Re: IIgs sound card

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article mdragon@eagle.ptialaska.net writes...

>I recently found a sound card in an old trashed IIgs.  I don't
>remember the name, but I know it was by Applied Engineering and
>it had a sound in and sound out jack on the back.

    Sounds like an AE SonicBlaster card. What it did is provide
stereo out (it tapped the stereo signal from the Ensoniq chip
on the motherboard) and provided sound input with the appropriate
sound digitization software (tapping the ADC from the Ensoniq).

>Is this worth anything??

    Well if you want full stereo output/sound input (instead of
just mono sound-out from the GS's back port) it's useful to any
Apple IIgs owner. Admittedly, it's one of the lesser sound cards
made available--the internal cable isn't shielded and picks up a
lot of hiss, and it has trouble at high and even moderate sound
levels, causing more noise distortion. It's still preferrable
over nothing though, that is if you want to take advantage of 
the built-in sound capabilities of GS.

    In terms of what it's worth monetarily, I'd say somewhere
around $10 or more (it certainly isn't rare, and at least one
stereo/digitizer card is still being manufactured and sold
these days, by Alltech).

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca