VOGONS


Reply 40 of 207, by Wanderer

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Hello,
could you record the attached MIDIs on the SC-155? They sound nice with an SC-55 soundfont, but I wonder how much better a hardware Sound Canvas would be.

Thanks in advance!

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  • Filename
    MIDIs.zip
    File size
    81.98 KiB
    Downloads
    75 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by Wanderer on 2021-02-06, 11:58. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 41 of 207, by Joseph_Joestar

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Wanderer wrote on 2021-02-06, 09:39:

Hello,
could you record the attached MIDIs on the SC-155? They sound nice with an SC-55 soundfont, but I wonder how much better a hardware Sound Canvas would be.

Sure thing, here you go:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/uw2ats4v40484s … rdings.zip/file

The MP3s ended up being a bit too large for my free SoundCloud account, so I uploaded them to Mediafire instead. Be sure to download them soon because the link will expire in a week or so. For reference, DOSMid was used to play back the files.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 42 of 207, by Wanderer

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Thank you. Nice ID3 tagging! The first song was composed by Louis Silvers.
Apart from chorus on the piano in the concerto (probably enabled by the midi file) and uneven timing in the Star Wars track (likely a player issue), these renders are great.
Real hardware is definitely a lot better than soundfonts.

Reply 43 of 207, by Joseph_Joestar

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Wanderer wrote on 2021-02-06, 12:07:

Real hardware is definitely a lot better than soundfonts.

I noticed that the SC-155 can change chorus and reverb values at will, depending on what the song requires. Not sure how that works when using soundfonts on a SBLive.

On that note, you might want to try Creative's GM35REVC.SF2 which can be found on the AWE64 Gold driver CD. It's a very well balanced soundfont which doesn't try to mimic the SC-55 but still manages to sound great. Here are some samples.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 44 of 207, by Wanderer

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Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2021-02-06, 12:19:

I noticed that the SC-155 can change chorus and reverb values at will, depending on what the song requires. Not sure how that works when using soundfonts on a SBLive.

Not at will - there are control change messages in midi files. SB Live! will respond to them when reverb and chorus are applied in the EAX control panel to MIDI Synth source, and chorus is assigned to CC93 or Default (reverb is always CC91). The final result depends on the soundfont as well - there are reverb and chorus parameters for every instrument or preset zone.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2021-02-06, 12:19:

On that note, you might want to try Creative's GM35REVC.SF2

Thanks, I have it in my collection already 😀

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Reply 45 of 207, by MetalMilitia

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Would it be possible to use the Live! with these drivers at the same time as an AWE64? I'd like to use the AWE64 for DOS games, and the Live! for anything needing EAX. I also have an SC-55 that I'd like to use in unison. I know this is a lot of questions, but any info would be greatly appreciated.

Reply 46 of 207, by Gopher666

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I gave a shot for this in WinME (I know, we all know this OS is a trashcan) because by default it's using the WDM driver and the sounds in games like doom is terrible.
So here is what I experienced after following the steps:

me.jpg

1 device even tho probably just the gameport is malfunctioning, not a big deal but the DOS driver cannot be installed at all. Does anyone know a trick to fool ME thinking it's a 98SE and install it anyway?
The VxD driver works in ME as well.

In Win98 as I posted earlier everything is OK, games are fine except I just tried the AudioHQ and EAX control Today and they don't recognize the card. In ME AudioHQ identifies the card for D400. Well the only reason one might want to have AHQ is to select in between speaker modes 2.1 5.1 etc.

Reply 47 of 207, by Joseph_Joestar

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MetalMilitia wrote on 2021-02-16, 16:55:

Would it be possible to use the Live! with these drivers at the same time as an AWE64? I'd like to use the AWE64 for DOS games, and the Live! for anything needing EAX.

Yes, I believe so. Skip everything under steps 4, 5 and 6 and you should be good to go.

You will lose the ability to load soundfonts in DOS games on the SBLive, but since you already have a SC-55, that shouldn't be an issue.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 48 of 207, by Joseph_Joestar

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Gopher666 wrote on 2021-02-16, 17:57:

1 device even tho probably just the gameport is malfunctioning, not a big deal but the DOS driver cannot be installed at all. Does anyone know a trick to fool ME thinking it's a 98SE and install it anyway?
The VxD driver works in ME as well.

