GuyTechie wrote:

clueless1 wrote:

I emailed you through the forum. Please reply to the address I gave you and I'll send the driver folder.

Thanks for taking your time to assist me with this, but the situation is the same. 🙁

That sucks, sorry man. Is there anything else you can disable, like SCSI or CD-ROM ports on the sound card?

Have you tried DIAGNOSE.EXE in your SB16 folder? Maybe try disabling/re-enabling MPU401 MIDI port while going through there and verify the 8/16 bit and synth music tests play normally.

archsan wrote:

GuyTechie wrote:

I don't think I would be able to pick out stray or hanging notes.

Don't worry, when it happens it will be quite obvious. Haven't checked but there may be some examples on youtube.

Surprisingly, I don't see a lot of video examples of hanging notes. One video came up when I searched for Sound Blaster hanging note:. https://youtu.be/KglBIcDUlMc

clueless1 wrote:

GuyTechie wrote:

clueless1 wrote:

I emailed you through the forum. Please reply to the address I gave you and I'll send the driver folder.

Thanks for taking your time to assist me with this, but the situation is the same. 🙁

That sucks, sorry man. Is there anything else you can disable, like SCSI or CD-ROM ports on the sound card?

Have you tried DIAGNOSE.EXE in your SB16 folder? Maybe try disabling/re-enabling MPU401 MIDI port while going through there and verify the 8/16 bit and synth music tests play normally.

Yeah, I tried the DIAGNOSE app.

If I am reading the jumpers correctly, all CDROM interfaces are disabled. I don't see it being detected in Windows, either.

I'll disable the MPU401 and test, then re-enable it and try again. Synth music is fine. It's only when I try to use the MPU401 interface even when the DB isn't installed. The next thing I''ll try is moving the SB16 to my Compaq Deskpro P650 EN.

I really hope it's not a bad card.

It's not a bad card, just a known issue with SB16's MPU-401 and some games, Duke3D and Tie Fighter are some examples. Nothing you can do except lowering the sample rate.

Acer Magic S30 ISA sound card - what's with this thing?

GuyTechie wrote:

Surprisingly, I don't see a lot of video examples of hanging notes. One video came up when I searched for Sound Blaster hanging note:. https://youtu.be/KglBIcDUlMc

Oh I edited my post around the same time you posted that. So.. if it doesn't sound like that, then hanging note may not be your problem.

Playing with 8-bit/16-bit mix rate and # of voices didn't seem to help much. Lowering the quality did - 22 KHz occasional stutter, 16 KHz almost gone, 11 KHz smooth.

So it sounds more like a timing or data throughput problem... that only happens in DOS and not in Windows?

badmojo wrote:

It's not a bad card, just a known issue with SB16's MPU-401 and some games, Duke3D and Tie Fighter are some examples. Nothing you can do except lowering the sample rate.

Acer Magic S30 ISA sound card - what's with this thing?

Or... you know... get a dedicated MPU-401 interface (or another soundcard with usable one).

badmojo wrote:

It's not a bad card, just a known issue with SB16's MPU-401 and some games, Duke3D and Tie Fighter are some examples. Nothing you can do except lowering the sample rate.

Acer Magic S30 ISA sound card - what's with this thing?

I didn't know this was an issue. I did a lot of research before coming to the conclusion the CT2230 was my best choice. Even though it was affected by the hanging note issue, it is "type 2" and rare. But I didn't read anything about stuttering and lock ups in games.

So far, the games I know have unplayable issues are MK, MK2, and Duke Nukem 3D. The MK games don't have the ability to lower the sampling rate like I can in Duke3D.

Just read the thread...makes me sick. 🙁. The Mobo only has a single ISA slot, so the PCM card will need to be PCI.

I have a SB AudioPCI 128 I guess I can pair it up to. How do I disable all PCM functionality on the SB16? And on the flip side for the AudioPCI (disable all FM synth and MIDI)?

Also more drivers to load, 🤣... Sigh.

Although the least of my problems now, but this card is super quiet in DOS, requires me to turn up the speaker volume to max. Then when I boot into Windows, my ears get blasted because I would forget to turn down the speaker volume! The DOS mixerset.exe is set to max values for master, voice, and FM...and also in the auto exec to recall user settings. In game, the volume setting is turned up high, too.

