DOS Days

TerraTec Electronic GmbH.

TerraTec are a German audio hardware company that started in 1994. During the late 90s their cards were on the cheaper end of the market for the home consumer, though they did produce some professional grade cards too.

Today they still design and manufacture audio hardware but have also branched out into powerbanks, docking stations and video grabbing hardware for screen-sharing and uploading.

Promedia SoundSystem Base 1  

Launched: 1996
Audio Codec: Analog Devices AD1816AJS
Bus: 16-bit ISA
FCC ID: NJ5TER1411
Price When New: Unknown
Known Board Revisions: 1.01

Supports Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro and MPU-401 (UART only). It is DirectX-compatible.

4 kHz up to 55.2 kHz recording and playback, simultaneous enhanced full-duplex recording with its dual DMAs. It has a 3D surround mode called VSpace(TM) which simulates all-around sound using two speakers.

For expansion you can fit an external radio (Terratec's ActiveRadio upgrade module) and a wavetable card on the WaveBlaster(TM)-compatible header. The radio supports FM stereo reception and full RDS support.

The MIDI interface is compatible with both Creative Labs' Sound Blaster MIDI and MPU-401.

User Manual
Jumpers
Quick Install Guide
Technical Data
Drivers: DOS, Win 9x, NT 4.0, OS/2, Win 3.x

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Profimedia Gold 16/96  

Launched: 1996
Audio Codec: ESS AudioDrive ES1868F
Bus: 16-bit ISA
FCC ID: ?
Price When New: Unknown
Known Board Revisions: 1.0

Plug & Play card.

Supports Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, ESFM, and MPU-401 (UART only).

4 kHz up to 44.1 kHz recording and playback, simultaneous enhanced full-duplex recording in mono with its dual DMAs. It has a 3D surround mode called VSpace(TM) which simulates all-around sound using two speakers.

For expansion you can fit a wavetable card on the Wave Blaster(TM)-compatible header, and there is an IDE header for connection to a CD-ROM drive. Terratec produced their own wavetable card called the Terratec WaveSystem SCW001.

The MIDI interface is compatible with both Creative Labs' Sound Blaster MIDI and MPU-401.

Utility to activate the IDE CD-ROM header
Applications 1, 2
Drivers: DOS, Win 9x, NT 4.0, OS/2, Win 3.x

Profimedia Maestro 16  

Launched: 1996
Audio Codec: Analog Devices AD1845 or Crystal CS4248
Bus: 16-bit ISA
FCC ID: ?
Price When New: Unknown
Known Board Revisions: -

The Maestro 16 has a true Yamaha YMF262-M OPL3 chip onboard, coupled with either an AD1845 or Crystal CS4248 audio codec chip. Both the AD1845 and CS4248 are comparable in terms of their sound quality and compatibility. It is a basic sound card with no onboard wavetable ROM samples. Instead, like most basic sound cards the Maestro 16 has a wavetable header for an optional WaveBlaster-compatible daughterboard for General MIDI sample sound.

AD-based card Drivers: Win 9x, OS/2, Win 3.x
CS-based card Drivers: Win 9x, OS/2, Win 3.x

Profimedia Maestro 16/96  

Launched: 1996
FM Synthesizer: OPTi 82C924
DSP: Dream SAM9233
Audio Codec: Crystal CS4231
Bus: 16-bit ISA
FCC ID: ?
Price When New: Unknown
Known Board Revisions:

Compatible with Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Windows Sound System 2.0, GM/GS General MIDI via the onboard wavetable, wavetable header for a daughterboard, or Game/MIDI MPU-401 (UART) port.

The card comes with a built-in wavetable via its Dream SAM9233 chip. The SAM9233 uses a variant of Roland Sound Canvas sound fonts.

The FM synthesis is handled by the OPTi 82C924 chip which has an embedded Yamaha OPL3 chip inside it.

Use the non-amplified Line Out for better Signal-to-Noise.

Utility to activate the IDE CD-ROM header
Updated SNDINIT utility
Drivers: Win 9x, NT 4.0, OS/2, Win 3.x

Profimedia Maestro 32/96  

Launched: 1996
DSP: Dream SAM9233
Audio Codec: Crystal CS4232
Bus: 16-bit ISA
FCC ID: ?
Price When New: Unknown
Known Board Revisions: 1.0

Compatible with Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Windows Sound System 2.0, and GM/GS General MIDI via onboard wavetable or Game/MIDI MPU-401 (UART) port.

The card comes with a built-in wavetable via its Dream SAM9233 chip and SAM8905-1 effects processor. The SAM9233 uses a variant of Roland Sound Canvas sound fonts.

The FM synthesis is handled by the CS4232 which means it's not got a true OPL3 chip, but a good-sounding clone.

Drivers: Win 9x, NT 4.0, OS/2, Win 3.x

EWS64L/XL  

Launched: 2000
DSP: Dream SAM9407
Audio Codec: Crystal CS4236B
Bus: 16-bit ISA
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: -67 dB
Price When New:
Part #:

The EWS64L and EWS64XL cards support Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Windows Sound System 2.0, and General MIDI and GS with loaded sound fonts.

The cards are able to record and playback 49 kHz at 16-bit resolution. They both come with 2 MB of RAM onboard for sample loading (there is no ROM so samples must first be loaded), but this can be extended via the SIMM slot by up to 64 MB. On the wavetable side, the cards also come with an effects processor.

The sound font format used by the EWS64 is .94B files. The original CD has a converter to allow you to convert any soundfont files from .TTS, .DMF or .DLS format into .94B format.

The XL adds to the L by featuring a 5.25" module that contains two DIN sockets and other digital connections to allow other MIDI devices to be connected, including two S/PDIF digital outputs and one S/PDIF digital input. It has a built-in 1W control amplifier and a 6.3mm headset jack. The XL can also playback at 20 bits digitally, comes with a WaveBlaster-compatible wavetable header.

The EWS series of audio cards came with instrument editing software from Terratec called Ed!son. Ed!son allows you to develop your own instrument sounds, and saving them as MIDI instruments. It can even take the sound of any instrument from an existing wave file to use as a starting point.

The EWS64L and XL boast a signal-to-noise ratio of -93 dB, though in playback tests conducted by PCAVTech, it got a Signal-to-Noise ratio of just -67dB, which isn't great.

User Manual

EWS88 MT

Launched: 199x
FM Synthesizer:
Audio Codec:
DAC:
Bus: PCI
Price When New:
Part #:

Aureon 5.1 Fun  

Launched: 1994
Audio Codec: Aureal Vortex
Bus: PCI
Price When New: Unknown

The Aureon 5.1 Fun is a late 90s sound card based around the excellent Aureal Vortex 3D chip, so it offers 5.1 channel surround sound. It provides compatibility with Sound Blaster, SB Pro, DirectSound 3D, AC '97, EAX 1.0 and 2.0 and MPU-401 (UART only).

What makes this card interesting is that its game/MIDI port has been moved off the backplate and onto the card face, and uses that space on the backplate for S/PDIF In and Out jacks (TOSLINK). Here is the rear of the card and here is the backplate showing the two digital/optical jacks.

Original Brochure