The E-Wave is about as simple as it comes for Waveblaster modules. If it doesn't work, sounds like you have a MIDI issue rather than anything specific to the E-Wave. Or do other modules work in these cases?

Re the Aztech "Washington-16", exactly which Aztech card is this? Aztech used similar names for very different cards.The FCC ID is usually diagnostic. The I38-MMSN824 was the card with proprietary WaveTide header. Other Aztech cards released as "Washington" have regular Wavetable headers.

As for the "CT2501", that's the Vibra chip on the card, not the name of the card itself (probably CT2xxx, printed on the edge of the PCB). I'm assuming it's Vibra with a regular Waveblaster connector.

In that case you're not missing anything: the Waveblaster isn't a Windows device, it's a MIDI device that is operated via the MIDI Out function of your sound card. So select SB16 MIDI Out, give it some MIDI to play and you should get wavetable coming into the SB16/Vibra mixer from the Wave input. Unmute that (if currently muted) and you should hear the output of the Waveblaster module (in this case the E-Wave).

It's worth double-checking the Aztech card, as the Vibras with CT2501 have bad MIDI bugs (both types of hanging notes and slowdowns when playing high-quality digital samples at same time as MIDI music), whereas 3rd and 4th gen Aztech cards have gloriously bug-free MIDI (and also don't suffer from the Vibra hissing/ringing sounds, and offer full WSS support), so if it can use the E-Wave, it's by far the better choice. You can keep the Vibra next to it for SB16 compatibility if you want.

Thanks for your detailed response! Here's the cards.

Unfortunately when I select Midi Out I just get silence with a low-level hissing sound. I have checked that nothing is muted - in fact when I go to the volume panel the MIDI volume control has the mute button greyed out.

I'm curious about the MMSN824, the lower expcon is definitely proprietary, but the upper *looks* like a regular waveblaster header. I think I have one at home, if I have time I'll give it a try this evening (at least, I definitely have an Aztech card with the WaveRider expansion board and I also have the E-Wave somewhere...).

The Vibra board is some 3rd party card, not an original Creative one. However it should be pretty straightforward. The low-level hissing sounds suggest the mixer input is unmuted and the card unfortunately has quite a lot of self-noise. That means the Waveblaster module probably isn't outputing sound. How are you feeding it MIDI to play?

I just fired up canyon.mid through Media Player.
When I had the E-Wave plugged in to the Aztech, it never even listed a Midi option, just Yamaha OPL2/3.

Sounds like a Windows driver issue for the Aztech card - that card offers an MPU-401 interface that can be used via the gameport regardless of what is plugged into the risers, so it should be listed as an option if the drivers are fully installed.

Can't give too many suggestions there as I use these cards in pure DOS only; I know that the AZT2320 has native support (drivers included) in Win98SE default install. The AZT2316 on the MMSN824 probably also has native support, but it's a non-PnP device so you'd need to install install it manually.

Ok, thanks again. I'll have a look at drivers.