Hey there,

Just posting here to say that I've received my card, although I've got a question that has been on my mind lately, is it possible to order just the PCMIDI add-on later down the line?

Also, I'm glad to say that trying it in the ALR system I had trouble with, the MK1869 worked on the first try after manually fine-tuning the drivers 🥳

Here it is installed in its permanent home now

I'm a bit sad that the Orpheus II didn't work there, but as it turns out, I borrowed another CS4237B-based card and it also exhibits the same behavior, so I guess it's just this system being weird I guess. Oh well, the Orpheus ain't gonna be a shelf queen though, I'll use it in my P233 system so there's that.

The EISA slot makes it go vroom vroom....

Vynix wrote on 2025-10-20, 13:40:

Hey there, […]
Show full quote

Hey there,

Just posting here to say that I've received my card, although I've got a question that has been on my mind lately, is it possible to order just the PCMIDI add-on later down the line?

Also, I'm glad to say that trying it in the ALR system I had trouble with, the MK1869 worked on the first try after manually fine-tuning the drivers 🥳

Here it is installed in its permanent home now

The attachment rn_image_picker_lib_temp_71f0af1b-5462-427d-bf4e-654a9e094997.jpg is no longer available

I'm a bit sad that the Orpheus II didn't work there, but as it turns out, I borrowed another CS4237B-based card and it also exhibits the same behavior, so I guess it's just this system being weird I guess. Oh well, the Orpheus ain't gonna be a shelf queen though, I'll use it in my P233 system so there's that.

Excellent, hope you enjoy the card!
Also pcmidi addon can be ordered, it's even available right now
About the CS4337 stuff, system incompatibilities are rare but they do exist! 😒

Yup I am, I was expecting some trouble ahead with the IRQs, or something with the EISA Config giving me grief but in the end, it worked just fine, no fuss or anything. I only got as far as running the Jazz Jackrabbit demo, thus far it's been pretty good. I haven't yet tested the ESFM side of things yet.

I've got a few things left to do on this machine left, so once that's done I'll run the MK1869 through it's paces.

Also the PCMIDI add-on, do I need to fill the form again and write that I'm just ordering the add-on?

@Carlostex - Good catch! I'm due to swap the cards around anyways 😂

I set up my MK1869 w/PCMIDI with Windows 98 yesterday (as first usage).
All jumpers are set to PCMIDI as shipped to me.
It was a somewhat troublesome experience, but I have a suspicion to why.

I first installed the ESS drivers from the webpage and card is working out fine (to my remembering)
As expected, it installs with two midi devices - "on-board synth" and ESS MPU
As expected, only on-board works as nothing is controlled by the ESS MPU

I then install the Roland drivers for PCMIDI from the webpage, the now ESS driver does not load, so no sound.

Suspicion is that the address of 330 is used by both cards and the non-PnP takes precedence and therefore Windows refuses to init the PnP driver.
If I manually chose some other hardware addressing profile for the ESS driver with MIDI addresses in the 800s everything work as expected.

Could someone confirm that my logic checks out here?
And if my assumptions are correct, any idea why Windows does not choose to initialize the PnP card with another set of addresses that is not conflicting?

do not expect much from win9x PnP management
indeed the correct course is to manually put ESS MPU at port300 and then everything should work just fine

Hello,

I received an email that Serdashop has resumed US shipping, so I presume US shipping issues have been resolved. Can you please confirm the status? I’ve paid in full for the Extreme card. Thanks!

shan2752 wrote on 2025-10-31, 11:13:

Hello,

I received an email that Serdashop has resumed US shipping, so I presume US shipping issues have been resolved. Can you please confirm the status? I’ve paid in full for the Extreme card. Thanks!

