Winamp has a good midi device selection, press ctrl+p and select nullsoft midi-player [in_midi.dll] to select a device and set other options. Other than that it is sometimes hard to really be sure the daughterboard is accessed in windows. In case I remain in doubt, I pull of the daughterboard while it is playing to see if it stops (but I cannot recommend that... ).
In dos it is easy though as you can be sure there is no softsynth loaded. In dos I recommend using GSPlay (google GSPlay1.zip). but your santa cruz does not have a functional waveblaster header in pure dos.

Thanks a lot! 😁

I'm going to get winamp & gsplay. Please note, in DOS, I tried megamid, and found this very useful. (I used a terratec soundcard with wavetable header on that occasion, to test the db).

Also, I found a "quick 'n' easy" way to "suss out" whether or not the DB was making the tunes inside windows. Inside santa cruz mixer app, I move the daughterboard sound volume slider up and down while the midi tune is being played. I hear the volume go up and down. Therefore (I hope!) it's the DB which is being used.

I'm going to get those aforementioned apps right now...

Thank you. 😀

Edit: Please note, on winamp's website, it states that the minimum requirements are windows 2000.

There are several subversions of winamp.. google winamp295.zip for the oldschool version, though IIRC winamp 5.x works well on windows98 too.

Gsplay requires you to start it with the midi file folder as it's parameter, something like 'gsplay.exe c:\midis\*.mid' IIRC. Also it works best if you configure the config file properly, like setting the mpu-401 irq.

You might want to read this too, as it covers the same subject:
Vogons: Midi daughterboard trouble

winamp295 worked great! 😀 (I did try the very latest version, but it instantly "fell over" when I tried to run the installer.)

Using a combination of win amp and the santa cruz mixer app, I could very easily tell when the db was playing and when the sound card itself was playing. I used a combination of muting every channel except for the channel I wanted to test (eg daugherboard, or wave, or synth), and then just moving its associated volume slider up and down.

Now i'm satisfied the db works! Thanks! 😀

http://home.brisnet.org.au/~mlevoi/midi.html

Send a reset to your GM GS XG MIDI devices.

Another test is to download vchile.mid. Sounds like crap on anything except an XG board. You WILL know when its coming through the DB50XG.