If you don't care about anything like EAX, either a YMF719 based card in ISA for DOS and good compatibility with any PCI card. Also works alone in Windows too.

Or a YMF724/744/754 in PCI for Windows. And you still have the BH6 right? So you could also go with a PCI YMF with SB Link for DOS compatibility (check the cards though, some don't have the header).

Since you already have an SB Live though, I'd go with a YMF719 ISA card because it's great in DOS both with FM synthesis and an SC-55.

Drivers for both are extremely straightforward.

I have used an ES1869F, SB16 CT1770 and PicoGUS next to the SBLive without issues. The PicoGUS has bug-free MPU401 output but only SB2.0 Mono/GUS/OPL2 support for DOS games which leaves a bit of a gap. The SB16 has great DOS compatibility but has the MPU401 bugs in most cards. The ES1869F was probably the best DOS sidecard IMO since it has SB Pro stereo, ADPCM and bug free MPU-401 plus good sounding OPL3 emulation.

One thing to consider is that assuming the AWE64 isn't broken it may also be the way the motherboard handles ISA cards, so the PCI option above may be a better solution.

I've heard good things about the YMF7x4 cards as being good all-rounder PCI cards that can basically do everything competently, if not exceptionally. I think that would be my best bet, as I am exceptionally tired of trying to tinker with a dual sound-card setup just to make one(1) game stop being naughty.

NeoG_ wrote on 2025-10-24, 03:54:

I have used an ES1869F… next to the SBLive without issues.

I saw a decent deal for one of these on eBay, but first, a couple questions about that.

1. Obviously, did you test Half-Life with it, preferably an original retail release? (Mine is version 1.0.0.5 rn).

2. Did you have to do anything special with either the IRQs or the order in which you installed them?

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-10-24, 05:02:

I saw a decent deal for one of these on eBay, but first, a couple questions about that. […]
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NeoG_ wrote on 2025-10-24, 03:54:

I have used an ES1869F… next to the SBLive without issues.

I saw a decent deal for one of these on eBay, but first, a couple questions about that.

1. Obviously, did you test Half-Life with it, preferably an original retail release? (Mine is version 1.0.0.5 rn).

2. Did you have to do anything special with either the IRQs or the order in which you installed them?

1. While it was in the system I had used HL 1.0.0.5 GOTY Edition and also the 1.0.1.0 update (Final patch pre-WON)

2. Standard DOS resource management applies, do not rely on automatic resource assignment. Chose in advance which resources you want to use and;
a) Assign the IRQ and DMA in the BIOS to Legacy ISA
b) Use unisound or OEM initialization tool to set the card to the desired IRQ/DMA/Port in DOS mode
c) Override the windows resource allocation to use the same resources above, or alternatively leave the card disabled in device manager

The only thing specific to the ES1869F is that you will need to use the VXD drivers in Win95/98 in order for the audio to work in a DOS window, the WDM drivers don't support that.

I see. So, if I had the Live assigned to IRQ 5 and the ES1869F assigned to IRQ 7, would that feasibly work?

The card functioning in pure DOS isn’t super important to me, just so long as it works in Windows DOS.

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-10-24, 11:13:

I see. So, if I had the Live assigned to IRQ 5 and the ES1869F assigned to IRQ 7, would that feasibly work?

The card functioning in pure DOS isn’t super important to me, just so long as it works in Windows DOS.

It would work, but I like to force common defaults for stability. Whatever card is providing soundblaster audio, stick that on IRQ5, DMA1, Address 220 and let the Live sort itself out using ACPI.

Out of curiosity, since you already installed the Audigy2 drivers from Phils Computer Lab (which have improved OPL3 support), have you tried just using the software SB16 emulation that comes with the Audigy2 drivers? It may be enough for your purpose and avoids adding a second card which could potentially cause issues.

If you do try it, I would still exercise stringent resource assignment for the card emulation - Assign the IRQ and DMA used by the SB16 emulation in the bios to "Legacy ISA" and manually assign those values in device manager. What is super annoying is if you use automatic resource assignment then setup all your DOS software - Changing any hardware in the system can cause all of the resources to shuffle around and you need to set up all your DOS software again with the new values. Using manual resource assignment makes it stick permanently.

I do have native SoundBlaster emulation running in the Live, but it prevents MIDI output to my SC-55 when running DOS games. I’ve heard that the WDM drivers might fix the issue but I don’t know for sure, or where to look. I can make do with the onboard synthesizer and a soundfont, but I’d really prefer to get full use out of the external MIDI box, which is why I was considering a card replacement.

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-10-24, 11:49:

I do have native SoundBlaster emulation running in the Live, but it prevents MIDI output to my SC-55 when running DOS games. I’ve heard that the WDM drivers might fix the issue but I don’t know for sure, or where to look. I can make do with the onboard synthesizer and a soundfont, but I’d really prefer to get full use out of the external MIDI box, which is why I was considering a card replacement.

