Selecting a Sound Card for V+

FXDirect and VCOMM+ use Microsoft's DirectSound component of DirectX. Off-the-shelf cards are inexpensive and readily available.  However, since the industry is in a transition from the Windows API to DirectSound, for audio, most manufactures of sound cards have not yet managed to provide adequate drivers for their cards.

While DirectSound provides an emulator for the drivers that are not DirectSound compatible, most cards simply are not suitable for one reason or another.  This is especially true when you are trying to implement a system that uses more than one physical channel of audio, and even more difficult when using VCOMM+, since both the input and output are being used simultaneously. 

First, ensure you are using a PCI card.  The old ISA cards are too slow for use in FXDirect.  Also if you are using VCOMM+, the ISA cards force the transmit audio to eight bits and that is not desirable.  Second, determine the number of channels that you require.   Remember, a channel is a physical input or output.  This is not to be confused with a sound, since FXDirect will play a large number of sounds simultaneously.  If all you need is one to two channels of audio for FXDirect, almost any card will work, since most cards provide stereo output.  Simply use the PAN control on an FXDirect object to select the left or right channel. 

If you need more than one channel, you choices are limited.   Most drivers and cards do not support more than one type of card in a system at a time.  Sound card providers may make this claim, but be careful, we have tested many that work fine with the tools that are supplied with the card, but will not enumerate properly under DirectSound.

DMAN 2044 Sound Card
	Manufacturer	In	Out
	MIDIMAN	4	4
Notes:
Will not work with Networked Audio.  Works well with FXDirect.  However, you must use a specific driver.  The new drivers do not work well with DirectSound.  Two cards will not work together with DirectSound, despite the claims of the company.  When using DirectSound, the control panel applet will cease to function, and the volume will be set to maximum regardless of the setting in the applet. The maximum output voltage of the card is 4.8V P-P. Also,.strangely enough, double-clicking WAV files in the explorer will cause problems with the output using the Window standard player. ??   Only driver that works: DMAN2044.inf 1/11/98 DMAN2044.vxd 4/2/98 DMAN2044.drv 1/11/98 DMAN2044.lnk…(shortcut icon) 1/11/98     Despite all of these problems, this card seems to be the best so far for use in multi-channel systems. We have found that this card has a problem with channels 3 and 4 when used with Windows98 and direct sound. We are working this one.

Daytona PCl Sound Card
	Manufacturer	In	Out
	Turtle Beach	2	2
Notes:
Works very well for Networked Audio and or FXDirect applications. Multiple cards WILL NOT work together.

Monster M80 Sound Card
	Manufacturer	In	Out
	Diamond Multimedia	2	2
Notes:
Very good FXDirect performance.  However, the card we tested would not work properly with  standard multimedia type microphones.  Therefore do not use this card with net radio applications. Multiple cards work well for FXDirect however.