As far as AudioPCI or Live cards, the 1370 chip and it's brothers has one big advantage for sound quality. The DAC is clocked at 44.1khz, so there's no internal sample conversion to wreck redbook audio. The 1371 and up was clocked at 48khz, presumably to align with DVD audio tracks.

gdjacobs wrote:

The fully integrated Vibra cards also usually have DSP 4.16.

Do you have a source where's your statement is described/ referenced? Well, i've found this on a german retro homepage (http://www.amoretro.de/guides-workshops/creat … r-modellnummern), who test's also a lot and sell's on ebay:

Here are the comments also for the Vibra's and other creative's:

CT1320C – Sound Blaster 1.5, OPL2, ab Werk ohne CMS-Chips
CT1350B Sound Blaster 2.0, OPL2, ab Werk ohne CMS-Chips, benötigt für CMS zusätzlich programmierten GAL-Chip
CT1600 Sound Blaster Pro 2.0, OPL3, sehr geringes Grundrauschen,die begehrte Standardkarte für SB-Pro, SB+AdLib Spiele
CT1740 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3,DSP 4.05,WTH ohne Hanging Notes Bug,IDE CD,Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT1750 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3,DSP 4.05,WTH ohne Hanging Notes Bug,mehr Rauschen als CT1740, Multi CD,mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT1920 Sound Blaster AWE32 Upgrade,EMU8000,1MB ROM,max.28MB RAM,Goldfinch Connector,sehr selten auch mit Line-Out und SPDIF, OEM Karte
CT2230 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3 (CT1747), DSP 4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, Multi CD, Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT2290 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3 (CT1747), DSP 4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, IDE CD, Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT2740 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3 (CT1747), DSP 4.12-4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, IDE CD, Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT2760 Sound Blaster AWE32, EMU8000 Synth,1MB ROM,max. 28MB RAM,OPL3+DAC CL CT1747,DSP 4.13,WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug,Multi CD
CT2890 Sound Blaster 16 VibraS, PnP, org. OPL3,CT1705 DCQ, CT2504 TCQ, DSP 4.13, WTH (Hanging Notes Bug), IDE CD
CT2940 Sound Blaster 16 Vibra Pro, PnP, kein OPL3, FM via CT2502 SDQ, DSP 4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, mit/ohne IDE CD
CT2940 Sound Blaster 16 Vibra Pro, PnP, mit OPL3 Low Power Version + DAC, ansonsten genau wie der andere CT2940
CT2950 Sound Blaster 16, PnP, kein OPL3, FM via CT1749 DCQ, DSP 4.13, WTH (Hanging Notes Bug), mit IDE CD
CT2960 Sound Blaster 16, Vibra16C, PnP, kein OPL3, FM via CT2505 TDQ2,DSP 4.13,WTH (Hanging Notes Bug),kein CD Interface
CT3600 Sound Blaster 32, PnP, EMU8000 Synth, 1MB ROM, max.8MB RAM, kein OPL3, FM via CT2502 SDQ, DSP 4.13, kein WTH, IDE CD
CT4170 Sound Blaster 16 WavEffects, Vibra 16XV,kein OPL3, FM via CT2511 SBT, DSP 4.13, Hanging Notes Bug, kein WTH, ohne CD Interf.
CT4180 Sound Blaster Vibra 16,kein OPL3, FM via CT2505 TDQ2, DSP 4.13, Hanging Notes Bug, kein WT-Header, ohne CD Interf.
CT4390 Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold,EMU8000,1MB ROM,4MB RAM(max.28),kein OPL3,FM via CT8903 DAQ,DSP 4.16,kein HN-Bug,ohne WTH,ohne CD Interf.
CT4500 Sound Blaster AWE64,EMU8000,1MB ROM,512K RAM,max.28MB,kein OPL3,FM via CT8903 DAQ,DSP 4.16,kein HN-Bug,ohne WTH,ohne CD Interf.
CT4520 Sound Blaster AWE64,EMU8000,1MB ROM,512K RAM,max.28MB,kein OPL3,FM via CT8920 NBQ,DSP 4.16,kein HN-Bug,ohne WTH,ohne CD Interf

When these info's are true, then you have definitely only the two' SB16 with DSP4.05 and only the AWE's 64.

gdjacobs wrote:

As far as AudioPCI or Live cards, the 1370 chip and it's brothers has one big advantage for sound quality. The DAC is clocked at 44.1khz, so there's no internal sample conversion to wreck redbook audio. The 1371 and up was clocked at 48khz, presumably to align with DVD audio tracks.

