Orpheus II: The Best Retro PC Sound Card in 2023? Perhaps!

From PCMIDI.EU comes the Orpheus 2 – a new 16-bit ISA sound card! Could this be the best one for vintage computers right now? An argument can be made for that I think. On-board Gravis Ultrasound PnP compatibility, plus all the Orpheus 1 features like Sound Blaster Pro compatibility, Yamaha OPL3, and an intelligent mode MPU-401. As far as modern replica sound cards go, this thing is a step above the rest at the moment!

● LGR links:

● Links to things mentioned in the video:
Official Orpheus II website (huge thanks to Leo for the card!)

The Orpheus II Vogons thread

David Larsson's GUS PnP clone

Those 3D printed card stands I’m using:

● All background music licensed from:

00:00 Is this the best retro sound card?
00:41 Introducing the Orpheus II
02:49 Gravis Ultrasound bits
03:50 Sound Blaster compatibility & more
05:29 Adding RAM to the GUS
05:59 Installation and testing
07:46 One Must Fall 2097
08:27 Impulse Tracker music
09:10 More GUS PnP tests
10:01 Sound Blaster Pro support
11:49 A fountain of MIDI riches
13:21 The advantages, they add up!

#LGR #retro #computer #vintage #technology

[Norweeg]

This truly is the ultra-side sound of things.

[rigell]

I will never forget when we got a sound card and CD-ROM back in the early 90s. Completely blew my PC-speaker mind. It was a revolutionary experience.

[mirage]

That card is looking like the holy grail of 90s sound cards. A single ISA slot used to do literally all the sounds (assuming no memory conflicts). Zero compromises and the ability to add MIDI is just the icing on an already delectable cake. I wonder how many of these OPL and AMD sound chips are still out there in the wild.

Also, what an era of computing. Where sound cards were a legit thing to upgrade your setup with and some of them had RAM slots.

[Shadow.cyrohzin]

That Yucatan FX board playing the Duke nukem theme is a thing I did not know I needed!!! 🤯

[JohnSmith-xqpz]

When everything old is new again is taken to the next Level...

[Obscusion]

Hearing Clint mix up two consecutive words in a line, and then instead of simply fixing it in post simply points it out & laughs over what he just said during editing, is a constant joy.

"The Ultra-side Sound of Things" is right up there with "Hoddware Oddness".

[wrlrdqueek]

The AC97 Audio header is a nice touch. I remember back in the day adding a sound card to a pre-built system usually meant sacrificing the front panel ports.

[AgsmaJustAgsma]

5:34 the more I listen to this, the more it sounds like something you'd find in those knockoff t-shirts. Now here's something to add to the LGR merch.

[ReeseRiverson]

I own the original Orpheus card which I got for my 486 desktop system with the built in speakers and I was impressed by that card. Just seeing the Orpheus 2 in your video certainly got my attention. Especially with the beautiful design, the care and passion taken to design this thing is absolutely amazing! I love the passion the retro community has for making these amazing sound card options available.

[Steampunk]

The way you describe sounds like the Sennheiser Orpheus, one of the best sounding headphones in the world

[oddojaggins]

Man, I had a "10, 000 in 1" shareware games and one must fall 2097 was on there. Our Presario definitely only had a Soundblaster card of some sort and I am blown away about the difference with the gravis

[livefreeprintguns]

8:28 That player interface is so awesome!

[Wilko]

5:29 - "the Ultraside sound of things."
It does have a nice ring to it.

[ATomRileyA]

I am always impressed with all the cool stuff being made like this, would have never imagined people would be making stuff like that now back in the day.

The retro scene people are awesome.

[MaxQuagliotto]

So cool. I used to make S3M's and Impulse Tracker mods back in the day using my Gravis Ultrasound. What a gamechanger it was when I upgraded to it from my original Thunderboard.

[MadMathMike]

5:28 "The Ultraside sound of *things*!" 😂

[PXAbstraction]

My name came up in the purchase list for this just before the video came out. Cost a damn fortune after converting to Canadian dollars, but I'm stoked to get it for a future DOS build project I'm planning. Can't wait!

In terms of what I'd add to a next-gen model, I'd say probably the AdLib Gold (just to complete the trifecta) and I'd love to see genuine Sound Blaster chips in it, though I'm sure that would be a tall order. Other than maybe the ability to swap out the headphone amplifiers for the truly nutbar among us, I can't think of much else.

[montecorbit]

At 10:02
The on-screen game....

Tyrian!!!!


Greatest game from the era!!

[rodhester]

so very cool that new cards are still out there. That being said my favorite card of all time is the awe 64 gold. I think it is because it was what I had back in the day.

[DerekLippold]

I didn’t realize how amazing Gravis Ultrasound is - I was always so attached to the Soundblaster