I haven't personally used this under WinME, but maybe someone else can chime in.
To be honest, I'm not sure if the DOS component of the drivers can even run there.

In Win98 as I posted earlier everything is OK, games are fine except I just tried the AudioHQ and EAX control Today and they don't recognize the card. In ME AudioHQ identifies the card for D400. Well the only reason one might want to have AHQ is to select in between speaker modes 2.1 5.1 etc.

I haven't used any of the accompanying utilities, other than the ones mentioned in the guide. I imagine the chances of getting the rest to work on a SBLive aren't that great.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 49 of 207, by Joseph_Joestar

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Just noticed that Phil made a video based on this guide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x6T_OWT0WU

It might be easier for some people to follow the visual instructions as presented there than to go through my huge wall of text. Cheers Phil! 😀

P.S.

I see that my username has already flooded your comments section with JoJo references. 😁

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 50 of 207, by Retroit

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Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2021-01-24, 17:37:
khyypio wrote on 2021-01-24, 17:16:

I´d love to try this method but is DirectX 9 necessary? I´m asking this because I have a DX8 card (GF4 Ti4200) and I´ve been told that it is recommended to stick with a DirectX that´s period-correct with my GPU...

I'm using DirectX 9 mainly because that's what ships on the Audigy2 ZS driver installation CD. Not sure if the VxD drivers actually use DX9 functionality or not, but I would rather err on the side of caution.

That said, I also have a GeForce4 Ti4200 and haven't noticed any DX9 related issues with it. Depending on which driver version you use, DX9 might actually be the period correct choice. For example, Nvidia driver version 45.23 was released in July of 2003. By that time, DX9 was already out.

Link to the Nvidia driver version 45.23 is broken on vogonsdrivers. Who can fix this? The same in section for Roland drivers and CD images - all link are broken

Reply 51 of 207, by Falcosoft

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Retroit wrote on 2021-02-16, 20:20:

Link to the Nvidia driver version 45.23 is broken on vogonsdrivers. Who can fix this? The same in section for Roland drivers and CD images - all link are broken

There must be something wrong with your net. I have just tried and I could download driver 45.23 without problems. I used this link:
http://vogonsdrivers.com/files/downloader.php?fileid=1408

Notice that the protocol is http and not https. Some modern browsers are overly paranoid nowadays and by default do not allow to download non-secure content( and http is not secure by definition).

Website, Facebook, Youtube
Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player + Munt VSTi + BassMidi VSTi
VST Midi Driver Midi Mapper

Reply 52 of 207, by darry

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Falcosoft wrote on 2021-02-16, 20:25:
There must be something wrong with your net. I have just tried and I could download driver 45.23 without problems. I used this l […]
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Retroit wrote on 2021-02-16, 20:20:

Link to the Nvidia driver version 45.23 is broken on vogonsdrivers. Who can fix this? The same in section for Roland drivers and CD images - all link are broken

There must be something wrong with your net. I have just tried and I could download driver 45.23 without problems. I used this link:
http://vogonsdrivers.com/files/downloader.php?fileid=1408

Notice that the protocol is http and not https. Some modern browsers are overly paranoid nowadays and by default do not allow to download non-secure content( and http is not secure by definition).

Chrome version Version 88.0.4324.182 :
- allows me to click on an http link or even copy it to clipboard, but it will not open the clicked upon http link without giving any warning or error message .
- however, if I paste the link into a new tab and press enter (or choose paste and go), Chrome offers a download dialogue box and allows the download to proceed without issue without any warning either .

<RANT>
This is BEYOND IDIOTIC and COMPLETELY INCOHERENT behavior .
Either this is a bug, or somebody really dumb/underqualified/clueless/misguided/cognitively dissonant/etc is in charge of making some decisions that they clearly should not be entitled to make .
I can understand disallowing some things in the name of security (ideally with an available override), but doing so without warning and while also allowing alternative ways of proceeding, also without warning is indefensible .
</RANT>

EDIT :

https://www.ghacks.net/2021/01/20/google-chro … -without-flash/

Chrome 88 blocks insecure image, audio, video, and text files from being loaded if they are served over an insecure connection on HTTPs sites and cannot be upgraded.

