LuigiStone wrote on 2022-02-04, 16:04:

Got my Orpheus. I gotta say it’s sweet and works perfectly. Using Orphinit. Waveblaster header pins were a little bent but was able to fix them. Thanks for the device.!

awesome! thanks for the support!
bent pins? was where package damage?

Package looked perfectly fine. Here is a photo of the pins. The card works perfectly though so no worries.

It will be fine, but based on the pin bending I see, it looks like someone mishandled the pin connectors. Not whomever assembled the final card per-say, but it could easily have been someone moving around raw components at the parts source.

LuigiStone wrote on 2022-02-05, 14:45:

Package looked perfectly fine. Here is a photo of the pins. The card works perfectly though so no worries.

well it was bound to happen after all those cards made 🤣
sorry for that
but yeah, it's not a serious damage, straighten them again and it will be like nothing ever happened 😀

keropi wrote on 2022-02-05, 15:04:

well it was bound to happen after all those cards made LOL sorry for that but yeah, it's not a serious damage, straighten them a […]
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LuigiStone wrote on 2022-02-05, 14:45:

Package looked perfectly fine. Here is a photo of the pins. The card works perfectly though so no worries.

well it was bound to happen after all those cards made 🤣
sorry for that
but yeah, it's not a serious damage, straighten them again and it will be like nothing ever happened 😀

Yeah no worries boss! Perfectly happy with the purchase!

Hi!

First sorry for my not perfect english...

I am a proud owner of the orpheus soundcard with PCMidi. Now i had the time to test the orpheus soundcard in detail. It worked in Dos with the OPL3 and in Win98 with the Crystal very well! That very great!

But i cant get the midi part to work. I wont use a extern Midi-Sequencer (I have a Roland RA-50 in MT32 Mode and a Roland SC-55).
The PCMidi ist activated automaticly, right? And the CrytalMPU is deactivated automaticly, right?
So, is it correct that i must only connect the gameport of the soundcard with the Midi in of the Roland-Device via a Cable?
I use this cable from ebay:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/1-8m-MIDI-nach-Joysti … 7-127634-2357-0

I wondered, that there are two midi connectors, i have tested both on the Roland-Device with no success. And of course a cable from the Audio out of the Roland-Device to the Line in of the orpheus soundcard is also connected. So, that is what i did, but it dont work. The things must go automaticly with my setup? Or are there any software setups to adjust? In Dos i use the unisound-driver with automaticly load via the autoexec.bat. In Win98 i have installed the Win-driver from the orpheus website and then i changed in the multimedia-setup in Win98 the midi-output from intern midi to extern midi. In both worlds (Dos and Win) the Roland-Device is not detected. It looks like the Roland-Device becomes no signal from the soundcard. Maybe i bought the wrong cable? I wont to use a split cable that split the gameport of the orpheus in a game port on the one side (to use a joystick) and a midi out port on the other side (to connect the Roland-Device). Maybe you have a recommendation of a right cable i am looking for or any ideas to help?

Thank you very much and greetings from germany!

Enrico

Hello Enrico!

First of all make really sure that the default PCMIDI resources of IRQ2 and Port330 are really available
Since you are using Unisound update to the latest version and use the /XOM0 switch so that that CSMPU gets disabled for sure
Then if irq2/port330 are free and the MPU SELECTION JUMPER BLOCK on the card is setup for PCMIDI on the needed ports then things should work without any further effort

Remember that under windows you need to manually install PCMIDI with the "Add new hardware" wizard since PCMIDI is not a PnP device. Using the embedded Roland MPU-401 or the alternative drivers available on the PCMIDI Files Section will make the interface available to the system.

The cable you bought should be OK but you can just verify the setup using the dedicated MIDI-OUT Jack + adapter + normal midi cable to your synth.

hope this helps, if you need further help/info just post about it and I'll help more 😀

Thank you!

