CMI8738 woes in DOS \ VOGONS

CMI8738 woes in DOS

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First post, by chii_

Posted on 2012-08-10, 07:29

chii_ Offline

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Joined: 2012-08-04, 07:34

I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm using latest FreeDOS on a Dell Optiplex GX110, and I know PCI card audio in DOS is a pain but if you know that this will work better on MS DOS or DR DOS let me know.

I'm trying to get a CMI8738 card working. I have the DOS drivers for it, which all install fine but leave me with a PCI Audio Undetected error.

I turned off the serial/printer ports since I weren't using them and to reduce the number of IRQs left. I made sure everything was on different IRQs and I'm pretty positive it wasn't an IRQ conflict issue.

How much of a pain is it to get working? I'm fairly new to DOS (grew up on an apple ][), trying to use it with Scream Tracker for a project I was hired for.

I also have an ALS4000 and Ensoniq AudioPCI, but I won't get them for another day or two. It is my understanding though that the CMI8738 and ALS4000 have decent hardware FM simulation and I know the AudioPCI is total ass for FM simulation but that's for a different/unrleated MIDI project.

Reply 1 of 3, by Ace

Posted on 2012-08-10, 15:47

Ace Offline

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Posts: 529
Joined: 2010-10-16, 17:35
Location: Montreal, Canada

Don't bother with the CMI8738, it's a worthless piece of crap with DOS games. Even if you were to get the card working fine, it would still be a very crappy card. OPL3 typically works fine (and sounds like a real YMF262), but the SoundBlaster 16 support it advertises is almost 100% useless. I only got it working in Doom; in other games, either the SoundBlaster 16 support causes them to lock up, PCM audio doesn't work at all, PCM audio plays at double speed or just loops a small segment of a sound byte forever. Really not worth the trouble.

The ALS4000 would be a much better choice, but I'm not sure how well it will work on the Intel 810 chipset (though I did have great success with a Yamaha YMF724 on a PC running a Pentium 4, so it might be possible for the ALS4000 to work well on a motherboard with the Intel 810 chipset). Also, be sure to set up the card as follows:

Address 220
IRQ 7
DMA 1

This is the ideal setup for any sound card.

Honestly, though, if you can get a YMF724, YMF744 or YMF754 working on that computer, use that. Those have true OPL3 in them and very good SoundBlaster Pro support (and the audio quality is superior to either the CMI8738 or ALS4000).

Creator of The Many Sounds of:, a collection of various DOS games played using different sound cards.

Reply 2 of 3, by chii_

Posted on 2012-08-10, 21:01

chii_ Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: 2012-08-04, 07:34

Thanks for the response, I'll probably try grabbing one of those Yamaha cards anyway. I only paid like $1.50 for each of these on eBay.

But it shouldn't be an issue with FreeDOS or anything?

Reply 3 of 3, by Ace

Posted on 2012-08-10, 23:14

Ace Offline

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Posts: 529
Joined: 2010-10-16, 17:35
Location: Montreal, Canada

I don't see why it would. You shouldn't have a problem with that.

Creator of The Many Sounds of:, a collection of various DOS games played using different sound cards.

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