Keropi will confirm, but Serdashop's resolution is to use UPS - UPS isn't available for Keropi. I'm in the same boat for the Xtreme, along with other products from makers around the region.

yes it is true - there is no UPS presence here to use (and even if there was there is no guarantee that what is valid for Belgium will be valid for Greece...)
people that bought the card from Edro can opt to use DHL but the cost is big - you have to ask about details on email
at this point we just wait - believe me we want to send out the cards as they are ready for quite some time now but we just can't yet... 🙁

edit:
once can check here which national postal services have resumed US shipping: https://www.posteurop.org/?category=member-news#news-row
new ones are added as a news item

keropi wrote on 2025-10-31, 18:00:

yes it is true - there is no UPS presence here to use (and even if there was there is no guarantee that what is valid for Belgiu […]
Show full quote

yes it is true - there is no UPS presence here to use (and even if there was there is no guarantee that what is valid for Belgium will be valid for Greece...)
people that bought the card from Edro can opt to use DHL but the cost is big - you have to ask about details on email
at this point we just wait - believe me we want to send out the cards as they are ready for quite some time now but we just can't yet... 🙁

edit:
once can check here which national postal services have resumed US shipping: https://www.posteurop.org/?category=member-news#news-row
new ones are added as a news item

Maybe we need to have someone in the U.S. assemble the cards and pay a royalty to you guys for each card sold? It would make them more expensive but still probably be cheaper than paying the import charges.

I’d be willing to try to figure that out if you’re willing to explore that option.

There are complications in this but we'll see
I think eventually everything will start working out , the import fees etc are nothing strange to us since everything not from EU always had these kinds of charges since forever... it is just extra cost passing down to people for <reasons> ....

keropi wrote on Yesterday, 17:37:

There are complications in this but we'll see
I think eventually everything will start working out , the import fees etc are nothing strange to us since everything not from EU always had these kinds of charges since forever... it is just extra cost passing down to people for <reasons> ....

Are the gerber files available open-source? We could do a good old fashioned group buy like in the olden days.

nope , we do not have open source projects
the US was one of the few places that had fairly high tax-free imports, for us import fees were always a thing since almost always... it will be a slow transition by the looks of it but inevitably things will find their way to work out

keropi wrote on Yesterday, 19:29:

nope , we do not have open source projects
the US was one of the few places that had fairly high tax-free imports, for us import fees were always a thing since almost always... it will be a slow transition by the looks of it but inevitably things will find their way to work out

Sadly, with the tax I think you'll find most Americans won't want to pay the prices. I'd expect it to make something like the MK1869 about $100 more expensive. It's a shame, really. I'm lucky enough to have family in Europe to ship to -- I just have to go get it in person!

Hi all, got my MK1869XT about a week ago it's an excellent card to pair up with AWE64 + Audigy2-ZS. Especially if you have the PCMIDI addon for your MK1869XT.

Although dos 6x was very easy, took me a little while to get it working within windows Ms dos, due to the nature of how windows handles the resources in MS-DOS.
(Using ultimate Ms-dos in my win9x set up. from (Henk van het Internet (Henky!!) Link> (https://youtu.be/M7Mp0szm-fA)

The motherboard I'm currently using has a modified bios that moves the ACPI from IRQ:9 to IRQ:10 which is pretty handy thus freeing up resources irq2/9

Although this setup is not entirely necessary, it's nice having a genuine Sound blaster 16/AWE paired up with a GUS PnP + ESS FM legend... Only downside is no digital output on the MK1869 XT. Audigy2-ZS has an excellent mixer and very good audio quality, plus creative bay panel with its Analog/Digital line-out

The 3 card's I'm currently using.

1# AWE64 legacy (HardMPU/WP32 on IRQ/2 P300) > Link (AWE64 Legacy)
A220 I5 D1 H5 P0 E620 F0 T6 (Disable Terrible CQM FM P388)

2# MK1869 XT (UARTMPU/X16GS P330)
A260 I9 D0 H3 P330 F388 T6 (FM at 388)
2.1# ULTRASOUND
IRQ/07 DMA/07 DMA/07 IO/0240 IO/0340 IO/034C

3# Audigy2-ZS (PCI) mixer (line-in passthrough + digital CD) With program ek2m.exe (Multichannel DOS mixer for DOS sound builds v0.49 for Live, v1.01 for Audigy)
Audio Chain AWE64 line-out > MK1869 line-in > MK1869 line-out > Audigy2 ZS line-in (Digital CD introduced) > Audigy2 ZS line-out > Audigy2 ZS I/O Drive line-in > Analog/Digital line-out >

I've included my batch file text, if anyone wants to comment for improvements. Grok helped me out of fair bit.
Documentation on what my batch file does.

Read current settings for GUS (Card #1)
C:\DOS\UNISOUND\UNISOUND /R /C1

Reads and displays the current resources and volumes for the GUS (Card #1) without re-initializing
As the dosstart.bat file is processed on entering MS-DOS mode, I don't need to initialise it with Unisound. I just let it do its thing.
-------------------------------
initializing AWE64 Legacy (Card #2)
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P0 E620 F0 T6
C:\DOS\UNISOUND\UNISOUND /C2 /V85 /VC85 /VF00

Sets BLASTER variable with AWE64 resources (SB port 220, IRQ 5, DMA 1/5, no MPU, wavetable at 620, no FM, type 6). Then initializes the AWE64 with master volume 85%, CD volume 85% (for WP32 audio), disabling FM to avoid conflicts with ESS FM at 388. (Note. For some reason if you initialise P300 now, don't get sound from the McCake-MT-32 don't know why. This was a massive pain to figure out...)

Configures and enables the AWE64 for SB16 sound, wavetable MIDI, and HardMPU/WP32 on IRQ/2 P300 daughterboard
------------------------------
initializing ESS ES1869 (Card #3)
SET BLASTER=A260 I5 D1 H5 P330 F388 T6
C:\DOS\UNISOUND\UNISOUND /C3 /V85 /VF80 /VB80 /VL85 /VM00 /VC00 /VP00

Sets BLASTER with ESS resources (SB port 260, IRQ 9, DMA 0/3, MPU 330, FM 388, type 6). Then initializes ESS with master 85%, FM 80%, AuxB/WT 80% (for X16GS wavetable at P330), line-in 85% (for AWE64 routing), mic/CD/PC speaker muted.

Configures ESS for FM/AdLib at 388 (since AWE FM muted), wavetable MIDI at 330, and audio passthrough from AWE64, muting unused inputs for noise reduction.
-----------------------------
Final env vars (P300 for HardMPU/WP32)
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 E620 F0 T6

Sets final BLASTER with AWE64 SB resources, MPU at 300 for HardMPU/WP32, wavetable at 620, no FM. Why: Provides the environment variables games/apps expect for SBP/SB16-compatible sound and MIDI routing to WP32 at P300 (HardMPU mode).
----------------------------
REM Init Audigy2-ZS (PCI) mixer
C:\DOS\ekm101\ek2m.exe -b -as mix -ai 100 0 40 0 0 -o afront 100 -io ac97 afront 100 -io spdif0 afront 40 -io wave afront 100

Initializes Audigy mixer: basic init (-b), sets input source to mix (-as mix), input levels (line-in 100, aux 0, cd 40, tad 0, mic 0), analog front out 100%, routes AC97/line-in to analog out 100%, SPDIF0/digital CD to analog out 40%, wave/digital audio to analog out 100%. Why: Configures Audigy for passthrough of ESS audio via line-in, mixes digital CD, maximizes analog output on SB0250 front panel, mutes unused inputs for clean sound.
----------------------------
Final resource summary:
GUS PnP : A:240 IRQ:7 DMA:7/7
AWE64 Legacy: A:220 IRQ:5 DMA:1/5 CQM:220 AWE:620 JOY:200 P300 for HardMPU/WP32
ESS ES1869 : A:260 IRQ:9 DMA:0/3 OPL:388 CTR:660 JOY:201 P330 for UARTMPU/X16GS
ESS FM F388 : Supports OPL3 emulation and superior "Native" (ESFM) FM mode.
CQM FM A220 : Muted but plays via SB base port 220h in some games. This is unique to the AWE64 card's, don't need it CQM has crap FM emulation.
EMU8000 : E620 emulation disabled in pure DOS when MFBEN OFF: works in Win. (This is unique to the AWE64 legacy card, as it has hardMPU. I don't need AWE emulation is crap anyway.)