I will check the IRQ/Port things the next days and also check the Midi-Out Jack as an option.

Hi Enrico [wollup],

I could not help myself but add to what Keropi told you as I had a similar problem. I do not know what motherboard you have, but since you mention Win98 I assume it might support PnP. So make sure on your BIOS that the IRQ you are using is set to Legacy ISA. You might also want to avoid IRQ2 if your system use ACPI and cannot disable it (you will have to refresh win98 install if you do). The PCMIDI part of my Orpheus is on IRQ3 because of that.

If you encounter further problems I would suggest you inform us about the model # of your motherboard. While you fiddle around with your Orpheus and your motherboard is exposed, you might want to note that. It's often written in a corner or in between two expansion slot.

also:

wollup wrote on 2022-02-06, 10:32:

The PCMidi ist activated automaticly, right? And the CrytalMPU is deactivated automaticly, right?

I'm not sure what you mean by that exactly, on my setup I have the PC-MIDI controlling the MIDI OUT Connector [MOC] and CrystalMPU controlling the WaveTable Connector [WTC]. So hopefully one do not automatically deactivate the other and you can enjoy using both if you manage resources accordingly. My guess is that CrystalMPU is disabled only if you do not activate it via software initialization disregarding the MIDI Signal Control jumper configuration, but only Keropi or Marmes could answer that (or further investigation (which I wont do)).

I got an Orpheus this week. I'm using McCake on the waveblaster and want the Intelligent interface to drive it at 330. I had it working for a couple of days, but now the Intelligent interface has seemingly stopped responding completely and I can't get it back. Otherwise the card works, as does the McCake if I use the Crystal MPU for it.

It sounds a lot like an IRQ conflict. I think it even happened a few times before, after resets or reboots (which might hint at PnP?), but a power cycle fixed it then. I'm sure it was jumpered in a default manner (330, irq2, all jumpers at Intelligent) while it still worked. I can't think of what I might have changed that could possibly have affected it.

Since then I've tried most of what I can think of to get it back. Tried both UNISOUND and ORPHINIT for disabling the Crystal MPU or moving it to 300. Flashed the card to default the Crystal MPU at 300. Tried the default ORPHEUS.INI. Disabled COM and LPT ports and removed my GUS ACE card to try prevent IRQ conflicts, leaving only Orpheus and the graphics card. Tried all of the IRQ 2,3,5,7. Experimented with various BIOS settings that I might have touched or that look like they could affect things. Ran with minimal config and autoexec. Nothing seems to help. I'm starting to think I must have fried it somehow.

I've previously used mt32-pi.exe to control the McCake. Sometimes it hangs the machine now. Most of the time it just says this:
ERROR: MPU401 not answering at port 0x330.
Error initializing midi interface.

Games don't find it either. Any ideas? This is a Pentium-S machine, running a mostly FreeDOS 1.2 setup.

I would definitely try the card in another computer running MS-DOS to confirm there isn't some other hardware conflict.

definitely do what Kahenraz suggests if possible
also check in the BIOS in power management section if you have the option for APM or ACPI : you want it to be APM

but it does seem very weird that no other setting works whatsoever, one combo like port300/irq3 should work if serial ports are disabled
there are no HDD controllers or scsi stuff on the system right?

This is unfortunately my only board with ISA slots, so I can't test elsewhere. I could ask some friends eventually, but the times haven't been favorable for socializing for a good while now.
I did make an MS-DOS 6.22 boot disk with ORPHINIT and MT32-PI.EXE to ascertain that it's not related to FreeDOS. It's not.
The BIOS doesn't mention ACPI anywhere so I don't think it's even supported. And I'm sure I ran it at IRQ2 before. There is an item about APM that can be Enabled or Disabled. Doesn't make a difference either way.
IRQ 3 at least should be free. And if it were not, IRQ 7 has at least been good enough for my GUS ACE so it should be able to handle Orpheus' pcmidi instead. But no.
I even switched tried the card in the slot the GUS usually sits at in case there's some weirdness tying IRQ's to particular slots, but didn't help.
There are no SCSI controllers nor IDE controller cards. Just the Orpheus and a S3 Trio64 V+ Video Adapter right now.