The downside is ES1370 plays incorrect pitch on sample rates other than 11/22/44khz. Some drivers will have Windows resample in software automatically to prevent this.

ES1373 does have SRC. I don't remember exactly what ES1371 does.

melbar wrote:

Do you have a source where's your statement is described/ referenced? Well, i've found this on a german retro homepage (http://w […]
Show full quote

gdjacobs wrote:

The fully integrated Vibra cards also usually have DSP 4.16.

Do you have a source where's your statement is described/ referenced? Well, i've found this on a german retro homepage (http://www.amoretro.de/guides-workshops/creat … r-modellnummern), who test's also a lot and sell's on ebay:

Here are the comments also for the Vibra's and other creative's:

CT1320C – Sound Blaster 1.5, OPL2, ab Werk ohne CMS-Chips
CT1350B Sound Blaster 2.0, OPL2, ab Werk ohne CMS-Chips, benötigt für CMS zusätzlich programmierten GAL-Chip
CT1600 Sound Blaster Pro 2.0, OPL3, sehr geringes Grundrauschen,die begehrte Standardkarte für SB-Pro, SB+AdLib Spiele
CT1740 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3,DSP 4.05,WTH ohne Hanging Notes Bug,IDE CD,Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT1750 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3,DSP 4.05,WTH ohne Hanging Notes Bug,mehr Rauschen als CT1740, Multi CD,mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT1920 Sound Blaster AWE32 Upgrade,EMU8000,1MB ROM,max.28MB RAM,Goldfinch Connector,sehr selten auch mit Line-Out und SPDIF, OEM Karte
CT2230 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3 (CT1747), DSP 4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, Multi CD, Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT2290 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3 (CT1747), DSP 4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, IDE CD, Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT2740 Sound Blaster 16, OPL3 (CT1747), DSP 4.12-4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, IDE CD, Versionen mit/ohne ASP-Chip
CT2760 Sound Blaster AWE32, EMU8000 Synth,1MB ROM,max. 28MB RAM,OPL3+DAC CL CT1747,DSP 4.13,WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug,Multi CD
CT2890 Sound Blaster 16 VibraS, PnP, org. OPL3,CT1705 DCQ, CT2504 TCQ, DSP 4.13, WTH (Hanging Notes Bug), IDE CD
CT2940 Sound Blaster 16 Vibra Pro, PnP, kein OPL3, FM via CT2502 SDQ, DSP 4.13, WTH mit Hanging Notes Bug, mit/ohne IDE CD
CT2940 Sound Blaster 16 Vibra Pro, PnP, mit OPL3 Low Power Version + DAC, ansonsten genau wie der andere CT2940
CT2950 Sound Blaster 16, PnP, kein OPL3, FM via CT1749 DCQ, DSP 4.13, WTH (Hanging Notes Bug), mit IDE CD
CT2960 Sound Blaster 16, Vibra16C, PnP, kein OPL3, FM via CT2505 TDQ2,DSP 4.13,WTH (Hanging Notes Bug),kein CD Interface
CT3600 Sound Blaster 32, PnP, EMU8000 Synth, 1MB ROM, max.8MB RAM, kein OPL3, FM via CT2502 SDQ, DSP 4.13, kein WTH, IDE CD
CT4170 Sound Blaster 16 WavEffects, Vibra 16XV,kein OPL3, FM via CT2511 SBT, DSP 4.13, Hanging Notes Bug, kein WTH, ohne CD Interf.
CT4180 Sound Blaster Vibra 16,kein OPL3, FM via CT2505 TDQ2, DSP 4.13, Hanging Notes Bug, kein WT-Header, ohne CD Interf.
CT4390 Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold,EMU8000,1MB ROM,4MB RAM(max.28),kein OPL3,FM via CT8903 DAQ,DSP 4.16,kein HN-Bug,ohne WTH,ohne CD Interf.
CT4500 Sound Blaster AWE64,EMU8000,1MB ROM,512K RAM,max.28MB,kein OPL3,FM via CT8903 DAQ,DSP 4.16,kein HN-Bug,ohne WTH,ohne CD Interf.
CT4520 Sound Blaster AWE64,EMU8000,1MB ROM,512K RAM,max.28MB,kein OPL3,FM via CT8920 NBQ,DSP 4.16,kein HN-Bug,ohne WTH,ohne CD Interf

When these info's are true, then you have definitely only the two' SB16 with DSP4.05 and only the AWE's 64.