Which would be fine if :
a) they limited it to normally auto-loaded page elements (like images) and excluded explicitly clicked-on http links
b) displayed a warning when trying to access explicitly clicked-on http links
c) Ideally, both b and c

<RANT>
Google, I want a browser, not a digital lobotomy !
</RANT2>

Reply 53 of 207, by subnet_zero

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Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2021-02-16, 19:42:
Just noticed that Phil made a video based on this guide: […]
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Just noticed that Phil made a video based on this guide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x6T_OWT0WU

It might be easier for some people to follow the visual instructions as presented there than to go through my huge wall of text. Cheers Phil! 😀

P.S.

I see that my username has already flooded your comments section with JoJo references. 😁

You very well earned this video. Thanks for your guide. I should follow it and make my old CT4830 live again, mainly because my Maesto32/96 seems to be a driver diva on my PII233.

Reply 55 of 207, by nali

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I like to use MagicDisc 2.7 on Win98 to mount iso / .cue cdrom image.
But when I use a Live!, I can't use it, the number of virtual cdroms is stucked to "Disabled".
I suppose Creative drivers locks this using a key in the registry.
In Device Manager, there's an exclamation mark on "MagicISO SCSI Host Controller". I can update the driver "mcdbus.inf", but after reboot there's no change.
Any idea ?
Thanks.

Reply 56 of 207, by effy

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nali wrote on 2021-02-20, 00:17:
I like to use MagicDisc 2.7 on Win98 to mount iso / .cue cdrom image. But when I use a Live!, I can't use it, the number of virt […]
Show full quote

I like to use MagicDisc 2.7 on Win98 to mount iso / .cue cdrom image.
But when I use a Live!, I can't use it, the number of virtual cdroms is stucked to "Disabled".
I suppose Creative drivers locks this using a key in the registry.
In Device Manager, there's an exclamation mark on "MagicISO SCSI Host Controller". I can update the driver "mcdbus.inf", but after reboot there's no change.
Any idea ?
Thanks.

I'm using Virtual Clone Drive to mount ISO's and haven't seen any issues like this. Might be worth trying to see if the behavior is different.

Reply 57 of 207, by effy

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So I had been struggling to get voices to work with an original CD of Day of the Tentacle / DOTT. Originally I thought maybe it just wasn't compatible but I ended up having success. General Midi with the soundfonts always worked, but no voice at all even though it could detect the address and IRQ. Originally it installed SB16 Emulation with address 240 and IRQ7, D1, H7. Actually I had changed it to 7 from 9 because Duke Nukem 3D doesn't allow IRQ9. Anyway, This worked in every game but DOTT. I ended up managing to get DOTT voice sound to work by changing resources in device manager for SB 16 emulation to address 220 and IRQ 5 (D1 H5). I am not sure which was the issue for DOTT, but it works. Hopefully helpful to anyone also having issues.

Reply 58 of 207, by nali

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effy wrote on 2021-02-20, 15:41:

I'm using Virtual Clone Drive to mount ISO's and haven't seen any issues like this. Might be worth trying to see if the behavior is different.

I finally discovered that Daemon tools 3.47 works about the same. There's a copy available on Phil's website.
It can be used in .bat files, like MagicDisc, so it seems to be a good alternative.

Reply 59 of 207, by Pierre32

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Finally tried this using my SB0100, and the handy download pack from Phil's page. Smooth process. Most excellent.

I decided to go all out with the SC-55 soundfont as per item 5 in the OP. And I ran into a small issue: I could only set soundfont cache to 16MB! After puzzling for a moment, I remembered that this machine only had a 64MB stick of RAM in it. So I scratched around and found another one - an extra 64MB would surely unlock another ~40MB of soundfont cache. Nope: 46.4MB. Which of course will not load the 45.1MB soundfont. Arrrrgh! I dug even deeper into the stash and found a nice pair of 128MB sticks, and finally I was able to set my cache high enough. And the result is outstanding.

So there's a little tip. System requirements: 256MB RAM if you want to go full beans on this process.