Wow, OK that's a very different experience to what I've gone through, but will have to check over my setup again. The pot on yours also seems to be aligned differently to mine - the ones I have are mostly directly above the audio ports.
What's in your BX setup?
I see your SCSI one has the square type pot. I was actually contemplating ordering some of those as they definitely look to be shorter as far as how far they stick up above the circuit board.
Maybe I will have to do that as well... but I will see if the stock size will fit on one of my cases.
boxpressed wrote on 2020-04-08, 02:59:I popped in the card into my 98SE 440BX system and did the Add New Hardware search for non-PNP hardware. I was happy to see this pop up:
adlibgold.jpg
That driver is usually just for FM, isn't it? Did it not detect anything for the digital audio and control/mixer features?
boxpressed wrote on 2020-04-08, 02:59:Haven't messed with the driver disks yet. Duke3D works with Adlib music and listening to Tyrian 2000 jukebox right now. Sounds good!
The included software would have long pre-dated Win 9x, and likely won't help much, except for pure DOS and maybe Windows 3.x.
Have you noticed the persistent hiss that JidaiGeki described?
JidaiGeki wrote on 2020-04-08, 03:47:Wow, OK that's a very different experience to what I've gone through, but will have to check over my setup again. The pot on yours also seems to be aligned differently to mine - the ones I have are mostly directly above the audio ports.
What's in your BX setup?
It's an Intel Seattle 440BX-2. Clean 98SE install, P3 850, GF2 GTS, 256MB , Corsair CX430 PSU.
640K!enough wrote on 2020-04-08, 04:30:That driver is usually just for FM, isn't it? Did it not detect anything for the digital audio and control/mixer features?
The included software would have long pre-dated Win 9x, and likely won't help much, except for pure DOS and maybe Windows 3.x.
Have you noticed the persistent hiss that JidaiGeki described?
Right, I can get only FM with the stock 98SE driver. Did not detect anything else.
Still haven't messed with the floppies, but I got two 5.25" disks. Got the manual and what looks like Voyetra manuals in a plastic bag sealed with tape. Plus all the cables in earlier photos.
No hiss as far as I can tell. Very clean sounding.
I tested Dune 2 with Adlib Gold settings for music, effects, and speech. As expected, got only music and effects after launching from 98SE. Sounds really good.
boxpressed wrote on 2020-04-08, 03:07:The pot and volume knob really are non-standard. The knob keeps the top of the slot cover from moving over the screw hole, so my card is not secured to the case.
your case looks non-standard too though ^^
at least in the ATX spec card openings should be 15.9mm wide
imi wrote on 2020-04-08, 13:18:your case looks non-standard too though ^^
at least in the ATX spec card openings should be 15.9mm wide
Maybe. 15.9mm seems awfully wide. I have Antec and Enlight cases, and their card opening (the gap) is only 12.0mm.
I also got one of these Sound cards. I use the forwarding service shipito to send it to me, it ia usually much cheaper than direct usps, but it has been 7 days the package is "awaiting delivery scan".
I'll be patient. In the meantime if someone does some more testing it would be nice hearing some feedback.
Got to try this card a couple of days ago and it is an odd one indeed. Seems to be Gold Sound Standard level 2 compatible but i didn't get it to work with anything as far as AdLib Gold compatibility.
I know that there are games that have direct GSS support but i couldn't remember any so this was quite an underwhelming experience.
I did like the OPL3 output, which sounded clear and crisp unlike some OPL3 cards that sound muffled in comparison.
I'm still waiting on a replacement pot to arrive so I can test mine out.
I also ended up finding and buying a Cardinal Sound Studio which should be similar but I need to replace the caps on it as there was electrolyte all over the board when I received it. Guessing the old caps didn't fare to well with the lack of air pressure in the cargo hold of the plane it traveled in.
carlostex wrote on 2020-04-24, 18:01:Seems to be Gold Sound Standard level 2 compatible but i didn't get it to work with anything as far as AdLib Gold compatibility.
It's not quite clear to me that it is GSS level 2 compliant, and I'm quite curious to know how software will react to it. I rather suspect that the OPL3 is at the usual 388H by default, so software looking for an OPL2- or OPL3-based card should find it right away, but I wonder what GSS-aware software will find. Did you try the MOD player I mentioned earlier?
If there is any interest, I have attached an old test I put together. It doesn't do anything useful other than trying to find a GSS card and displaying a few details if one is found. It wasn't something I put a great deal of time into, so it doesn't display anything at all if it doesn't find a card. If the usual environment variable(s) aren't found, it tries the Ad Lib Gold default of 388H for the base address. The real Ad Lib installation software also adds a GOLD environment variable; by default it is "SET GOLD=388", and is adjusted appropriately when the card is re-located. It is not clear if this card can be re-located, nor whether additional control features are exposed at 346H/356H or that is really just a mixer port. So, it may be worth trying the test with "SET GOLD=346" or "SET GOLD=356", depending on how you've configured the card.
I couldn't get that MOD player to work, and GOLDTEST does not output anything if the GOLD environment variable is set to anything other than 388h.
