Adlib Gold 1000: The "Legendary" Sound Card

Let's examine if it deserves the 1,000$ price. #AdlibGold

Ok, you may or may not have heard of this sound card. If you don't and you go look it up on eBay to know its current price, you will be surprised to find only one listing that is 1,000 bucks or more even (and on auction). If this sounds crazy, I will fill you up on the gist. Let's say that it had great results when a program was built to have them, it almost never came out, and it became legendary because of a few games (Dune, mostly). Let me guide you through the whole thing:

Let's start from the basics: What was the original Adlib?

Adlib was a start-up company in the '80s that entered the PC market with a revolutionary little card. The Adlib. PCs at the time had little to no sound at all. The PC speaker, found in every since IBM's original PC, still is an itty-bitty device in the corner of the PC that produces beeps of various notes. Not very fancy, not very nice-sounding but it got its job done. Because programs back then had no reason for professional sound, there was no need for anything more than the beeps of the PC Speaker.

However, as PCs started entering the home market and started to be cloned by more companies than just IBM, the need for better sound rose.

The first few proper sound devices were very rare and expensive to find in a store (like the Covox Speech Thing) so Adlib stood up and took notice. The guys there said that proper sound should come with proper output device acceptance (like a speaker) and have more variety in sound (not just beeps, one-at-a-time). That's why they invented the Adlib sound card. A legendary card that let many games and products accept it and use it.

Now, you probably are saying that the guys who made this card must have gone successful and rich after that since it sold well and it had a lot of support.

Guess what? They did not get much in return.

Creative Labs and the SoundBlaster: How Adlib almost went out of business.

Look, if you were a start-up company that has a rival who could get really huge, really fast, you must be thinking of loopholes to kill them. That's what Creative Labs thought when they entered the sound card market with their original SoundBlaster.

The OG SoundBlaster was basic, had minimal support, and its major feature was the sound effects, not the sound it actually provided. Adlib on the other hand was making cash with the Adlib since it provided proper sound.

Creative probably thought that that was their end. With Adlib making more money, they probably have nothing to do with themselves. However, no company gives up, and Creative started the loophole hunt.

What was the loophole? The card was easy to clone since its parts were bought out of other companies (like Yamaha, keep that one in mind). So, Creative bought parts and combined them into a card that was better than the Adlib, the SoundBlaster 16. It combined Adlib sound and SoundBlaster Sound Effects. Adlib was facing problems.

Because Adlib had no new card to compete with Creative, they had an idea. Their new card would use the new OPL 3 chip by (you guessed it) Yamaha while it would also have the new Gold Standard Sound Effects that they would create. That card was the Adlib Gold 1000.

As Creative heard the news of that new card, guess what they thought as the Adlib workers started to develop the new Adlib Gold 1000, Creative started the Loophole Hunt once again.

What was the Loophole: Adlib did not have the Yamaha chip yet and Creative got it first.

Creative got it first, and that meant they could do whatever they wanted to Adlib in order to make them have no access to the chip.

They had Yamaha holding off to giving the chip to Adlib, telling them that "we are still testing it" while Creative already had had it on their doorsteps. When Creative released the SoundBlaster Pro 2.0 and made the sound change forever, Adlib could see the writing on the wall.

Eventually, Adlib got their hands onto the chip. However, when they had the card ready, they were too late. The card never released and Adlib went bankrupt.

If you are now asking how the card got released, I understand. Let's see what happened a few months after the bankrupt Adlib had its demise.

I)A German company bought off the inventories of unsold Sound Cards that Adlib still had.

II)The German company renamed itself to Adlib Multimedia.

III)They released the card to the public, and it made its fair share of profit.

The Adlib Gold: What did it actually achieve?

Ok, by now you are asking how much time did it take for the Adlib Gold 1000 to be released, and I will say the least that it was about a year later than the Creative SoundBlaster Pro 2.0.

Oof, that was a lot of time difference.

The question is what it managed to sell. The least to be said, not as much as the Creative Cards, since they were cheaper.

The promised Gold Standard that would have a lot of support?

Yeah, you probably guessed already that that went horribly. Lack of games that chose to support it, a smaller lack of games that took good use of it, and a horrible use of a computer's system resources.

However, it had the positives. Better, more depth of sound, less loud sounds from the PC card, the Gold really had great features. The lack of SoundBlaster support is what really cut the line.

Only a few games actually took care of its features properly. The most famous for that was Dune (and by the way, same Dune as the awesome movie and book). It was a game that really took care of the sound (and sounded way better than the actual SoundBlaster Pro 2.0) and it really became a popular game in the industry. Probably a reason the card has fame.

Adlib Gold 1000: Is it worth it for its price?

In my opinion, no. Honestly, it's too overpriced. 1,000 bucks are too much for one card that is not that supported even. Probably that the legend of how it almost never came out is why the price and rarity is there but honestly, in the retro-tech world everything is getting over-priced. I advise that you choose it only if you have the bucks and need for such a machine.

This post is for all Retro-Tech fans.

From the Exploring Retro-Tech Administrator.

Also, we know that posts have been delayed, we're busy people too so we try our best to keep up.