VOGONS


First post, by kixs

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Hello,

what is the easiest and bulletproof test of Gravis Ultrasound ACE? Would like to see if it's in a working condition or not.

At the moment I have a Pentium 133 on my desk. Should I install a Soundblaster along with ACE?

Thanks

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 1 of 16, by gdjacobs

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The ACE was intended to be paired with another sound card, so it sounds like a good idea to me.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 2 of 16, by Great Hierophant

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How does installing another sound card test the ACE functionality? First you must install the DOS drivers, then I would suggest trying a game. I wrote about driver issues here : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2012/07/g … -dos-games.html

Epic Pinball Shareware 2.1 can be downloaded from here, it is a good test for Ultrasound functionality : http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Epic_Pinball.html

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 3 of 16, by kixs

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Did as Great Hierophant suggested...

1. installed only ACE card
2. installed the drivers for DOS (I was missing this step - for Soundblasters I have the necessary files always on HDD)
3. run the Epic Pinball demo and YES, there is sound 😁
4. installed the drivers for Windows 95.

To do:
5. I have to check if any SOJ memory chips I have are good for ACE.

Is there an utility/command to see the memory size installed on the card (to verify if additional memory is OK)?

What actually worried me was that the usual System info tools didn't find ACE. Now AIDA shows it's present and also shows the installed memory - 512KB at the moment 😀

Thanks 😁

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 4 of 16, by kixs

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Found the right memory chip and has 1MB of memory 😀

Now I have to decide what is the best combo for old games 😕 🤣

1. SB + ACE
2. SB + Roland compatible daughterboard (like TerraTec SOWT-24 V2)
3. SB + SCC-1
4. All-in-one card (like TerraTec EWS64 XL)

What is the recommended setup?

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 5 of 16, by brostenen

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kixs wrote:
Found the right memory chip and has 1MB of memory :happy: […]
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Found the right memory chip and has 1MB of memory 😀

Now I have to decide what is the best combo for old games 😕 🤣

1. SB + ACE
2. SB + Roland compatible daughterboard (like TerraTec SOWT-24 V2)
3. SB + SCC-1
4. All-in-one card (like TerraTec EWS64 XL)

What is the recommended setup?

SB + ACE + some sort of MIDI daughterboard. (If I am only to pick from you'r list)

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

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Reply 6 of 16, by kixs

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Never thought about triple combo 🤣

It's a possibility of course...

This might be a tought one for me as I've never put much about music and I'm kinda lost in this field... but it's bound to change 😉

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 7 of 16, by bjt

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Second Reality or Crystal Dream 2 are also great GUS tests. Don't require any drivers apart from normal ultrainit.

I vote for SB/GUS/SCC-1, if you have the slots. That way you don't worry about SB hanging note or other MIDI issues.
I run AWE64/GUS Classic/Voyetra Midi card in my machine, they play nicely together.

Reply 8 of 16, by brostenen

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Just make shure to route the output from the SB into the ACE and from the ACE to the speakers/amplifier/stereo.
Another thing to consider, is if the ACE is the first or the later releases.
The first ones, had stereo reversed. This is no big deal, as you reverse each cable, ending up with correct stereo.

EDIT:
I actually wonder what happened to the ACE that I sold just last year.
The buyer has not responded in any way, not even telling if the card arrived.
Must remain a mysterie then. 🤣

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 9 of 16, by gdjacobs

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bjt wrote:

Second Reality or Crystal Dream 2 are also great GUS tests. Don't require any drivers apart from normal ultrainit.

I vote for SB/GUS/SCC-1, if you have the slots. That way you don't worry about SB hanging note or other MIDI issues.
I run AWE64/GUS Classic/Voyetra Midi card in my machine, they play nicely together.

Great idea! I'd suggest a newer Vibra 16S (lower noise) card with a genuine OPL3, but you could use a Pro if you prefer. This gives you SB(16), GUS wavetable, and normal mode MPU-401. On the SCC-1, you can use either the onboard SC-55 functionality or literally any module that can use a MIDI port. Play MIDI via another computer system if you like as in Phil's video.

I can't think of any important DOS sound API this doesn't cover, and the hardware is pretty much orthogonal in function (not much overlap). It would give you a fantastic setup.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 10 of 16, by kixs

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SCC-1 isn't in my hands yet. The ACE is version 1.0 - but that's just fine. I'm just happy that it's working 😁

EDIT:
Just noticed this is my 1000 post 🤣

Last edited by kixs on 2016-04-29, 13:57. Edited 1 time in total.

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 11 of 16, by gdjacobs

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I'm personally pessimistic over sourcing an SCC-1 or another normal mode MPU-401 for a sane price, so I'm going to build a HardMPU. You could also poke Keropi about when he's going to gin up another batch of Music Quest clones.

Normal mode MPU-401 is key.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 13 of 16, by gdjacobs

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Probably FT2 and IT as well as any titles off the GUS hardware mixing list. Gravis Ultrasound - Hardware Mixing Game List

OMF 2097 is a freely available title, so definitely one of the ones you should try.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 14 of 16, by dr.zeissler

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ACE and AWE64G do not work together 🙁
The Joystick of the AWE64Gold seems to be at the same address of the gus-ace.
But the GUS ace is working fine with 260,3,3,3,3.

While Taking out the GUS, everything is OK.

Changing the AWE Joy to 208, then everything is OK.
But after some reboots the joystick is at 200 again.

shit pnp fuck.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 15 of 16, by firage

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The ACE has its non-existant joystick port enabled by default and needs to be disabled with ULTRINIT v2.26a using the -dj parameter. Did you try that yet?

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