This post includes all the drivers and associated applications I own (other applications to follow in another post).

The collection of MultiSound drivers for Windows 3.1 currently on vogonsdrivers.com (courtesy of user bristlehog) are Version 2.0. I have Versions 1.0 and 1.1, as well as a "Preliminary" disk that contains files not found on any of the driver sets. I believe that it is supposed to be loaded first when adding the MultiSound driver in Windows 3.1.

Uh.... "This project is partially funded by PA Commenwealth's Ben Franklin Partnership Program." ....Whut?

I didn't know this was based on a Proteus chipset. Interesting. I bet that came to a screeching halt when Creative and E-mu moved in together.

SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-20, 22:09:

I bet that came to a screeching halt when Creative and E-mu moved in together.

Right you are. Hence the appearing of Turtle Beach Monterey sound cards, when Turtle Beach was cut from Proteus supply.

boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-20, 21:50:

I'll begin with some photos of the original box of the MultiSound Classic, which was known as just the MultiSound until other cards in the MultiSound line (e.g. Tahiti, Monterey) appeared.

Do you have the rev. 01 card in than box?

Also, why is this topic in 'General Old Hardware' section, not 'Sound'?

bristlehog wrote on 2020-01-21, 03:16:

Do you have the rev. 01 card in than box?

Also, why is this topic in 'General Old Hardware' section, not 'Sound'?

This should be in "Sound," my mistake. Perhaps a mod can move it?

Believe it or not, I now have two Rev. 1 cards! The box in the first post contained a Rev. 1, a Rev. 2, and a 56K card (no external 56K module, however). Haven't had a chance to test the second Rev. 1 but will add to the thread when I do.

SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-20, 22:09:

Uh.... "This project is partially funded by PA Commenwealth's Ben Franklin Partnership Program." ....Whut?

Here's the story behind that (not too interesting): https://cnp.benfranklin.org/ben-franklin-alum … asdaq-exchange/

boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-20, 21:53:

I also saw an old Sierra manual that looked quite generic but that I think came from Space Quest IV. It mentions support for the MultiSound.

I have checked Space Quest IV, but all three versions I have - 1.060, 1.111 and 1.996, have no signs of Multisound support.

Version 1.060 only allows music card to be selected:

Version 1.111 just adds 'Tandy 2500XL' option to those of 1.060.

Version 1.996 allows both PCM and music cards, but the list is pretty different:

Darn. I was hoping for one "big name" game to show off the MultiSound's capabilities.

This Space Quest IV fan site mentions a patch that fixes a problem with the MultiSound: https://www.spacequest.net/sq4/patches/

boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-21, 05:46:

This Space Quest IV fan site mentions a patch that fixes a problem with the MultiSound: https://www.spacequest.net/sq4/patches/

1This patch will prevent a lock up problem when the "zombie" screams if you have a Turtle Beach Multisound card or another sound card that doesn't support variable sound sample rates through Windows.

Seems it concerns only Windows 3.1 version of the game, not the DOS one.

Maybe stupid question, but something in the OP saying what this device actually is/does might be useful.

As i read it, it seems to be a non-AdLib/SB-compatible card with GM support. That sounds a lot like the Roland SCC-1. Would that be a correct characterisation? Would is be usible as GM card in games as the SCC-1 is?

bristlehog wrote on 2020-01-21, 09:44:

Seems it concerns only Windows 3.1 version of the game, not the DOS one.

Yes, I believe so. Doesn't this still mean that the Proteus is generating the MIDI music, however?

I found the PDF of the game manual that mentions the MultiSound (see p. 6). When you install the game in Windows, the setup asks you to select "Base Level MIDI" or "Extended Level MIDI." Base is for SB & PAS, while Extended is for GM sound Sound Canvas, MultiSound, WaveBlaster, and Yamaha TG-100.

https://www.mocagh.org/sierra/sierra-manual-alt5.pdf

I have the SQ4 CD-ROM v.1.0, and this is what the MIDI setup screen looks like:

Here's what the zombie crash screens look like:

dionb wrote on 2020-01-21, 13:26:

Maybe stupid question, but something in the OP saying what this device actually is/does might be useful.

As i read it, it seems to be a non-AdLib/SB-compatible card with GM support. That sounds a lot like the Roland SCC-1. Would that be a correct characterisation? Would is be usible as GM card in games as the SCC-1 is?

The answer is kind of complicated. The card is usually described as being not-GM compliant (perhaps predating the standard by just a little). However, the applications that I loaded (and will show in a later post) allow you to load a GM preset or a Proteus/1 XR preset. I've loaded the GM preset and played some .mid files from Descent, Duke Nukem, and Tyrian, and they sound okay.

bristlehog has been active in getting the MultiSound to work in DOS to play DOS games using the AIL system, but I haven't yet explored that capability myself.