We've got a discrepancy there. I'll try testing with my CT2505 based card. As per the Great Hierophant, the CT2505 and CT2511 chips are DSP 4.16.
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.ca/2012/07/so … ibulations.html

Ok,that means with CT2505 and CT2511, you mean the creative models CT4170 and CT4180. They have the Vibra 16C and 16VX chip.
They're made in 1997, like the AWE64, that is traceable to have the 4.16 on these cards. Nevertheless, the most SB16 cards, mainly from 1993 to 1996 are with DSP's 4.11-4.13. But thanks for this info.

(http://www.pc-schnulli.de/hardw/skisa/crskisa.html)
(http://computer-retro.de/Soundkarten.html)

Absolutely, hence the great Creative Labs conundrum: Waveblaster header, audio quality, or no hanging note bug. Pick any two (at most).

Now i have running the ASOUND Gold ISA soundcard (nearly equvivalent to Avance Logic ALS100 Plus+ PnP) in my K6-2 system (see also picture at the last page).
I've installed several games and have tested them. Adlib compatibility, soundblaster compatibility, soundblaster Pro compatibility, soundblaster 16 compatibility, everything works great.

I know that FM synth sounds (OPL2/3 compatible) are worse with this card. Previously i've planned to buy a soundblaster AWE64, cause it's DSP4.16 and the MPU-401 UART interface to connect a external midi device.
But now i've installed the ALS100+ Soundcard with all drivers, including MPU-401 interface. The question is now, it is really necessary to buy the SB AWE64, even it has no full stereo SB Pro support whereas the avance card has it. And i think when i connect the ASOUND with a Roland MT-32 or with a PC running MUNT, i will hear no difference, or not?

Late DOS games, for exapmle Elite First Encounters which i've testet, have also direct support for the AWE32 card, so the AWE64 can support also this.

Edit:
One big further advantage of my avance card is: it has a wavetable connector, so i'm more flexible compared to the AWE64.. ?!

Hello, just registered, and want to give some information on using a AudioPCI with Windows XP.

Recently I picked up a Creative Labs AudioPCI (1370 chip), because I was looking for a really cheap sound card to replace the awful AC'97 on-board sound in my Dell Dimension 4200 and already own a Ensoniq 1370 card that's in my retro gaming PC (A PII 266 MHz from Gateway). After installing the card and the drivers, I discovered that the drivers included with Windows XP Home SP3 apparently lack Wavetable support; there's no option to select the waveset (wavesets are also not included with the driver) and I can only choose to use MT-32 or Microsoft's GS Wavetable SW Synth softsynths.

So my questions now are as follows: can I use the Windows 2000 driver, which apparently does support the wavesets, under Windows XP? And is there a non-dodgy site where I can find this driver (Creative's site unfortunately lacks it)?

I'm not sure about if the 2K drivers work in XP but you can find drivers at
https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid … menustate=42,35

Could anyone be so kind as to save me a few moments and tell me if this Ensoniq/Creative AudioPCI working in Windows 3.xx was mentioned in this thread or not?
I'm new here and am looking to get a PCI sound card for Windows 3.xx.
Currently have SB Live! running in dos emulation successfully... but I'll buy whatever PCI sound card needed to work in both Dos and Win3.xx

The AudioPCI works in Windows 3.x, just use the Windows 3.x Soundblaster Driver and Adlib Driver.

You have to load DOS Driver ^^

I see a few Win 3.1 driver packages on a random site here:
http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/drivers/64/64493.htm
http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/drivers/32/32638.htm
http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/drivers/64/64930.htm

I would probably run them through a virus scanner first.

Hornpipe2 wrote:

There are three main chips which power this card set. The theory of operation is similar between them. ES1370: Hardware-based M […]
Show full quote

There are three main chips which power this card set. The theory of operation is similar between them.
ES1370: Hardware-based MIDI synth using wavetable from system RAM. Hardware OPL-3 emulation which fakes (badly) AdLib compatibility using wavetable. Hardware-based SoundBlaster emulation which traps requests on the SoundBlaster port and forwards appropriately. CODEC chip implementing HK4531, output at 44.1khz.
ES1371: Same as ES1370, except CODEC chip implements AC'97 instead, output at 48khz.
ES1373: Just like an ES1371, with the addition of switchable S/PDIF output instead of I2S In.

