[jazzy intro tunes] [computer buzzes, beeps]
Greetings folks, and this here may just be, without exaggeration,
the single best retro sound card you can buy right now.
It is of course the Orpheus II, a new 16-bit ISA sound card for DOS PCs
that began shipping in March of 2023.
And the price is currently €340, or around 364 dollars US, including worldwide shipping.
Not a budget card by any means, but the amount of stuff it can do makes it legitimately worth
considering to the right user.
This is effectively three cards in one: a Sound Blaster Pro, an intelligent mode MPU-401,
and a Gravis Ultrasound.
Not those exact cards of course, but cleverly-made clones of them on a brand new card, with all
the compatibility and functionality you’d expect from the real things.
Purchased individually, these can easily add up to $400, plus you still have a trio of
cards taking up three slots.
So yeah, the Orpheus II performing the jobs of three different cards at the price it does
is pretty impressive.
[ultra-sounding Epic Pinball gameplay]
This is accomplished using an array of old stock chips and modern components, neatly
assembled together in harmony onto a fresh PCB from the folks at PCMIDI.EU.
Full disclosure, this card was sent to me for review by Leo Dallas, one of the creators
of the card and longtime friend of the show.
So a huge ‘thank you’ to him as this video would not be happening otherwise,
because honestly?
I didn’t plan on getting one.
And that’s simply because I’m still happy using the Orpheus 1, which I’ve had installed
in the LGR Woodgrain 486 since 2020.
It does everything I need it to, it’s just a wonderful sound card
for DOS machines of that type.
That being said, it’s no longer being made, and has been superseded not only by the Orpheus
II but more directly by the Orpheus 2LT.
Which is effectively an improved Orpheus for 220 euros,
just without the Gravis Ultrasound bits.
But yeah, the full fat Orpheus II here has some notable upgrades and additions, and it’s
kind of a no-brainer if you don’t have a Gravis Ultrasound.
And statistically speaking, you probably don’t unfortunately.
I’ve made a full video about the GUS if you want the details, but to make a long story
short, the thing is legendary and commands a price to match.
Selling these days for between two and four hundred dollars, depending on the model.
But in the past year or so, several GUS clone cards have come about, like the ARGUS card
I covered on LGR Blerbs.
And other replica cards built and sold by people like David Larsson, each based on the
GUS Plug 'n Play and its AMD InterWave chip.
But that’s all those cards do, they don’t provide an MPU-401,
FM synthesis, or proper Sound Blaster support.
And that’s where the Orpheus II comes in, packing that InterWave for GUS PnP compatibility,
as well as all the components needed for Sound Blaster and MIDI stuff
that the original Orpheus already did.
Namely the Crystal Semiconductor CS4237B, a popular chip on mid-to-late 90s PnP sound
cards and laptops like my beloved IBM ThinkPad 380XD,
and the same one used on the original Orpheus.
Alongside a real Yamaha OPL3 chip, the YMF289B.
This is in addition to the Crystal’s on-chip FM synth, which previously was the only thing
that worked under Windows.
But the Orpheus II has been designed to allow the real OPL3 chip there as well,
not just in DOS.
Otherwise, beyond an improved analog audio path, it’s largely the same card
as the OG Orpheus!
And that’s nothing but a good thing with solid Sound Blaster Pro and Windows Sound
System compatibility, UART and intelligent mode MPU for MIDI, a wavetable header for
daughterboard synths, 44.1kHz 16-bit audio outputting through 3.5mm stereo and coax S/PDIF
out, along with microphone, line in, and a DB15 gameport
for both joysticks and MIDI adapters.
Plus a dedicated MIDI out port providing a 5-pin DIN MIDI connector
using the included cable.
It’s a full-featured sound card that handles practically everything from the mid 80s to
late 90s with ease, and not that long ago was nothing more than a dream sound card with
a combination of features that didn’t exist.
Well sometimes dreams do come true, so let’s get this thing set up!
And first, I’m gonna add some RAM to the Ultraside sound of things!
-Sorry what was that?
-”the Ultraside sound of things”
-Ultra SIDE sound of things?!
--”the Ultraside sound of things” [cracks up]
The Ultraside sound of things!
The maximum supported 16 megabytes worth.
The Orpheus II does have a one meg InterWave ROM on-board, but adding RAM to the SIMM socket
not only allows for larger sample sizes,
but it’s required to enable GUS Classic mode at all.
And with that, just drop it into a free 16-bit ISA slot on your machine of choice, and everything
else is handled by software.
In theory, anyway.
Considering everything on this one card, resource conflicts are a true consideration, especially
on pre-1995 systems like my Woodgrain 486.
Unfortunately, due to its lack of Plug 'n Play BIOS and reliance on an annoying multi-IO
controller card, I was unable to get the Gravis side working at all here.
The Sound Blaster-compatible stuff worked great, same as the Orpheus 1 did!
But after a few hours of disabling ports and swapping hardware and settings, the GUS PnP
never fully functioned.
I could get it eventually but for time’s sake I plopped it into the Quantex 486, and
it worked perfectly straight away, since it has its own IO controller on-board you can
fully customize in the BIOS.
