Any DOS era soundcard capable of mixing line input?

[jharris01]

This question comes mainly out of curiosity. On modern PCs the souncard or onboard sound automatically mixes sound coming from the "line-in" (blue) jack. I was wondering if there was a DOS era sound card capable of the same.

I can't confirm this, but I think the Ensoniq Soundscape Elite may have been capable of this. The card came with a DOS based mixer setup program that would let you configure your Soundscape volume sources (just like the Volume Control on Windows). I am certain for this card you could do this in Window 9x, but not sure for DOS. I am guessing the answer is no, but what about other soundcards?

[BlueMax]

I could have SWORN my SB16 did...  but I could be mistaken as I also had a cruddy mixer for a long time, too.  The AWE64 gold sure did... 

[endre1952]

My SB16 did, I remember.

[Amigaz]

My SB16 did, I remember.

I think all Creative Sound Cards from the Sound Blaster Pro and up have a Line In and a DOS util to control the level of all the inputs and outputs from the card

[jharris01]

Does mixing sources coming from line input work implicitly (for DOS cards) as they do on modern systems?

I am wondering if it is possible to use an SC or MT unit on a retro gaming DOS PC same as we do today. You know, let the sound card mix the sound effects with midi music (instead of routing the sound card's output to the SC's mixer).

[Salient]

'back in the old days' I used an external mixer for these kind of things, as I do still today. I found it always a bit tricky to get the music and sfx volumes balanced otherwise.

[endre1952]

I used to route my SCC-1 into the SB16's line-in. However, it was not recommended, as the SCC-1's output was considered too loud for the SB16's crappy mixer. It could result in clipping. But I guess it should work with external modules fine, as you have full control over the master volume in those modules.

[NewRisingSUn]

I once routed the SCC-1 into the SB16's (CT1740) Line-In, and was very satisfied. The only game where the SB ever distorted was the title screen of Shadow Caster. In all other cases, it was the SCC-1 itself that clipped (which happened quite often).

[jharris01]

So there were DOS era sound cards that would implicitly mix line input (but apparently some didn't do the job very well). Would be interesting to find out which cards were best for this task. Thanks for the replies.

[Salient]

I think the Terratec EWS64(xl) did a fine job with that? But I am not sure if that can still be concidered a 'dos era' soundcard, although it DOES work in dos.