 Waveblaster II used a newer E-mu EMU8000 synthesis-engine (which later appeared in the AWE32).Some people believe that, despite using a smaller 2MB instrument ROM (vs 4MB of the original Waveblaster), the Waveblaster II delivered better renditions in most MIDI-scored games, likely due to what they feel is better sample refinement and balancing between instruments.While the original Waveblaster greatly improved upon the acoustic quality of the SB16's built-in FM-synthesis, the acoustic quality of its instrument-set was poorly regarded.