elianda wrote:

No you don't need RAM on the card. Though for using DirectSound in Win9x it is recommended. I just checked FM Playback here and […]
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No you don't need RAM on the card. Though for using DirectSound in Win9x it is recommended.
I just checked FM Playback here and it works. Maybe check your Mixer Settings.
With the ~8 kB Crystal Firmware
Daughterboard and FM Synth ist Mixer Synth, whereas Dream has no Slider.
I'am currently checking the original ~6.7 kB firmware.
(Maybe there is also a Crystal Firmware that fixes the EWS64s SB Pro Mute bug?!? needs also to be checked 😀 )

I'll check the mixer settings, thx

Do you have the missing stuff for the updated drivers?

So I tried to get some infos on this mess:

Crystal

Everything works fine as long as you don't use a very old version of the crystal init executable. Everything above version 1.5 should work.
You can see this if you start it with /o/f/v (override PnP, Force Firmware Upload, Verbose Mode) and check if the firmware was loaded successfully.
I found 3 versions of a firmware for the CS4236:
5230 Bytes, Version 25
This one does is not loaded by the initialisation exe.
6973 Bytes, Version 55
This is the one that comes with the MaxiSound software
8225 Bytes, Version 55
This one comes with the Hoontech Soundtrack 97 PnP. Interestingly it is of different size but same version.
Also the 8225 byte firmware for the crystal comes with the maxisounds NT4 driver.

If no firmware file is given it uses version 25. I don't know if this is already inside some ROM in the CS4236 or in the initialisation exe file (like cs4232c.exe or cwdinit.exe)
Interestingly it doesn't load the file with the version 25 firmware.
I couldn't find a difference between the functionality yet.

Dream:

There are at least 3 different firmwares that come already with software for the MaxiSound.

Version 1.2 from October 1996, that is 94pc4m1.bin with 40322 bytes size
With the first Win95 drivers comes Version 1.3 from 1997 with 40770 bytes.
Then with the DX5 update for Win95 and NT4 comes a driver from October 1998 with 33272 bytes.
This version is also used in the Win2K driver for the Home Studio Pro (the one with ESS codec chip)

These 3 versions work with 94dinit.exe

The Hoontech Soundtrack 97 firmware with 55702 bytes loads but the initialisation then fails (Can't go to UART mode)
Same applies to the EWS64s Dream firmware.

As for the Mixer (CS32MIX.EXE):
Yeah thats a pain really. The Dream has no slider. Wavetable Daughterboard uses FM/Synth and also FM Playback uses this slider.

elianda wrote:

So I tried to get some infos on this mess: […]
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So I tried to get some infos on this mess:

Crystal

Everything works fine as long as you don't use a very old version of the crystal init executable. Everything above version 1.5 should work.
You can see this if you start it with /o/f/v (override PnP, Force Firmware Upload, Verbose Mode) and check if the firmware was loaded successfully.
I found 3 versions of a firmware for the CS4236:
5230 Bytes, Version 25
This one does is not loaded by the initialisation exe.
6973 Bytes, Version 55
This is the one that comes with the MaxiSound software
8225 Bytes, Version 55
This one comes with the Hoontech Soundtrack 97 PnP. Interestingly it is of different size but same version.
Also the 8225 byte firmware for the crystal comes with the maxisounds NT4 driver.

If no firmware file is given it uses version 25. I don't know if this is already inside some ROM in the CS4236 or in the initialisation exe file (like cs4232c.exe or cwdinit.exe)
Interestingly it doesn't load the file with the version 25 firmware.
I couldn't find a difference between the functionality yet.

Dream:

There are at least 3 different firmwares that come already with software for the MaxiSound.

Version 1.2 from October 1996, that is 94pc4m1.bin with 40322 bytes size
With the first Win95 drivers comes Version 1.3 from 1997 with 40770 bytes.
Then with the DX5 update for Win95 and NT4 comes a driver from October 1998 with 33272 bytes.
This version is also used in the Win2K driver for the Home Studio Pro (the one with ESS codec chip)

These 3 versions work with 94dinit.exe

The Hoontech Soundtrack 97 firmware with 55702 bytes loads but the initialisation then fails (Can't go to UART mode)
Same applies to the EWS64s Dream firmware.

