I know others have mentioned there's no successful way of getting CD images to work with redbook audio, but someone pointed me to the PicoGUS. Has anyone got/used one?

https://hackaday.com/2025/07/19/picogus-adds- … ion-to-isa-bus/

It works well.

There's a thread on Vogons: PicoGUS: ISA sound card emulator with Raspberry Pi Pico (Gravis Ultrasound, AdLib, MPU-401, Tandy, CMS)

furan wrote on 2025-08-26, 15:52:

It works well.

There's a thread on Vogons: PicoGUS: ISA sound card emulator with Raspberry Pi Pico (Gravis Ultrasound, AdLib, MPU-401, Tandy, CMS)

Great. Thanks for sharing. I'll have a read through it. Will have to invest in one at some point. 😀

furan wrote on 2025-08-26, 15:52:

It works well.

There's a thread on Vogons: PicoGUS: ISA sound card emulator with Raspberry Pi Pico (Gravis Ultrasound, AdLib, MPU-401, Tandy, CMS)

I've returned! :p So from what I've been told the Pico isn't very good under Windows 98...? I'll probably still look at getting one for the extra customisation and for DOS games, but for digital audio under Windows, I think I need a decent PCI sound card. So I could do with some recommendations on what to go for. 😀

Well, apart from daisy-chaining the ISA card (I'd personally use a mixer instead...) what does it need to do?

The usual recommendations are Aureal 8830 if you like their style of 3D audio, otherwise SBLive-Audigy if you like EAX (and don't have a Via 686B southbridge), but if you just want good SNR and/or digital audio, an M-Audio 2496 is hard to beat.

dionb wrote on 2025-10-05, 15:09:

Well, apart from daisy-chaining the ISA card (I'd personally use a mixer instead...) what does it need to do?

The usual recommendations are Aureal 8830 if you like their style of 3D audio, otherwise SBLive-Audigy if you like EAX (and don't have a Via 686B southbridge), but if you just want good SNR and/or digital audio, an M-Audio 2496 is hard to beat.

A mixer? I think someone mentioned a mixer once before, but I think it was quite pricey.

All it needs to do is allow me to toggle between digital (WDM) and VxD. VxD for any games that I play through DOS and combined with my sound canvas and WDM for the later released titles that make use of Redbook Audio. Nothing fancy. 😀

I don't have much, if any, experience with audio styles and EAX and the like. So I don't really have a preference. I have come across SBLive Audigy a few times in discussions.

I've seen some Audigy cards listed with a head unit. Are these worth picking up? Are these considered mixers?

No, that's just a bunch of extra ports and/or extension of existing ports to the front of the machine. You're still daisychaining through a sound card, with potential for more noise, and dependence on software volume control.

Mixers don't have to be hugely expensive, although you generally get what you pay for and can go crazy. I have two Behringer RX1602 16 input (8 stereo) mixers with most of my vintage PCs hooked up. But you can get a simple 2-input mixer for a lot less, and inevitably there's a thread here somewhere (can't find it) of one that fits in a PC slot.

dionb wrote on 2025-10-06, 19:18:

No, that's just a bunch of extra ports and/or extension of existing ports to the front of the machine. You're still daisychaining through a sound card, with potential for more noise, and dependence on software volume control.

Mixers don't have to be hugely expensive, although you generally get what you pay for and can go crazy. I have two Behringer RX1602 16 input (8 stereo) mixers with most of my vintage PCs hooked up. But you can get a simple 2-input mixer for a lot less, and inevitably there's a thread here somewhere (can't find it) of one that fits in a PC slot.

Ahh, I see. Thanks for clarifying. 😀 At this stage I can't say I'm too fussed about a mixer. Space will probably be an issue, too. Unless it was to go on top of my SC-55.

Also, I've just ordered myself a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Player 2 5.1 SB0240. 😀 Now to track down the drivers...

It's quite possible I'll need to find something else as an alternative to the Sound Blaster Audigy 2. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get it working and it makes me anxious about getting anything else from Creative if they're finnicky to get working. 🙁

Creative SBLIve cards (incl Audigy) are pretty demanding of the PCI bus, but the only compatibility issue is with the Via 686B southbridge. Your BE6-II has an Intel i440BX chipset and is fine. Only other issue is that SBLive cards refuse to share PCI interrupts. There are four on the PCI bus, your motherboard has five slots and AGP and onboard IDE also use interrupts, so you probably only have one or two slots that are not shared. Slots 3 or 4 are usually best bets, but check the manual to be sure.

dionb wrote on 2025-10-12, 20:58:

Creative SBLIve cards (incl Audigy) are pretty demanding of the PCI bus, but the only compatibility issue is with the Via 686B southbridge. Your BE6-II has an Intel i440BX chipset and is fine. Only other issue is that SBLive cards refuse to share PCI interrupts. There are four on the PCI bus, your motherboard has five slots and AGP and onboard IDE also use interrupts, so you probably only have one or two slots that are not shared. Slots 3 or 4 are usually best bets, but check the manual to be sure.

Thanks for the insight. I have a couple of things to try, which I'm hoping work, or at least put the PC back to working order. I did try putting it in each PCI slot, but the results were the same. I'm kind of powerless to try various things at the moment as the PC doesn't boot properly. Hardly any devices load/work. It's almost like Safe Mode, but worse. ^^

Wondering if I'll be safer with an older Sound Blaster card. The one I have is from 2002/3 and I just can't get it to work. But if I get one from the mid 90s, it still needs to be something that supports digital audio/WDM drivers. Perhaps a Sound Blaster Live...?