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Sound Blaster 2.0 volume problems

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First post, by BrandtP

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Hi,

I'm running DOS 6.22 in my retro gaming rig and having trouble with sound. The sound plays fine, but it's extremely quiet even though the speakers are turned almost all the way up. The speakers are functioning properly, BTW. I have also turned the volume knob on the card to maximum. Nevertheless, sound remains very quiet.

I have not loaded any drivers for this ISA card. However, the usual SET BLASTER commands are in the configuration files on the boot disk. Are there any sseings I can put in the autoexec or config files to increase the volume? Is there some sort of mixer program I can use? I used SBP-TEST.EXE that came from some driver repository but it did not help.

On another message board someone questioned if I had disabled the internal amplifier. I am not sure how to check this, nor how to enable or disable it. The card was bought from eBay, but lacked any software.

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1 of 8, by Great Hierophant

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The Sound Blaster 2.0 has no mixer and no configuration settings to change the volume. Individual applications can adjust the volume of the FM, digital sound (and Game Blaster if you have all three chips installed.)

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 2 of 8, by 5u3

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Is it even possible to disable the onboard amplifier on this card?
I just had a look at my SB 2.0 and there doesn't seem to be a way to bypass the amplifier via jumpers.

Reply 3 of 8, by BrandtP

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Apparently it is possible per the manual and somehow it involves hooking the PC Speaker directly into the card or some such trouble. This has not been done, so I'm inclined to believe the amplifier is enabled.

I was able to download original install disks from a mediafire site kept by another DOSBox forum member specifically for this card. Alas, the install.exe is apparently corrupt. There is a DOS mixer utility from Creative called SET-SBP iirc that is included on the disks too. So far, googling has met with no success in getting a download. I tried SBPVOL.COM, another mixer utility from that site, but it had no effect. I suppose the possibility exists the card is bad.

However, getting this DOS machine to work properly has turned into my white whale, so I'm open to further suggestions on getting the sound to play properly if it's even possible.

edit: I know little on how speakers and sound systems work in terms of amplification. Is it possible the sound generated from this card is simply not strong enough for the speakers I have attached to it such that the output from the speakers is low even with the volume turned all the way up? The speakers are about 3 years old and as far as I know in working order.

Reply 4 of 8, by retro games 100

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Vogons user "Anonymous Coward" posted a thread entitled "SB Pro 2 Amplifier Disable", and it can be found here -

SB Pro 2 Amplifier Disable

Is there any info in it that can assist you? I wonder if you could try either a pair of headphones or an old pair of passive speakers. It's an interesting topic, and I hope you get it fixed.

Reply 5 of 8, by BrandtP

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Issue has been resolved. I plugged some headphones into the port on the speakers. After removing them the sound worked fine. The other embarassing possibility is I was turning up the tone dial instead of volume 😊

It all goes to hell after you turn 40 apparently. Thanks for the replies nevertheless.

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