Turtle Beach with Vortex 2 - After DOS drivers and any tips / feedback \ VOGONS

Turtle Beach with Vortex 2 - After DOS drivers and any tips / feedback

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First post, by Mau1wurf1977

Posted on 2011-03-06, 05:43

Mau1wurf1977 Offline

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RG100 told me a while ago to get this card, so I did 🤣

Haven't done anything with it yet and would like to get some knowledge first.

Firstly what exactly do I have?

Are there "generic" drivers for Vortex 2 cards, or do I need to find Turtle Beach branded drivers.

I have Windows drivers, but as some of you know I only use DOS 6.22 and wondering how I can get this card going...

Eager to run it through my old games, some of which were difficult to run for the AudioPCI, so looking forward to finding out how this card does.

Does this card have onboard wavetable / General Midi emulation? Or do I need a DB for this?

PS I got a new cheapy Camera ( 80 aussie bucks). My old 5MP Sony had developed issues with the flash. It's a Canon A495 which uses AA batteries (Sooo much easier)

This is the card:

Reply 1 of 5, by retro games 100

Posted on 2011-03-06, 07:55

retro games 100 Offline

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AFAIK, generic drivers will work fine. You need (LH as in LOADHIGH) AU30DOS.COM in your config.sys file, to get it working in "pure" DOS. There's no onboard wavetable on the card, but I remember a post on Vogons where you said that you ordered a NEC Yamaha clone XG MIDI daughterboard, so that should work great. Works in DOS too! Some Vogons info, includes driver links -

Vortex 2 soundcard manual and DB60XG questions
Turtle Beach Montego

Reply 2 of 5, by ratfink

Posted on 2011-03-06, 08:40

ratfink Offline

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Why would have it have no on-bopard wavetable? Was that why the Turtle BEach card was a funny shape? In the aureal windows drivers for AU8830 chips at least, you can select AU8830 Wavetable as well as external/daughterboard.

I don't know about any DOS drivers.

Reply 3 of 5, by Mau1wurf1977

Posted on 2011-03-06, 08:46

Mau1wurf1977 Offline

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Awesome that worked right away!

Well by now I already have all the "hard cases" to test and they sure don't let me down 🤣

Interesting:

Assigns odd resources (DMA 3) regardless what is in the config file
Good quality, no hiss or noise
FM emulation is OK, definitely better than with the AudioPCI

Games tested:

Fate of Atlantis: Freeze / looping sound as soon as sound effect starts
GODS: Missing bits in the vocal during the intro song
Space Quest 4: Freeze / looping sound as soon as sound effect starts
Descent: All good

So in a nutshell it doesn't manage to play any games where the AudioPCI failed. It does much nicer FM though.

The wavetable port is nice, but so is IMO the Soundscape support and onboard GM of the AudioPCI...

Conclusion: ISA and DOSBox FTW 🤣

My website with reviews, demos, drivers, tutorials and more...
My YouTube channel

Reply 4 of 5, by retro games 100

Posted on 2011-03-06, 08:52

retro games 100 Offline

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Is there a mixer util for this card that works in DOS? I really can't remember. I just wondered how you can alter things like the volume of the daughterboard music, and other things like treble and bass, etc.

Reply 5 of 5, by Mau1wurf1977

Posted on 2011-03-06, 09:09

Mau1wurf1977 Offline

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Don't know, don't care 🤣

I have already moved on...

PS: Yea there is some mixer stuff. But it seems you are much better off installing the drivers in Windows 98 and then booting into DOS Mode. It seems to "adopt" the settings you configure under Windows.

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