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SB16 vs DBs (hanging / stuck / wrong notes in MIDI)

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Reply 200 of 215, by senrew

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Could someone add the list of known AWE32 model numbers that are bug free to the wiki?

Halcyon: PC Chips M525, P100, 64MB, Millenium 1, Voodoo1, AWE64, DVD, Win95B

Reply 201 of 215, by 5u3

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senrew wrote:

Could someone add the list of known AWE32 model numbers that are bug free to the wiki?

They are already there (in Section Bugged (Type 2 only)). The hanging note bug can still strike on these AWE32 models (I've witnessed it on CT3900 and CT3980), they are just immune to the variant of the bug that occurs in Doom/Hexen/etc...

Reply 202 of 215, by senrew

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Ahh, didn't get that part.

So effectively, the only way to use a genuine sound blaster with a daughtercard is to use an early 16. AWE32 gives you half of the problem, and AWE64 avoids it entirely, but you're stuck with no DB header.

Is there a way around the issue of not being able to use a joystick when you have a daughtercard plugged in?

Halcyon: PC Chips M525, P100, 64MB, Millenium 1, Voodoo1, AWE64, DVD, Win95B

Reply 203 of 215, by elfuego

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senrew wrote:

Is there a way around the issue of not being able to use a joystick when you have a daughtercard plugged in?

Yup - plug in another card 😊

Reply 204 of 215, by 5u3

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senrew wrote:

So effectively, the only way to use a genuine sound blaster with a daughtercard is to use an early 16. AWE32 gives you half of the problem, and AWE64 avoids it entirely, but you're stuck with no DB header.

Well, it's not exactly half of the problem with the AWE32, it's much less than that since the remaining variant of the bug only occurs very rarely.

senrew wrote:

Is there a way around the issue of not being able to use a joystick when you have a daughtercard plugged in?

There shouldn't be an issue with a daughtercard and a joystick being used at the same time. If there is one, you should take a look at the wiring of the joystick.

Reply 205 of 215, by Maraakate

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I always assumed this had something to do with RAM. My daughterboard is a Turtle Beach Rio and it has a slot for some SIPP EDO RAM. Unfortunately, it's expensive on ebay so I can't add more RAM into it to see if that was the issue.

Reply 206 of 215, by senrew

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5u3 wrote:
Well, it's not exactly half of the problem with the AWE32, it's much less than that since the remaining variant of the bug only […]
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senrew wrote:

So effectively, the only way to use a genuine sound blaster with a daughtercard is to use an early 16. AWE32 gives you half of the problem, and AWE64 avoids it entirely, but you're stuck with no DB header.

Well, it's not exactly half of the problem with the AWE32, it's much less than that since the remaining variant of the bug only occurs very rarely.

senrew wrote:

Is there a way around the issue of not being able to use a joystick when you have a daughtercard plugged in?

There shouldn't be an issue with a daughtercard and a joystick being used at the same time. If there is one, you should take a look at the wiring of the joystick.

Not sure. I've got my CT2940 with a XR385, and a CH Jetstick plugged into it. The daughtercard gets muted when the joystick is plugged in, but the joystick works just fine when the daughtercard is attached. MIDI seems to be coming out ok when the joystick is plugged in, except that it's 100% silent, muted I guess?

Halcyon: PC Chips M525, P100, 64MB, Millenium 1, Voodoo1, AWE64, DVD, Win95B

Reply 207 of 215, by gerwin

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Maraakate wrote:

I always assumed this had something to do with RAM. My daughterboard is a Turtle Beach Rio and it has a slot for some SIPP EDO RAM. Unfortunately, it's expensive on ebay so I can't add more RAM into it to see if that was the issue.

Adding memory to the RIO is completely optional. Memory allows adding some custom samples, that is all. (It is easy to convert a SIMM to a SIPP with some soldering.)

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Reply 208 of 215, by Maraakate

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gerwin wrote:
Maraakate wrote:

I always assumed this had something to do with RAM. My daughterboard is a Turtle Beach Rio and it has a slot for some SIPP EDO RAM. Unfortunately, it's expensive on ebay so I can't add more RAM into it to see if that was the issue.

Adding memory to the RIO is completely optional. Memory allows adding some custom samples, that is all. (It is easy to convert a SIMM to a SIPP with some soldering.)

