snorg, not exactly. There's a short list of games to support it, but with special TSR it can work with sound blaster compatible games, never tested that though. There's also a driver for windows 3.1, 95, 98.

I did not play mp3 sound, it's mod sound. Entirely different filetype. And yes, it did load my DX2-66 CPU a lot.

I've found this awesome covox compatibility list! http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attr … et,0/p,2/so,0a/
Once I have more spare time, I'll test every game from it I can find on the web.

This would probably result in a good addition for the wiki, the how-to guide with schematics by Stojke, the recordings of some really good tracker music including sources (so far I know only modachive.org), the list of compatible software and games. I'm looking forward to it so much!

Yes but this list is not accurate as it mixes Covox Speech Thing games with games that are only compatible with f.e. Covox SM2.

So I consulted with a few friends (two of them are very good electrical engineers) and here's what I found out:

The noise in covox comes from +5V on the mainboard, where almost everything receives power, including the LPT.

The ways to compensate this are to add capacitors (changes the sound as well) or to draw power elsewhere. The second choice is better, that's where chip DACs come to play.

So basically, as long as you pick the right resistors, you get the most 'righteous' sound, you can add capacitors to make it sound smoother but less original, or you can use chips with external power to make most noise go away. Getting a better PSU and motherboard/controller might fix the problem if the noise is too loud.

P.S. elianda, thank you for your remark, I'll test the sound before listing anything on the wiki to confirm.

Any idea why the covox only works in dos and not with win98se.

Um, what problems do you have ? And which driver do you use ? Afaik, the Windows driver from Covox was meant for Win 3.x.
So does it work there, at least ? - I haven't tried so far and my 286 can't load .386 files either..
In case you haven't tried both versions, here you go! 😀

I have a nx6125 with a dockingstation that offers an lpt1 port. I can config this port from standard, to bidirectional, epp, ecp.
With Win98 I cannot play music through the covox. Going back to MS-Dos mode it works without problems.

Hi Doc, try to disable PnP for printers in the LPT dialog (device manager).
Covox plug uses SPP (standard printer port).

Does not help 🙁

Sorry. Is the music player for DOS ?

Yes. GLX and iPlay.

I see. That's a bit tricky then. Perhaps it is interrupt driven/relies on exact timing.
Try to edit the PIF file for your player (has MSDOS icon) and change the "timer emulation" setting.
Maybe that helps, dunno.

No, does not help. So I need to go for the MSDOS Mode in Order to get Sound/Music from the Covox.

That is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long while. I was really surprised by the sound!

I'm thinking about ordering the parts for making one of these, I figure with a LPT cable and enclosure plus all resistors and misc bits the parts list will come in at around $30 US. If that seems like a lot, I would be ordering enough resistors to make a couple of these.

What wattage should the resistors be? 1/4 watt? 1 watt? Does it matter, as long as they're all the same value? Is there any benefit to going with a tighter tolerance than 1%? I can get about 500 for $9 on Digikey, that may be overkill though, maybe 250 is more than enough? Hell, even 100 is probably more than enough of each value. They are just much cheaper when you buy them in bulk.

Found this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spOenlrSSOE

It was a good bit of information for me since I know nothing about it. Maybe others will find it useful.

dr.zeissler wrote:

No, does not help. So I need to go for the MSDOS Mode in Order to get Sound/Music from the Covox.

Doc, does the problem also appear in full screen ? I know from a personal experience that windowed DOS programs have their timing messed-up at times.
Since they are text mode apps (are they ?) they are displayed in a window by default..

@snorg 1/4 is fine. 1/8 should also do the job, the signals aren't that strong.
Any resistor type works. Tighter tolerance is better of couse, as it resulsts in cleaner sound.
I tried the first scheme with the caps, btw. The 10uF cap (vs 100nF) is also a good idea, since it has a bit of a low-pass effect (->harmonics).

If you want to "upgrade" later on, you can also make a covox plug with an real DAC (8bit type) or a Stereo-Covox. ^^

@squareguy Thanks for the link!

It does not depend on Fullscreen/Window. GLX and iPlay are Textmode, Games do not work either, but that's due to the Game, not the fault of the Dac.
Pinball Dreams simply does not work in Win9x Doswindow/Fullscreen.

dr.zeissler wrote:

It does not depend on Fullscreen/Window. GLX and iPlay are Textmode, Games do not work either, but that's due to the Game, not the fault of the Dac.
Pinball Dreams simply does not work in Win9x Doswindow/Fullscreen.

I didn't say that, if you hear audio then your DAC is perfectly fine. 😀
Any chance your players try to use DMA transfer ? I used ModPlay Pro, so I'm not used to yours.
But if so, try to use normal non-DMA mode (perhaps there are command line parameters for this ?)
Another idea is that for some odd reason I can't think of, your parallel port is on a non-standard address in Win9x.
LPT 1 should be on 378H (?)

Hello, I've found another schematic. This one is simpler to wire and needs less space (improvise R values if needed).
The potentiometer is for volume control and optional. It is close to Stojke's last but one scheme on page 1.