First post, by bjwil1991
- Rank
- l33t
A couple of days ago, I received a sound card that I purchased online, an Aztech Sound Galaxy WaveRider Pro 32-3D (AZT2316R) that has its own Wavetable sample (not good, so I heard), genuine OPL3 chipset, and capable of playing General MIDI using either my Roland SC-55 or the sound card's integrated Wavetable sample in both MS-DOS and Windows 98SE in both games and MIDI files.
However, there's a pot hole in the middle of the freeway and no where to move over to avoid it, causing a loss of a tire: the left channel on my stereo speakers is quieter than the right channel on the speakers. I looked at the balance control in both Windows 98SE and MS-DOS mode, and it's perfectly center, so I turned my attention to the audio ports, and they looked pretty bad, so I tried cleaning them to no avail; I swapped speakers around to see if that makes a difference, and it's still the same, and the speakers worked on the Sound Blaster card I have, as well as my custom FX-6300 desktop.
What is causing this issue? The solder points are intact, so that's no issue, and I believe the culprit is bad audio jacks on the sound card since they look like they've seen better days. I do have new ones somewhere right now, but I don't have my soldering iron, as well as the solder with me since it's in storage, and no solder wick to get the jacks off. There is, however, a scuff on the card, but it doesn't seem to affect anything on the card since it does get detected in Windows 98SE after installing the appropriate drivers:
Aztech 2316 Compatible Legacy Audio (WDM)
MPU-401 Compatible (has its own IRQ and address)
Gameport Joystick (required to play games)
My other Aztech card, a Sound Galaxy NX Pro has no issues whatsoever, except the potentiometer (volume control) has an endless loop when turning the volume knob, but it still works without issues. Heck, my Sound Blaster 16 WavEffects CT4170 doesn't have issues either, and I'm avoiding that card since it has issues when trying to play certain games, and the WaveEffects MIDI driver only supports 32 instruments, and the FM synthesizer is not good either since it acts erratically at times, and sounds terrible compared to the OPL3 chips that are on the Aztech sound cards I have in my collection.
Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/retropcuser