Starting to not be able to stand initializing "pop" sound of AWE 64 for games :(

[Galahad]

I am starting to not be able to stand or tolerate initializing "pop" sound of my AWE 64 Gold for DOS-based games  For this reason, although I love my AWE 64 in terms of MIDI sound, I am strongly considering swapping it out...I recently bought both Turtle Beach Tropez Classic and Plus sound cards on e-bay, in the hopes that I could avoid this initializing auto-popping noise from occurring...it is ruining the mood of the DOS games!  

From what I have heard, all Creative cards basically suffer from this same issue (?).  The same thing happened when I bought a used Sound Blaster Pro II a few years ago.  Interestingly enough, the startup popping sound of my DOS games *did not* occur with the Aztech Sound Galaxy PNP Sound Blaster clone card that I used, up to a few years ago before replacing it with the AWE 64 Gold.  The problem with the Aztech card though was, for certain Gold Box games when using my CM-500 together with the Aztech card, sometimes the games would "lock up" unexpectedly and crash my classic gaming PC completely -- the MIDI sounds in the games would play for up to a certain length, then just freeze, and continue trailing with the music in the background, and crash the computer, requiring a cold reboot.  The AWE 64 Gold solved the game crashing problem, but introduced the pop-sound-on-first-load, with my DOS games!  Just can't take it anymore though...would love to have a sound card that is free of the starting pops like the Aztech, but also hanging notes bug and crash-free, like the AWE 64 Gold...are there any sound cards that meet that criteria, that anyone knows of?  (I am rather hoping that perhaps the Turtle Beach cards may??)

[Great Hierophant]

I am starting to not be able to stand or tolerate initializing "pop" sound of my AWE 64 Gold for DOS-based games  For this reason, although I love my AWE 64 in terms of MIDI sound, I am strongly considering swapping it out...I recently bought both Turtle Beach Tropez Classic and Plus sound cards on e-bay, in the hopes that I could avoid this initializing auto-popping noise from occurring...it is ruining the mood of the DOS games!  

From what I have heard, all Creative cards basically suffer from this same issue (?).  The same thing happened when I bought a used Sound Blaster Pro II a few years ago.  Interestingly enough, the startup popping sound of my DOS games *did not* occur with the Aztech Sound Galaxy PNP Sound Blaster clone card that I used, up to a few years ago before replacing it with the AWE 64 Gold.  The problem with the Aztech card though was, for certain Gold Box games when using my CM-500 together with the Aztech card, sometimes the games would "lock up" unexpectedly and crash my classic gaming PC completely -- the MIDI sounds in the games would play for up to a certain length, then just freeze, and continue trailing with the music in the background, and crash the computer, requiring a cold reboot.  The AWE 64 Gold solved the game crashing problem, but introduced the pop-sound-on-first-load, with my DOS games!  Just can't take it anymore though...would love to have a sound card that is free of the starting pops like the Aztech, but also hanging notes bug and crash-free, like the AWE 64 Gold...are there any sound cards that meet that criteria, that anyone knows of?  (I am rather hoping that perhaps the Turtle Beach cards may??)

You could try a Sound Blaster Pro, which should not suffer from the pops and clicks, but then you would need another card for the MIDI, since the MIDI interface on the pre-16 SBs is not MPU-401 compatible at all.

[Galahad]

Many thanks for the helpful suggestion and recommendation GH!    No worries on the MIDI card issue mentioned...I actually have an intelligent MPU-401 setup on my current classic gaming PC rig (2 full-length ISA slots, with one ISA slot having an SCM-15 connection -- that also connects to my CM-500 -- and the other ISA slot has the AWE 64 Gold connected)  

Thanks again for your helpful input!