Malik wrote:

For another game, I tried GODS. Everything's working fine. But I do not know which card the GODS game is using - SB16Pro or AWE32?

What is your BLASTER variable set to? I'm guessing it's using the card at these resources.

Oh yeah, the SET BLASTER corresponds to the AWE32's settings.

Interesting issue. I might play around with two cards and see what comes out of it...

Yea I get the same issue. I tried two AWE64 GOLD and managing the resources works great.

After making that SB16 video, Elinda messages me about ctpnp.cfg. That file is located in the CTCM folder and allows you to change resources simply by editing the text files.

One card shows up as [SB16] and the other one as [SB16-1] or something like that. And there are entries for the AWE part and game ports. There are flags for resources, but you can also disable things (like disable both game ports).

In my case mixerset just manages one card. I was unable to change the mixer settings of the second card. I looked at all the flags for mixerset, but there doesn't seem to be a setting to switch cards.

Only suggestion I have is to use the speaker out on the SB16 (if there isn't one, there might be a jumper to activate the amplifier).

In case the SB16SET / MIXERSET relies on the SET BLASTER settings, then individually loading or loading these mixers TWICE, each for one card may help?

I mean, make a SET BLASTER statement for the secondary card, let's say for the SB16+Daughterboard for MIDI, and then load the mixer program.

Then make another SET BLASTER program for the AWE32/AWE64 to use as the primary soundcard, which will be assigned the main A220 and IRQ 7/5, and load another copy of the MIXERSET or SB16SET.

Or make a batch program to :

1. Run CTCM with a CTPNP.CFG which contains info for only the secondary card (SB16).

2. Run a mixer/diagnose routine for this card using a different SET BLASTER statement, using a goto statement.

3. Then rename the SB16's CTPNP.CFG file to another.

4. Rename the CTPNP.CFG with the info only for the AWE32/64 from another named file.

5. Run CTCM again for the AWE card.

6. Run DIAGNOSE and SB16SET or MIXERSET routine again with a new SET BLASTER statement for this AWE card.

7. May have to rename the mixer CFG files too for separate volume settings for both cards.

And all the above within a Batch file, leaving the initialization of the primary card LAST so that it will remain in the environment.

The secondary card used for MIDI shouldn't have problem functioning since it's MIDI port will not conflict and it is not that fussy, unlike the IRQ.

Another method may be to use SB16SET for the SB16 and MIXERSET for the AWE card.

Or, there must be another simpler way.

And Pro Mixer 4 Utility should come in handy - haven't used it yet, but it claims to be TSR free, does not require AWEUTIL to initialize the EMU chip. And....it's in my Mediafire link as well as at VogonsDrivers. Have to try this too.

Just as side note:
For such switching, I found it typically useful to clear the ISA-PnP resource settings before setting new ones.
Especially if you are going to exchange resources of two cards, you can not simply move Card 1 to Cards2 resources once both are set.
To accomplish this I recommend the ISA-PnP tools for DOS (is originally a Linux tool).

It can also be used as independent tool to set ISA-PnP resources, but thats a too complex topic for here.

Yes, elianda, I do that when I insert a new card and when I change the resources if it's a PnP card.

I've decided to stick in my non-PnP CT2760 and CT1740.

I've loaded the CTSB16.SYS file for both cards - meaning I added twice - one with /UNIT=0 for the SBAWE32 and another with /UNIT=1 for the SB16.

Both take up insane amount of base RAM (53kb) but I'm using memmaker to move them to the UMB.

Now in DOOM, the music from the CT1740's DB60XG clone and the sound effects from the AWE32 both work.

The only thing is that the the MIDI music from the CT1740's daughterboard is still quite low.

Somehow I'm not able to access the SB16's mixer yet. Maybe have to use the original sb16set for the SB16 - so that it will try to access only the SB16.

Of course, the easiest alternative is to use a hardware audio mixer unit. Sadly the one that I have is being used with my 486. Moreover, this quest to access one of the cards' mixer intrigued me, and hence, I'm still trying to figure out.

Malik wrote:

Somehow I'm not able to access the SB16's mixer yet. Maybe have to use the original sb16set for the SB16 - so that it will try to access only the SB16.

I used two PnP SB16's together for a little while, I found I could access the mixer of each card by changing the "set blaster A=2XX" variable before loading up the mixer.

Yes, gerwin, I tried that too, which caused lockups (system hanged inspite of configuring the resources properly) initially but now ok.

Here's what I did with my system :

(This is for the non-PnP cards CT1740 + CT2760)

1. Loaded the default ctsb16.sys and ctmm.sys low level drivers for AWE32 in config.sys.

2. Loaded the deafult asp.sys for the SB16 in config.sys.

3. The initial SET BLASTER, SET SOUND, DIAGNOSE, and AWEUTIL in the Autoexec.bat file, I left as such for the initialization of the AWE card, which is the primary card used for sound effects.

4. At the end of Autoexec.bat file, I called two batch files I created -

a. First I call the self-made loadsb16.bat which contains the routines to initialize the mixer settings of the SB16 card.
i.e.:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
SET BLASTER=A240 I2 D3 H6 P330 T6
C:\SB16\SBCONFIG
C:\SB16\SB16SET /M:230.......(parameters for the mixer.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

*I assigned IRQ2/9 and uncommon DMAs since I'm using this card just for the NEC XR385 (DB60XG clone) daughter-board's music.

*The CT1740 has Yamaha 262 chip, so the 240 Port Address should do fine for FM music, since most games have options to select it. Port 220 is preferable for FM, but my AWE32 is being used as the "main" card.

b.Then, I call another self-made loadawe.bat which contains :

-------------------------------------------------------------------
SET BLASTER A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 E620 T6
C:\AWE32\DIAGNOSE..(usual parameters)
C:\AWE32\AWEUTIL....(usual parameters)
C:\AWE32\SB16SET....(usual parameters)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I called the routines for the primary card last since this is the main card for sound effects and for AWE port. I didn't want the SB16's environment mask the AWE32's resources.

If I didn't declare the environment for the AWE32 much earlier as shown above in the autoexec.bat file before calling these two files, the volume is either extremely low or non-existent. Somehow I needed to initialize the AWE32 first, since the SB16's output is goin to the LINE-IN of the AWE32. And then initialize the SB16, and finally, re-intialize the AWE32. Phew.. 😅

All I wanted is to initialize the SB16's mixer setting before outputting it's music to the AWE32's LINE-IN.

Now it's loud and clear, even without adding any OUTPUT GAIN in SB16's mixer or INPUT GAIN in AWE32's mixer. (Hope no one is confused.) 😁

Just to add last minute notes :

1. Since both cards are non-PnP, I can use the above two batch files even without loading the low level drivers.

2. PnP cards should work in a similar way after loading CTCM, which does not take any memory.