I know little about ES1370 and have no cards with this chip. Let's start instead with a datasheet for the ES1373, the most recent chip powering AudioPCI.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/datasheets/es1373.pdf

Here are specs from Creative for an "AudioPCI 128", with my notes in BOLD of how this is actually accomplished.

Digitized Sounds
• Sound Blaster 16 compatible uses LEGACY block to trap SoundBlaster IRQ calls and translate to... ???)
• AC97 CODEC supporting stereo sampling 48kHz (Fixed); Multiple sample rate support 48khz is the ultimate output frequency. There is an on-board sample-rate-converter which can translate lower-rate sources to the proper output value. The driver should set the proper registers and the conversion is thus handled automatically
• Recording source: microphone, stereo line-in, CD-audio, video, modem, or multiple source recording Multiple-source means "any combination of the previous". The backplate of the card has plugs for microphone and stereo line-in - all others are headers soldered to the card for internal PC connection. I2S should also be a recording source as well, but is not mentioned on this card specs.
• PCI Bus Master for fast DMA you can enable or disable this if you like
• Up to 128 simultaneous voice polyphony Talking about MIDI polyphony here.
• Full genuine DOS Game Compatibility ...using a TSR, but we all know how this works.
• 3 stereo inputs and 2 mono inputs can be mixed into the output stream see above: "stereo" inputs = line-in, CD-audio, video. Mono inputs = microphone, modem header. No mention of I2S again.
• Direct I/O space access of the control registers true
• 100 Pin PQFP or TQFP A funny thing to specify on the box! This is just the size of the chip, nothing more.
• External S/PDIF Connector ...depending on card and if your manufacturer opted for its inclusion, but yes, this functionality is on the chip along with a few control registers to set the parameters.
• Fully Compliant with PC99 Power Management specification No clue if the driver actually uses this for anything, but parts of the chip can be put into power-save mode and cut a few mW.

Synthesized Music
• 128 Voice WaveTable Synthesizer This is the interesting bit for me, and it appears that the chip DOES actually have an on-board MIDI wavetable synth. The waveset must be loaded to RAM somewhere and the location passed in. No idea in what format the bank should be loaded so that the synth can actually use it.

Communications Interface
Telephone Answering Device (TAD) Interface
• Telephone Answering Device for modem connection. Allows a single microphone and stereo speaker set to be used for both voice modem and sound card audio applications (message recording and playback, speakerphone, etc.) Links your modem to a header on the soundcard, such that you can use one of those dialer programs to use the modem like a phone handset.

Audio Mixer
• Output mixing of all audio sources: Digitized sounds, synthesized music, line-in, CD-audio, TV tuner, microphone. Indeed! Each source can be individually switched on/off as being routed back to the output channels. Hardware monitoring with a latency of 1 sample, instead of asking the PC to do it.
• Input mixing sources: Synthesized music, microphone, Aux-in, CD audio. BUT - thre is only one stereo ADC channel. It is unclear whether you must pick one source or may select multiple to sample from.
• Multiple source recording and L/R channels may be swapped or mixed. So you perhaps can turn on capture from microphone and cd-audio at once, so your karaoke masterpiece is preserved in one wav file.
• 6 channel mixer for access to digitized sound, synthesized music, microphone, CD-audio, line-in Just a standard AC'97 function which lets you adjust the volume individually of each portion.
• Spatial audio control for digital audio and music synthesizer Now THIS is the part that I am struggling with. The chip datasheet mentions no way to actually make use of this, thus I think it must be something to do with the CODEC chip used. I believe it is a 3D Audio effect enabled by banging the AC'97 register 0x22, "3d Control".
• Reverb and chorus control for music synthesizer which probably means the MIDI synth responds to CC messages 91 and 93, possibly by translating them to AC'97 register codes, or the MIDI synth pre-applies these before passing the PCM to the AC'97 mixer?

