Why do these old sound cards sound different

[almoststew1990]

With the older sound cards, they sound so different? I think I was told they actually 'calculate' the sound ("MIDI") to be played and then output it, but it is only one "instrument"? And all the old soundcards had slightly different instruments by the sound of it. Compared to modern sound cards which I think just decompress larger sound files, and can make any sound, and they all sound the same...

I tried researching it and got as far as ablib, which uses something like FM sythesis and square sounds before it got too complicated!

Why is that?

 

[hornetstinger]

Older soundcards use computer generated sfx, adlib, general midi etc, but modern games just use actual recorded audio, like CD ripped audio down to ogg.

But then you had soundcards like MPC-1 and Roland LAPC-1 that used sampled instrument sounds.