Hey that's a good idea, I never thought about rapping something completely around the two cards (I only thought about the holes). I have some big zipties that may just work. Thanks 😀.

Oh, and btw, I just bought this card on Ebay after making an offer for a lot less than the seller was asking for:

http://www.recycledgoods.com/zoom.aspx?productID=32259

It's an Ensoniq Soundscape OPUS. I'm not really planning on using the ROM midi features of the board, just the Soundscape 16-bit digital capabilities. Am I correct in assuming this card won't need any TSRs or expandable memory manager? What kind of setup hassles will there be considering it's PnP? Thanks!

I had probs with the OPUS card because it offers a different port address range than the other Soundscape cards. You may have problems getting some games going because they may not allow u to choose the right port.

I remember needing to edit Crusader No Reget's config file manually to set the right port.

Well, if editing the config files is all that's required, i'm not that worried. I only have newer games anyways (1994+ onward). I'm just looking for a reliable card I can use for digital purposes, as I plan on using a Montego II+DB60XG for MIDI.

So far, the best ISA card i've used for digital effects is probably the AWE64, although I find the SBLive has better sound-to-noise ratio (but with some weird behavior in certain games). As of now, I plan on using the AWE64 as digital, unless this OPUS card has better sound-to-noise ratio.

gerwin wrote:

In my system the Vortex-2 is the mixer card, it has the best sigmatel 18-bit DAC. You can connect the lines with the jackplug co […]
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In my system the Vortex-2 is the mixer card, it has the best sigmatel 18-bit DAC. You can connect the lines with the jackplug connectors and sometimes with internal CD-audio style connectors. But just as important, you need a way to get the card to start mixing in pure Dos. By default it is just in an idle state. To enable mixing without interfering with another emulation driver:
1) Run au30dos to wake op the Vortex-2
2) Run vortex mixer to set the desired mixer volumes.
3) Run au30dos with the unload parameter.
4) Load the AudioPCI emulation driver.

There are other ways of mixing of course, like external mixers and S/PDIF connectors.

@Gerwin: I don't understand your steps. If you run au30dos to "wake up" the Vortex-2, then turn around and unload it from memory, you will no longer get sound from the card. Am I missing something here? I tried doing it, but I hear nothing when I select General Midi, Port 330 after I unload the AU30DOS TSR. It works fine when it's loaded though. Did you imply a missing Step 5) Reload au30dos?

Thanks

I will try to explain. In real Dos the Vortex-2 can be in three states:

1) Idle, no driver loaded after boot. The line out connector gives no sound regardless of any signals that are received by its line-in, aux-in etc...

2) Activated and emulating SBPro, the driver has been loaded after boot. The line out connector can be set to mix and output any signals that are received by its line-in, aux-in etc... But loading another PCI/ISA soundcard's Dos driver is bound to give you resource conflicts or even lockups.

3) Activated and NOT emulating SBPro, driver loaded and unloaded after boot. The line out connector can be set to mix and output any signals that are received by its line-in, aux-in etc... Loading another PCI/ISA soundcard's Dos driver will not give any resource conflicts.

You see in situation three the vortex card is just a simple sound mixing device, so one doesn't have to switch cables or use an external mixer box.
This trick is only useful when using multiple soundcards in one system.

@Gerwin,

Ah, so even if I didn't need the SBPro emulation, i'd still have to load (and keep it loaded) the au30dos.com TSR in order to utilize Vortex-2's as a daughterboard host? That's a shame, as the TSR is quite big at 23KB.

It wouldn't be a big deal if I could load it high, but some of my games don't cooperate well with UMBPCI and/or EMM386.