What is a good ISA sound card that's SB compatible and have a wavetable header? Inexpensive and easy to find in eBay, clean sound (less hiss).

PCM card will need to be PCI

How about keep using the SB16 for digital/PCM but add a PCI card with MPU-401 (and wavetable header) instead? A cheap vortex1 card should do I think.

Alternatively you can put an ISA riser card to get more ISA slots, and then add a Roland/MIDIman ISA MPU-401 card, but that may be a lot to spend.

Or if you want to keep to a single (ISA) card, might want to take a look at a Yamaha YMF719.

Are you using USB mouse and/or keyboard or connected your screen by DVI GuyTechie? I had some troubles in the past running USB mouse and keyboards in DOS. Got some PCI cards installed?

GuyTechie wrote:

What is a good ISA sound card that's SB compatible and have a wavetable header? Inexpensive and easy to find in eBay, clean sound (less hiss).

My vote is for the Audician 32 Plus. This is my main sound card. It is SB Pro 2 compatible, uses Yamaha OPL, no hanging note bug, MIDI header (which I use with a DreamBlaster S1), very quiet, no issues with volume that can't be adjusted for in the mixer program. It is a small card, but I believe the X1 works fine with it. Phil tested this in one of his reviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_L_1tvH1Ew

Currently going for around $20 with shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ISA-16bit-Sound-Card- … 7sAAOxyM89ScNRl

GuyTechie wrote:

gerwin wrote:

The SB16 MPU interface is probably causing these stutters.

Anything I can do to help without reducing the quality of the digital audio?

There is nothing you can really do to fix it.
All SB16 based cards up to the AWE64 Gold have this behaviour to some degree. In pure DOS when using Midi and SoundFX simultaneously some games are getting delays because of the soundcard. I know of these games that trigger the problem: Duke Nukem 3D (highest sound quality settings) and LucasArts X-Wing / TIE Fighter. I suppose a shared memory buffer inside the sound chip is rather small, and will give issues when too much data is coming in.

Kamerat wrote:

Are you using USB mouse and/or keyboard or connected your screen by DVI GuyTechie? I had some troubles in the past running USB mouse and keyboards in DOS. Got some PCI cards installed?

No USB devices. Screen is connected via VGA.

PCI cards? Yes, but first, my video card is an AGP nVidia GeForce FX 5200.

PCI - Pure3D VooDoo II
PCI - 3Com 10/100 NIC

Then of course the ISA SB16 CT2230 /w X1 wavetable DB

clueless1 wrote:

My vote is for the Audician 32 Plus. This is my main sound card. It is SB Pro 2 compatible, uses Yamaha OPL, no hanging note b […]
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My vote is for the Audician 32 Plus. This is my main sound card. It is SB Pro 2 compatible, uses Yamaha OPL, no hanging note bug, MIDI header (which I use with a DreamBlaster S1), very quiet, no issues with volume that can't be adjusted for in the mixer program. It is a small card, but I believe the X1 works fine with it. Phil tested this in one of his reviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_L_1tvH1Ew

Currently going for around $20 with shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ISA-16bit-Sound-Card- … 7sAAOxyM89ScNRl

The specs look good, and the price is relatively cheap, even with overseas shipping. Thanks, I just picked up 2.

I still can't believe one of the most popular 90s game is not compatible with one of the most popular 90s sound card. I guess the MPU401 was underutilized back in the day.

Good reference, clueless1! I thought Audician 32 Plus cards were based on YMF719 but it's probably similar to the 718-S.

@GuyTechie -- I forgot to mention that your board does have solder points for a SB-LINK header (for DMA compatibility using certain PCI soundcards) but an ISA YMF card is indeed the most practical solution.

Just beware the Audician is a tight fit with the DreamBlaster X1:
https://youtu.be/CEiooPiW2LQ?t=121
Phil says it will work but be overhanging slightly between ISA slots.

clueless1 wrote:

Just beware the Audician is a tight fit with the DreamBlaster X1:
https://youtu.be/CEiooPiW2LQ?t=121
Phil says it will work but be overhanging slightly between ISA slots.

