Sound Blaster AWE64

Lore & Background

The Sound Blaster AWE64 is significantly smaller than its predecessor, the AWE32, due to increased component integration. This integration reduced trace routing and noise, improving the signal-to-noise ratio and overall signal quality. The AWE64 Gold variant further enhanced output with gold-plated RCA connectors and a 20-bit DAC. The card supports greater polyphony than the AWE32, but additional voices are achieved via software-based WaveGuide processing on the system CPU, which synthesizes instrument sounds rather than using stored patches. This demands more processing power and is not of equal quality to available SoundFonts, and its synthesis parameters cannot be adjusted.

Creative moved from the AWE32's commodity 30-pin fast-page DRAM SIMMs to proprietary RAM expansion modules for the AWE64, which were only manufactured and sold by Creative. These modules were priced high and their limited production made RAM expansion difficult after the AWE64 left production. The AWE64 is based around the AWE32's E-mu 8000 sample-based synthesis chipset, E-mu effects processor, and a Creative audio DSP and codec for digital sound playback.

Two initial versions were released: a standard version (later re-branded as Value) with 512 KB of RAM, and a Gold version with 4 MB of RAM, a high-quality 20-bit DAC, and a separate SPDIF output. The earlier revision of the standard/value cards (model CT4500) had all-black jacks; a later revision (model CT4520) had color-coded jacks. A third version, the AWE64 PCI, was designed around the PCI bus with an even more integrated ASIC, making the board more compact and cheaper to build. However, compatibility with legacy DOS applications was problematic, requiring a motherboard port called SB-Link to assist the PCI bus in working with software that looked for legacy I/O resources. The AWE64D was an OEM variant of the PCI AWE64 with similar feature support and DOS issues, but it was not compatible with AWE64 PCI drivers. An AWE64 Mark II was prototyped, adding 4-speaker surround sound and a hardware Dolby Digital decoder via a second board connected by ribbon cable, but the project was dropped in favor of the Sound Blaster Live! cards due to high expense and the aging ISA interface.

Reader's Guide

The Sound Blaster AWE64 represents a transitional point in Creative's sound card lineup, refining the AWE32's architecture while introducing proprietary memory modules that limited expandability. Its improved signal quality, particularly in the Gold variant, addressed the noise issues of earlier boards, but the software-based WaveGuide polyphony was a compromise that relied on host CPU power and offered lower quality than hardware voices. The move to proprietary RAM modules increased Creative's control but made upgrades scarce and expensive after production ceased. The PCI version highlighted the challenges of adapting ISA-era audio hardware to the PCI bus for DOS compatibility, a problem that was only partially solved by the SB-Link motherboard port. The AWE64 Mark II prototype, with its ambitious surround sound and Dolby Digital features, was ultimately abandoned due to cost and the shift to the Sound Blaster Live! series. Third-party adapters like the AWE-SIMM and SIMMConn emerged to allow use of standard SIMMs, with the SIMMConn design files still available for personal use and a clone produced by Serdaco as of 2020. The AWE64's legacy is that of a refined but ultimately superseded design, bridging the gap between the AWE32 and the PCI-based Sound Blaster Live! era.

Did You Know?

• The AWE64 Gold variant includes gold-plated RCA connector outputs and a 20-bit DAC.
• Third-party adapters like the AWE-SIMM and SIMMConn allowed users to install standard SIMMs instead of Creative's proprietary modules.
• The AWE64 PCI required a motherboard port called SB-Link for compatibility with legacy DOS software.