The Contents

There are two versions of the Waveforce 192 card available. They are virtually identical, sharing the same Yamaha YMF924 audio chipset. However, the "Digital" model we are reviewing forgoes amplified speaker out for digital output.

The card itself is your typical PCI sound card: small, essentially a single chip design. You'll have no problems installing this card in even the most cluttered of cases.

The Waveforce includes all the standard external inputs and outputs, conveniently color coded.

• line in
• line out
• microphone in
• SP/DIF optical out
• MIDI/Game Port

There are also internal headers for the following inputs:

• CD-Audio
• VIDEO
• AUX
• Telephone (Modem)

Included bundle

The game bundle consists of "lite" versions of Final Fantasy 7, Descent: Freespace, and Jedi Knight. That's a pretty good bundle for the purposes of demonstration, as the Final Fantasy 7 music is XG-MIDI native, and the A3D support with Descent: Freespace and Jedi Knight. Of course, you already have these titles if you're a serious gamer.

As for the rest of the software, it largely centers on Yamaha's excellent XG-MIDI standard. You'll get the deluxe version of the XG soft synthesizer, both XG-50 and XG-100 versions, as well as the XGWorks Lite studio for composing and editing of XG MIDI songs.