I saw that video when I was researching for the Dreamblaster X1. Thanks for the heads up.

I'm at work right now so I don't have the board in front of me, but a nice hi-res photo shows no caps. However, I'm wondering if the PCI slot is too close for comfort. What do you think?

http://rog.asus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/1 … /ASUS-P3B-F.jpg

I also won't have the Yamaha card for a while - shipping from the UK to the US... so...

I'm coming here in at the end, and did quickly scan through the comments, so apologies if I misread something.

I noticed in your configuration files that your High DMA channel is set at 7.
Try setting your high DMA channel to 5, since there could be a conflict on DMA channel 7.
If that doesn't work, go into Diagnose and "tell" the program to also use the low DMA channel, usually channel 1, when you get to the High DMA channel screen.

I have noticed on my AWE32 CT3980 (which also has the CT1747 chip), that if you have the high DMA channel enabled, you get clicking and crackling noises when playing back digital sounds (either in DOS or Windows).
Not sure whether you experienced the same problem, but this might be related to the issue that you have.
So, by only using the low DMA channel might help (I seem to recall having this problem with Duke Nukem 3D as well and I think this is what I did to resolve the issue).

jesolo wrote:

I'm coming here in at the end, and did quickly scan through the comments, so apologies if I misread something. […]
Show full quote

I'm coming here in at the end, and did quickly scan through the comments, so apologies if I misread something.

I noticed in your configuration files that your High DMA channel is set at 7.
Try setting your high DMA channel to 5, since there could be a conflict on DMA channel 7.
If that doesn't work, go into Diagnose and "tell" the program to also use the low DMA channel, usually channel 1, when you get to the High DMA channel screen.

I have noticed on my AWE32 CT3980 (which also has the CT1747 chip), that if you have the high DMA channel enabled, you get clicking and crackling noises when playing back digital sounds (either in DOS or Windows).
Not sure whether you experienced the same problem, but this might be related to the issue that you have.
So, by only using the low DMA channel might help (I seem to recall having this problem with Duke Nukem 3D as well and I think this is what I did to resolve the issue).

By default, 5, 1, 5 is what was set normally, but Windows 98 SE used PnP to set it to 5, 1, 7.

I'll try the default 5, 1, 5 again. If that doesn't work, I'll try your 2nd suggestion of 5, 1, 1.

I'm at work right now, so I'll play around with those settings when I get back in a couple hours or so.

Thanks.

5, 1, 5 same behavior
5, 1, 1 I can't get to work... Duke 3D doesn't let me set the High DMA any lower than 5.

GuyTechie wrote:

5, 1, 5 same behavior
5, 1, 1 I can't get to work... Duke 3D doesn't let me set the High DMA any lower than 5.

You can manually edit duke3d.cfg to get DMA 1.

Kamerat wrote:

GuyTechie wrote:

5, 1, 5 same behavior
5, 1, 1 I can't get to work... Duke 3D doesn't let me set the High DMA any lower than 5.

You can manually edit duke3d.cfg to get DMA 1.

Thanks, but same behavior (stuttering). 🙁

Sorry to hear about your CT2230 issues. I too have mine sitting off to the side, now relegated to test builds because of issues like this. But not to fear, you're getting an Audician 32 Plus and they just plain work. They aren't as friendly to setup as a Creative card, but it's not difficult either. It's biggest drawback is height if you're gonna use the waveblaster header. No biggie, as you can slap together a cable that goes from the header to whatever DB you want to use. No soldering or special tools. A pair of side cutters and you're in business. It will take about two weeks (give or take a few days) to get your new Audician 32 Plus in the mail. I've got four of them the past couple years and it always takes that amount of time.

On a P3B running 98, I would suggest a Vortex 2 for a PCI soundcard. But as you already have a good GM daughter board with the X1, it really isn't necessary. It's a great sounding card, and fun for playing with earlier surround, but just one more thing to deal with. The Audician 32 Plus with good MIDI via DB and working uart 401 will give you access to all the bases as far as general compatibility is concerned. Any other cards and gear are just icing on the cake. Good luck with the new card and let us know what you think with some updates.