JazeFox wrote on 2022-12-21, 19:56:

Hi all! […]
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Hi all!

Time for a xmas release! 😀

Tool updated to v0.80a

Changelog:

• Fixed support for Compaq Interwave / STB Ultrasound 32 Pro (GUS PnP compatible card): Added proper initialization of TEA6330T sound control chip. Now sound output is working properly and control for treble and bass is added (/VTxx /VBxx) if your card has this chip. Default value: 50%
• Fixed GUS PnP input levels not muting completely when using /Vx00
• Fixed ALS100 mixer init bug introduced in v0.78b. All levels are working now.
• Added support for OPTi 82C924 PnP chip based cards.
• Added support for Analog Devices AD1812 PnP chip based cards.
• Added 3D control support for OPTi 82c933 cards. 3D ON = /X3D1
• Fixed Wavetable volume not changing with /VF when SPDIF mode was enabled on Orpheus / TB Malibu cards.
  (Note: some games/apps messing with SB mixer registers 00h, 06h, 26h, might reset levels again)
• Fixed an old bug that assigned a 2nd DMA on cards that don't support it.
• Minor changes to char printing in detection phase to fix issues with 4DOS and other minor code and text optimizations.
• Fixed /D used together with other options caused unexpected results.
• Added WSS mode support for Aztech 2320 cards. Use /XWSS to change to WSS mode. Default is SB mode.
  Note: WSS and SB modes are mutually exclusive.
• Change: Unified command line option for cards with capability to switch between WSS and SB modes: /XWSS (Previously was /XPW1 for OPTi cards) to swith to WSS mode. Default is SB mode if /XWSS switch is not used.
  Check supported cards in TXT section 5.1.3
• New: *EXPERIMENTAL* Non-PnP card detection mode for very very few cards:
  * OAK OTI-601 "Mozart" / OPTi 82c928/A chips (almost the same chip)
  * OPTi 82C924 and 82C925 in "no PnP" mode
  * ESS ES1688. Configurable: IRQ, DMA, MPU port, MPU IRQ, joyport.
  * ESS ES688. Configurable: IRQ, DMA.
  * Creative Sound Blaster 16 / AWE32 Non-PnP jumperless cards (already supported but listed here for completeness). /CS will continue working as usual for backward compatibility for these cards.
  Option to try this new non-PnP card initialization: /NOPNP
  NOTE: As it's experimental, please plug only one Non-PnP sound card in the system to avoid problems and false positives. Support for more Non-PnP cards is not planned in any way in the near future, so please don't ask.
  
  NOTES:
  
  - For OPTi 924/925 non-PnP cards, you'll see "PnP card found" text at detection phase. It's OK.
  - For Orpheus / Malibu wavetable volume in SPDIF mode: A lot of games and programs modify SB mixer registers, when they modify 06h or 26h (FM related registers) to any value or a reset (in reg 00h), the wavetable volume is reset to Crystal's defaults. An idea to avoid that could be the MIDIto tool found here in Vogons, as it's a TSR (and UNISOUND is not) and could monitor those writes and block them. Maybe the author is interested in adding that feature.
  - For OAK "Mozart" / OPTi 82C928 chips: Those chips have very bad compatibility with games and programs. Sometimes it's needed to re-initialize the card after running some games/programs (it's a chip's SB emulation issue, the same problem happens with original drivers). SB mode digital audio is mono only. FM/OPL3 and WSS mode can be used in stereo.

The download link is updated at the end of the first post as usual:
UNISOUND - Universal ISA PnP Sound Card Driver for DOS v0.81b

Wow nice update! Plan to test ESS ES1688 later this week (Acer Sertek Inc Sound Card S521) to see if it works. Unisound is really fantastic.

Just wanted to say thanks for this program. I've been hearing about it for a while and usually like to use the 'proper' drivers for things when I can, but it has saved me a lot of hassle while using an unbranded AD Chips based card I've never used before (CMI8329A chipset) and it works perfectly. Legend.

This is pretty cool, we're working on a DOS Game Jam Demo Disc, and this is something that might be good to put on the disc as well.

