A clone of the AdLib GOLD sound card

What is it?

GoldLib is a clone of the legendary AdLib GOLD sound card for IBM PCs and Compatibles.
(Wikipedia link , specifications document)

This is a hardware clone of the original card - the only thing that is "modern" is the re-creation
of the GOLD CTRL ASIC that was never available for purchase seperately. Everything
else has been replicated and uses the same chips and components as the original card: most
importantly the whole audio output section is the same using the same DACs, OpAmps, mixing,
filtering stages and layout. A real AdLib GOLD card + Surround module were used for developement
of the GoldLib card and the result is that it sounds and looks as close as possible to the original.

The AdLib Gold Surround Module is also cloned and included with every GoldLib card.

The AdLib Gold clone! Testing the GoldLib sound card video review by LGR

There is one difference from the original card since there was no point to replicate : the proprietary
SCSI/Modem interfaces are removed and only recreated in the CTRL up to the point where the original
drivers and card diagnostics do not complain about them missing.
There were no addons ever released for these interfaces and thus it was decided to skip them.

Since the GoldLib is an exact hardware clone that uses the same old chips as the original card it
also inherits the limitations of the original: the YAMAHA YMZ-263 "MMA" chip is a speed-sensitive
device and will not operate correctly on systems faster than a medium-range 486. As a result the
whole card is what we now call "speed sensitive". Sadly there is no workaround to this.
Remember that the original AdLib Gold card was a 1992 8-bit ISA soundcard so it's target
systems were the 386DX and early 486DX systems of the era. Goldlib is a "quiet" card - just like
the original - but it is still an early 90s piece of hardware at it's core so expect some degree of noise.

Some new information was shared by user 640k!enough at VOGONS forum. Back in the day
he contacted AdLib and the official responce was that depening on hardware/software configuration
anything above a 486/33 can cause timing issues. You can read more details HERE.
More interestingly there is software that can alter the card's temporary configuration and after
exiting the next program will not behave correctly. A reboot will restore the configuration
and normal operation. The above info also applies to GoldLib.



The GoldLib is not more or less compatible than the original card: it still uses the same drivers
with the same features and software support - it's basically the same thing as described above...
Whatever works with the oginal AdLib card will also work the same way with the GoldLib.

Each card is sold fully assembled and tested with a Surround Module and a bracket - ready for use!
Several of the chips on the board are old stock ones and not produced anymore and as such
there can be some cosmetic issues from age/storage - this is unavoidable almost 30 years later.
This is a limited run of cards , we are limited by the amount of *good/real*
old chips we found , once these are depleted it is unlikely another run of cards will ever be made.
Each card is fully hand soldered so minor assembly imperfections can exist.



(click on pics for larger version)

Please check this VOGONS thread for more pictures and information.

 

 

Downloads:

AdLib Gold User's Guide: download here
Windows 3.1 driver guide: download here
Driver & Software Package: download here
(driver package above mirrored from trixter's site, contains latest versions of drivers, please check notes.txt)

If you want to check out the rest of the AdLib Gold bundled software like
Groove Key, MCS MusicRack, Studio Sonic 8, WowII Gold, Boombox please
download them from archive.org from this link

Tip #1: how to save mixer settings in the card's eeprom
when using the DOS MIXER application and you want to save the settings in the eeprom
it is not clear from the instructions displayed how to actually do it, pressing F4 will take
you to the save screen and you have to type O K and then *press ENTER* to actually
save the settings, typing OK and waiting or pressing ESC to leave the screen will not
save the settings. Keep in mind that settings like bass/treble will get rounded , for
example a setting of 64 for bass will be saved as 60. This is normal behavior.

Tip #2: you can extract the files from the floppy images in a temporary directory in
your HDD and use the SUBST command to mount said directory as drive A:
You can then run the drivers/software installer from HDD and you can just press
any key when the disk change request appears.




News:

23-03-23 : All parts depleted for now, all GoldLibs that could be made are sold!
Thank you for your support!!!

 

 

How to order:

Orders are now closed as all GoldLibs that could be made are made.
Thank you all for your support!




Contact information

Need to contact us? Need help to setup/troubleshoot things or extra info?
Please use our contact form, join our Discord Server or our Facebook group !

Contact Form

Join the Discord Server

Or you can join our Facebook group MPU-401 PC-MIDI Card Group
and make a post, we will answer ASAP!


Thanks for visiting!!!

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last update: 15-OCT-2025 , always a WIP

Please check out our other retropc projects: PCMIDI , Orpheus II soundcard and MegaCard