As for the Mixer (CS32MIX.EXE):
Yeah thats a pain really. The Dream has no slider. Wavetable Daughterboard uses FM/Synth and also FM Playback uses this slider.

The win96 drivers dorsn't install any DOS init stuff at all....
Did you use the things that came on the dospnp.zip archive to create your DOS init folder?

The only additional thing that comes with the dospnp.zip is the 94dinit.exe. Everything else comes also with the Win9x driver (crystal init and firmwares). The things I mentioned above as default MaxiSound64 files relate to the dospnp.zip.

The Win9x adds cs4232c.exe /A to the config.sys common block and this might a bit confusing in comparison to the simple PnP override done with /o in plain dos.

Some additional notes:
After a Hardware Reset and the first Dream Initialisation with 94dinit.exe some DOS Midiplayers complain on first start that they cannot reset the MPU-401 interface. After a second start it runs fine, I guess thats some remaining overhead from the DSP -> Uart Mode switching.
Games doesn't seem to be so sticky about this.

Anyone got a Soundfont loaded with 94init.exe ?

Trying everything so far, it appears to me that the NT4 driver is most stable.

Ok, have got FM, dig. sound and Dream Midi working now in DOS with both your composed drivers and the stuff from the dospnp.zip archive 😀
Only one problem....the midi is like 3 times higher than the rest from the card....so high that the sound gets distorted and flat
It doesn't seem that I can control the Dream midi output thru the mixer software...is there some built in amp I can disable that's causing it?

I also played around a bit more with my crystal sound card, Started out with Elianda's Windows 2000 Mpu-401 fix:
I could not get older dos "warm reboot" utilities to work properly, but using Grub4Dos I managed to start windows 2000 from the Dos prompt without a BIOS reboot.
So first I boot to Dos (with a minimal config.sys) and start CS4232C with parameter "/w" (or parameters "/A /N /CCS4232.INI"), then do a Grub restart to windows 2000. And amazingly the Daughterboard gave sound for the first time in Win2k. Thanks Elianda!
Now it comes at a cost: I cannot fully automate this boot sequence, I can hardly use my config.sys, and Windows startup time occasionally takes too long.
The official iusw301r.zip Windows ME driver for CS4236B, CS4237B & CS4238B does not even contain a dos initializer. I wonder if these later 'B' chips worked properly without the above 'unacceptable' hassle. The following quote gives a similar relation source "For Windows 2000/XP you need at least EWS64 L/XL/XXL Hardware Revision 1.2. The EWS64 Windows 2000 drivers are not supported for older revisions."

Concerning the crystal firmware, I think they did not change much in these files. I suspect the size differences of these files is caused by the inclusion/exclusion of certian cs423x chip variants.

Finally, two things that I found that may be of interest:
1) Programming documentation of crystal chips: Link
2) Crystal eeprom writer/reader I found in a v1.70 windows driver package, attached.

@Amigaz: Check the 'double' jumper thats close to the output connectors: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/maxisound.jpg
There is LINE above and SPEK below written. Setting them like on the picture disables the output amplifier (4W -> 1W).
If there is still massive clipping I don't know a solution for this. Try to check if it appears on the Crystal Input or later in the routing. And then try some mixer with more sliders as in Win9x or NT4.

@Gerwin: Nice that you could reproduce this, but below my solution for Win2K from the old days I wrote about the Hacked Win2K driver for the Dream. It is basically the HomeStudioPro (ESS+Dream) cars driver where the ESS part is removed. So leave the Crystal driver active in Win2K, remove the MPU-401 on the Dreams I/O and try to install http://ftp.guillemot.com/old%20sound/old%20ex … ystalDriver.exe
In this case don't initialize it in DOS before starting up Win2K (should appear as DSP then). If it works even the MaxiSound Utilities should work with the driver, also enabling EQ, Surround, Soundfont Management and so on.
I didn't tried this yet since I don't have anything more modern than NT4 on my retro rig with the MaxiSound card, so I would like to have some feedback if you get it running.

