It will work, but why?

Thanks for the quick reply. Why not? 😀

One reason is compatibility since the AWE64's MIDI/FM emulation is not great in DOS. Sometimes it gets lost when switching games. Another is the 2260 has the real OPL chip that the AWE64 lacks, and GM through the Dreamblaster is better than the AWE64 Value's synthgm.

Dracolich wrote:

removing the AWEUTIL /S line from AUTOEXEC to prevent initializing FM emulation

Hi, I'm speaking under correction, but I believe you can enable/disable FM in one of the Creative utilities. 😀
Not sure whether it was CTCU or CTCM, though, since I always forget about them (I'm used to pre-PnP cards). 😅

Thanks, guys, it's working nicely. I never tried multiple sound cards back in the day, and this dual card setup also mitigates the hanging note bug in the 2260 😀

Dracolich wrote:

One reason is compatibility since the AWE64's MIDI/FM emulation is not great in DOS. Sometimes it gets lost when switching games. Another is the 2260 has the real OPL chip that the AWE64 lacks, and GM through the Dreamblaster is better than the AWE64 Value's synthgm.

I've found that if some game screws up the AWE FM/AWE synth, just running AWEUTIL /S again usually reinitializes it and it works just fine. Your other points are still valid, though. 😀

Dracolich wrote:

My idea is to keep the AWE64 at the same settings, removing the AWEUTIL /S line from AUTOEXEC to prevent initializing FM emulation, configure the 2260 for different I/O, IRQ and DMA, then connect the line-out from the 2260 to the line-in of the AWE64. Is this a doable hybrid solution?

I may be wrong. But I think some games accesses the OPL through the Sound Blaster base address, (eg. 220 instead of 388). In that case I think the CQM of the AWE64 will be used instead of the OPL on the CT2260.
But again I may be wrong.

dr_st, true it can be restored by doing so, but still a minor annoyance having to leave the game to run that command and then relaunch the game. mil, that is an interesting thought and something to keep in mind. If it only affects a few old titles I can live with that. 😀 I mostly play the Wolf3D, Doom, Build engine games, and occasionally the AD&D games by SSI. After linking the cards I changed the AWE64's midi port to 300 in ctpnp.cfg, rem'ed DIAGNOSE and AWEUTIL in AUTOEXEC.BAT and added a manual SET BLASTER line that excludes the E620 parameter. So far I've only tested OPL in Doom and verified it was playing through the CT2260 by disconnecting the external cable from the 2260's line-out. Doom and Heretic with General Midi are obvious by the sound font.

Dracolich wrote:

dmil, that is an interesting thought and something to keep in mind. If it only affects a few old titles I can live with that. 😀

As it was an OPL3 thing I would expect it to affect newer games, not the really old ones.

Re: No FM synthesis output from sound card
OPL3LPT : OPL3 FM Synthesis on parallel port
Is My Understanding About Midi Music Correct

It would be nice to have a list of games that use 220 beacuse I am thinking about a similar setup.

Thanks for those links, mil. I agree, such a list might be helpful to users planning multiple sound card configurations. I'll check a few more games this evening. So far I've only tested OPL in Doom.

In my setup, specifically the AWE64's PnP settings are port 220, irq 5, ldma 1, hdma 5; later edited ctpnp.cfg to set midi to 300. The CT2260 is jumpered to port 260, irq 7, ldma, 3, hdma 7, midi 330, and joystick disabled. In autoexec.bat my SET BLASTER line is A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6

Last night I tried some games and here's what I find so far:
This setup works with Doom, Heretic, Hexen, Duke3D, Blood, Wacky Wheels, Raptor: Call of the Shadows.
Wolf3D and Blake Stone also work, but when I disconnect the link cable I lose the music as well as item pickup sounds.
Epic Pinball doesn't have separate music settings.
In Mechwarrior2 I can't tell because no matter what I choose in the setup it still plays the CD music.
Abuse can't find my MIDI device at 330.
I'll have to try Tyrian 2000 later because it's crashing on me and will have to be reinstalled.

Today Abuse MIDI is working properly. 😒 Also today I solved the problem with Tyrian and it works also.