So yeah, on a system free of conflicts, it’s simply a matter of installing the MS-DOS Crystal
and Gravis drivers, along with Windows drivers if you so choose.
Under DOS, Orphinit takes care of the Crystal side of things, with the latest version available
on the PCMIDI website and the official Vogons thread.
But the Gravis side is the raw 90s experience, since you use the original GUS PnP software,
for better or worse.
As I discovered testing the ARGUS, there are lots of version changes and annoyances making
this software a pain.
But thankfully, there’s a preinstalled version on the PCMIDI website now that lets you skip
the buggy Plug 'n Play setup programs, a far easier option indeed.
And with that, let’s do a little testing, starting with that glorious Gravis Ultrasound!
[thunder sound effects]
[One Must Fall 2097 theme music plays]
[castle_city.it by Siren plays on Impulse Tracker]
Mm, such crispy beautiful results, ya gotta love a good Gravis.
As covered in my previous videos on the OG Ultrasound and the ARGUS, the additional fidelity
and overall cleanliness of its sample-based music and sound is wonderful.
Especially compared directly to contemporaries like the Sound Blaster Pro, which makes for
an ideal pairing having both capabilities on-board the Orpheus 2.
[Jazz Jackrabbit music plays]
Yeah, the difference is substantial on games and programs that make specific use of it.
But that’s *only* on those titles, with the majority of DOS games
expecting a Sound Blaster.
And most Ultrasounds were notorious for their junky Sound Blaster emulation.
So again, having a proper SB Pro-compatible chip working beside a GUS PnP here is just
about the best of both worlds.
And while this kind of thing existed in the 90s in the form of the Gravis Ultrasound Extreme,
those are some of the rarest, most expensive GUS cards of all.
So typically, you’d want a GUS installed alongside a Sound Blaster of some kind, and
that’s what makes having both on a single card in the Orpheus II so special.
Now as for the rest of the card’s capabilities, they’re more or less unchanged, it’s the
same awesome Orpheus.
Other than some improvements to the drivers and analog audio bits, it’s still the reliable
16-bit workhorse that it was before.
See my prior Blerbs video for more details, but really all you need to know is that in
terms of Plug 'n Play Sound Blaster imitations, it very much hails from the creamiest corner
of the clone card crop.
[Day of the Tentacle intro plays]
About the biggest enhancement here is how you can use the YMF289 chip instead of only
CrystalFM emulation in Windows 95.
Ideal for proper-sounding FM synth DOS gaming under a Windows DOS prompt.
[DOOM gameplay happening, doomily]
But of course there are all kinds of musical possibilities on-board, in that respect the
Orpheus II is a fountain of riches.
In addition to the FM synth you have those Gravis soundbanks, plus the wavetable header
and external MIDI output allowing for even more.
At the moment I have the Reptile Paradise Yucatan FX installed, one of my favorite Roland
GS ROM daughterboards.
Each MIDI option has its charms, but that Yucatan is somethin’ special.
[Duke3D theme plays, back-to-back across chips]
Oh and with those PCMIDI chips on-board, you also have intelligent mode MPU-401 support!
So controlling a Roland MT-32 without SoftMPU loaded is no problem.
Plus, you don’t need an external MPU-401 breakout box either, yet another huge plus
in the card’s favor.
Ahh man, honestly, if you don’t see all the advantages adding up here, then I don’t
know what else to say.
The Orpheus II is a phenomenal “jack of all trades, master of many” sound card solution
for retro computing enthusiasts, and if you value this kind of top notch integration then
it’s kind of a godsend.
Though of course it isn’t without its drawbacks, biggest being the price point.
$364 is nothing to sneeze at, even when adding up all the costs of all the individual cards
it can replace.
And finally there’s the Plug 'n Play nature of it all, with your target system determining
whether or not this card makes sense.
A vintage PC with a PnP BIOS is recommended, though not required.
And at the very least you’ll want a way to disable, swap around, and free up the proper
resources for the many integrated chips on-board.
Something that’s no small task on systems like my Woodgrain 486, and this is why I won’t
be keeping the Orpheus II installed in there.
In another PC, absolutely, but not the Woodgrain.
Not unless I either find a better multi-IO card, or just an improved motherboard altogether.
And besides, the original Orpheus is still fine!
Ultrasound capability is neat but I truly don’t need it, not in that system anyway.
And whenever I do wake up in the middle of the night having such urges, I can drop in
a GUS Classic and be content.
But yeah, for the majority that don’t have an original Gravis card on-hand, or simply
want a phenomenal all-in-one sound solution for mid 90s PCs, then you’d be hard pressed
to consider anything but the Orpheus II right now.
There’s simply nothing else being built that does as much as it does,
as well as it does.
And the fact that it exists at all is incredible, and I commend all the skilled people involved
for making it happen.
This thing is a gift to the hobby.
[OMF 2097 gameplay clangs about]
‘Kay, so now the question is: what would you add to an Orpheus III?
An AdLib Gold clone?
A higher-end Sound Blaster chip?
Personally I’d love integrated SCSI or IDE, but lemme know your own feature wishlist in
the comments.
And if you enjoyed this video, stick around, I’ve got plenty more where this came from
here on LGR.
And as always, thanks for watching!