I Purchased this card just for the ISA expansion slots and notices the ESS audio drive chip.
I was curious if anyone had any info or insight. will it function as a sound card?
It doesn't have any audio jacks but there is a 24 pin header which says "Game / Audio Port".
Any help or info is appreciated.
Check this out 😀 https://youtu.be/8FfZmYJ7QjQ?t=1958
Interesting. he did say it apparently contains a sound card aswell. Are there any other soundcards that used the ESS audioDrive chip?
IEATCHEEZEYO wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:13:Interesting. he did say it apparently contains a sound card aswell. Are there any other soundcards that used the ESS audioDrive chip?
Yes, loads. It's one of the best soundblaster alternatives
maxtherabbit wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:45:IEATCHEEZEYO wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:13:Interesting. he did say it apparently contains a sound card aswell. Are there any other soundcards that used the ESS audioDrive chip?
Yes, loads. It's one of the best soundblaster alternatives
Indeed.
To be clearer for OP, AudioDrive is a family of audio chips from ESS.
maxtherabbit wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:45:IEATCHEEZEYO wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:13:Interesting. he did say it apparently contains a sound card aswell. Are there any other soundcards that used the ESS audioDrive chip?
Yes, loads. It's one of the best soundblaster alternatives
Do you think it would be possible to use the drivers from another card that uses this chip and have it work?
Also there aren't any output jacks for audio so i'm assuming the jacks would have come through the pin header and been on a daughter board?
Is the Gameport / Audio pin headers standard or do they differ by card?
Yes You need the backplate for it, in the youtube video you can see it with a ribbon cable that would attach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FfZmYJ7QjQ&t=1976s
You should be able to easily figure out the Audio outs, they would come off those two big caps....
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
Awesome! Thanks for the help now I just have to sort out the driver situation for dos.
IEATCHEEZEYO wrote on 2024-02-24, 20:14:Awesome! Thanks for the help now I just have to sort out the driver situation for dos.
Use unisound (UNISOUND - Universal ISA PnP Sound Card Driver for DOS v0.81b), it initialises ESS chips and can set volume, mixer levels, etc no problem. There's no need for any other drivers, IMO; it's a brilliant all-in-one solution.
My collection database and technical wiki:
https://www.target-earth.net
maxtherabbit wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:45:Yes, loads. It's one of the best soundblaster alternatives
I agree, I've had good experience with ESS based sound cards.
Thermalwrong wrote on 2024-02-24, 16:29:Check this out 😀 https://youtu.be/8FfZmYJ7QjQ?t=1958
I love his videos. And I cringed hard when I saw that!
Awesome! I will check out unisound. Thanks for the help.
I got it working in dos with UNISOUND. Is there any way to get this working in Windows 95?
Maybe the ES1868 driver here will work for Windows.
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … menustate=51,41
maxtherabbit wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:45:IEATCHEEZEYO wrote on 2024-02-24, 17:13:Interesting. he did say it apparently contains a sound card aswell. Are there any other soundcards that used the ESS audioDrive chip?
Yes, loads. It's one of the best soundblaster alternatives
This. Extremely common family of chips. My favorite SB alternative. The OPL quality is great and it support ADPCM unlike most clones.
ESS is also my favorite, I like it as much as SB, but it has its own unique great sound. The quality of the cards can be hit or miss, but ESS itself is great. If anyone doesn't already have an ESS, I think they're a great addition to any collection.
midicollector wrote on 2024-03-04, 03:58:ESS is also my favorite, I like it as much as SB, but it has its own unique great sound. The quality of the cards can be hit or miss, but ESS itself is great. If anyone doesn't already have an ESS, I think they're a great addition to any collection.
Hmm, I should design an ESS ISA card made with good analog practices and high end audio grade caps/opamps/etc. I'll add it to the long list of design projects for my spare time.
kingcake wrote on 2024-03-04, 05:35:midicollector wrote on 2024-03-04, 03:58:ESS is also my favorite, I like it as much as SB, but it has its own unique great sound. The quality of the cards can be hit or miss, but ESS itself is great. If anyone doesn't already have an ESS, I think they're a great addition to any collection.
Hmm, I should design an ESS ISA card made with good analog practices and high end audio grade caps/opamps/etc. I'll add it to the long list of design projects for my spare time.
I have had good luck with it on my dos rig
IEATCHEEZEYO wrote on 2024-02-29, 17:46:I got it working in dos with UNISOUND. Is there any way to get this working in Windows 95?
Have you tried the the driver from the Vogons Driver Library. I would try the one that matches the chip first.
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid= … menustate=51,41
