Make sure that all voltage rails required by the X2GS are working properly on that computer. Issues like this might be caused by a missing -12V rail on the ISA bus, if the dreamblaster is using this rail. A missing -12V rail would also likely disturb serial port operation, but everything else in the PC still works perfectly, so you might work with -12V missing for a long time without noticing if you use a PS/2 mouse.

mkarcher wrote on 2023-02-07, 20:33:

Make sure that all voltage rails required by the X2GS are working properly on that computer. Issues like this might be caused by a missing -12V rail on the ISA bus, if the dreamblaster is using this rail. A missing -12V rail would also likely disturb serial port operation, but everything else in the PC still works perfectly, so you might work with -12V missing for a long time without noticing if you use a PS/2 mouse.

I don't think the X2GS uses -12V. Don't see a trace at pin 21. But maybe it's multi-layered?

Serial port is working as well as PS/2. Will do some voltage measurements tomorrow but would be very strange if it's related with a rail as the sound card is working perfectly as are all other ISA cards.

Yoghoo wrote on 2023-02-07, 21:51:

mkarcher wrote on 2023-02-07, 20:33:

Make sure that all voltage rails required by the X2GS are working properly on that computer. Issues like this might be caused by a missing -12V rail on the ISA bus, if the dreamblaster is using this rail. A missing -12V rail would also likely disturb serial port operation, but everything else in the PC still works perfectly, so you might work with -12V missing for a long time without noticing if you use a PS/2 mouse.

I don't think the X2GS uses -12V. Don't see a trace at pin 21. But maybe it's multi-layered?

Serial port is working as well as PS/2. Will do some voltage measurements tomorrow but would be very strange if it's related with a rail as the sound card is working perfectly as are all other ISA cards.

Did some voltage measurements and everything is within range so no problem on the voltage part.

Anyone has any other idea what the problem could be?

Yoghoo wrote on 2023-02-07, 20:28:

Recently got a DreamBlaster X2GS Waveblaster card and connected it to an ESS AudioDrive ES1868 sound card. It works okay but the […]
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Recently got a DreamBlaster X2GS Waveblaster card and connected it to an ESS AudioDrive ES1868 sound card. It works okay but the output from the Waveblaster is very very soft.

Was contacted by @dreamblaster and he kindly sent another one to check if it was related to the Waveblaster (big thanks for that). Unfortunately the same problem happened on that Waveblaster as well.

So I bought another sound card (an Aztech Sound Galaxy Washington 16) but the exact thing also happens on this card: very low volume output. Next thing I tried was to connect the Waveblaster directly to the line-in port of the sound card. Also then the same low volume output.

Tried all kind of other things like:

• Removing all other ISA cards (network card etc)
• Using other ISA slots for the sound card
• Changing port and IRQ of the MPU-401
• Setting the General Output Amp to the max on the Waveblaster via the preset (+5,9 dB)

But unfortunately nothing helps. So I am at a loss what what the problem is. Would really like to get this solved. Anybody got any idea what the problem could be?

For ESS cards the waveblaster volume is tied to Aux, so please check your ESSVOL settings and see if Aux is muted or very low

What happens if you use UNISOUND.EXE for initializing the ESS card and set the volume there with the "/VF" parameter to "99"?

/VFnn
Set FM/Synth/WT Volume level to 'nn' % (00-99)

appiah4 wrote on 2023-02-09, 10:39:

For ESS cards the waveblaster volume is tied to Aux, so please check your ESSVOL settings and see if Aux is muted or very low

I used: essvol.exe /v:7 /l:0 /w:1 /m:0 /c:1 /s:1 /a:15 to get the output almost the same on all channels. As you can see the aux is at 15 (max) and the rest to 1. This unfortunately makes the general output very quiet.

1541 wrote on 2023-02-09, 10:42:

What happens if you use UNISOUND.EXE for initializing the ESS card and set the volume there with the "/VF" parameter to "99"?

/VFnn
Set FM/Synth/WT Volume level to 'nn' % (00-99)

This has the same effect as with essvol.exe in above post. I need to bring everything else down and that makes the general volume output very low.

Yoghoo wrote on 2023-02-09, 11:00:

appiah4 wrote on 2023-02-09, 10:39:

For ESS cards the waveblaster volume is tied to Aux, so please check your ESSVOL settings and see if Aux is muted or very low

I used: essvol.exe /v:7 /l:0 /w:1 /m:0 /c:1 /s:1 /a:15 to get the output almost the same on all channels. As you can see the aux is at 15 (max) and the rest to 1. This unfortunately makes the general output very quiet.

Can you try setting /L:15 /W:15 /A:15 as well?

Also, are you sure the WT is properly connected? (ie. not reverse, not shifted up/down or left/right by one pin?)

A photo of the card would be good.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-02-09, 11:08:

Can you try setting /L:15 /W:15 /A:15 as well? […]
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Yoghoo wrote on 2023-02-09, 11:00:

appiah4 wrote on 2023-02-09, 10:39:

For ESS cards the waveblaster volume is tied to Aux, so please check your ESSVOL settings and see if Aux is muted or very low

I used: essvol.exe /v:7 /l:0 /w:1 /m:0 /c:1 /s:1 /a:15 to get the output almost the same on all channels. As you can see the aux is at 15 (max) and the rest to 1. This unfortunately makes the general output very quiet.

Can you try setting /L:15 /W:15 /A:15 as well?

Also, are you sure the WT is properly connected? (ie. not reverse, not shifted up/down or left/right by one pin?)