Is it OK to put the latest build of UNISOUND onto the DOS Game Jam Demo Disc?

alec_v wrote on 2023-02-06, 17:10:

Did anyone try to attach a CD-ROM to the PnP IDE interface on the sondcard (initialized with Unisound) ? […]
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Did anyone try to attach a CD-ROM to the PnP IDE interface on the sondcard (initialized with Unisound) ?

I have an issue with the ESS1868 cards. However, the Сrystal CX4237 card works fine (with the same software and CD-ROM).

1) Working card: Сrystal CX4237, CD-ROM DRIVE, UNISOND, DEVLOAD, VIDE-CDD.SYS 2.14, MSCDEX

2) Non-workng cards: ESS1868 (all cards give the same effect),CD-ROM DRIVE, UNISOND, DEVLOAD, VIDE-CDD.SYS 2.14

(I've made a long image since forum won't attach more then 5 files)

Your mixed settings are saying CD and Line-in volumes are at 0… Had the same problem and it took some time to figure it out.

Hi. UNISOUND 0.80a not only fails to enable the audio from the onboard MIDI synthesizer of the OPTi931 sound cards that have an onboard wavetable chipset of some sort but disables it if UNISOUND is run after the original drivers (SNDINIT).

Great work!
I can't help myself imagining if that would have existed in 1993 😉

Wow this software is incredibly useful. Had no idea it supported the the GUS pnp, which kind of caused me some headache when I inserted a second non PNP SB 16 and all unisound did was to reinitiate the GUS. Realizing it was an RTFM moment, I rectified this and my computer now has two working sound cards ... and my autoexec.bat and config.sys no longer are 15 mbyte each. 😀

I'm using Unisound to initialize my CT4170 but I don't hear the music on the CD when I play Rayman. Is this expected?

vico wrote on 2023-10-03, 03:54:

I'm using Unisound to initialize my CT4170 but I don't hear the music on the CD when I play Rayman. Is this expected?

Is your CD audio cable connected to the sound card? If yes, take a look at the mixer and volume levels. May be your aux channel volume is turned down to 0.

vico wrote on 2023-10-03, 03:54:

I'm using Unisound to initialize my CT4170 but I don't hear the music on the CD when I play Rayman. Is this expected?

No.

Similar to what scorp said: In DOS, you need a cable between the CD drive and sound card. If you already have it set, ensure that the CD volume isn't set to 0 (which is the default value) in the mixer.

You are right, by running UNISOUND.COM /VC70 I can now listen to Rayman's music CD. Thank you.

Is there any plan on implementing MPU functionality to the GUS PNP?

Just wanted to say thanks for doing this. I received a 486 DX2-50 with a CT2950 but no matter what I tried the system wouldn't see it on Creative's drivers/CTCU. With Unisound it just worked.

I've been using and enjoying Unisound for some time, but I discovered an interesting weirdness with 86box. With (at least) 86box v4.0.1 (and the latest beta), and Unisound v0.80a, when I attach a joystick to an emulated card (tried SB16, SB16 PnP, and Crystal CS4236B), Unisound stops detecting the sound card, and comes up with this:

When I remove the mouse, I get what I expect:

I've opened a bug on the 86box GitHub, as well, but I'd love any suggestions from JazeFox, or anyone else here.
https://github.com/86Box/86Box/issues/3778

Thanks!
- Alex

FYI, the 86box folks confirmed that what is happening is that Unisound is picking up the standalone game controller instead of the sound card.

@JazeFox, any suggestions?

- Alex

Hi guys!

This is being a very hard year for my family and for me. You know, real life stuff. So, I haven't been around much lately. Sorry.

I guess a bugfix version could be ready later this year for some known bugs alredy noticed here thanks to the reports, if time permits.

Some answers to some of the questions here (not for all, as I don't have much time for the hobby lately, sorry!!):

ajacocks wrote:

ve been using and enjoying Unisound for some time, but I discovered an interesting weirdness with 86box.....
....
FYI, the 86box folks confirmed that what is happening is that Unisound is picking up the standalone game controller instead of the sound card.

