AWE 64 Gold (VERY low CD-Audio volume) \ VOGONS

AWE 64 Gold (VERY low CD-Audio volume)

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First post, by magicmanred

Posted on 2022-06-02, 17:32

magicmanred Offline

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Hello all!

I have a SS7 system with the following specs:
Antec 450w 20Pin ATX PSU
Gigabyte GA-5AX F4 Bios
K6 III+ @ 633Mhz (115 x 5.5)
256MB PC133 CL2 Micron/Crucial Ram (Single Stick)
3dfx Voodoo 3500 TV AGP
S3 Virge GX PCI 4MB
3Com PCI 10/100 NIC
Adaptec 2940W SCSI PCI
80GB Maxtor IDE
Plextor 716A IDE
Pioneer DVD SCSI
Zip 100 IDE
Jaz 2GB SCSI
Epson SD800 Dual Floppy

OS:
System Commander 8 with the following OS's installed:
Dos 6.22 (FAT)
Win 3.11 (FAT)
Win95 (FAT)
Win98SE (FAT32)
WinME (FAT32)
Win2000Pro (NTFS)

No matter where I am, whether DOS, or any of the Windows OS's, whether the drivers are DOS or Windows based... any time I play CD Audio, the volume is very, very low.
It's the same from both Disc Drives.

Is it possible the sound card is no good anymore?
MIDI and WAV are all a-ok.

I've tried different RCA to 2.5mm Audio adapters. Same results.
I've tried different speakers/headphones just to check off another box. Same results.

I'd really like to be able to play Super Street Fighter II Turbo while listening to the awesome CD-Audio tracks again :'(

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Reply 1 of 10, by maxtherabbit

Posted on 2022-06-02, 17:39

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Do you have both CD drives hooked up to the soundcard at the same time? If so, that's why

Reply 2 of 10, by Joakim

Posted on 2022-06-02, 17:55

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Location: Sweden

Don't forget the simplest stuff, check that the connectors are clean and the wire is ok.

Seems odd that only cd sound is affected. I guess the mixing is done within one of the chips and it could potentially be bad..?

Reply 3 of 10, by magicmanred

Posted on 2022-06-02, 18:07

magicmanred Offline

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maxtherabbit wrote on 2022-06-02, 17:39:

Do you have both CD drives hooked up to the soundcard at the same time? If so, that's why

I do have both at the same time.
I have many Sound Blasters that I have connected that way without any issue, but I will surely entertain what you're suggesting to test!

Will report back in a moment!

Reply 4 of 10, by magicmanred

Posted on 2022-06-02, 20:03

magicmanred Offline

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maxtherabbit wrote on 2022-06-02, 17:39:

Do you have both CD drives hooked up to the soundcard at the same time? If so, that's why

Sun of a gun...

It's working 😁

Thank you sir!

Reply 5 of 10, by Rikintosh

Posted on 2022-06-02, 20:07

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are you connecting the cd drives with the ide cable only, or are you also using the audio cable?

Take a look at my blog: http://rikintosh.blogspot.com
My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfRUbxkBmEihBEkIK32Hilg

Reply 6 of 10, by magicmanred

Posted on 2022-06-02, 20:10

magicmanred Offline

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Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:07:

are you connecting the cd drives with the ide cable only, or are you also using the audio cable?

One CD Rom is IDE.
One is SCSI.

I tried connecting the audio cable to both CD-Roms at the same time, but as was stated, that was the issue.
I can only have one audio cable connected to have full volume from that CD-Rom's CD-Audio.

If I do not connect the CD-Audio cable, DOS games that use CD-Audio tracks for music will not play any sound 🙁

Reply 7 of 10, by Rikintosh

Posted on 2022-06-02, 20:51

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magicmanred wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:10:
One CD Rom is IDE. One is SCSI. […]
Show full quote

Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:07:

are you connecting the cd drives with the ide cable only, or are you also using the audio cable?

One CD Rom is IDE.
One is SCSI.

I tried connecting the audio cable to both CD-Roms at the same time, but as was stated, that was the issue.
I can only have one audio cable connected to have full volume from that CD-Rom's CD-Audio.

If I do not connect the CD-Audio cable, DOS games that use CD-Audio tracks for music will not play any sound 🙁

I remember selling a cable that solved this problem, at the store where I worked. I don't remember what it had, but it was a Y-cable, and it had something like a diode or something in the middle of it at each end that went to the drives.

Take a look at my blog: http://rikintosh.blogspot.com
My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfRUbxkBmEihBEkIK32Hilg

Reply 8 of 10, by magicmanred

Posted on 2022-06-02, 21:04

magicmanred Offline

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Posts: 51
Joined: 2016-05-20, 19:07

Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:51:

magicmanred wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:10:
One CD Rom is IDE. One is SCSI. […]
Show full quote

Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:07:

are you connecting the cd drives with the ide cable only, or are you also using the audio cable?

One CD Rom is IDE.
One is SCSI.

I tried connecting the audio cable to both CD-Roms at the same time, but as was stated, that was the issue.
I can only have one audio cable connected to have full volume from that CD-Rom's CD-Audio.

If I do not connect the CD-Audio cable, DOS games that use CD-Audio tracks for music will not play any sound 🙁

I remember selling a cable that solved this problem, at the store where I worked. I don't remember what it had, but it was a Y-cable, and it had something like a diode or something in the middle of it at each end that went to the drives.

Hmm...

I'd be very interested in something like this.
Since I have a dual CD-Drive system, I don't want to be bothered with remembering which drive I have the CD-Audio cable plugged into for CD-Audio.

What would one search for to find something like that?

Reply 9 of 10, by Rikintosh

Posted on 2022-06-02, 21:22

Rikintosh Offline

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Posts: 416
Joined: 2021-05-25, 20:33

magicmanred wrote on 2022-06-02, 21:04:
Hmm... […]
Show full quote

Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:51:

magicmanred wrote on 2022-06-02, 20:10:
One CD Rom is IDE. One is SCSI. […]
Show full quote

One CD Rom is IDE.
One is SCSI.

I tried connecting the audio cable to both CD-Roms at the same time, but as was stated, that was the issue.
I can only have one audio cable connected to have full volume from that CD-Rom's CD-Audio.

If I do not connect the CD-Audio cable, DOS games that use CD-Audio tracks for music will not play any sound 🙁

I remember selling a cable that solved this problem, at the store where I worked. I don't remember what it had, but it was a Y-cable, and it had something like a diode or something in the middle of it at each end that went to the drives.

Hmm...

I'd be very interested in something like this.
Since I have a dual CD-Drive system, I don't want to be bothered with remembering which drive I have the CD-Audio cable plugged into for CD-Audio.

What would one search for to find something like that?

I don't know exactly how to find it, but here in my country we usually call this cable MPC cable

Take a look at my blog: http://rikintosh.blogspot.com
My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfRUbxkBmEihBEkIK32Hilg

Reply 10 of 10, by magicmanred

Posted on 2022-06-02, 22:49

magicmanred Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 51
Joined: 2016-05-20, 19:07

Rikintosh wrote on 2022-06-02, 21:22:

I don't know exactly how to find it, but here in my country we usually call this cable MPC cable

I found a bunch of Y-splitters on ebay when searching for the MPC audio cables (which I have already actually) and those end up causing the lowered sound.
Nothing with additional electronics on it 🙁

The search continues!

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