A photo of the card would be good.

See photo below of the 2 sound cards which I tried and have the same problem. Using the Aztech atm and yes the WT is absolutely correctly connected.

I tried to use those settings before but the /w:15 makes the non midi sound to hard and didn't do anything for the midi sound. Also the /l:15 didn't make a difference. Like I said in the opening post I even connected the WT out to the line-in (with a 3.5 connecter) and set it to /l:15 but even then the output the same (so very low).

have you tried the X2GS on a modern system? just connect it via USB and put some speakers/headphones in the audio jack
the X2GS will appear as a MIDI output device and you can play some midi in modern OS
this way you will know if it's the X2GS or the host cards to blame

What kind of software do you have running? There is nothing that is setting MIDI volume through sysex? ESS cards might need more volume, not sure. My ESS + DB50XG combo was perfect, ESS + Yucatan FX a bit on the lower side, same with the X2GS. I have the X2GS with amp on max on the line-out of an ESS with the Phil N CHiLL adapter / CHiLL III.

The DB50XG and Yucatan were too much for the Aztec 2316 I tried them on, had to bring down the volume.

Perhaps you can try a GM / GS reset? You can also try the MID files from Serdaco.

keropi wrote on 2023-02-09, 11:51:

have you tried the X2GS on a modern system? just connect it via USB and put some speakers/headphones in the audio jack
the X2GS will appear as a MIDI output device and you can play some midi in modern OS
this way you will know if it's the X2GS or the host cards to blame

Yes I tried that. It didn't create a MIDI output device on Windows 11 though. What I found out it doesn't do that anymore after Windows 8+. But I got it working with Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player.

The output was reasonable then. Absolutely not loud and a bit softer then I expected but better then in the retro pc.

Rawit wrote on 2023-02-09, 12:10:

What kind of software do you have running? There is nothing that is setting MIDI volume through sysex? ESS cards might need more volume, not sure. My ESS + DB50XG combo was perfect, ESS + Yucatan FX a bit on the lower side, same with the X2GS. I have the X2GS with amp on max on the line-out of an ESS with the Phil N CHiLL adapter / CHiLL III.

The DB50XG and Yucatan were too much for the Aztec 2316 I tried them on, had to bring down the volume.

Perhaps you can try a GM / GS reset? You can also try the MID files from Serdaco.

Tried it in Windows 3.11 and plain DOS (with and without drivers and memory managers). In DOS I used multiple programs like dosmid and couple of games.

Already set the General Output Amp to the max on the Waveblaster via the preset to +5,9 dB. It's not possible to get any higher as far as I know. Will take a look again at the MID files but I believe they are more for switching banks etc.

Yoghoo wrote on 2023-02-09, 12:55:

Yes I tried that. It didn't create a MIDI output device on Windows 11 though. What I found out it doesn't do that anymore after Windows 8+. But I got it working with Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player.

MIDI Mapper got removed since Windows 8 and software that relied entirely on it were affected negatively since they didn't have an option to set which MIDI device will be used. It can be mitigated with CoolSoft MIDIMapper though.

Yoghoo wrote on 2023-02-09, 12:55:

keropi wrote on 2023-02-09, 11:51:

have you tried the X2GS on a modern system? just connect it via USB and put some speakers/headphones in the audio jack
the X2GS will appear as a MIDI output device and you can play some midi in modern OS
this way you will know if it's the X2GS or the host cards to blame

Yes I tried that. It didn't create a MIDI output device on Windows 11 though. What I found out it doesn't do that anymore after Windows 8+. But I got it working with Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player.

The output was reasonable then. Absolutely not loud and a bit softer then I expected but better then in the retro pc.

Can you post photos of the X2GS front and back? If it works as a USB device but not on the waveblaster header for two different cards then it could be an issue with the connector or a trace leading up to it.

Have you tried the sound cards on a different motherboard btw? Just in case..

I use Tom's MIDI Player to get around the lack of midi mapper, you just select from the list a MIDI OUT device and press play
https://www.grandgent.com/tom/projects/tmidi/

Is the volume different when you connect the X2GS to USB and run the line-out to the line-in of your cards?

appiah4 wrote on 2023-02-09, 14:00:

Yoghoo wrote on 2023-02-09, 12:55:

keropi wrote on 2023-02-09, 11:51:

have you tried the X2GS on a modern system? just connect it via USB and put some speakers/headphones in the audio jack
the X2GS will appear as a MIDI output device and you can play some midi in modern OS
this way you will know if it's the X2GS or the host cards to blame

Yes I tried that. It didn't create a MIDI output device on Windows 11 though. What I found out it doesn't do that anymore after Windows 8+. But I got it working with Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player.

The output was reasonable then. Absolutely not loud and a bit softer then I expected but better then in the retro pc.

Can you post photos of the X2GS front and back? If it works as a USB device but not on the waveblaster header for two different cards then it could be an issue with the connector or a trace leading up to it.

Have you tried the sound cards on a different motherboard btw? Just in case..

See below. But it's very difficult to see the traces even with good lighting. Also I tested with another X2GS (which @dreamblaster sent to test) which had the same problem.

Didn't test yet with another computer. Can't lift heavy objects atm so that will need to wait.

Rawit wrote on 2023-02-09, 15:09:

Is the volume different when you connect the X2GS to USB and run the line-out to the line-in of your cards?

Just tested it and then the volume is good. So exactly the same as the the non-midi volume output. But what does that tell us?