Unfortunately I have no sound card with a dream 9407 chip, so I cannot test that driver. The card I was working with only has a waveblaster header, besides that I have a dream 9233 on the Maestro 32/96, and a dream 9733 on a daughterboard.

What happens, if one uses the original Crystal init and its firmware on the EWS64XL? Has someone tried it? Could it harm the card?

I still wonder why there is the cwaudio.bin in the folder of the latest ews64 drivers, but not in the one of the original CD (ca. 1998).

Have there ever been win 3.11. drivers for this, or one of the other Dream based cards?

I tried to turn the codec off via the eeprom utility and load dsp only mixer setting in dos. It works and you get "crystal clear" synthie sound, but CD does not work (whereas my special EWS book says it should, at least in win98):
For the EWS the CD in is also for synth2 aka wavetable daughterboard.

I thought I saw somewhere that to get a daughterboard to give sound in DOS, you have to disable MIDI-1 on the EWS64XL. Has anyone tried this? My daughterboards are esconced elsewhere now, but maybe I can try another card doing MIDI sent through the EWS line-in, as that suffers the mute bug too.

elianda, my SC8500 card arrived today! 😀 Thanks very much for providing such excellent information and support files on this website!! 😁

The good news first:

Inside Windows 98, I test an old DOS game in a "DOS command prompt box". I hear both SB Pro effects, and also funky general midi tunes! 😀

The not quite so good news second:

There is a "yellow ! warning icon" inside Window98 control panel -> system -> Sound (etc) -> Maxi...MPU-401 & Waves

The bad news last:

Inside Windows 98 "pure DOS" mode, when I run the initm.bat batch file with this line in it:

94dinit2.exe F=gm94 S=4mg1 P=0x330

The screen displays this message:

no card?

Then, when I try and test an old DOS game, I do hear SB Pro effects, but the general midi music is completely silent. There is no error message, just silence.

Inside my config.sys file, I have this line:

device=c:\windows\cs4232c.exe /A

Inside my autoexec.bat file, I have this line:

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4

When "pure" DOS boots up, the Crystalware audio initialization utility states that it is version: V2.50 T1

Thanks very much if you can suggest anything which might solve some of the issues mentioned above! 😀

Well my guess on this is that there is an double initialisation problem.
Check if you use 94dinit.exe only in pure DOS after the PnP /o override by cs4232c.exe as that 0x330 is visible.

For Win98 the Dream driver should load the firmware and stuff. The /A is something like 'preparing for PnP-OS boot'. I think it somewhat frees ISA-PnP resources given by the BIOS (if it was set to PnP-OS : No).

For me removing the line device=c:\windows\cs4232c.exe /A worked. All in all it just messes up the PnP stuff and doesn't really help.

Changing the jumpers to remove the amplified output cured a bit og the clipping problem but it's still there which can be seen on this waveform from a recording I did

Going to try a game thru Windows and see what happens..

elianda wrote:

Well my guess on this is that there is an double initialisation problem. Check if you use 94dinit.exe only in pure DOS after the […]
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Well my guess on this is that there is an double initialisation problem.
Check if you use 94dinit.exe only in pure DOS after the PnP /o override by cs4232c.exe as that 0x330 is visible.

For Win98 the Dream driver should load the firmware and stuff. The /A is something like 'preparing for PnP-OS boot'. I think it somewhat frees ISA-PnP resources given by the BIOS (if it was set to PnP-OS : No).

For me removing the line device=c:\windows\cs4232c.exe /A worked. All in all it just messes up the PnP stuff and doesn't really help.

Solved! 😀 You were right! I edited the initm.bat file, and "remed out" the call to cwdinit.exe. Now, I get SB Pro & general midi tunes in "pure DOS" games.

