VOGONS


First post, by carlostex

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YMF-71x chipset cards can get a mix of love and hate. Although i'm on the side of whom loves these cards, i have no problem whatsoever recognizing that the DOS software for these cards sucks. It just does. Although editing the .ini file seems to be the best option, the file had tons of configurations that are not documented and apparently do nothing.

Still this card can clearly shine. Although some complain of WSS not working or taking additional resources this can be easily mitigated by making WSS use the same resources as the Sound Blaster part. Or, if you do not want to use this card as a sound blaster compatible, you can use it as a poor man's Roland MPU-401AT. How? Simply by disabling DMA, setting IRQ to 2 and the port to 240 and combining this with SoftMPU, this card can make even those hardcoded IRQ9 games to work and play MT-32 music correctly.

Anyway i'm creating this thread not to praise the YMF-71x cards, but rather to report something interesting. I guess that guys like Cloudschatze or any others might have tried this, and since i have not found any reference to it i decided to post it here myself.

As some of you may know, as AdLib company died, its assets were bought by some German conglomerate, but in that process another company that was based on Quebec also made an attempt to buy AdLib's assets. This company was MediaTrix. While MediaTrix failed, the Germans dismissed the engineering talent from AdLib and these people were promptly hired by MediaTrix.

The MediaTrix AudioTrix Pro and the 3D-XG are the most important cards that MediaTrix left us. For the purpose of this thread only the AudioTrix 3D-XG has relevance. Why? Turns out, and as Cloudschatze already mentioned it countless times here and other forums, the AudioTrix 3D-XG comes with a YMF-715E chipset, which provides a full duplex 16bit Sigma-Delta Codec, with SB Pro 2, WSS and MPU-401 UART compatibility. This card was also bundled with a DB60XG daughterboard, and the card was designed so that the PCM and OPL3 were routed through the DB60XG analog inputs and outputs. This would allow the signal to be mixed with some effects provided by the DB60XG. Awesome right? Not only this, but this card has apparently better SnR than an AWE64 Gold for that matter (if you discount SPDIF).

This left me wondering if the AudioTrix initialization software could or not be used with a cheap YMF-71x card, like the Audician32. Well i immediately went searching for this software and i remembered immediately that Cloudschatze is a lucky owner of this card so i went to his thread at Quest Studios forums and downloaded the installation CD for the AudioTrix 3D-XG.

So i try it and get everything configured just like i had with the SETUPSA software. And the AudioTrix software looks great:
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Volumes:
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Configuration resources done:
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Now the moment of truth, will the card initialize?
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I used a batch file, where i set the BLASTER environment like a SB Pro 2 and then execute the INIT3DXG executable with an /I parameter.
The software reports Done, so i was left with testing games. And it WORKS!! Every single game that supports Sound Blaster Pro 2 that i have in my hard drive (CFCard) works great. I can even get better volume than with the SETUPSA program, and the better part of that is that noise levels didn't seems to increase. I always have the amplifier turned off with the jumpers on the card.

Next i had to test SoftMPU. And it works!! I'm not surprised it does since SoftMPU uses the DSP to emulate intelligent mode commands, and since the SB Pro2 part was working...

Now the somewhat bad news. At the moment the LINE IN of the YMF card is silent. This seems to be an ill effect of using the AudioTrix software. At the moment this presents a problem, because i didn't bring my Behringer mixer with me so i'm using the LINE IN for my MT-32. It's silent, can't hear the MT-32 at all, something that wasn't a problem using SETUPSA. This is the least of my concerns, because i planned to have my folks to put the mixer in the mail for me anyway...

So here you have it. Now no more bitchin' about DOS software for these cards please. As of now i only tested with an Audician 32 (YMF-718S chipset). But i don't see any reason why this wouldn't work with others.

I'm not posting the software download link here as i don't have Cloudschatze's permission yet. If someone wants to try it, i recommend you use the link above for Cloudschatze's thread on Quest Studios. There go to the AudioTrix 3DXG and get the Original Installation CD.

Reply 1 of 23, by Anonymous Coward

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I actually had this idea quite some time ago, but I thought I remember downloading the mediatrix software and it was identical to the standard yamaha one. Maybe I had an earlier release or something?

Anyway, great job!

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Reply 2 of 23, by carlostex

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Anonymous Coward wrote:

I actually had this idea quite some time ago, but I thought I remember downloading the mediatrix software and it was identical to the standard yamaha one. Maybe I had an earlier release or something?

