Canada Post just went on strike. As someone in Canada who is also in the queue for the last Orpheus II card, will there be an option for alternative shipping methods?

atomeec wrote on 2024-11-15, 10:58:

I am so excited but not yet contacted. I suppose the queue is loooong. 😀

yes it is - also the fact that the factory delay was almost a month it did not help things - but rest assured, the queue is processing 😀

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-11-15, 11:00:

Canada Post just went on strike. As someone in Canada who is also in the queue for the last Orpheus II card, will there be an option for alternative shipping methods?

maybe the strike won't last long? I was also made aware of it today let's see how it plays out
sadly here anything other than national post (and perhaps EMS which is also handled by national post) is not really an option as the costs are unreal.

keropi wrote on 2024-11-15, 12:21:

yes it is - also the fact that the factory delay was almost a month it did not help things - but rest assured, the queue is processing 😀

Thank you for your work, I am backed up with my green card, just like a kid before Christmas 😉

Got mine a couple of days ago.. happily before the Canada Post strike...

Might be awhile till i get to actually use it.. but very happy to have it in hand.

Unpacked my card today. Need to get a matching red expansion 16MB SIMM.

Behold the glory. Just need to find a red PCB 16MB SIMM!

qz3fwd wrote on 2024-11-16, 21:24:

Unpacked my card today. Need to get a matching red expansion 16MB SIMM.

This hadn't crossed my mind at all. Now I need a red PCB SIMM!

qz3fwd wrote on 2024-11-17, 06:36:

Behold the glory. Just need to find a red PCB 16MB SIMM!

That looks absolutely gorgeous!

And don't forget a red PCB wavetable, too! 😉

it's too bad they ended production. I mean I guess I had plenty of time to buy one by now. it's a great project either way. I wonder if there would be any thought of maybe releasing the schematics or the gerbers at least so if someone wanted to make their own they could.

snipe3687 wrote on 2024-11-23, 19:13:

it's too bad they ended production. I mean I guess I had plenty of time to buy one by now. it's a great project either way. I wonder if there would be any thought of maybe releasing the schematics or the gerbers at least so if someone wanted to make their own they could.

I feel the same way about the Orpheus II-LT. I had a pre-order on it but money got tight and I had to let it go. I think I overcompensated on my Orpheus II order to make up for it, but I am still happy to have gotten it through this time.

My order arrived today in perfect condition. Very happy with all of the work that has gone into this project. I've bought the Orpheus I (original), PCMIDI MPU, MK8330, Orpheus II (original/green), and now the Orpheus II final batch (red). Never a disappointment.

I've had an adventure trying to reconcile gain for the Interwave sound path and have it figured out for my setup now. It is not hard to cause distortion with it - but using this command line with Unisound seems to allow the greatest amount of GUS signal to come through, while not distorting:

1unisound /v99 /vf30

It was interesting to find two things in this process:
- sample playback volume on the Interwave is affected by /vf and not /vw as I would expect
- the OPL3 and Interwave signals are combined in the SB mode mixer as the FM input

Has anyone with an Orpheus 2 had any success with the SNDSYS.COM (Windows Sound System) DIGPAK driver? No matter what i try, DIGPAK complains WSS is not detected ad the driver never loads. A couple of games that use DIGPAK are Terminal Velocity and Simon the Sorcerer, just for instance. Maybe the DIGPAK WSS driver is too strict or something and that fails on the CS4237 implementation. If that's the case maybe the driver can be patched.

If anyone can try it out it's deeply appreciated.

I’m sure you’ve tried this but I’ve had trouble with the WSS support on my YMF719 because some games want specific resources used for WSS. So have you tried different combinations of DMA and port?

I've also heard something to the effect that WSS uses a common set of resources that some games have erroneously standardized on, just like how some Sound Blaster games only work with the default BLASTER configuration.

badmojo wrote on 2024-11-28, 00:56:

I’m sure you’ve tried this but I’ve had trouble with the WSS support on my YMF719 because some games want specific resources used for WSS. So have you tried different combinations of DMA and port?

That's the case of Tyrian for instance, but DIGPAK sndsys.com driver is configurable. Usually games call the SETD.EXE setup utility that comes with DIGPAK/MIDPAK, or just set some ini file by themselves to point to the right driver. I do have my Orpheus II WSS port set to F40h, when the default is 530h, but have it like so it can co-exist with my Ensoniq Soundscape S2000 (Reveal clone) as it uses 534h for its wave port. AIL3 Miles driver (DIG) has no issue with my configuration and plays just fine. HMI SOS library plays sound with my config absolutely just fine too. I couldn't find a configuration that worked.

I also tried default settings for the WSS on the Orpheus II and it still doesn't go. The driver complains that it can't install the Interrupt vectors and that a card is not detected. I suspect that John Ratcliff's DIGPAK driver might have a very strict detection and it might specifically target the Analog Devices AD1848 chipset on the original WSS card. It's very much possible that the detection fails on Crystal and Yamaha implementations of WSS.

In fact i now remember this thread where !640enough patched the detection of the WSS card for the Impulse Tracker WSS driver. My immediate guess is that the detection routines are too strict and just fail on anything that is not AD1848 WSS implementation. I wanted to rule out problems with my configuration with Orpheus II owners. If Orpheus II owners have the same problem with this DIGPAK driver then maybe i can try to patch it, provided i can get some info on the differences between implementations.

My card arrived today. I am so happy 😀 It works of course (only the joystick port is not yet tested). Merry Christmas (I doubt other thing I will buy this year 🤣)!

Still waiting on my card! Cant wait...mine seems to be stuck in Greece still (or is in transit between). These pics are making me anxious.

hasnopants wrote on 2024-12-03, 18:20:

Still waiting on my card! Cant wait...mine seems to be stuck in Greece still (or is in transit between). These pics are making me anxious.

if the status from GR post is "For dispatch abroad" it actually means it already left via plane and is in between countries ... the translation they chose for this status is very confusing - the Greek message actually translates to "dispatched abroad" meaning it's already left the GR Post hands

hasnopants wrote on 2024-12-03, 18:20:

Still waiting on my card! Cant wait...mine seems to be stuck in Greece still (or is in transit between). These pics are making me anxious.

At least yours is in transit. I'm still waiting for the Canada Post strike to be over before mine can even be shipped. 😓

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-12-03, 20:24:

hasnopants wrote on 2024-12-03, 18:20:

Still waiting on my card! Cant wait...mine seems to be stuck in Greece still (or is in transit between). These pics are making me anxious.

At least yours is in transit. I'm still waiting for the Canada Post strike to be over before mine can even be shipped. 😓

I can sympathize; I ordered an old 7900 GTO from someone on Ars Technica a few weeks ago, and it's been stuck in limbo ever since it hit the Canada Post system. 🙁