The "yellow ! warning icon" inside Window98 control panel is still present, next to the "Maxi...MPU-401 & Waves" device, but this doesn't appear to interfere with DOS games played inside a "DOS command prompt box"

Thanks for the great posts inside this thread. 😁

In Windows I could limit the MIDI output to a level it doesn't clip much it all but in DOS the card is unusable right now...maybe that's why the Win9x driver doesn't put anything that inits the Dream in pure DOS 😉

Still some clipping can be heard here
http://sites.google.com/site/jivemaster2008/H … ?attredirects=0
I think it can't be heard if you don't use headphones

Recorded from within Windows95...the best I could do with fiddling with the mixer sliders

@retro games 100 / amigaz.
I cannot help with the dream synth config, but concerning the crystal chip:

- For Windows startup, to get the card working properly it think it needs to be set to flexible PNP mode, so you need cwdinit.exe or cs4232c.exe loaded with the '/w' or the '/a' parameter in your config.sys or autoexec.bat. '/a' differs from '/w' in that it also supports SBPro emulation.

- In windows 98 it works best to adjust the resource settings in the windows device manager. The MPU defaults to irq 9, but this is told to conflict with ACPI power management or with any 440bx mainboard for some reason... Other settings can be odd, check all of them and set them manually if necessary.

- For Dos it works best to run cwdinit.exe or cs4232c.exe with parameters '/o /ccs4232.ini' or '/o /cdream.ini', as to force user settings. After /c you put the name of the ini file with the desired resource settings (the ini file is a text file). Here you can use irq 9 without problems.
EDIT: I see now, Elianda's INITM.BAT should do just this for dos, and prepare the dream synth.

I also had a Midi clipping problem, using a DB50XG on a crystal based card:

Clipping - When playing midi files with winamp 2.95 the louder ones give crackles and pops. My other synths hardly have this issue. Now I managed to 'fix' this by letting the player send a certain 'sysex' command to the DB50XG lowering the master volume to about 85%. The player does this automatically before each song. (sysex 'F0 7F 7F 04 01 4F 4F F7' IIRC, 4F 4F are the new volumes, they range 00 to 7F)

Now the above is not much of a structural fix, I don't think I ever managed to fix it properly.

gerwin wrote:

@retro games 100 / amigaz. I cannot help with the dream synth config, but concerning the crystal chip: […]
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@retro games 100 / amigaz.
I cannot help with the dream synth config, but concerning the crystal chip:

- For Windows startup, to get the card working properly it think it needs to be set to flexible PNP mode, so you need cwdinit.exe or cs4232c.exe loaded with the '/w' or the '/a' parameter in your config.sys or autoexec.bat. '/a' differs from '/w' in that it also supports SBPro emulation.

- For Dos it works best to run cwdinit.exe or cs4232c.exe with parameters '/o /ccs4232.ini' or '/o /cdream.ini', as to force user settings. After /c you put the name of the ini file with the desired resource settings (the ini file is a text file). Here you can use irq 9 without problems.
EDIT: I see now, Elianda's INITM.BAT should do just this for dos, and prepare the dream synth.

Yes that's right. Still my guess is retro games 100 removed the /O line but still runs 94dinit prior starting up Windows. This could cause the trouble with the yellow '!'.
Be sure that you really split the configs for pure DOS
cs4232c.exe /o [...]
94dinit.exe [...]
and for windows
cs4232c.exe /A [..]
(and nothing else here)

Oh and make sure that the Dream is resetted to DSP mode when restarting between DOS and Win, I guess a warm boot is not enough after a 94dinit. Easy way to check this is, if it still plays MIDI after the Crystal only is initialized.
Hmm I wonder if I can exchange PnP ressources given by the Crystal to Dream and external wavetable board while a Midi Player is playing.
Hmm and what happens if I stick both to 330 at the same time...

Regarding the Clipping: I have the NEC XR 1:1 version of the Yamaha DB60XG on the MaxiSound and also noticed that it has too much power by default. Lowering the according Input of the Crystal (this is FM/Synth) from 15 to 12 helped. It is about the same volume as the Dream at this level and I didn't noticed cracks and pops yet. I didn't took the effort to measure it through completely yet though.

Thanks very much for the awesome info guys, I really appreciate it.

Now that you got the card running for a while, whats your overall impression?
I'am just asking because usually this card is quite unknown.

I think the card ROCKS! Do you know if this card was a commercial success? (It's a pity that Creative had such a stranglehold on the sound card market.)