Not seeing anything from the archived ESS site though they do link to Microsoft for more info.
http://web.archive.org/web/20000229140316/htt … vers/driver.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20001208204200/htt … vers/driver.htm

And all driver files that were archived before they moved to ftp.
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.esst … dable/drivers/*

Edit:
So, those WDM drivers with the weird VXD name on the newer driver site I was able to find. That driver contains the VXD and WDM drivers from the looks of it.
ESS newer driver site:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030604141739/htt … pp/drivers.shtm

That gives us the file names of the drivers via the links.

Did a search for the file name and found a working download on Softpedia.
I have uploaded it to my Google Drive for now:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11_Fb_ … 1MH?usp=sharing

I'll do a proper archive of all the ESS drivers when I get a chance.

Thanks for looking into this! These are the drivers that I have installed. So are you telling me they are VxD and WDM at the same time?

It looks to me like you should be able to switch between the vxd and wdm drivers but I could be wrong.

You can try going into device manager and tell it to update the driver and then see if it will let you manually select the vxd or wdm.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-09-15, 05:31:

It looks to me like you should be able to switch between the vxd and wdm drivers but I could be wrong.

You can try going into device manager and tell it to update the driver and then see if it will let you manually select the vxd or wdm.

For the ESS Maestro 2/2e/3/Allegro-1 you can swap between VxD and WDM drivers in Win98 (did that on the Dell C600 and the Compaq n600c). The VxD drivers are better for DOS compatibility, while the WDM is slightly more stable/efficient. Dell archives for the Latitude C600/Inspiron 4000 should contain support for both. For the old Win98 CD based games (read: DirectX, not DOS) and it needs to sit on the PCI slot, the ESS Maestro/Allegros are fine - some also swears by the Crystal CS4630 (Turtle Beach Montego and the like) , or something based on the Yamaha OPL3/YMF7x4. There’s also the Aureal Vortex2, which is fine but a bit more expensive.

Of course, if you want DOS compatibility that's something different.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-09-15, 05:31:

You can try going into device manager and tell it to update the driver and then see if it will let you manually select the vxd or wdm.

Tried updating from device manager and it doesn't give an option for wdm. Is there another way?

I'll have to see if I have a Maestro 2 card and then see what I can come up with.

Well, I looked through all my PCI sound cards and didn't find any with a Maestro 2 chip.

Pretty sure I don't have a laptop with one either.

After looking at that driver installer again, it looks like it really is only a VXD driver set. I also did some more searching and was not able to find a WDM driver set anywhere.

Thanks for looking! I suspected no WDM option in windows 9x

Well, I supposedly have a Maestro 2 based sound card on the way. It was one I had been watching for a few months. The box says it is Maestro 2 but who knows it it is actually a 2 or 2E.

I'm wondering if it will have WDM drivers on the install CD or if maybe I can get the 2E WDM drivers working on a regular 2.

I found this on Drivergiude - they had been down for a couple days and this was the first time I was able to look there.

It is a WDM driver but not sure if it is for Win9x or XP as the .INF doesn't say. It is for the Solo-1, Maestro 2 and Maestro 2E.

I have the CD for my Videologic SonicStorm (ESS Maestro 1) and also for my Guillemot Maxi Studio ISIS (ESS Maestro 2E).
Maybe it has the driver you need. I'll check it later.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-09-16, 21:32:

Well, I supposedly have a Maestro 2 based sound card on the way. It was one I had been watching for a few months. The box says it is Maestro 2 but who knows it it is actually a 2 or 2E.

I'm wondering if it will have WDM drivers on the install CD or if maybe I can get the 2E WDM drivers working on a regular 2.

You should be able to use the VxD/WDM drivers - from what I remember off the datasheet the only major difference between the 2 and the 2e is the sampling rate and some power saving feature.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-09-17, 15:15:

I found this on Drivergiude - they had been down for a couple days and this was the first time I was able to look there.
ess98.zip

Thanks for looking. I missed the notification here. I believe I've tried this driver as it's in my downloads folder. And no dice with the maestro 2e drivers so far. 🤷

ragefury32 wrote on 2021-09-15, 05:55:

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-09-15, 05:31:

It looks to me like you should be able to switch between the vxd and wdm drivers but I could be wrong.

You can try going into device manager and tell it to update the driver and then see if it will let you manually select the vxd or wdm.

For the ESS Maestro 2/2e/3/Allegro-1 you can swap between VxD and WDM drivers in Win98 (did that on the Dell C600 and the Compaq n600c). The VxD drivers are better for DOS compatibility, while the WDM is slightly more stable/efficient. Dell archives for the Latitude C600/Inspiron 4000 should contain support for both. For the old Win98 CD based games (read: DirectX, not DOS) and it needs to sit on the PCI slot, the ESS Maestro/Allegros are fine - some also swears by the Crystal CS4630 (Turtle Beach Montego and the like) , or something based on the Yamaha OPL3/YMF7x4. There’s also the Aureal Vortex2, which is fine but a bit more expensive.

Of course, if you want DOS compatibility that's something different.

sorry for reposting in this old thread but just got a Compaq N600c and having a really hard time getting it to work on dos games under windows 98. Used the Recovery disks to install win 98 on it, but it does come with a generic "ESS Allegro PCI (WDM)" driver on it, which only has windows sounds, no dos, no sb, no adlib, no general midi. I heard there are some VxD Drivers, which I tried installing 1988 from Philllab, the modem version from https://www.zx.net.nz/mirror/www.esstech.com/ … rivers.html#pci, but all of them just installing "ESS Allegro PCI Device Manager" then an unknown device installer also pops out, but computer is freezing very soon after boot with these. Any good way for me to install some sort of driver to have dos games sound under win 98? e.g. I have several YMF744 devices and they have the "Audio Coded" "Legacy Driver" "XG Synth" etc visible under device manager. I'm looking for something similar here so I should be able to work it out. I know that's not Yamaha compatible, but still. Thank you!