When SET GOLD is 388h GOLDTEST.EXE reports values that really don't make sense,such as GOLD card interrupt is 15, Primary DMA Channel is 7 and Secondary DMA channel is 7.
Base Address: 388h
Control I/O :38Ah
MMA I/O: 38Ch
OPL 3: 388h
Phantom Control:1
I tried AdLib Gold own software and the essential CTRLDRV.EXE driver reports ADLIB GOLD is not found.
I think its pretty safe to assume, no AdLib Gold Control chip, no AdLib Gold support.
I know some games have a specific Gold Sound Standard option but i can't remember which.
In another news it seems that indeed the MMA chip is at address 38C. I just tried the game Harvester with the AdLib Gold support at MMA port 38C DMA 0 (my config) and there's digital Sound.
So if the games bypass whatever convention for AdLib Gold detection and write directly to the proper port digital Sound is heard.
EDIT: Kyrandia 2 and 3 specifically support Gold Sound Standard but both do not play digital sounds. Kyrandia 3 states that specified Sound card was not found.
Some software assumes that the board will be configured for DMA 1. In fact, some software will go so far as to indiscriminately force DMA 1 via control chip writes, without regard for potential conflicts or the existing configuration of the card. The shipping Gold 1000 did not support DMA 0, so that may be one source of trouble in your testing. I think the MOD player is one of those somewhat badly-behaved applications that must have DMA 1; I don't think it fails without it, but it won't work, either. With the card you're using, it doesn't seem that attempts to re-configure the DMA channels will succeed, so it may be best to select DMA 1 yourself and try it that way.
If it wasn't possible to read the configuration via the control chip, I am beginning to wonder why that test thought it was a level-2 card to begin with. It has been a while, so I'll have to look again to see how and why it seems to think the card has phantom control functionality, yet none of the values read are valid. I would have expected a card that is configured via jumpers and has a separate group of mixer ports to register as a level-1 card.
I am beginning to wonder if they did some peculiar port-mapping business. Do you get anything more useful out of the test is you try "SET GOLD=344"?
SET GOLD=344 or 388 makes no difference.
This card has a very peculiar way of setting the DMA channel. 640K!Enough, have you looked into the PDF manual on this thread? In any case i set the card to DMA 1 and it was pretty much the same story. I set my IRQ to 7, just to make sure it wasn't that too. I guess AdLib Gold has a default configuration of IRQ 7 and DMA 1, but that didn't help with this card.
I tried PCem which has AdLib Gold emulation and the AdLib Gold drivers install just fine. It could be beneficial to actually ask PCem author how the AdLib Gold card should be detected. BTW, it seems that a configuration of IRQ 10 and DMA 0 works fine on PCem, and you can set such configuration with the Gold drivers.
Maybe the Cardinal Sound Studio works better than this card. Tough luck, i took a risk with this and it didn't pay off.
carlostex wrote on 2020-04-25, 22:19:It could be beneficial to actually ask PCem author how the AdLib Gold card should be detected. BTW, it seems that a configuration of IRQ 10 and DMA 0 works fine on PCem, and you can set such configuration with the Gold drivers.
Just curious, has anyone had a chance to follow up on this?
This card is very mysterious. 😀
Now for some blitting from the back buffer.
Another one popped up on that auction site yesterday. Considered it briefly, but shipping & duties would cost me more than the card. Shame.
dionb wrote on 2020-05-15, 09:36:Another one popped up on that auction site yesterday. Considered it briefly, but shipping & duties would cost me more than the card. Shame.
I thought about buying it too. It was the SCSI version, mislabeled as the Sony CD version. But I knew it would just sit in a box over here after I tested it, so I hoped someone else would get it and test it thoroughly.
boxpressed wrote on 2020-05-15, 14:47:dionb wrote on 2020-05-15, 09:36:Another one popped up on that auction site yesterday. Considered it briefly, but shipping & duties would cost me more than the card. Shame.
I thought about buying it too. It was the SCSI version, mislabeled as the Sony CD version. But I knew it would just sit in a box over here after I tested it, so I hoped someone else would get it and test it thoroughly.
I just asked the seller about it. The first photo with the Sony CD interface is the correct photo. He said he will update the photos later today.
Bummer.. I kinda wanted the SCSI version as well.
In any case, the first batch of POTs I ordered ended up being too big so I ordered some of the smaller square ones like the SCSI version came with stock. I have them but haven't had a chance to swap the damaged POT with a new POT.
cyclone3d wrote on 2020-05-15, 18:23:I just asked the seller about it. The first photo with the Sony CD interface is the correct photo. He said he will update the photos later today.
Bummer.. I kinda wanted the SCSI version as well.
In any case, the first batch of POTs I ordered ended up being too big so I ordered some of the smaller square ones like the SCSI version came with stock. I have them but haven't had a chance to swap the damaged POT with a new POT.
It's kind of confusing because the seller listed one yesterday, and the photos were clearly the SCSI version.
Then he listed two more today (which I saw after my previous post), and the photos were mixed--BOTH versions.
Anyway, those two might be gone now, but anyone still wanting this card can look it up.
