VOGONS


SB/SC-88 conflict?

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First post, by PoulpSquad

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Hello

The other day I got a SC-88VL and managed to hook it up to my SB AWE32
gameport with the help of this nice community.

I am planning on using a MT-32 also, so I figured I'd need a proper
MPU-401 interface and hook both the SC and MT to the BOB.
I'm still waiting on the MT-32, so I wanted to try a couple of games
meanwhile, and here I'm stuck and stumped, and begging for help once again.

My rig is built around an AOpen AX63PRO, with a Pentium III 1000/133 downclocked
to 66 FSB (66*7.5=500MHz). Memory is 256 MB registered ECC PC-133, also running at 66 MHz.
The motherboard has a a VIA Appollo Pro 133 chipset and 2x ISA slots.
VGA is a S3 Trio3D AGP x2.
Sound card is a Sound Blaster AWE32 Value (CT3910) in ISA slot 1 (SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6), and
a ROland MPU-IPC-T ISA on ISA slot 2, and a MPU-IPC-T BOB.
The BOB is hooked up to a Roland Sound Canvas SC-88VL.

When I'm trying a games (let's say Doom II) with only the SB in the computer, everything works fine,
configured as AdLib music and SB FX.
When I try the game with only the MPU-401 interface card, everything works fine. Music plays great
(with no sound FX, obviously).

Now if I try to mix both, SB FX sound great, but there is either no music at all coming from the SC, or instruments sound
weird and broken (wrong instruments, lots missing stuff).
After a couple of tries the SC will fall silent. Sometimes it will start "working" again if I change music from Sound Canvas to General MIDI.

Doom II is configured to use Sound Canvas as music device on 330h and Sound Blaster on IRQ 7, DMA 1.

I've tried 3 different Sound Blasters (CT2230, CT3780 and CT3910) and a MIF-IPC-A replica PCB hooked to a MIF-IPC-A BOB.

Any ideas would be really appreciated!

Reply 2 of 6, by PoulpSquad

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Tha nk you Keropi for your quick reply

Same with MIDI port configured to 300h (SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 E620 T6).
I also opened the jumper labelled "MFBEN" for good measure, although DIANOSE still thinks there is a MIDI port at insists to use 330h.

None of the SB cards I have can be configured through jumpers 🙁

Reply 3 of 6, by Skyscraper

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PoulpSquad wrote:
Tha nk you Keropi for your quick reply […]
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Tha nk you Keropi for your quick reply

Same with MIDI port configured to 300h (SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 E620 T6).
I also opened the jumper labelled "MFBEN" for good measure, although DIANOSE still thinks there is a MIDI port at insists to use 330h.

None of the SB cards I have can be configured through jumpers 🙁

With the CT3870 and CT3910 you probably need to use the the PNP config program CTCU, the CT2230 is non PNP but perhaps CTCU is needed to set reasources for this card aswell.

Edit I just checked and the CT3910 is also non PNP but the CT3780 seems to be a PNP card. /Edit.

Last edited by Skyscraper on 2016-02-26, 11:54. Edited 3 times in total.

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Older PC: K6-3+ 400@600MHz, PC-Chips M577, 256MB SDRAM, AWE64, Voodoo Banshee.

Reply 4 of 6, by keropi

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Diagnose will "see" the mpu at port330 and will think it's the AWE that is responding... Make a test at port300 , does the AWE midi-out work?
Maybe there is something else to run too sto that AWE is configured at port300? Changing the value on autoexec.bat alone might not be enough

🎵 🎧 MK1869, PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 5 of 6, by PoulpSquad

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Diagnose will "see" the mpu at port330 and will think it's the AWE that is responding...

Duh... I feel so stupid right now... You are of course right, it's the Roland interface DIAGNOSE was detecting 😅

Most likely both AWE32 and MPU have the same midi port configured: 330 and this creates a conflict
Make AWE32 use port 300 and try again

I suspected as much, but I thought MPU interface on the SB would be completely disabled by opening the jumper on the card.
Obviously, that was not enough!

With the CT3870 and CT3910 you probably need to use the the PNP config program CTCU, the CT2230 is non PNP but perhaps CTCU is needed to set reasources for this card aswell.

I tried with the CT3980 and messed around with CTCU, forcing MPU port to 300, disabling the IDE interface and changing default IRQ from 5 to 7.

Now everything is working correctly. Thank you very much for your help people!