MIDI Interface
• MPU-401 UART Advanced Wave Table Synthesis using .ECW files
• Creative Advanced Synthesis Engine Yeah whatever
• 128 voice polyphony and multi-timbral capability
• 128 GM wavetable instruments in all of 2mb, 4mb, and 8mb files
• GS sound set + 10 drum kits in 4 & 8 MB sample sets must not have fit in 2mb ecw
• 16 MIDI channels Better than 10, yes?
• 128 MT-32 compatible instruments in some ecw file
• Digital effects engine for reverb, chorus and spatial-sound Here it is again, this time claiming spatial-sound for MIDI too, which suggests that it just uses the AC'97 codec to turn on 3d sound.
• 2MB, 4MB, & 8MB sample sets Yes, again.

Sampling Subsystem
• Host memory support in other words, steals your PC's ram to hold the sound banks
• Virtually unlimited variations of sound except you never gave us an editor. ECW format has its own limitations, notably samples are 22khz

3D Audio Technology
• Supports EAX How?? Above, we have no claim that Reverb / Chorus are available to digital sound, only to the MIDI synth. The closest we can get is 3d positional using AC'97 switch.
• Multi-algorithm Reverb and Chorus ...for all sources, or just MIDI synth?
• Supports Microsoft’s DirectSound 3D Two separate stereo output channels permits quadraphonic sound output. DirectSound3D likely preprocesses these to determine which speaker to play on.
• Supports Aureal A3D API Now we're just getting silly. This all sounds like sneaky driver tricks to fake it using a very, very limited set of real effects.
• Improves sound clarity, spatial realism and sound effects, through the minimization of crosstalk Marketing BS
• Dynamically adjusts for monophonic or stereophonic input without user intervention In other words, a mono source is output to both L+R, not L only.

Joystick Port
• Standard PC joystick port for 1 or 2 joysticks. Doubles as a MIDI port. Joystick port has an interesting register allowing you to switch the timing (ISA or Fast), and the data sheet has this funny line about the bits used to move the joystick to another address: "These two bits are dedicated to Dave Sowa and will map the joystick port to 4 different base addresses as follows:"

SPDIF Interface
• 2-channel digital audio interface if card has the hardware. ES1371 lacks this.
• Output connector to a DAC receiver (i.e. digital speakers) if card has this

Inputs and Outputs
• Stereo 2W/channel power amplifier Main output
• Line In stereo
• Line Out/SPDIF Out (SPDIF Out optional) Interestingly this doubles as the second output channel, for use with quadraphonic sound, and autodetects which one you're trying to use
• Microphone In mono
• CD In stereo
• TAD mono
• TV Tuner Uh... just another header on the card, I guess. This may actually replace one of the other sources on cards that have it.
• Joystick/MIDI see above

Guess I can as well add what my Gateway 2000 Ensoniq AudioPCI (1370 chip) manual says:

(copied from manual, some bits left out)

Specifications
(followed by a disclaimer on how all specification can change without notice)

Host interface:
Port address: One 64-byte I/O port
Interrupt usage: one PCI interrupt
Number of ports: One stereo input port, one mono microphone input port w/BIAS power and Boost available, one stereo output port, one stereo internal CD audio input connector, one internal TV tuner input connector, one internal mono modem/TAD input/output connector
Joystick interface: Standard PC-compatible joystick port
Max number of joysticks: Two (2 axis, 2 buttons) or one (4 axis, 4 button)

Synthesizer:
Architecture: Digital wavetable synthesis
Number of voices: up to 32
D/A converter: 18-bit linear serial Sigma-Delta converter
Level and panning controls: Separate 5-bit L&R controls for each voice
Envelopes: Per-voice envelopes for amplitude and filters

FM synthesis: OPL2 FM software emulation

Digital
PCM playback section:
Devices: One wave output (playback) device and one wave input (record) device
D/A converter: 16-bit linear serial Sigma-Delta converter
Max playback sample rate: 48.0 kHz
Level and panning controls: Separate 5-bit L&R controls for each voice
Data formats: 8-bit unsigned linear, 16-bit signed linear; all formats mono or interleaved stereo

Digital recording section:
A/D converter: 16-bit linear serial Sigma-Delta converter
Available sampling rates: 4.0 to 48.0 kHz
Source selection: Any external source, microphone, CD, synthesizer, wave, modem or TV tuner
Level control: individual
Level control range: +12 to -50 dB on all other record sources
Formats: 8-bit unsigned linear, 16-bit signed linear; all formats mono or interleaved stereo

Audio mixing:
Input sources: Synthesizer output, CD input, Aux input, MIC input, TV tuner input, modem input/output
Level control: 5-bit for all mixer control
Level control range: +12 to -50 dB for all
Frequency response: 20-20.000 Hz +- 1 dB
Distortion: <0.01%
Signal/Noise ratio: 90 dB typical

Continued in my next post...

continued...