In short, though, my understanding is that the MultiSound is not a GM card like the SCC-1 because it lacks an MPU-401. It's a shame because the Multisound seems like it is more powerful, produced with premium, top-of-the-line industry components.

boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-21, 14:17:

Yes, I believe so. Doesn't this still mean that the Proteus is generating the MIDI music, however?

I think it should be this way. Waiting eagerly for you to test it.

bristlehog wrote on 2020-01-21, 17:11:

I think it should be this way. Waiting eagerly for you to test it.

I've already tested it, and it sounded good until it crashed when the zombie appeared. I believe that the digitized speech comes directly off the CD-ROM. When I have the time, I will post samples of .mid files from DOS games in my wavetable thread and link to them in this thread. I'm working on getting a 256-color VGA driver installed on my Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM Trio64 in Win 3.1 first.

dionb wrote on 2020-01-21, 13:26:

As i read it, it seems to be a non-AdLib/SB-compatible card with GM support. That sounds a lot like the Roland SCC-1. Would that be a correct characterisation? Would is be usible as GM card in games as the SCC-1 is?

It is far away from being a SCC-1, because the later is a music-only card with native MPU-401 support, while Multisound Classic is a PCM+MIDI card, but without MPU-401.

Of Roland stuff it somewhat resembles RAP-10, but RAP-10 still supports MPU-401, while Multisound doesn't. Both have proprietary PCM part with some support in games but not compatible neither with SB, nor with WSS.

Or, we can compare it to AWE32, which has MPU-401 incompatible wavetable synth (even from the same company, this time EMU-8000 instead of EMU Proteus 1/XR used in Multisound), but AWE32 has SB-compatible PCM part, while Multisound doesn't.

One more close analogue is any ARIA-based card, like Prometheus ARIA16. SB-incompatible PCM part and MPU-401 incompatible wavetable. The difference this time is that ARIA cards have some SB support via TSR utility, and that ARIA standard is much more widely supported.

And at last, we can place Multisound close to Gravis Ultrasound and Omni Labs Audio Master. The difference this time is that Ultrasound and Audio Master don't use any ROM for MIDI synthesis, but instead load patches into card's RAM, while Multisound only relies on ROM, albeit allowing to change patch numbering (save for the drum patches), which gives some versatility, allowing Multisound to comply with GM or MT-32 patch order. That being said, Gravis Ultrasound gaming support is very steady, while Audio Master is narrowly supported (and the cards are all but inexistent nowadays).

boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-21, 03:46:

SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-20, 22:09:

Uh.... "This project is partially funded by PA Commenwealth's Ben Franklin Partnership Program." ....Whut?

Here's the story behind that (not too interesting): https://cnp.benfranklin.org/ben-franklin-alum … asdaq-exchange/

Huh! That's really cool. I wasn't aware Turtle Beach had survived the post-Windows / post-MIDI "any sound card will do" abstraction. Kind of charming that they were so thankful, that they decided to credit the funding on the product's box though.

SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-21, 19:46:

boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-21, 03:46:

SirNickity wrote on 2020-01-20, 22:09:

Uh.... "This project is partially funded by PA Commenwealth's Ben Franklin Partnership Program." ....Whut?

Here's the story behind that (not too interesting): https://cnp.benfranklin.org/ben-franklin-alum … asdaq-exchange/

Huh! That's really cool. I wasn't aware Turtle Beach had survived the post-Windows / post-MIDI "any sound card will do" abstraction. Kind of charming that they were so thankful, that they decided to credit the funding on the product's box though.

Omigod, and me living in the area at the time too. Either I knew and forgot, or never knew... I feel like I never knew this though. How did I not pick up on Turtle Beach Systems being based in York, Pennsylvania?

I was able to find working Windows 3.1 drivers for my Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM VLB (S3 Trio64) to play Space Quest IV in VGA with 256 colors. I fired up my Avermedia Game Broadcaster HD and StarTech VGA2HDMIPRO scaler (the only way to get the Avermedia to recognize a signal from the Stealth) and recorded about 9 minutes of video. The preset had already loaded by the time I accessed the front panel. The video ends with the zombie sound bug.

https://youtu.be/JR7a2wTd8W0

EDIT: Discovered that a cheap HDMI cable was causing some ugly "twinkling" artifacts in the video. Will upload another video tomorrow that uses the default Proteus patchset rather than GM.

UPDATE: I cleaned up the video after learning some things about how Youtube compresses video and also fixed the color range. The music comes from the default E-Mu Proteus 1/XR MIDI.