Most disheartening to me is that it used to just work and then not and nothing helps. Like it just plain and simple broke.
Is there any chance the special firmware for the early PnP BIOSes would help with anything but boot issues?

The mobo appears to be a Soyo 5TS/5TF with an Award BIOS 04/13/96-i430HX-2A59FS29C-00. There may be a newer BIOS available, but I'm a bit reluctant to flash it because I don't have a good remedy in case it goes badly south.

rixasha wrote on 2022-02-12, 20:28:

[...] Most disheartening to me is that it used to just work and then not and nothing helps. Like it just plain and simple broke. […]
Show full quote

[...]
Most disheartening to me is that it used to just work and then not and nothing helps. Like it just plain and simple broke.
Is there any chance the special firmware for the early PnP BIOSes would help with anything but boot issues?

The mobo appears to be a Soyo 5TS/5TF with an Award BIOS 04/13/96-i430HX-2A59FS29C-00. There may be a newer BIOS available, but I'm a bit reluctant to flash it because I don't have a good remedy in case it goes badly south.

nah, PCMIDI has nothing to do with the Orpheus firmware/drivers
what I can think is that the Z8 cpu on the card needs replacing - it's the big socketed chip on the edge , without it PCMIDI is brain-dead
send me an email (the dallas.leo one , see on the site) and I will send you a replacement Z8 next week
nonmatter what we will get it working again - it will just take some time unfortunately 🙁

Is there a way to check where I am in the queue for a PC Midi standalone card? I put myself on the list back in 2020, but haven't heard anything. I'm genuinely unsure if I just didn't get / missed being contacted and I need to figure something else out, or if my name just hasn't come up yet.

rojovision wrote on 2022-03-15, 23:07:

Is there a way to check where I am in the queue for a PC Midi standalone card? I put myself on the list back in 2020, but haven't heard anything. I'm genuinely unsure if I just didn't get / missed being contacted and I need to figure something else out, or if my name just hasn't come up yet.

If you were in the list in 2020 there is no way you would not be served sometime in 2020... So something happened 🙁
Please fill the form again, a new shipment of pcmidi PCBs is arriving this week and there is one for you in it 😀

Hi Keropi,

Glad to see new batch pcmidi card is coming, how about Orpheus card, my board only got 1 isa slot, waiting for Orpheus card as all-in-one solution for a long time .

keropi wrote on 2022-03-16, 06:33:

rojovision wrote on 2022-03-15, 23:07:

Is there a way to check where I am in the queue for a PC Midi standalone card? I put myself on the list back in 2020, but haven't heard anything. I'm genuinely unsure if I just didn't get / missed being contacted and I need to figure something else out, or if my name just hasn't come up yet.

If you were in the list in 2020 there is no way you would not be served sometime in 2020... So something happened 🙁
Please fill the form again, a new shipment of pcmidi PCBs is arriving this week and there is one for you in it 😀

Gotcha, I guess maybe I missed it. I just put in a new request. Thanks for the quick response.

rojovision wrote on 2022-03-16, 13:20:

Gotcha, I guess maybe I missed it. I just put in a new request. Thanks for the quick response.

received , thanks!
I put you on top of list

darry wrote on 2020-10-29, 01:58:

This Orpheus specific driver looks like it is based on the reference pv2860.zip driver set, so I tried to install that instead and it works fine for me, AFAICT (the only change I made is a registry key to enable digital output).

Digging up a 2 year post, but what did you end up changing if you remember? I'm trying to activate the SPDIF out so I can run my rig through my DAC and onto whatever else i need.

EDIT: nevermind I guess.. reseating both the orpheus and my awe64 made things work suddenly????