I figured it was probably trivial with soldering. However, it looks like there is only about 30 pins or so and EDO has 72. So, it's not EDO specifically, but the modules on the EDO itself look similar.

Is there no benefit to adding the SIPP if I plan to use it strictly for games?

Reply 209 of 215, by 5u3

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senrew wrote:
5u3 wrote:
senrew wrote:

Is there a way around the issue of not being able to use a joystick when you have a daughtercard plugged in?

There shouldn't be an issue with a daughtercard and a joystick being used at the same time. If there is one, you should take a look at the wiring of the joystick.

Not sure. I've got my CT2940 with a XR385, and a CH Jetstick plugged into it. The daughtercard gets muted when the joystick is plugged in, but the joystick works just fine when the daughtercard is attached. MIDI seems to be coming out ok when the joystick is plugged in, except that it's 100% silent, muted I guess?

Most likely it's because the CH Jetstick shorts pin 12 of the gameport to ground. This complies with the original purpose of this pin, but soundcards started to use this pin for MIDI-out, so most joystick don't have this pin connected. It can be fixed by either removing pin 12 on your joystick connector or using a dedicated game port for the stick.

Reply 210 of 215, by jwt27

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I was just browsing the archived Yamaha site when I found this:

If you are getting stuck notes when playing games this is down to some sound cards using virtual device drivers rather than a genuine MPU401 Compatible midi port. When the games tries to initialise in MPU401 mode, it cannot as the chip is not on the card. This coupled with the drivers that are handling the waveblaster socket, can lead to stuck notes. The Creative Labs update patch to help with this problem is free to download from the Goodies to Download section of this page.

Not sure if it has anything to do with the hanging note problem though.. the readme included with the patch says something completely different:

Sound Blaster MPU401 Fix Version 1.00 Creative Labs, Inc. […]
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Sound Blaster MPU401 Fix
Version 1.00
Creative Labs, Inc.
11 June 1993

Description:
------------
SBMPU401 adds support for Creative's MPU401 port to several programs
which currently support Roland's MPU401 cards but fail to work with the
Sound Blaster 16. If you have a Wave Blaster or an external MIDI module
that you wish to use but your computer locks when you select Sound
Blaster Pro digitized sound and MT32 or General MIDI music then this
utility should fix the problem.

Usage:
-------
To enable the fix type SBMPU401 /E.
To disable the fix type SBMPU401 /D.

Here's the link:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040823011136/htt … xg/waveptch.exe

Thought I'd just post it here, as I've never seen it mentioned here before. Has anyone ever tried it?

Reply 211 of 215, by elianda

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Actually in this very thread I asked this a while ago:
SB16 vs DBs (hanging / stuck / wrong notes in MIDI)

I think it is the same tool you are speaking of.

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Reply 213 of 215, by gdjacobs

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Some Vibra 16C chips are not bugged. I recommend you:
Download NSSI and verify the DSP version
Download the Hexen demo and run hexen -warp 2 after configuring Sound Blaster audio and MIDI music. This will check for type 1 hanging notes.

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Reply 214 of 215, by stamasd

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gerwin wrote:
Maraakate wrote:

I always assumed this had something to do with RAM. My daughterboard is a Turtle Beach Rio and it has a slot for some SIPP EDO RAM. Unfortunately, it's expensive on ebay so I can't add more RAM into it to see if that was the issue.

Adding memory to the RIO is completely optional. Memory allows adding some custom samples, that is all. (It is easy to convert a SIMM to a SIPP with some soldering.)

I realize that I'm responding to a post from 3 years ago, but this may help other people if it's indexed by google, so here's my take on this.

Converting a 30-pin SIMM to a SIPP doesn't even have to involve any soldering. What I did - and this was for a 286 motherboard, but should work the same for a sound card that uses SIPP - was buy a few 30-pin SIMM motherboard connectors (think it was from Jameco), installed each SIMM in a connector and then plugged the SIMM+connectors in the SIPP slots. Works perfectly.

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Reply 215 of 215, by dr.zeissler

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gdjacobs wrote:

Some Vibra 16C chips are not bugged. I recommend you:
Download NSSI and verify the DSP version
Download the Hexen demo and run hexen -warp 2 after configuring Sound Blaster audio and MIDI music. This will check for type 1 hanging notes.

Good news, thx!

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines