If I wanted to connect the Tandy Nano through this card would I use the line-in or mic-in? (I'm assuming the line input but I don't know the output from the Tandy Nano...)
Is it possible to use the microphone input so I can use the line input for my MIDI devices?
sofakng wrote on 2023-09-26, 15:17:If I wanted to connect the Tandy Nano through this card would I use the line-in or mic-in? (I'm assuming the line input but I don't know the output from the Tandy Nano...)
Is it possible to use the microphone input so I can use the line input for my MIDI devices?
The microphone input is specifically designed to be connected to a microphone, not any other type of device; it is not a multi-purpose input. Given the amplification applied (since microphones provide a very "faint" signal), the best you could hope for in trying that is very distorted audio. Line-level is a much higher-voltage signal, and the two are not interchangeable.
OK - That's what I thought, thanks.
It looks like the Tandy Nano is amplified through an LM386 and doesn't provide line-level output. Is it possible to connect that to the line-input or does that also cause problems?
Also, what size memory is recommended for the SIMM slot on the Orpheus? I've read the notes (single-sided FPM 72pin 5v simm module with a speed rating of 70ns or 60ns) but not sure what size would be most useful.
Thanks so much all of the help!
sofakng wrote on 2023-09-28, 20:33:OK - That's what I thought, thanks. […]
OK - That's what I thought, thanks.
It looks like the Tandy Nano is amplified through an LM386 and doesn't provide line-level output. Is it possible to connect that to the line-input or does that also cause problems?
Also, what size memory is recommended for the SIMM slot on the Orpheus? I've read the notes (single-sided FPM 72pin 5v simm module with a speed rating of 70ns or 60ns) but not sure what size would be most useful.
Thanks so much all of the help!
line-in input should work without issues
about the ram size: if you are not gonna bother with win9x/soundbanks then even a 4MB stick is enough IMHO since you will still be able to load the 4MB patch set and under DOS it is more than enough to achieve "classic gus" compatibility.
more realistically you should have a very common 8MB stick around which would be perfect to use 😀
Has anyone managed to have the WSS from the CS4237 work with the WSS/Microsoft Sound System DIGPAK driver? I always get a hardware not detected error with my Orpheus II. Wondering if this is just happening on my system or could be happening to others too.
Example of Games that use DIGPAK are Terminal Velocity, Simon the Sorcerer, and Monopoly Deluxe
keropi wrote on 2023-09-29, 05:17:line-in input should work without issues
about the ram size: if you are not gonna bother with win9x/soundbanks then even a 4MB stick is enough IMHO since you will still be able to load the 4MB patch set and under DOS it is more than enough to achieve "classic gus" compatibility.
more realistically you should have a very common 8MB stick around which would be perfect to use 😀
Thanks so much!
Should I keep the volume low on the Tandy Nano output?
What's the difference between line-level and speaker-level? I'm assuming line-level would be cleaner? I've looked into modifying the Tandy Nano to remove the amplifier but then it would disable the auto-muting feature which I guess is important but I haven't researched it enough.
carlostex wrote on 2023-09-29, 18:04:Has anyone managed to have the WSS from the CS4237 work with the WSS/Microsoft Sound System DIGPAK driver? I always get a hardware not detected error with my Orpheus II. Wondering if this is just happening on my system or could be happening to others too.
I've just received my Orpheus 2 but I'm also wondering about the WSS compatibility. It sounds like the CS4237 doesn't work with many WSS games/engines?
sofakng wrote on 2023-09-29, 20:10:I've just received my Orpheus 2 but I'm also wondering about the WSS compatibility. It sounds like the CS4237 doesn't work with many WSS games/engines?
Works out with most stuff, i managed to make Sierra drivers work and someone else did it and shared the drivers here too, but i can't seem to make DIGPAK work, which would be nice. AIL3 and HMI SOS seem to work fine.
carlostex wrote on 2023-09-29, 18:04:Has anyone managed to have the WSS from the CS4237 work with the WSS/Microsoft Sound System DIGPAK driver? I always get a hardware not detected error with my Orpheus II. Wondering if this is just happening on my system or could be happening to others too.
Example of Games that use DIGPAK are Terminal Velocity, Simon the Sorcerer, and Monopoly Deluxe
The DIGPAK driver sources, which John Ratcliff released on GitHub a few years ago, are dependent on binary blobs for the WSS driver. These binary blobs (WSSINIT.OBJ and CODEC.OBJ) were apparently distributed in an MS-DOS game developers kit that Microsoft had made available free of charge, but are nowhere to be found on the internet these days. See this GitHub post for some more info on this. Further below in that thread, GitHub user galazwoj explains how he managed to reverse-engineer at least some of these blobs using sample sources in the Windows 95 Driver Development Kit (win995ddk).
