The Need for a Soundblaster Pro

[Silent Loon]

Browsing the forum, the topic was allready touched in one way or another, but I could not get some in-deep answers to the following questions:

- It is said that no non-creative card is 100% Soundblaster Pro compatible (while many cards claim to be), but if this is true, I'm not sure what those incompatibilities consist in. Neglecting the fact that no card that has no true OPL3 can reproduce the "original FM synth feeling", incompatibilities should only appear in the digital effects section (as I try to call it).

One example:
Using the Descent setup utility with my Turtle Beach Tropez Classic I don't get stereo effects (its all mono with a little distortion) when I choose the SBPro option, yet the card claims to be 100% SBpro compatible. It has the widely used CS4231 & Opti929 combination onboard. The successor of the CS4231 was the CS4232. A card with this chip onboard "passes" the Descent SBpro test. So is it 100% SBPro compatible?
Anyway both cards where identified by several system analyzing tools as a SBPro.

Is there any other program that can definitely test SBPro compatibility?

If a card is not 100% compatible, what features are / could be affected?

- In the above example the TB Tropez might not be 100% compatible when choosing the SBPro option, but stereo effects work well when choosing i.e. MS Sound System. On the other hand the TB card works flawlessly with WC Privateer and I could hear no difference using a real SBPro (despite the better audio quality of the TB of course), so my guess for the latter game is that it simply doesn't use stereo digital effects  at all (please correct me if I'm wrong)
This leads me to my next questions:

If most games that offer stereo effects and SBPro support also offer (stereo) support for other soundcards, is there any real need for "100% SBPro compatibility"?

Are there any games that exclusively support SBPro, meaning that only with a real SBPro you get stereo effects (or voice)?

[endre1952]

The SB16 and AWE32 cards don't support the stereo mode of the SB Pro, regarding digital samples. You only get mono digital sampled output in games supporting SBPro and nothing newer. The only exception is Wolfenstein 3D, because it creates a stereo panning effect by just messing with the mixer's volume levels.

Also, some games written for early SB cards (1.0/1.5/2.0), work properly with an SB Pro, but you don't get digital samples on an SB16 or newer.

I don't know much about non-creative cards.

[5u3]

It is said that no non-creative card is 100% Soundblaster Pro compatible (while many cards claim to be), but if this is true, I'm not sure what those incompatibilities consist in.

Nope, this is a mix-up. It is said that no non-creative card is SB16 compatible...
There are dozens of working SB Pro clones available, because Creative licensed the design to other board manufacturers. Many of these sound better than the original SB Pro (less noise), and often come with a real OPL3 plus wavetable header.

Non-Creative cards compatible with SB16 are very rare, but they do exist. Check out this excellent thread on the VOGONS forums for more information.

[Silent Loon]

There are dozens of working SB Pro clones available, because Creative licensed the design to other board manufacturers. Many of these sound better than the original SB Pro (less noise), and often come with a real OPL3 plus wavetable header.

So there is no technical reason to keep a Soundblaster Pro (apart of having it in the collection)?

Is my impression right  that there are only a few games that exclusively support 8-Bit stereo samples for the SBPro?
(games before 1993 as you suggest here: http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php/topic,2300.msg23808.html#msg23808)