I had this idea long ago too, but somehow my laziness got hold of me. I have no idea about MediaTrix software looking anything like the standard one. Maybe you got it mixed with the AudioTrix Pro (which in theory shouldn't work).

Anyway, only Cloudschatze can elucidate us on different software versions and whatnot (if they exist).

Right now, all we need is to test several OPL3SAx cards. My guess is that only YMF-715 cards and up will work correctly. But... who knows?

Reply 3 of 23, by PhilsComputerLab

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What's so bad about the Audician32 supplied software? Last time I used the card it worked quite well! I believe there was one effect setting I was advised to disable in the INI but otherwise it sounded pretty sweet 😀 Oh and the wavetable header location is a bit annoying but I use external units anyway.

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Reply 4 of 23, by carlostex

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philscomputerlab wrote:

What's so bad about the Audician32 supplied software? Last time I used the card it worked quite well! I believe there was one effect setting I was advised to disable in the INI but otherwise it sounded pretty sweet 😀 Oh and the wavetable header location is a bit annoying but I use external units anyway.

You know what? There's nothing REALLY bad about the standard OPL3SAx software, in my opinion its just not well documented and the presentation is poor. It works, and that is the utmost important thing. Anyway, some people hate it so it might be good to know that we have an alternative right now. The wavetable location is misplaced yes, this might be a nuisance for some people who might want to use daughterboards, but it isn't as bad as hanging notes for instance. I prefer external units too, so this is hardly a problem for me.

The point of this thread is to have an alternative, no one needs to bitch about the standard software anymore.

Reply 5 of 23, by carlostex

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I just tried my YMF-719/704C card and again it works great. The only thing that is left not working is the Line in. Somehow it is muted by default and i can't activate it via DOS.

Reply 6 of 23, by Cloudschatze

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carlostex wrote:

Now the somewhat bad news. At the moment the LINE IN of the YMF card is silent. This seems to be an ill effect of using the AudioTrix software.

This is a consequence of Mediatrix routing the final audio output from the DB60XG back into the Line Input of the YMF715E, so that the "effected" output can be recorded. Because of this, the Line Input has to be muted as a playback source, as it creates an audio feedback loop otherwise.

The Line Input problem aside, INIT3DXG also initializes the A/D parts on an attached DB60XG/XR385. Assuming one of these DBs is used on a non-Mediatrix card (or one that hasn't been modded to allow analog input into the DB), you'll lose out on 2 synth voices for absolutely nothing in return.

I have a 3D-XG installed in one of my Tandy systems right now, but configured as a "regular" YMF-71x card (for various reasons), and I'm just using SETUPSA. 😀

Reply 7 of 23, by carlostex

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Cloudschatze wrote:

This is a consequence of Mediatrix routing the final audio output from the DB60XG back into the Line Input of the YMF715E, so that the "effected" output can be recorded. Because of this, the Line Input has to be muted as a playback source, as it creates an audio feedback loop otherwise.

The Line Input problem aside, INIT3DXG also initializes the A/D parts on an attached DB60XG/XR385. Assuming one of these DBs is used on a non-Mediatrix card (or one that hasn't been modded to allow analog input into the DB), you'll lose out on 2 synth voices for absolutely nothing in return.

I have a 3D-XG installed in one of my Tandy systems right now, but configured as a "regular" YMF-71x card (for various reasons), and I'm just using SETUPSA. 😀

That makes sense, and that explains also why when i use my YMF-719 card with the integrated YMF-704C i can hear an intro sound via General MIDI when i initialize the card with INIT3DXG. All in all this is no big loss since i don't intend to use any kind of DB's, i just prefer external synths, and i'll be using an external mixer but it seems that SETUPSA is still the best option.

Thanks for your input!

Reply 9 of 23, by Stojke

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I could not find them on VogonsDrivers. People that have the card software should upload them there.
Also in reply to first post, everything has better SnR than AWE64 gold (Especially TurtleBeach cards).

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Reply 10 of 23, by Jolaes76

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It is a BIG ISO (250mb zipped + Clouds' 60 Mb handmade package IIRC). Cannot do the upload right now. Here (attached) is the DOS part, however. Jump to the Dosdrv\Apps\INIT3DXG dir for the init program.

It is pity that Queststudios forums have bitten the dust... I bet no one has archived those conversations. It was a wealth of arcane computer knowledge.

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Reply 11 of 23, by joe6pack

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Does anybody still have the full file (Original_CD.zip) somewhere? Wayback machine has the thread but not the file itself.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150224233710/ht … hp?topic=2885.0

EDIT: Found it! It was here on vogons the whole time.