I guess I'm sharing this to explain why the DIGPAK sources might not be helpful in troubleshooting the cause of any WSS compatibility problems in the Orpheus II.
By the way, it would be much appreciated if someone with a copy of that MS-DOS Developers kit for the Windows Sound System could upload it to archive.org, for historic preservation.
What's the difference between SB, SBPRO, and WSS compatibility modes of the CS4237?
Is 8-bit / 22 kHz (stereo) the highest quality supported with SB/SBPRO?
...and 16-bit / 44 kHz (stereo) for WSS?
sofakng wrote on 2023-09-29, 23:51:What's the difference between SB, SBPRO, and WSS compatibility modes of the CS4237?
Is 8-bit / 22 kHz (stereo) the highest quality supported with SB/SBPRO?
...and 16-bit / 44 kHz (stereo) for WSS?
SB Pro mode gives a max of 8-bit stero @ 22.05 KHz or a max of 8-bit mono @ 44.1 KHz
WSS mode gives a max of 16-bit stero @ 48 KHz (44.1KHz and other sample rates are also supported)
What steps are required to make the Orpheus 2 work with Jazz (and other Epic games?) Anyone else got it working yet?
* Card is running on IRQ=7 and DMA=7
* Works with Heretic and Duke3D
* I run `orpheus.bat` and `ultrasound.bat` before starting `jazz.exe`
* I ran `prepgame.exe` in the `jazz` directory
* I configured jazz to use `Ultrasound`. The sound effects work, but music doesn't.
Do I need to copy anything from the `ultrasnd` directory into the Jazz directory? I can't find the `prepgame.exe` README not sure if other steps exist.
duboisea wrote on 2023-10-02, 15:09:What steps are required to make the Orpheus 2 work with Jazz (and other Epic games?) Anyone else got it working yet?
[...]
there are no special steps to be taken , assuming you have C:\ULTRASND directory and ran ULTRASND.BAT (which means the gravis enviroment is set up) all you need to do is run once PREPGAME from Jazz's directory, select Gravis in setup and it should work. It is one of the test games I use to verify the card sounds as it should - nothing else is needed to get it going.
I assume you have RAM installed on the card and you have initialized the CS4237 part with ORPHINIT prior to usage (since gravis output is linked to the crystal chip).
If anyone had this before and has any more ideas please post about it as I cannot thing anything else atm...
I can confirm Jazz is one of the first games I've run on my Orpheus 2 and it worked fine following these steps. And sounded awesome 😀
Figured it out, was entirely user error.
I had set my oplirq to 7 in the orphinit ini. It was leftover from when I was testing/trying to resolve a conflict with a different device.
sofakng wrote on 2023-09-29, 23:51:What's the difference between SB, SBPRO, and WSS compatibility modes of the CS4237?
Is 8-bit / 22 kHz (stereo) the highest quality supported with SB/SBPRO?
...and 16-bit / 44 kHz (stereo) for WSS?
Speaking of which, the "TYPE" variable in SET - it's defaulted to 4 - can this be set to say TYPE 6? and is Orpheus II only SB Pro compatible and not SB16 compatible?
duboisea wrote on 2023-10-03, 03:26:Figured it out, was entirely user error.
I had set my oplirq to 7 in the orphinit ini. It was leftover from when I was testing/trying to resolve a conflict with a different device.
The FM synth can have an IRQ assigned, but there is basically no reason to do so, as virtually no software ever made use of it.
primetime wrote on 2023-10-03, 04:51:Speaking of which, the "TYPE" variable in SET - it's defaulted to 4 - can this be set to say TYPE 6? and is Orpheus II only SB Pro compatible and not SB16 compatible?
The CS4237 provides compatibility with the second-generation (single OPL3) Sound Blaster Pro, so T4 is correct. You could set it to T6 manually, if you insist, but it would not accurately reflect the hardware capabilities. If you use software that relies on the T portion of the environment variable alone, this could cause problems for you.
Thanks 640K!enough for the clarification, I'll leave the T environment variable as is by default to 4 then.
Just curious but does the Orpheus 2 support the OPL3 in stereo mode?
I think the game support was rare for this configuration but a few games supported it? (Dune, Descent, etc?)
