What's a bit odd is that the card can use a 4MB sound font in Windows but not in DOS. I don't believe that it is using system memory in Windows, but I could be mistaken.

The card loads BANK4M.94B in Windows, but when I modify MAXI64.INI to point to this file (instead of the 1MB BANK1M.94B), the init program says that there is not enough memory. I haven't tried to add a SIMM yet, however.

Also, will the card load SF2 or other formats besides 94B?

I was able to find a 4MB 60ns 72-pin SIMM in my collection and installed it on the card. Afterward, I was able to load the BANK4M.94B sound font in DOS. Sounds very similar to the 1MB soundfont, to tell the truth (quite good).

So, I'm still not sure why you can't load the 4MB set without a SIMM. The Windows program reports 8MB of total memory, too.

Also, I found elianda's 100MB+ of .94B format sets on vogonsdrivers.

Really like this card. Didn't even realize that you could add a DB and assign a different port to it, so you'd have two synths on one card if you wanted.

boxpressed wrote:

Also, will the card load SF2 or other formats besides 94B?

No.

boxpressed wrote:

So, I'm still not sure why you can't load the 4MB set without a SIMM. The Windows program reports 8MB of total memory, too.

This can be software limitation to force selling more expensive "maxi sound 64" version.

boxpressed wrote:

Really like this card. Didn't even realize that you could add a DB and assign a different port to it, so you'd have two synths on one card if you wanted.

There are at least terratec ews64, that allow do same - two independent WT synh on one board. Turtlebeach Pinnacle too, but only in windows.

easy_john wrote:

boxpressed wrote:

So, I'm still not sure why you can't load the 4MB set without a SIMM. The Windows program reports 8MB of total memory, too.

This can be software limitation to force selling more expensive "maxi sound 64" version.

No, I think memory means sum of ROM + RAM, so 4 MB ROM and 4 MB RAM gives 8 Mb memory.

elianda wrote:

No, I think memory means sum of ROM + RAM, so 4 MB ROM and 4 MB RAM gives 8 Mb memory.

As far I remember - on Guillemot memory accessed only in banks, so if you have 8mb ram, you can load only two banks of 4mb each (or more with smaller size), but not one 8mb bank.

I use a few maxi sound 64s myself and never had the problem that memory got short due to bank padding issues. However it is difficult to get hand on a detailed datasheet of the SAM9407.

elianda wrote:

I use a few maxi sound 64s myself and never had the problem that memory got short due to bank padding issues. However it is difficult to get hand on a detailed datasheet of the SAM9407.

I have:
- SAM9407 datasheet - 22-page datasheet - Feb 1996
- SAM9407 Programmer's Reference - 61-page manual - Rev 11, Dec 1996
- SAM9407 Programmer's Reference - 64-page manual - Rev 1.1 23, Sep 1998

If any of that will help. 😀

This might be interesting for some:

It is possible to generate a 94B soundfont from a DLS soundfont using the Maxi Sound 64 Utilities in Windows. The Utilities run on any Maxi Sound with the Dream chip, maybe even on other with standard firmware and Dream95 driver (not tested).
Go to the Soundbank tab choose a bank, rightclick Load
Choose a DLS file
The Utilities will extract, map and generate a temporary 94B soundfont file. (Basically what dlsreader does only with the additional step that it joins the files together again)
Now if it can load the 94B file afterwards it will ask for a save dialog.

Sometimes the tool can not load the 94B file due to bugs*. However the file is fine, so if the error pops up it shows the path to a TMP file in C:\WINDOWS\TEMP which is the actual 94B soundfont generated.
Leave the error message open and copy the file somewhere else to some .94B file.

The soundfont loads usually with the DOS maxinit tool or some other card. Sometimes it is sufficient to hard reset the card.

Happy converting...

* This seems to be an issue with the Win9x drivers for the Dream DSP. It does not happen in NT4 and it works also from DOS.

I tried a bit more and found some additional information:

-> The DLS file must be DLS Version 1.
-> The Maxi Sound 64 Utilities in Win9x work best for converting, the Maxi Sound 64 Utilities in NT4 are still beta and show issues.
-> The converted 94B sound fonts work only with the Maxi Sound 64 cards that use Dreams default firmware. On a EWS64 with Terratecs own firmware it crashes when such a 94B sound font is loaded and a Midi gets played. It plays a few notes and then MPU Transmission Time-Outs occurs and notes stay stucked.

It is a bit unlucky since the Maxi Sounds can have only 16 MB RAM while the EWS64 can be equipped with 64 MB.

Who knows about SPDIF IN/OUT on this card? Does it work in pure DOS on SC8600 2.0 board?

I'm trying to get Maxi Sound 64 running under Windows 98SE. It seems no driver I point it to is correct 😕 I used elianda's drivers provided in this thread.

The card is: SC8600 V2.0 REV A.

How about drivers for WinXP?

So does the card uses an ESS Audiodrive or a Crystal chipset as codec?
(like e.g. http://retronn.de/imports/hwgal/hw_maxi_sound … dynamic_3d.html )

As for WinXP, use the Win2K drivers.
I think the SC8600 V2.0 should be the Maxi Sound 64 Home Studio Pro ?
So these may work: ftp://retronn.de/driver/Guillemot/MaxiSound64HomeStudioPro/
You may have also a look at the mirror of the former sound section of the guillemot ftp: ftp://retronn.de/driver/guillemot_ftp/sound/

It's the same as this card - ESS Audriodrive 1868F

https://i.imgur.com/DtPwFvq.jpg

So, where does the driver fails?

Windows 98 finds "Maxi Sound 64" card and proceeds to the drivers. After I point to any driver I can find... it says it didn't find the proper drivers and ends the install. I tried all the drivers on your FTP.

It's "funny" that DOS drivers work fine. I used the ones in the ISO file. Works fine, sound good. Tested with DOOM.

I've tried also Windows XP and drivers for W2K. As it begins to install the drivers it wants an original CD for drivers. I don't have it and that ISO file also isn't good.

I guess I'll find the time to make Windows 95 install.

AFAIR most of the Maxi Sound 64 cards drivers are packed in an installer which has to be run. Going through the new hardware wizard won't work. Also some archives are just driver updates that require the original driver to be installed before (like the DirectX5 update).
Helpful as well could be to check the PnP IDs, e.g. with Speedsys as they tell you exactly the type of card you have. So you can target the correct drivers.

Apologies for the necrobump. But, I just wanted to thank @elianda for the ESS initialization trick. This helped me get the card to detect and initialize properly in DOS!

-Brian