As long as you can balance IRQ conflicts then you can have multiple soundcards, Most I've had in a single PC is 2 PCI and 1 ISA. but more is definitely possible.
Some software will allow you to select the soundcard but if not in Windows 98, setting the card you want as default will force the software to use this card.
I'm coming from a gaming background though. I'm not sure why ASIO doesn't allow more then 1 card or why they would care?
You can route cards audio by having a cable run from line out in 1 card to line in on another, this isn't so bad for gaming but for producing probably better off getting an external mixer of some sort.

chinny22 wrote on 2025-03-10, 01:58:

As long as you can balance IRQ conflicts then you can have multiple soundcards, Most I've had in a single PC is 2 PCI and 1 ISA. […]
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As long as you can balance IRQ conflicts then you can have multiple soundcards, Most I've had in a single PC is 2 PCI and 1 ISA. but more is definitely possible.
Some software will allow you to select the soundcard but if not in Windows 98, setting the card you want as default will force the software to use this card.
I'm coming from a gaming background though. I'm not sure why ASIO doesn't allow more then 1 card or why they would care?
You can route cards audio by having a cable run from line out in 1 card to line in on another, this isn't so bad for gaming but for producing probably better off getting an external mixer of some sort.

That's so nice of you to respond so clearly. There is just one issue here - producing sounds from the AWE32PNP but using the 24-bit 48 kHz processing of the Echo Mia - does that make sense at all or not, I can't say.

No idea if it makes sense, but I know playing games on old hardware doesn't when they work just as well in dosbox and (sometimes better)
But who cares! it's your hobby, do whatever makes you happy.

If it is the sound of the AWE32 you are after, capture its analogue output in 24/96 with something that can if you want to work with it in that format. The analogue sound output is what it is, if that is the desired sound, maybe its best to capture just that.

I cannot think of a way that makes sense to pull its audio back over the bus and send it to another sound card.

ssimlai wrote on 2025-03-09, 06:33:

and somehow make the AWE32 sounds route out of the Echo Mia 24/96 or 24/48, since they will share the same PCI bus. Of course IRQ conflicts have to be seen.

Can someone throw a light in this direction please?

Yeah, there are two topics you're talking about.

The PCI interconnection doesn't exist, there is no wide standard to support device-to-device transfers between disparate audio cards. I don't even recall when is the last time I seen a pair solution like SLi graphics.
Usually if the card is not big enough to host everything, it will be broken out to the external box.
Device to device between audio sources is susceptible to latency issues just like over CPU, e.g. using ASIO or any other sound server.

Second topic is your question, and if I understand you correctly you need zero of the stuff above.
You don't need to run ASIO drivers for Midi only devices. And you should treat AWE as MIDI only device - you send MIDI to its synth and want to pick up the sound. Pick up the sound on ASIO-ran Mia.

I use same approach to get MIDI ESFM synth in a Delta 2496 / ESS Solo combo.

AWE32 can be spdif modded afaik, so you can use digital connection to Mia too.

st31276a wrote on 2025-03-21, 20:01:

I cannot think of a way that makes sense to pull its audio back over the bus and send it to another sound card.

It doesn't work that way. The hardware allows a certain interface, and not a bit more.

Some DSPs can expose full functionality to be used in software routing, I don't think Creative ones are made for that purpose. As far as I remember SB Programming manual you send commands out to the DSP. You don't have introspection into it.

OP's case is a synth, which is absolute best case for example - for the computer, the programmer, it's a black box - virtual data in, physical sound out.

AWE32 and AWE64 can output EMU8000 synth output digitally through a S/PDIF header (may or may not be populated), AFAICR. Again AFAICR but less certain, that is mixed down and truncated to 20bits per sample, or maybe 16bits padded to 20bits.