Mediavision Thunder Board
The Thunder Board was introduced in 1991 to compete with prospective buyers of Ad Lib and Sound Blaster 1.5 cards.
|
Released | July 1991 |
| Bus | ISA 8-bit | |
| FM Synth | Yamaha YM3812 (OPL2) | |
| Standards | Ad Lib, Sound Blaster 1.5 (no CMS) | |
| Ports | Mic-in and Speaker out 3.5mm jacks DB15 joystick port Volume thumbwheel |
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| Part # | 650-0007-03, IXW650-0007-01 | |
| FCC ID | - | |
| Price | At launch: $129 | |
| See Also | ProAudio Spectrum |
It supported up to 11 voices and 8-bit 22 kHz mono recording and playback, which was better than the Sound Blaster 1.5 (which could only do 12 kHz. The 15-pin joystick port is for joysticks only - there is no MIDI capability.
Since their original Pro Audio Spectrum was not compatible with the Sound Blaster digital audio standard they made this card to fill the void. The chip it uses was later used in the Pro Audio Spectrum Plus and the Pro Audio Spectrum 16.
As a Sound Blaster substitute its actually quite decent. The output is a bit more noisy the the original Sound Blasters. It seems that it is coming from the digital audio engine. If I deactivate the sound effect in a game and leave only FM music, I notice the noise level is much lower. Games like Wolfenstein 3D are most affected.
Sound wise it's good but I still prefer the original Sound Blasters 1.5 and 2.0 . The Thunder Board sounds a little more boomy (no pun intended ) and I think the SB cards are a little more balanced. The compatibility is not perfect either, I did not get music in Comanche: Maximum Overkill nor Monkey Island (very messed up).
This being said, Monkey Island seems to never work properly with OPL2-based Sound Blaster clones.
As a conclusion, the Thunder Board is a nice card and a very decent SB clone. You would not have felt left out using it back in the day, unless CMS was your thing, then you would have been jealous of your neighbour with his Sound Blaster 1.0. Nowadays it's still a nice card to have from a collecting point of view. It's also a nice card to use in a retro PC if you do not have access to an original Sound Blaster but I dont see a reason to use it if you can use a real Sound Blaster instead. The real thing gets you better compatibility, slightly cleaner output and CMS compatibility as an option.
Claims dynamic filtering for better output quality. Supposed to be reported as a Sound Blaster 2.0, presumably because it supports auto-init DMA as does a SB 1.5 with DSP v2.01. The Thunder Board can disable the FM via jumper to work alongside a Pro Audio Spectrum (PAS) and provide Sound Blaster compatibility to the PAS.
Do not use in a Tandy 1000 T/R/SL because the DMA channel cannot be changed or disabled. Interestingly, for a Sound Blaster clone it does not support MIDI output of any kind from the joystick port.
A full working copy of MicroProse's F-15 Strike Eagle II was supplied with the board, along with a complete 96-page user manual for the game. In addition, sampler editions of the following games were also provided: Nova 9 (the sequel to Stellar 7), Lemmings, LexiCross, Rex Nebular, and Gobliins.
Board Revisions
There was a battery-powered version of the Thunder Board, released in 1992 and called the Audioport (model #660-0016-01). It was sold for $199, and ran on four AAA batteries.
The Thunder Board was also licenced to several third parties. One such example was the Boom Board from Compudyne (see below for pics).
There was also a more enhanced card, the 16-bit ISA Multiwave Innovation Audiowave 16 AISP (SCSI) (FCC ID: KLZ1005I), which had the Thunder Board chip, but also had a Crystal CS4231-KL, Media Vision MVD121 chip (possibly a later version of the chip used on the Jazz16 MVD1216?), and a real Yamaha YMF262, plus a SCSI port. This card supports Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Thunder Board, Sound Blaster Pro and Windows Sound System.
Competition
The Thunder Board competed directly with potential buyers of the original Ad Lib Music Synthesizer card and the Creative Labs Sound Blaster series.
In the Media
Paul Jain, a developer with two successful PC graphics board manufacturer start-ups behind him - Paradise Computers in 1982 and Video 7 in 1984 - said that Media Vision is aimed at providing an affordable hardware upgrade path to accommodate the added features Microsoft has promised in its forthcoming multimedia extensions to Windows.
Media Vision's first product will be an enhanced sound adapter for the PC. Scheduled for introduction in the first quarter of 1991, priced under $200, it will have multivoice capabilities and work with both DOS and Windows."
InfoWorld, September 1990
According to Media Vision, the Thunderboard is compatible with Adlib and Sound Blaster audio drivers. The board has standard joystick, volume control, microphone input, and stereo-out ports."
PC Magazine, September 1991
Computer Gaming World, June 1992
Advert, June 1992
Setting it Up
The card is configured using jumpers as follows:
| Jumper | Meaning | Description |
|---|---|---|
| J1 | IRQ setting | 1 (leftmost jumper) = IRQ2 2 = IRQ3 3 = IRQ5 4 (rightmost jumper) = IRQ7* |
| J2 and J3 | DMA channel | 2 blocks of 3 jumpers each - both must be set the same. 1 (leftmost jumper) = DMA channel 3 2 (middle jumper) = DMA channel 2 3 (rightmost jumper) = DMA channel 1 |
The Thunder Board also has a DIP switch block at SW1 (left = on):
| Switch | Meaning | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SW1 | ACD | On by default at the factory - DO NOT CHANGE. |
| SW2 | JOY | Joystick port enable*/disable |
| SW3 | FM | FM audio enable*/disable |
| AD2 AD1 AD0 |
I/O Port Address | On/On/On = 210h On/Off/On = 220h* On/Off/Off = 230h Off/On/On = 240h Off/On/Off = 250h Off/Off/On = 260h |
* default factory settings
I did not even need to install a driver in DOS. Without adding anything in the Config and Autoexec files, it just worked in all the games I tried. This ease-of-use level is not the most common thing you would have experienced back in the days.
Downloads
Progammer's Reference The original 98-page programmer's reference guide by Media Vision. |
Original Utility Disk A copy of the original 720 KB floppy disk shipped with the Thunder Board by Mediavision. |
Windows 3.1 Driver
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More Pictures
Media Vision Thunder Board box and contents (1991)
A licenced clone of the Thunder Board, the Compudyne BoomBoard