All I know is I went from a Sound Blaster 16 Pro to an AWE 64 gold, the MIDI quality blew my mind. I believe this is the result of using instrument samples to render the audio instead of pure synthesis.
I also remember that the SB and other audio cards added MIDI lines into the DA-15 joystick port that for some reason resided on sound cards. This let people hook up real synths to render the music and I knew of one musician who did this with a keyboard though I never got to hear it live.
> joystick port that for some reason resided on sound cards.
That reason was the limited amount of ISA ports. Early joystick ports were on their own ISA card. Which used a precious slot. For creative labs it was good advertising "see, no extra slot needed"
MisterTea · · focus · HN ↗
I also remember that the SB and other audio cards added MIDI lines into the DA-15 joystick port that for some reason resided on sound cards. This let people hook up real synths to render the music and I knew of one musician who did this with a keyboard though I never got to hear it live.
johannes1234321 · · focus · HN ↗
That reason was the limited amount of ISA ports. Early joystick ports were on their own ISA card. Which used a precious slot. For creative labs it was good advertising "see, no extra slot needed"