First post, by 640K!enough
In extensive testing and experimentation with keropi and Marmes, one thing became clear: CWDINIT and CWDMIX leave a great deal to be desired. So, I propose a new solution: ORPHINIT. This software was written from the ground up specifically for the feature set of the Orpheus sound card. It was designed to be far more consistent and predictable than the Crystal package, while supporting all of the Orpheus features as well as possible. Clearly, as a beta release, it is sure to have some as-yet-undiscovered annoyances, so any constructive problem reports, complaints or other discussion would be greatly appreciated.
Like the Crystal package, this software uses a configuration file, ORPHEUS.INI. I think all of the options are clearly described within that file, and I encourage anyone who is interested in trying the software to have a thorough look through that file, as well as the output of "ORPHINIT /?". If there is anything that is at all unclear, this is the place to say so.
The other included file is ORPHEUS.BAT. This is a bit of a (possibly temporary) kludge, that first invokes ORPHINIT, then another auto-generated batch file to set appropriate environment variables. This is a bit ugly, but avoids using other undocumented ways of doing the job from within the software itself.
Known Issues
- Volume variations when some software manipulates mixer values upon start-up sometimes cause sources to be silenced. Still looking into these; please report any you find.
- On some systems, bus timing/configuration problems seem to cause trouble, resulting in init failing. If it takes more than a couple of seconds, something is wrong.
- This software does not upload any firmware to the board.
- Only Plug and Play mode is supported. Initialisation when Plug and Play support is disabled in the CS4237B (no EEPROM or jumpered off) will not work.
- Support for systems without a Plug and Play BIOS is implemented, but may not be 100% reliable. Any problem reports appreciated.
- Error handling isn't particularly thorough yet. Garbage values in the configuration file may yield garbage results.
I can't end this post without publicly thanking keropi and Marmes. They have been extremely patient in their testing efforts, from the very first trial versions to now. If not for the travel restrictions, they would probably have shot me by now. 🤣
EDIT: I should have mentioned this before: please try with the default configuration first, as long as it won't cause any conflicts. This will give a better idea about potential noise levels, before any extensive tinkering with the mixer values.
EDIT 2: One warning: the way ORPHINIT manages the registers gives UNISOUND indigestion; using UNISOUND after ORPHINIT without first re-booting is very likely to produce some rather awful noises. If you want to do comparative testing to investigate a problem, please re-boot beforehand. If you end up in that situation, running ORPHINIT again or re-booting should silence the noise.
Older versions removed. The most recent release is available here.