An
expansion board that enables a
computer to manipulate and
output sounds. Sound cards are necessary for nearly all
CD-ROMs and have become commonplace on modern
personal computers. Sound cards enable the computer to output sound through speakers connected to the
board, to record sound
input from a microphone connected to the computer, and manipulate sound
stored on a
disk.
Nearly all sound cards support MIDI, a standard for representing music electronically. In addition, most sound cards are Sound Blaster-compatible, which means that they can process commands written for a Sound Blaster card, the de facto standard for PC sound.
Sound cards use two basic methods to translate digital data into analog sounds:
