Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/IBM-PC-XT-8bit-ISA-Sou … =item518b7c74cf

🤣

Gah...that's baddd!

You have little to choose from 🙁

Example:
Typing "486" in "computer" and the number of results is:
Europe:208
Australia:5!!!

Maulwurf, don't you have a buddy in Europe who can buy stuff on your behalf and send it to Australia?
For kicks I checked and the cheapest package to Australia (<200g) costs something like €25 from The Netherlands.

Most sellers are happy to ship to Australia anyway. Most of my gems had to come from overseas.

Stuff I get locally are "bundles" or whole "boxes" with retro stuff. Like my first haul with 3 mainboards, lots of RAM, CPUs, Video cards and so on to get me started. My SS7 boards where also local ~ 12 bucks per board which IMO is decent pricing over here.

I haven't seen SS7 boards ever since, so I was lucky and they came from the same seller 🤣

Being part of Asia Pacific region, posting from China and other countries is really cheap. So little adapters, cables and gadgets I just buy new. E.g. CF cards, CF to IDE, notebook to desktop adapters, floppy cables, audio cables, optical leads and whatnot. Usually a few bucks including postage. Takes ~ 2 weeks to arrive, but otherwise it's great.

Stuff that is really rare (e.g. CMS upgrade kit for SB 2.0, I don't mind paying good money, especially if it goes to another Retro lover and not some power seller.

We also have a great IT community over here through OCAU (Overclockers Australia) and I got a few bits and peaces from there. Main problem is transportation in Perth absolutely sucks (compared to Europe) and it doesn't help that I'm trying to save the planet 🤣.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/IBM-PC-XT-8bit-ISA-Sou … =item518b7c74cf

🤣

Oh my...

Well, couldn't get that YMF724 exchanged because the ******* who sold me the sound card wasn't there, BUT, I think I spotted an original Ensoniq SoundScape in the glass display case at the front of the booth. I'll go back tomorrow to confirm if it really is a SoundScape. It was a monstrously huge sound card, I know that for a fact, and looking at some pictures of what I remember seeing on the 'net, it seems I did lay my eyes on a real SoundScape. I'll know for sure tomorrow.

And I'll keep an eye out for any SoundBlaster AWE32s and any pre-SoundBlaster 2.0 sound card I find.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Stuff I get locally are "bundles" or whole "boxes" with retro stuff. Like my first haul with 3 mainboards, lots of RAM, CPUs, Video cards and so on to get me started. My SS7 boards where also local ~ 12 bucks per board which IMO is decent pricing over here.

True, but sooner or later you'll get to a point where buying boxes of stuff will net you mostly common stuff you don't need/want anymore (Something all collectors experience at some point) and you'll want to only bid on individual items you -really- want.

😜 Why not move to The Netherlands where old computer parts are abundant and the sun shines every day behind the rainly clouds! ;D

My guess was correct! That sound card I saw in the glass case was really an Ensoniq SoundScape. I took it home and am now looking for some drivers for Windows 95 and DOS for the sound card.

Also found several clone cards: Crystal CX4235(Crystal = terrible OPL3), OPTi 82C931(bad OPL3 as well), several different SoundBlaster 16s(some were the Vibra16C models, the rest had Creative's CT1747 combo OPL3/ISA interface chip - might pick up one of those to see if that chip holds a real YMF262 or the CQM clone), a SoundBlaster Pro 2.0(to think I brought one from Washington State over here... >.<), a mysterious sound card with several chips containing some rather strange labels, an OPTi 82C930(this is essentially a condensed 82C929A - this card has a discrete YMF262), and the SoundBlaster AWE32 I saw last time(it's a CT3600 AWE32). I left the AWE32 behind because the seller had no 30-pin SIMMs to fit in the card.

How does the CT3600 AWE32 fare with the hanging notes bug?

Ace wrote:

My guess was correct! That sound card I saw in the glass case was really an Ensoniq SoundScape. I took it home and am now looking for some drivers for Windows 95 and DOS for the sound card.

Looking at swaaye's gallery photos, which Soundscape is it? The photos can be seen in the following post, which also includes the drivers.

Ensoniq Soundscape resources (manuals, files, links, help)

It seems to be a stripped-down original SoundScape. It looks identical to the original SoundScape, but with all the CD-ROM plugs removed, some chips missing and a different ROM.

I did get the drivers for the SoundScape at that exact place and have just installed them on my Windows 95-based MS-DOS test box. What a sound... I might mix this with my 82C929A in my primary MS-DOS gaming computer for some General MIDI and SoundScape support whenever a game supports the SoundScape.

Still wondering how prone the SoundBlaster AWE32 model CT3600 is to the hanging notes bug.

EDIT: It appears my SoundScape has the exact same ROM as the SoundScape Elite. It doesn't have the same sound as the original SoundScape even though the PCB has the exact same layout as the original SoundScape. I'll go get a shareware version of Doom to confirm.

EDIT 2: It actually sounds like a mixture of the SoundScape Opus and the SoundScape Elite. This particular SoundScape I have does not appear to sound like any one of the different SoundScapes on Swaaye's sound card recordings page. It has the same volume balance and strange guitar effects in Doom like on a SoundScape Opus and the instruments sound like a mix of the original SoundScape, the SoundScape Elite and SoundScape Opus.

Needless to say, this is the best MIDI I've heard right next to the Roland Sound Canvas.

EDIT 3: Here's a picture of the SoundScape I got(not my particular SoundScape): http://www.yjfy.com/images/oldhard/sound/LF7SS2016_9508.jpg

Is this a later model of the original SoundScape?

Grr... Can't get this SoundScape to work under DOS v6.22! I can't find DOS drivers ANYWHERE, only drivers for Windows 3.1, NT and 95. I don't want that! Anyone have DOS drivers for the SoundScape?

Send swaaye a message, he is into SoundScape's...

Ace wrote:

Grr... Can't get this SoundScape to work under DOS v6.22! I can't find DOS drivers ANYWHERE, only drivers for Windows 3.1, NT and 95. I don't want that! Anyone have DOS drivers for the SoundScape?

Looking at the following Vogons post -

No MIDI from Ensoniq Soundscape Elite in MS-DOS

It looks like you need to find the SSInit.exe program, to init this card.

Found it.

Thanks! I actually already had the DOS drivers, which I stole from my DOS test computer(these drivers were installed along with the Windows 95 drivers on that computer), but I was getting some heavily messed-up MIDI because of a conflict at I/O range 330 and IRQs 2 and 9 with my OPTi 82C929A's MPU-401 interface(I've since disabled it since I have no MIDI daughterboard to hook up to the 82C929A. I need a Roland SCB-55/SCB-15 daughterboard - the Sound Canvas has my favorite MIDI of all time).

God, I love the MIDI of the SoundScape. Although I'm so stuck on FM Synthesis with some games I'll just stick with FM Synthesis with those particular games(floppy disk edition of Star Wars X-Wing in particular - for some reason, there are missing sound effects whenever the General MIDI or General MIDI with SoundBlaster sound options are used).

Many games have native support for Soundscape. Though I don't know if this offers any benefits over selecting General Midi or not. Worth testing though! Would like to fine out.

The Soundscape option for music in the Collector's CD-ROM edition of X-Wing does not sound any different from using the General MIDI option for music. It's the same with the Ensoniq AudioPCI: it shares the same waveset for both Soundscape MIDI and General MIDI.

However, just like the AudioPCI, the Soundscape uses no FM Synthesis, instead relying on the Ensoniq wavetable to simulate FM Synthesis. And just like the AudioPCI, it sounds like complete crap. Thankfully, you can disable the SoundBlaster emulation(and in turn, the horrible simulated FM Synthesis), something which I'm pretty sure is not possible on an AudioPCI.

But with my OPTi 82C929A, the Soundscape works beautifully. Doom sounds awesome with the Soundscape(I'm not much of a First-Person Shooter fan, but sometimes, I'll whip out Doom or Wolfenstein 3D for some quick First-Person Sooter action).

Do you happen to have the Ensoniq DOS drivers for the AudioPCI?

I only got the Creative ones...

I do have DOS drivers, but for some reason, when I tried them, the Soundscape digital sound and SoundBlaster Pro support worked, but nothing else worked. Might have gotten a bad set of drivers. But with the Windows 95 drivers I installed, everything works: Soundscape MIDI, SoundBlaster Pro support, General MIDI, Soundscape digital audio, and yes, even the screwed-up Roland MIDI and simulated FM Synthesis.

Try the drivers here: http://www.spmicro.com/mp3sidekick/ensoniq.html

If they work on your ES1373, let me know. I might try to use them on my ES1370.

Now for two off-topic questions:

1) What's the proper way to write Soundscape? Soundscape or SoundScape?
2) How much did the Soundscape cost back in the day?(I imagine it was pretty damn expensive)

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Do you happen to have the Ensoniq DOS drivers for the AudioPCI?
I only got the Creative ones...

I tried using Ensoniq drivers (APINIT) on a Creative SB PCI 128 once: it did not work, gives an error message.

Well that driver works just fine! Had to make some changes to the INI file (it had to be renamed and some paths didn't match).

I cleaned it all up and will upload the whole driver pack with AUTOEXEC.BAT lines as well...

Doing some short recordings with Descent 2 and Duke3D.

So looks like my two AudioPCI cards work with the Ensoniq and Creative driver.

AFAIK these are the consequences of using either:

Ensoniq driver:
SB Pro emulation
GM emulation
Can select Soundscape as digital and music device

Creative driver:
SB 16 emulation
GM emulation
Selecting Soundscape doesn't work

Let me know if this isn't correct please!

Ok I have uploaded the drivers with easy to use instructions and some recordings.

I created a thread dedicated to the AudioPCI a while, ago and updated my first post: Ensoniq / Creative AudioPCI

This can serve as a good reference for future use as it gives you the Ensoniq and Creative DOS drivers, some sample recordings for each and IMO easy to use instructions...

But I might link the recordings in this thread as well:

I have made 4 recordings with this driver (Descent, Descent 2, Doom and Duke3D) with the 8MB soundfont. You can download them here: http://www.mediafire.com/?fuf3met15ixpqer

Pretty impressed with the quality of these cheap cards 🤣