First post, by F2bnp
- Rank
- l33t
Hello everyone! I recently grabbed one of those VIA C3 Nehemiah CPUs for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it does everything my K6-III+ 550 system did and then some. So, with that in mind, I set out to build a system around it that would replace my K6-III+. Here are the specs:
Via C3 1200 (Nehemiah, 9x133), usually running at 15x100=1500MHz
256MB CL2 RAM
Soyo SY-6BA+ IV
3Dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP
Aureal Vortex 2 + XR385
RTL8169 Network card
SoundBlaster 16 ISA (CT2940)
Seagate 40GB IDE
Optical Drive
Chieftec GPS-350EB-101A
There's a reason I listed all the specs though, you might have noticed that I went with two soundcards. The reason for this is that I considered using the pros of both cards to bring the best of both worlds. First off, an ISA card is mandatory, since I want to have great compatibility with DOS Games and this specific SB16 has a real OPL3 on board instead of CQM which I really dig. The Vortex 2 on the other hand I can use for DirectSound3D and A3D in Windows, but I thought I could also use it under DOS for its wavetable header.
So, the idea goes like this:
SB16 ----> Sound Effects + OPL3
Vortex2 ------> XR385 (Yamaha DB60XG)
I'm currently using a mini jack to mini jack cable from the SB16's Line Out to the Vortex 2's Line In. I've got most conflicts sorted out like this:
SB16:
Address = 220
IRQ = 7
DMA = 1
HDMA = 5
MIDI OUT= 300 ( I don't need it)
Adlib = 388
Vortex 2:
Address = 240
IRQ = 10
DMA = 0
MIDI OUT = 330
Adlib = 388 (this is a problem)
I initially had some issues with the ATA66 HighPoint controller on the motherboard, but I managed to sort the conflicts and it works pretty well for the most part! I can select the Yamaha DB60XG at Port 330 and I can use the Sound Effects from the SB16. Adlib is an issue though, since it usually tries to use the Vortex 2 and it sounds pretty bad. And that's my first problem, I can't disable the Vortex 2's OPL2/OPL3 capabilities.
There is a way to get around this by disabling SoundBlaster Pro Emulation from the Vortex2 on the Device Manager and this works fine for Windows.
DOS is another story though, since the Vortex2's DOS driver depends on that emulation being enabled on the Windows side in order to operate AFAIK. So, if I disable it, I get no MPU-401 and I also have to switch the speaker mini-jack from the Vortex2 to the SB16.
The other issue that I have is that the audio levels are completely off under DOS. Under Windows I can easily tweak them to my liking so as not to have any noise but also have everything perfectly audible.
Under DOS however, the Vortex 2 is nice and loud and the SB16 is just barely audible if I use the Line Out and not the Speaker Out, which is something I have to do to keep noise at a minimum. I've also made sure to use Creative's mixerset utility, but it's still too quiet.
The only possible solution to this that I've seen is this awesome little utility by ZanQuance, but I don't see a Line In option in there, unless I'm missing something.
Has anybody done anything similar in the past? How did you go about it? Any help is appreciated.
If I end up getting too frustrated, I might just remove the Vortex 2 altogether and maybe even replacing that SB16 with my trusty AWE32 😁.
