AdLib

This page is about the company and products named AdLib. See ad lib for information on the Latin phrase.

AdLib, Inc. was a manufacturer of sound cards and other computer equipment; AdLib was also the name of its main product. It was the first de facto standard for sound cards on IBM PCs and compatibles. AdLib used the Yamaha YM3812 sound chip from Yamaha Corporation.

The AdLib standard was unofficially extended by Creative Labs with the addition of a digital effects channel, subsequently branded as the Sound Blaster. Because the Adlib card used a standard Yamaha part, Creative along with other third party clone manufacturers of the period, found no difficulty in producing an Adlib compatible card, with full hardware compatibility.

Adlib were slow to respond, and instead of copying the updated 8-bit Soundblaster specification, or releasing an equivalent 8-bit refresh part, choose to spend time and money developing a wholly new proprietary 12-bit soundcard called the Adlib Gold. As the established brand name in the soundcard business, Adlib management were confident they could afford to do this.

While a handful of games were produced supporting the Gold, the Soundblaster range produced acceptable sound and voice effects for less money, and while technically inferior, also offered vastly superior software support. As a result, the Adlib Gold failed to deliver the revenues projected, and in an event that rivals the demise 3dfx for sheer surprise, Adlib went bankrupt.

As a result the clone maker Creative Labs went on to become the industry standard by default, and subsequently developed its own proprietary standards based upon the revenues its basic, but wildly succesful, Soundblaster product delivered.