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Reply 12 of 23, by Rabanik

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PhilsComputerLab wrote:

What's so bad about the Audician32 supplied software? Last time I used the card it worked quite well! I believe there was one effect setting I was advised to disable in the INI but otherwise it sounded pretty sweet 😀 Oh and the wavetable header location is a bit annoying but I use external units anyway.

I tried OPL3-SA for my 3D-XG in version v2.11 and v2.09. The sound card was detected correctly but no sound in every game. OPL3-SA is not backward compatible with 3D-XG.
When I run it with 3DXGINIT.EXE everything works. Every game with SBPRO 2.0 support works exept Wolfenstein 3-D. The sound always goes from both channels together. Any idea?
I have tried version 1.1 and 1.4.

I tried to work the Wolfenstein 3-D with stereo support with these sound cards below and no success too. The sound always goes from both channels together.
I38-MMSD812 Pro 16 Extra
I38-MMSD803 NX Pro 16
I38-MMSD824 Washington 16
I38-MMSD830 Trust Sound Expert Deluxe 16+
I38-MMSD850 Multimedia Pro 16ABO

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Last edited by Rabanik on 2017-01-24, 19:35. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 13 of 23, by Rabanik

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And because I have never found a better picture of 3D-XG in the internet I scanned my sound card with DB60XG.

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Reply 14 of 23, by Cloudschatze

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Rabanik wrote:

I tried OPL3-SA for my 3D-XG in version v2.11 and v2.09. The sound card was detected correctly but no sound in every game. OPL3-SA is not backward compatible with 3D-XG.

By default, the 3D-XG routes the output from the YMF715E through the A/D inputs of the DB60XG. This requires proper SysEx initialization of the DB60XG's A/D parts. Mediatrix' INIT3DXG utility provides this functionality, whereas the SETUPSA utility does not, resulting in the behavior you've experienced.

I would suggest reconfiguring the output routing of the 3D-XG if you want to use SETUPSA, separating the YMF715E output from the DB60XG entirely.

When I run it with 3DXGINIT.EXE everything works. Every game with SBPRO 2.0 support works exept Wolfenstein 3-D. The sound always goes from both channels together. Any idea?.

This behavior is the result of a volume-level quirk of the YMF715E, requiring specific mixer settings in order for the SB volume control to have any effect. Refer to this thread for details.

Reply 15 of 23, by Rabanik

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By default, the 3D-XG routes the output from the YMF715E through the A/D inputs of the DB60XG. This requires proper SysEx initialization of the DB60XG's A/D parts. Mediatrix' INIT3DXG utility provides this functionality, whereas the SETUPSA utility does not, resulting in the behavior you've experienced.

I discovered some interesting jumpers according to the manual on 3D-XG which are important when you do not use an original DB60XG with analog inputs. With this layout of jumpers you reroute SFX/OPL signals direct on LINE-OUT and amplified SPEAKER-OUT. Now my 3D-XG is not deaf 😀 and you can use standard OPL3-SA setup utility like v2.11! You can use whatever daughter boards you want with 3D-XG. It will works too.

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Reply 16 of 23, by darry

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Rabanik wrote:

With this layout of jumpers you reroute SFX/OPL signals direct on LINE-OUT and amplified SPEAKER-OUT

I am somewhat confused as to why JP1 and JP2 do not both also need to be changed to 1-2 and 5-6. Do they only apply to SPEAKER-OUT ?
EDIT : JP1 and JP2 blocks do seem to indeed be for amplified out only . If I remove both of them, nothing comes out of the amplified out, but the line-out keeps working.

Are you sure both line-out and speaker out work with your jumper settings ?

I plan on using an Audiotrix 3D XG (probably without the daughterboard ) and just realized how confusing (to me) the signal routing and jumper settings are in the manual .

Last edited by darry on 2017-03-30, 01:06. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 17 of 23, by dr.zeissler

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The audican has a bug when choosing another soundfile while playing another one with xtc-play.
The channels seem to be messed up while choosing another file.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 18 of 23, by Rabanik

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darry wrote:

Are you sure both line-out and speaker out work with your jumper settings ?

Yes. Check the picture. I have been using this setting with my Roland SCB-55. It is a daughter board without analog inputs. Every DB works on 3D-XG.

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Last edited by Rabanik on 2017-04-01, 20:54. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 19 of 23, by Rabanik

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to Cloudschatze:
Do I get all of these signals like SFX, music and OPL in digital form when I make a mod for NEC XR385 like Parus on the link below with using of an original INIT3DXG.EXE of course for using of a SysEx commands.
DB60XG / XR385 repair and modification