple input and output sound channels, as well as higher sampling rates and fidelity as compared to the usual consumer sound card.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ausha.co/blog/best-audio-interface-for-podcast-recording/ |title=Elevate Your Sound: The Best Audio Interface for Podcast and Recording |access-date=2024-04-12}}</ref>

On the other hand, certain features of consumer sound cards such as support for [[3D audio]], hardware acceleration in [[video game]]s, or real-time ambiance effects are secondary, nonexistent or even undesirable in professional audio interfaces.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

The typical consumer-grade sound card is intended for generic home, office, and entertainment purposes with an emphasis on playback and casual use, rather than catering to the needs of audio professionals. In general, consumer-grade sound cards impose several restrictions and inconveniences that would be unacceptable to an audio professional. Consumer sound cards are also limited in the ''effective'' sampling rates and bit depths they can actually manage and have lower numbers of less flexible input channels.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-05 |title=What is an Audio Interface? |url=https://productionden.com/what-is-an-audio-interface/ |access-date=2022-06-27 |website=Production Den |language=en-US}}</ref> Professional studio recording use typically requires more than the two channels that consumer sound cards provide, and more accessible connectors, unlike the variable mixture of internal—and sometimes virtual—and external connectors found in consumer-grade sound cards{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}.