SSINIT uploads firmware to the board. You could say it uploads the Soundscape's OS because Soundscape is a little computer on a board, basically. It has firmware for Windows and firmware for DOS. Uploading DOS firmware to it while in Windows would probably cause the card to stop working or make the system unstable due to Windows drivers being very confused. I highly doubt any damage could come from it though.

Are you running Windows 9x? Just make sure you are running the latest drivers. You can still get Soundscape drivers from E-MU systems (merged with Ensoniq in 1998 or so).
http://www.emu.com/support/files/download2.as … acy=&Platform=1

Also worth noting is that these cards are not Plug'n'Play. That means Windows can't detect the ports the card is jumpered to. So, you need to make sure that the driver (DOS or Windows) is set to the same port that the jumpers on the board are set to. If you set it wrong, it will look like the card isn't working (driver wont load, yellow exclamation in Win9x). Soundscape uses 2 ports, one for MIDI and one for digital audio. Defaults should be 330 and 534. IRQ and DMA are software configurable in both DOS and Windows.

Thank you for your reply. When I originally installed the multimedia kit, I copied the settings down in the booklet. Yes, my sound card uses the default ports 330 and 534. This is what the sound card booklet said about running SSInit under Windows or in a DOS session: “This will cause the SSInit program to fail, as well as any further operation of the sound card under Windows.” That’s what scared me.

I am not sure what you mean by Windows 9x. I am running regular Windows 3.11, not Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I downloaded the new drivers from that site, but it didn’t help.

Yes, I know these cards are not Plug’n’Pray. Everything worked fine for years. The first sign of trouble was when one day the sound card was dead. Then, I thought about loosening the card, wiggling it, and wiggling all the cables going to the card, and plugging in different powered speakers. Still nothing. Then one day the sound came back by itself, and it was good. I put the old speakers back and everything was fine. A few weeks later it started to play distorted. I am not sure if I did run the SSINIT for sure under Windows during that time. After reading the warning I thought that I may have, and that’s what caused the problem.

When those new drivers didn’t help I used the uninstall program that came with the sound card and restarted the computer. Just for the heck of it I tried the Windows media player with a MIDI file and it played distorted like before. I don’t understand. If the software was removed what made the sound card play? I only have that one sound card. Could Windows play the card? Could Windows be accessing the card with several drivers at the same time? It distorts wave midi and audio CD. Audio CD is okay through earphones from the drive.

When I wasn’t getting anywhere with my soundcard I just turned off the powered speakers and ignored it for about three months. Just for the heck of it I turned it back on a few days ago and it worked, no more distorted, scratchy sound. It fixed itself? I don’t know, but I am very happy.