Internal audio connectors
CD in:
Connector: MPC III standard (Molex 70553) 4-pin shrouded .1 inch centers
Pin 1 = L channel
Pin 2 = Ground
Pin 3 = Ground
Pin 4 = R channel

TV Tuner in:
Connector: MPC III standard (Molex 70553)
Pin 1 = L channel
Pin 2 = Ground
Pin 3 = Ground
Pin 4 = R channel

TAD in/out:
Connector: MPC III standard (Molex 70553) 4-pin shrouded .1 inch centers
Pin 1 = Modem audio input
Pin 2 = Ground
Pin 3 = Ground
Pin 4 = Boosted (30 dB) microphone input

External audio connectors
MIC in:
Connector: 3.5 mm (1/8 inch) mini phone jack
Tip: Tip and ring are connected together internally
Sleeve = Ground
Nominal input level: 30 mV r.m.s. (85V p-p) in MIC mode
Nominal input impedance = 50 Ohms

Aux in:
Connector: 3.5 mm (1/8 inch) TRS mini phone jack
Tip = L channel
Ring = R channel
Sleeve = Ground
Nominal input level: IV r.m.s. (2.8V p-p)
Nominal input impedance = 50K Ohms output

Line out:
Connector: 3.5 mm (1/8 inch) TRS mini phone jack
Tip = L channel
Ring = R channel
Sleeve = Ground
Max output level into a line input: 2V r.m.s. (5.6V p-p)
Max output level into headphones = 100 mW into Hi-Z headphones (Walkman style)

(followed by a note that the Gateway AudioPCI may be custom engineered to Gateway 2000 specifications, and may vary from commercial versions)

Main features text:

Synthesizer:
- Provides up to 32 voices (instruments) of wavetable synthesis
- 128 General MIDI sounds are stored on the PC's hard drive and are accessed through the computer's onboard RAM
- included a 2 Mb General MIDI/Roland MT-32 sound sets as well as Adlib/Soundblaster Pro 1 with OPL2 FM synthesizer emulation

Digital audio:
- Allows the recording of CD-quality stereo sound (up to 16 bits, 48.0 kHz sampling rate) from Aux, CD and TV tuner inputs as well as from the internal synthesizer
- Allows recording of mono sound from the microphone input, with or without 5V BIAS power or 30 dB boost
- Allows recording of mono sound from the modem/TAD input/output
- Allows playback of stereo wave samples of 8- or 16-bit sound
- Enables playback of standard PC Wave files (.VOC, .WAV, ...)

MIDI:
- Provides an MPU-401 compatible MIDI interface, including MIDI In and MIDI Out/Thru (requires external cable, not supplied)
- Adds an external MIDI In/Out port to your PC
- Allows the recording of MIDI events from an external MIDI keyboard controller
- Enables playback of standard PC MIDI files (e.g., .MID, .ROL, ...) to either the onboard synthesizer or to an external synthesizer

Mixer:
Provided software mixer allows synthesizer and digital audio input to be mixed with signal arriving at the card's CD, aux, microphone, modem and TV tuner inputs

Included software:
AudioPCI ships with installation software, configuration and initialization utilities and device drivers

Note: The manual shows Ensoniq-branded utilities, but I never could get the included software CD to work, except for the Gateway 2000 branded version of Voyetra's mixer/audio player that was included on another CD...

According to the manual, games that support the following sound modes can work with the card: AudioPCI, DirectX, Soundscape, Soundblaster Pro I, Adlib, MPU401/Roland (Sound Canvas/General MIDI or MT32/LAPC-1). Under DOS, the Ensoniq driver (APINIT.COM) supports several types of emulation: Soundscape, Soundblaster Pro, MPU-401, and Adlib. The settings can be displayed by using the APCONFIG.EXE utility, which can also be used to configure the card for use with problematic games.
A command line mixer (APMIXER.EXE) is included.
The AudioPCI can emulate a MT-32 and a specific patch set is provided with the DOS utility MT-32.EXE (syntax: MT32 [ ON|OFF ]). When set to OFF, the card will use its General MIDI patch set.