If that's the case maybe the best option is to get a dedicated MPU-401 card (The PicoGUS can work for that as a low cost solution). It doesn't even need to take an IRQ or DMA, just port 330. You can move the emulated SB16 MIDI port to 300 so it doesn't conflict (or it will move itself once 330 is taken by another device).

I use the PicoGUS as an MPU-401 target at port 330 in windows98 for that exact purpose. Seems like the lowest chance of causing problems.

Sounds interesting and looks cheap enough! I may need some help moving ports around though. The MIDI port on the Live is the one that will need to get moved, right?

my vote is to dump the live completely and replace it with a ESS SOLO-1 (PCI)

I got the PicoGUS, and my immediate question is: how do you mix MIDI audio into it?

I’m planning to use this alongside the SBLive so it’s not really an issue, but there’s no Line In port on this card so I don’t know how someone would mix an external MIDI device into it without a second sound card and/or a set of speakers that accept an auxiliary signal. Does the MIDI data travel back down the wire, somehow?

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-10-30, 23:58:

I got the PicoGUS, and my immediate question is: how do you mix MIDI audio into it?

I’m planning to use this alongside the SBLive so it’s not really an issue, but there’s no Line In port on this card so I don’t know how someone would mix an external MIDI device into it without a second sound card and/or a set of speakers that accept an auxiliary signal. Does the MIDI data travel back down the wire, somehow?

If using the picogus by itself, you would need an external mixer, or feed it into the wave table header analog input pins. Someone was designing a breakout for the wave table header which made it easier but not sure on the status.

I suspect that most people are using the PicoGUS with a dreamblaster or mt32-pi wave table board so the audio routing is handled internally via the header

I see. Jury’s still out on whether it helps me, cuz I have to buy yet even another kind of MIDI cable just to hook it up, but the blood-red PCB is nice to look at!

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-10-31, 03:26:

I see. Jury’s still out on whether it helps me, cuz I have to buy yet even another kind of MIDI cable just to hook it up, but the blood-red PCB is nice to look at!

The attachment 1F88EE7A-B739-4B93-9C45-6D33B1C37D66.jpeg is no longer available

Oh interesting, mine came with the midi cable in the box. I'm probably never going to use mine do you want it?

Mine came with the 3.5mm to MIDI adapter I need, I just don’t have a regular MIDI cable to connect from that to the SC-55. I can probably find one at a local store today.

I have everything hooked up and the card is detected and initialized in pgusinit.exe, but I don't see it anywhere in Device Manager and seemingly have no way of making it the MIDI output device in Multimedia settings. Am I doing something wrong, or does this card ONLY work for DOS games and not in WIndows?

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-11-01, 02:03:

I have everything hooked up and the card is detected and initialized in pgusinit.exe, but I don't see it anywhere in Device Manager and seemingly have no way of making it the MIDI output device in Multimedia settings. Am I doing something wrong, or does this card ONLY work for DOS games and not in WIndows?

The PicoGUS emulates devices that are pre-PnP, windows will not detect it automatically. For setup in windows in UART only MPU mode I recommend;

• Unsetting the DMA and IRQ jumpers on the card (put the jumpers over 1 pin instead of 2 so they don't connect). This assumes you want the card to only be a UART MIDI target and be as stealthy as possible to avoid conflicts with anything else.
• Modifying your MIDI.INF file with notepad as described here to remove unnecessary IRQ assignment: Re: MPU-401 compatible driver for 95/98 that doesn't need an IRQ?
• Manually add Microsoft MPU-401 Compatible device using Add New Devices -> Next, Next-> Device not listed -> Select from a list
• If the MPU-401 compatible device is not assigned to address 330 let me know and I'll show you how to override

The card will appear as "MIDI for MPU-401 Compatible" in multimedia settings one that is completed and will work with legacy DOS applications on Port 330 as well as a MIDI target in windows. But if the card is assigned a different port than 330 (e.g. 300) it won't produce any MIDI output since the PicoGUS will listen for port 330 by default.

Also to avoid needing to run pgusinit every boot, use the following commands

pgusinit /mode mpu
pgusinit /save

It will save the current running mode to flash and recall it automatically on every boot without needing to run any commands.

Cool cool! I have it running MIDI for DOS games with the Live doing Windows MIDI through the second MIDI IN port on the SC-55 and the setup works alright as-is, but I'll explore doing that as well tomorrow. Haven't tested to see if it affects Half-Life but I imagine/hope not.

TheMysteriousGray wrote on 2025-11-01, 06:32:

Cool cool! I have it running MIDI for DOS games with the Live doing Windows MIDI through the second MIDI IN port on the SC-55 and the setup works alright as-is, but I'll explore doing that as well tomorrow. Haven't tested to see if it affects Half-Life but I imagine/hope not.

How did you go? I take it from the lack of noise that things seem to have stabilised