VOGONS


First post, by stanwebber

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

everex is a brand name, but i can't find evidence they manufactured any other standalone soundcards so i'm thinking the one i acquired is an oem or clone. the everex drivers are non-existent. i could try cobbling together separate drivers for the cs4232 & cs9233 (dream sam9233) chips, but if this card is a direct clone of something else i'd just as well use those. also, there appears to be no opl3 so is the cs9233 providing the fm synth (although opl3 clone chips can take some unusual form factors like on the als100+)?

IMG_20230529_100559.jpg
Filename
IMG_20230529_100559.jpg
File size
1.61 MiB
Views
737 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 1 of 9, by keropi

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I do not know if this is a clone of something but the CS4232 does not have any kind of internal FM synth and there is no dedicated opl on the board which means that FM duties are assumed by the dream/crystal 9233 chip which produces a very weird result - it is using wavetable to emulate FM sounds... Personally I find it horrible 🤣

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 3 of 9, by keropi

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Babasha wrote on 2023-05-29, 16:27:

Ls244 + Ls245 is Opl3 clone?!)))

nope.... 😁

u3ibMe7l.png

here is an example of the FM emulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnPjFGcLn60&t=288s

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 4 of 9, by Babasha

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
keropi wrote on 2023-05-29, 16:53:
nope.... :D […]
Show full quote
Babasha wrote on 2023-05-29, 16:27:

Ls244 + Ls245 is Opl3 clone?!)))

nope.... 😁

u3ibMe7l.png

here is an example of the FM emulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnPjFGcLn60&t=288s

Who knows… my CS sound card was dual FM capable. One way (disabled in software) is CrystalFM, second way is clone of original Opl3 chips witl LS244 and LS245 chips (not the 74LS244 and 74LS245. Same chips i see and listen on Adlib clone 8-bit card from Taiwan clone maker).

Need help? Begin with photo and model of your hardware 😉

Reply 5 of 9, by stanwebber

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

i've been searching online and the only cards i can find with this chip combination (cs4232-kq, cs9233-cq, cs4112-cs) are the:
- reveal sc500 (some revisions with yamaha opl3)
- orchid nusound pnp
- aopen aw32 pro / acer magic s23a
it's interesting that most of these cards retain their waveblaster header pins with the cs9233 while my card doesn't even have the pads.

Reply 6 of 9, by stanwebber

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

installed the card and it is identified as a 'everex wavemachine'. still no drivers, but i discovered on the wayback machine in 2000 that everex.com had drivers listed for a couple more of their soundcards.

win9x installs generic cs4232/6/7 vxd drivers (which includes a rockwell/conexant wavestream soft synth), but the drivers are buggy and produce clicking in the dxdiag directsound tests. a roland mpu-401 windows device is installed to access the onboard wavetable and the sbpro audio and midi work in a windows command prompt. the fm synth is beyond bizarre--a dial up modem could provide some competition for a more authentic sounding opl3.

unisound.com handles everything under dos, although the card is pnp and i haven't yet checked what works without any initialization at all. my last card was a pnp aztech azt-2320 and it just worked with no drivers (except switching from sbpro to wss mode).

really what i want from this card now is better vxd or wdm windows drivers and to find out if there is a dos mt-32 instrument mapping utility for the cs9233/sam9233.

Reply 7 of 9, by Tiido

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Babasha wrote on 2023-05-29, 16:27:

Ls244 + Ls245 is Opl3 clone?!)))

Not on this card, the chips don't have enough pins to be OPL3, the 244 and 245 on it are actual 244 and 245 and are there for CD interfaces.

9233's FM emulation is quite terrible indeed 🤣

T-04YBSC, a new YMF71x based sound card & Official VOGONS thread about it
Newly made 4MB 60ns 30pin SIMMs ~
mida sa loed ? nagunii aru ei saa 😜

Reply 8 of 9, by .info

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I have been waiting a while to find a thread about this Everex sound card. I have one, mine is a Rev D but otherwise looks the same (a few different chip vendors). Searched quite a biit, never have found dedicated drivers. The OP got it going fully in DOS, including the onboard wavetable? Using Unisound? I would like to know the settings that were used, would like to try it myself. I recall that when I tried to get it going once was able to get some sound out using a CS4232 driver but not fully working. It would have been a couple years ago I remember trying Unisound but it would have been an earlier version. For Windows I only tried Win95 I remember it recognized the card by name but did not do much else. I am hoping the FM can be disabled and pair the card with something that has good FM. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Reply 9 of 9, by stanwebber

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

the card works under dos with the current version of unisound.com or the v180 drivers from the package here:
http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=925

unisound.com assigns 0x200, 0x220, 0x330, 0x388, 0x534, 0x538, irq 5, dma 1/1 by default with no switch parameters for my pnp bios. i did have some sound irregularities with the cs4332 dos driver package when the tsr was loaded other than from config.sys.

win98se installs a generic microsoft driver automatically.

the cs9233 is gs compatible and can be switched to an mt32 instrument set with gsplay, but only with the mt32 switch parameter for that single play session. i can find no way to make the mapping stick afterwards, even using gsplay itself with gs/gm/mt32 resets set to none and ignored. running a mid file (with or without sysex messages) to remap instruments prior in the playlist also doesn't work--only the mt32 switch. i wish there was a way to make it permanent until the next system restart.