For games that use DOS extenders, and that crash with the AudioPCI, the manual says this usually occurs when the card is set to IRQ 10, and suggests the following solution:
1. Reboot the system
2. Enter BIOS set-up
3. Set IRQ 10 to "Used by ISA card" in Plug and Play configuration
4. Save and exit.

I know this is an old thread but it has helped me a lot with my own card and I feel I should share my own experience on this topic. I put a SB PCI128, CT4700 with 5507 chip, into my Win98 box. It has a Biostar M7VIG400 which has no ISA slots thus it can only use a PCI sound card. I got it to work in Win98 using Ensoniq 1370 drivers, and it works well. I don't remember where I downloaded from as I tried several drivers before finding one that worked.

When booting to C: without the gui (with modified msdos.sys) I have the EAPCI dos drivers loaded in autoexec.bat but games do not work well. I tried both the Creative and Ensoniq drivers from this site. The Ensoniq driver loads and seems to work but Creative seems to be only for es1371/1373 and therefore does not detect my card.

I only tried with Wolf3D, Doom and Quake since those are what I play most. Quake had no sound or music, and I only tried once because there is no setup utility and it autodetects everything. Wolf3D works. I don't know how old T2 sound blaster cards sounded back in the day, but I remember my 8-bit SB Pro sounded better. Then, I tried Doom and Heretic. No matter what I tried in settings these two games hard freeze shortly after starting.

I see on this thread and others that the recommended PCI sound card for DOS gaming is a SB Live or Audigy. I assume that is due to the emu10k1 chip. My Audigy 2 ZS SB0350 is in my main rig, but yesterday I found on Amazon a Live CT4830 for $5.25. It should arrive soon and hopefully work better. Until then I installed DOSBox 0.74 in Win98 and the games work great there. Even if it doesn't work any better in DOS mode, I figure it's still a better card with better driver support and can continue playing through DOSBox.

Dracolich wrote:

It has a Biostar M7VIG400 which has no ISA slots thus it can only use a PCI sound card.

As the motherboard got a VIA chipset I would recommend a card based around the ESS Solo-1 (ES1938) chip for DOS usage.

Hello
Bumping an old thread but I bought a boxed version of Wizardry 7 a few years back and recently acquired a Win 98 PC (Dell Dimension L933r). I was excited to install Wizardry 7 via the 2.5-inch floppy disk drive, had no problems there, and chose my settings.

The issue; sound effects do not work (unless PC speaker), does not matter which option I choose. For music Adlib, SoundBlaster and Roland all work. It is nothing new because sound effects do not emulate in DOS Box as well, I was just hoping my older PCs card could do sound effects.

Any idea what I can do to get the sound effects running?

Thank You

In Adlib / SB sound effects mode, Wizardry 7 uses the OPL2 chip as a DAC. The OPL2 is absolutely NOT designed to do this, so OPL2 clone/emulation solutions may not be accurate enough to support this.

The digitized sounds are only PC Speaker quality recordings anyway, you probably won't know the difference if you route the PC Speaker output on your motherboard to your sound card so that it all comes out of your speakers.

Thats a pity, routing the PC speaker to the card sounds interesting but I don't really have the knowhow and its just for one game. Unless its just a cable(off E-bay)between the card and mother board?

I might be able to get my hands on a "Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Ch PCI Sound Card SB0060", would this work with Wizardry 7 sound effects?

odd144 wrote:

Thats a pity, routing the PC speaker to the card sounds interesting but I don't really have the knowhow and its just for one game. Unless its just a cable(off E-bay)between the card and mother board?

You just need two dupont motherboard jumper wires. Unplug your PC speaker from the motherboard, put wires on the pins that the speaker wires were using, connect the other ends to the PC speaker input pins on the sound card, then configure the PC speaker input on the sound card's mixer.

I might be able to get my hands on a "Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Ch PCI Sound Card SB0060", would this work with Wizardry 7 sound effects?

No, that doesn't have a real OPL chip. Very few PCI sound cards do. I found a relevant thread here: Best PCI OPL3 sound card?