Well neither of the DOS drivers work. I now have sound in Windows using the PCI64 drivers, but I'm not getting anything for DOS (Win98 Dos window or real Dos mode). There are no device conflicts or anything...it just doesn't work.

MusicallyInspired wrote:

...the best PCI card for legacy Sound Blaster compatibility...

Really? It always sounded horrible to me. But then maybe that's because I was using the wrong drivers the whole time....*shrug*

red_avatar wrote:

PCI64 16 and 128 use the same DOS drivers so why would it sound better on the SB64 ? It all sounds wrong - a lot of midi music in games use the wrong instruments.

Sorry, I expressed this quite incomprehensibly... I meant the whole range of AudioPCI derivatives and follow-ups, which use Ensoniq's legacy DOS emulation (SB PCI 64/128, Live, etc...).
Of course it sounds horrible and there are many games that won't work with it, but at least there is some kind of SB emulation outside of a Win9x DOS box.

Hope you get a real SB card soon (I saw your request on the QS forums) 😀

Ensoniq AudioPCI, SB PCI 64 and SB PCI 128 are all basically the same card. The audio chip is a little different between them though. The original AudioPCI uses ES1370, the later cards use AC97 versions ES1371 and ES1373. So the drivers may not work across all of them, but the hardware is still awfully similar.

They are all software synths and have little if any acceleration for Directsound. That's part of why the MIDI sucks; it has to all be done on the CPU through the driver and a Pentium MMX or Pentium II wasn't really up to the task of super high quality MIDI, I imagine.

That card looks like a rebadged Ensoniq AudioPCI. Owners of the AudioPCI can use SBPCI 64 drivers too, actually. Creative released them for owners of the older card as an upgrade of sorts. Creative bought out Ensoniq maybe a year into AudioPCI's life.

Peel off that sticker on the chip and see what it really is. 😀

Try the Windows 95 drivers for SB PCI 64. Those should work under 95,98, and Me.
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/down … ype=0&x=16&y=13
Or these drivers from EMU's archive AudioPCI upgrade to SoundBlasterPCI 64 for Windows 95/98..

I have an original AudioPCI and these work on it. So, if what you have is just a AudioPCI with a SB sticker, these should work for you too.... Try to uninstall whatever you have installed before you install these.

I tried the one on the Creative site. Didn't detect it at all. "Had to resort to DriverGuide to get some that would actually give me sound...but still no DOS support. I'm checking the second one now.

EDIT: I've also already tried the second one as well yesterday. Also didn't detect it. It's messed up.

You got windows sound but nothing in DOS? Or it didn't work at all? Those Win95 SBPCI64 Creative drivers should work on it.. Check what's under that sticker if you get a chance.

Card might be dead. Maybe pick up a SBLive! instead? Live!s use the same DOS driver and are much better Windows cards. Or you could pick up something with a Aureal Vortex 2 (good DOS driver there too).

Sound in Windows but not DOS. Actually I had quite the time trying to get the Legacy device driver working right. But even now that it's loading and not conflicting or anything it still doesn't work at all. Even on different IRQ/Address/DMA settings.

Just peeled off the sticker...didn't even know that WAS a sticker! 🤣

Makes more sense now. Says it's an Ensoniq ES1370 AudioPCI.

And I'm already negotiating a deal for an AWE32 (CT3900) which I think I'll be far happier with anyway...I might just put that in my old 486 instead of this Pentium 2 and put the Zoltrix SBPro copy card that's in my 486 in the Pentium 2.

Well I don't know which would sound better for MIDI in DOS. 😀 AWE32's built-in MIDI (a 1MB ROM) is pretty bad...and General MIDI compatibility can be a pain if the game doesn't support AWE natively. The card uses software to emulate the MPU-401 standard and has to use a big TSR + EMM386 to do so (some games don't like that at all).

AWE32 is basically a SB16 + EMU 8000 MIDI though so you'd have great SB16 support.

AudioPCI emulates everything relating to MIDI too basically, but it might sound better. The 8 MB ECW waveset for AudioPCI is probably a lot better than that AWE32 ROM.

And before you get excited over that daughtercard header on AWE32, I discovered with my AWE32 (and numerous SB16s) that the Creative chipset doesn't usually work right with Roland daughtercards. You'll get stuck or missing notes and wrong keys played. You have to have a very early SB16 to have a header that actually works right.

I use a Roland daughtercard on a Diamond Monster Sound MX300. Works great there and the Vortex 2 DOS driver is actually pretty decent. I'm sure there are many games it has issues with though.

Wow did this post quadruple in size. Oh the joys of DOS-era hardware. 😀

I don't need GM emulation. I have a Music Quest midi card that I hook up my CM-500 and MT-32 to. I only need good SB16 compatibility. And for the games that natively support the AWE32 there's that bonus as well.

Oh, I see. AWE32 is sure to work nicely then.