Hi! Well, not a bug. It's working as intended. As I can see from your screenshots, the emulated game controller is a PnP device, and the SB16 is not, so when you "plug" the game controller, it is the only PnP device availabe and UNISOUND detects it. As it's not a known PnP device for UNISOUND, it aborts initialization.

The thing is, that by default, UNISOUND (without command line options) once the PnP device detection is finished and no PnP devices are found, it tries to find Creative "semi-PnP" (well, in fact, non-PnP but Creative soft-configurable sound cards), and, if it finds one, it initalizes it. That is what you see in your 2nd screenshot (note that it shows "No PnP card detected" before it detects the non-PnP SB16). When you "plug" the game controller, it stops searching for non-PnP Creatives.

If both the game controller and the sound card were PnP you should see 2 cards using UNISOUND /CL and then you can select which one to initialize with /Cx

If you want to initialize a non-PnP SB16 card (your case) skipping any PnP device, the correct way now is to do it with: UNISOUND /NOPNP

As usual, I recommend reading UNISOUND.TXT to check all the available options.

Anyway, this is important: UNISOUND was created to work with *real hardware only*, not with emulators (Every chip has its own quirks and adjustments), so I want to make it clear that I don't give support for UNISOUND under emulation environments.

joakim wrote:

Is there any plan on implementing MPU functionality to the GUS PNP?

No, because AFAIK checking the documentation, even though the InterWave has MPU capabilities (not directly usable via MIDI Port without TSRs), part of the real-time register translation is done in software via MegaEM TSR software. UNISOUND is not (and it will never be) a TSR and is not intended for feature emulation.

retrodevices wrote:

Hi. UNISOUND 0.80a not only fails to enable the audio from the onboard MIDI synthesizer of the OPTi931 sound cards that have an onboard wavetable chipset of some sort but disables it if UNISOUND is run after the original drivers (SNDINIT).

Thanks. This is known and it is fixed for the next version.

@thp already sent PM. It's OK

And as always, thank you all for your kind words in the forum!
Cheers!

Take it easy @JazeFox we appreciate everything 😀

csal wrote on 2022-11-17, 06:22:

I'm using an Aztech AT6800W with an AZT2320 chipset and there's a weird issue with Quake 1.06 outputting mono(even though it thinks it's outputting stereo according to the soundinfo console command) and Quake 1.08 outputting reversed stereo. Not sure if it's a problem with unisound or a problem with this soundcard incorrectly reversing stereo when it detects an extra byte before the PCM stream as suggested here: Re: SBPro1 CT1330A owners, care to help figuring things out?

But if it's a problem with the card then I humbly request adding a stereo reversing option to unisound so it can fix games with reversed stereo by reversing the reversal

I would very much like to see this feature as well. 👍 Some games have reversed stereo and no way of switching it. Terminal Velocity is a great example. I’d imagine running the game through a .bat file with a unisound command before and after the game executable to reverse the stereo sound and then switch back again when the game closes.

I think I'm able to use Unisound but apparently I have to start over. I actually wanted to set up a setup with two sound cards, but nothing works.
Why is my CT2910 not recognized by Unisound? (<-2 card setup) Only with the /nopnp option. The other card, a Terratec Promedia with AD1816AJS chip, is recognized but cannot be configured. The default values ​​are always loaded. But they only partially work. Music works, but no effects. I can only get the card to work with its regular DOS driver. The biggest success so far was that somehow both cards were recognized with /C1 and /CS. And the resources A240 for the Terratec and A220 for the SB16 were also set. Unfortunately all other resources were at 0. I wanted the Terratec card as a general midi carrier. Do you have any ideas about this? Thanks.

Edit: Ok, the Terratec card doesn`t word with Unisound? No problem. one of my other sound card is working. First time two sound cards at the the time, and bug free MIDI.
Great success! 😉

Another happy user of Unisound here! I started to build a 1997'ish computer that would run pure DOS. Decided to use Creative AWE64 Value with it. Could not make any original driver work for in-game or MIDI music. Digital sounds worked fine with AWE64's CTCM drivers. Finally tried Unisound and - boom - instant success. Could play back MIDIs with DOSMid and at least in Panzer General the game music worked just fine.