VOGONS


First post, by Demolition-Man

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Hi,
i got a new Soundcard: Sound Galaxy Pro 16III-3D PnP.
Ok, no problems under Windows, and most DOS games are working using the Unisound driver.

But i found this:

https://dosdays.co.uk/topics/Manufacturers/aztech.php

Issues with poor digital sound quality

Poor digital sound quality in DOS is actually due to a setting in the soundcard's Mixer control utility. This can affect 1st-gen right up to 4th-gen cards. All you have to do is to load the Mixer control TSR (normally found under the relevant soundcard's subdirectoy called "utility") and look for a setting where you can toggle between MONO or STEREO (the older soundcards' Mixer control had drop down menus, whereas the newer ones had a more simplified Mixer control). Select MONO (not STEREO), save and exit. You can unload the Mixer TSR afterwards. If you playback your games' digital sounds now, the sound quality will not sound as distorted/muffled. Bear in mind that this won't affect the actual digital sound output - a stereo sound source will still produce stereo sound provided you select the correct option in the game (SB Pro or SB Pro 2).

Cool, but where can i find a matching standalone DOS driver and the Mixer tool with the mono/stereo toggle?

Thx and have a good one.

Reply 2 of 4, by stanwebber

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the entire aztech ftp site is archived on the vogons driver site. there are v1 and v2 drivers available for the azt-2320 (all are pnp). i've also run across v1.4 drivers from other sources. installing the windows drivers will extract the wavrider folder with the dos drivers. attached is an archive with the extracted v2 dos drivers. if your bios is non-pnp you will also need the intel pnp configuration manager loaded. i never got everything working completely; unisound is preferred.

Reply 3 of 4, by Demolition-Man

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Sorry, i was busy. The mixer seems to be working, unfortunately the FX part of the card is still pretty bad.
Maybe you can help me with another problem.

Many OPL3 clone card have problems with reverse stereo. Not all games have an option for reverse stereo.
Is there a tool of some kind to switch the stereo channels?
Maybe not, but is there any other solution other then switching my speakers around?
Thx.

Reply 4 of 4, by stanwebber

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there are different releases of hwset for different aztech cards. it's possible there's a version out there with the option to swap channels, but this is all i get:

Mixer Control and Hardware Configuration Setting, Version 1.0
Copyright (c) 1993, AZI Labs. All rights reserved.

Command Line Format: HWSET /[S|?] [/MR] [/MS] [/option:value ...]

**** Miscellaneous Setting ****
/S or /? Simplified single screen help message
/MR Reset to factory defaults
/MS Store settings to EEPROM

**** Sound Card Mixer Volume Control ****
/VV:L,R Set Sound Blaster Voice Volume (L = 0 -- 16, R = 0 -- 16)
/VF:L,R Set FM/WaveTable Volume (L = 0 -- 16, R = 0 -- 16)
/VL:L,R Set Line-In/CD Volume (L = 0 -- 16, R = 0 -- 16)
/VM:X Set Microphone Volume (X = 0 -- 16)
/VX:L,R Set Master Volume (L = 0 -- 16, R = 0 -- 16)

**** Sound Card Hardware Address Setting ****
/SBA:X Set Sound Blaster Port Address (X = 220*, 240)
/MPUA:X Set MPU401 Port Address (X = 300, 330*)
/MSSA:X Set MSS Port Address (X = 530*, 604, E80, F40)

**** MITSUMI/SONY DMA Channel Setting ****
/CDDMA:X Set Mitsumi/Sony DMA Channel (X = 0, 3, D -- Disable*)

**** Sound Card Interrupt Setting ****
/SBIRQ:X Set Sound Blaster Interrupt (X = 2, 3, 5*, 7)
/MPUIRQ:X Set MPU401 Interrupt (X = 2*, 3, 5, 7)
/CDIRQ:X Set CD-ROM Interrupt (X = 11, 12, 15, N -- None*)

**** Sound Card CD, Game Port and Sound System Setting ****
/CD:X Set CD (X = M -- Mitsumi/Sony/Aztech, P -- Panasonic,
E -- All Enable*, D -- All Disable)
/GPA:X Set Game Port Status (X = D -- Disable, E -- Enable*)
/MSS:X Set MSS Status (X = D -- Disable, E -- Enable*)
/MPU:X Set MPU401 Status (X = D -- Disable, E -- Enable*)

i parsed the unisound.com readme, but didn't find any options to swap channels.