Re: Orpheus Soundcard: a new DOS soundcard with SPDIF/OPL3/MPU support

Posted on 2021-04-07, 11:47

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Got mine a few days ago, too. It's beautiful and definitely will find its place in my daily driver retro pc 🤩 Too much work right now but as soon as I have time I will install it and make some recordings for my channel.

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Re: Help identifying this ISA Opti sound card w/ Dream wavetable

Posted on 2021-03-20, 00:59

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

OptI 930 has integrated opl3 clone (OptiFM). You are probably thinking of the 931 model. Most OPTi 930 cards that I've come across use 1:1 OPL3 copies, which sound identical to the real thing. Additional info can be found here: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/opl3-copies/ Assuming that website is …

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Re: Is it worth it to build a 486 66 or 133 machine using VLB vs SOcket 7 with level 1 and 2 disabled?

Posted on 2021-03-16, 00:53

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by pc-sound-legacy

in DOS

in DOS

A Pentium class Socket 7 system will do fine. Every late DOS game will run fine on it. Every early and speed sensitive dos game will also work using setmul and/or slow down the system using an old isa vga card and/or underclocking the cpu. Other pros are: PnP Bios so easy setup of pnp isa soundcards …

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Re: Help identifying this ISA Opti sound card w/ Dream wavetable

Posted on 2021-03-16, 00:08

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

OptI 930 has integrated opl3 clone (OptiFM). But some cards with Dream wavetable also use the Dream FM-emulation (Terratec Maestro 32/96 as an example). You then will notice it because Dream-FM sounds different to opl3. The Dream 9233 is a solid wavetable with good rolandish sound, nothing wrong …

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Re: 486 BIOS Configuration Help!

Posted on 2021-03-13, 21:43

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

And I would disable memory parity check if you have "normal" ram installed. Parity check is kind of ECC option ram that is not very common. Good question, I am not completely sure about it. But to much bus speed may cause the hdd controller trouble so I would start with a low ratio and then …

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Re: 486 BIOS Configuration Help!

Posted on 2021-03-13, 21:39

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

And I would disable memory parity check if you have "normal" ram installed. Parity check is kind of ECC option ram that is not very common.

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Re: 486 BIOS Configuration Help!

Posted on 2021-03-13, 21:34

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If external cache is enabled but the system instable, try to add 1 waitstates at cache read cycle waitstates (and write as well). This can help if you have slow cache modules. Also try CLK2/4 for 8mhz ISA Bus Speed. Everything above that might overclock anything ISA related which also can lead to …

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Re: Orla Micro Partner General MIDI sound module

Posted on 2021-03-13, 20:57

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hello friends, I just bought an Orla MicroPartner module. (I will upload a video on my chanel soon) Have wrote an email to Dream and hope to get a datasheet or more technical information about the SAM9273M because there isn't anything to find. (Don't think they will give me the details but why not …

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Re: Cyrix Instead MK2 DOS Build **Photo Heavy**

Posted on 2021-03-10, 21:57

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

1: Awesome build and documentation! 2: nice to see there are other people who like cyrix cpu 3: ESS ISA card is great for DOS gaming and the S2 is an excellent upgrade But what I like the most is that you build a system out of budget parts. It is pretty much what I have had back then. Same CPU but I …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-03-08, 19:30

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hello friends, happy to finally got one of my beloved graphics card I had back then which seems to become rare (searched a few weeks for s good offer). It's the Radeon 9500 Pro! It was a very powerful card for fair money back then, and of course I did made it a 9700 somehow. I can't remember exactly …

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Re: Roland RA-50, RA-90 and RA-95 doubts about purchase or not

Posted on 2021-03-07, 23:56

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thanks to this thread, Cloudschatzes documentation and SmokeMonsters draft I successfully modded my RA-50! I am very happy that I came to a very cheap MT-32 this way. If you like to see the result, in this video I show some footage and the unit playing Gabriel Knight music here: https://youtu.be/ …

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Re: Candian soundcard oddity : Videoquip Dave-2000 (circa 1994?)

Posted on 2021-03-04, 02:29

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The connector looks like there also should be some kind of external equipment or breakout-box should be connected to. I can't see no FM Chip but the AD DSP, Dallas (clock chips?) And the one with the decal might be a microprocessor. The AD Soundport gives a hint that there is something going on with …

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Re: ESS Maestro 2E not working properly (Compaq Armada M700)

Posted on 2021-03-04, 01:47

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Hallo Patrick, erstmal Grüße aus der Wesermarsch:-) I would suggest to try if another dos game with red book audio (cd music). (Quake 1 or Tomb Raider as anxexample if you can get a copy). If it works it might be an issue with the game. If not, I think it could be possible that the audio is …

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Re: Sound cards - from best to worst

Posted on 2021-03-01, 17:19

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I would recommend a non-pnp / jumper controlled card for a 486 system. So the ES688 (dedicated OPL3) or ES1688 (ESFM) would be good choice if available. Why shouldn't I use PnP on mobo with PnP capable BIOS? If you have a pnp bios, pnp card is fine. ES1868f is fenerally good quality, easy setup and …

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Re: Quick/easy/dirty mod to make thin clients like Fujitsu Futro S220 or TECO TR3540 works with some soundcards !

Posted on 2021-02-28, 23:59

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thank you very much. Prez helped out alot as he figured out that the Futro doesn't have the required 12v pci support and how to fix it. I already noticed that the ESS Solo has a wavetable connector. I found a dream blaster s2 daughterboard at https://www.serdashop.com/waveblaster It says it is …

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Re: Realtek's VXD drivers are not nearly as bad as expected!

Posted on 2021-02-28, 23:46

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Yes - For me I prefere VXD drivers over WDM in case of legacy support. (I think of ALS4000 or ESS Solo-1 but I'm pretty sure this belongs to others as well) So If DOS gaming in Windows 9x is important for you, choose older VXD drivers instead.

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Re: Sound cards - from best to worst

Posted on 2021-02-28, 23:37

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I don't really see any major compelling reason to get an ES1879 if you've already got an ES1868. I'm building second 486 box so it needs some sort of soundcard. I found ES1879 not far from my place and slightly cheaper than ES1868's on the market. But I'm suffering of driver problems on Win'95. :( …

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Re: Best and worst sound cards you have ever owned?

Posted on 2021-02-28, 23:26

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I don't think there's THE best card. But I definitely would be aware of these late 90s OPTi 930/931 and ALS120+ cards with even no line out configuration as at least mine are very noisy. (They have this small pcb with the gameport connected by flatbed-cable)

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Re: Poor Q3 Arena performance on Pentium III 550MHz ?

Posted on 2021-02-15, 17:58

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

As the Mx440 is limited to 60fps in every resolution, I think it must be vsync or another setting. As you turn of vsync everywhere, I would change the refresh rate to 75hz and see if this affects your benchmarks to be sure.

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Re: Kawai GMEGA - Broken display?

Posted on 2021-02-15, 17:50

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by pc-sound-legacy

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have a GMega and it has this Display-issue, too.

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