I am worry if here's correct place to ask. but I think it's quite related to Unisound.
I'm using two ISA cards on ISA slot. One is a Orpheus with PCMIDI and another one is a PCMIDI standalone card.
As CS MIDI on the Orpheus isn't used anymore, CS MIDI on Orpheus was turned completely off by EEPROM config tool, hence regarded as there are only two intelliegent MPUs existed in the evironment.
The PCMIDI on Orpheus, hereafter called PCMIDI1, has a X2GS daughter board jumper-set to IRQ3, P300.
The PCMIDI on PCMIDI card, hereafter called PCMIDI2, has a McCake daughter board jumper-set to IRC2, P330.
Both MPUs are identified correctly on MQDIAG with parameter a330, a300 respectably.
PCMIDI2 output (3.5 pi stereo jack) is connected to the line-in of Orpheus.
This is intentional setting to operate two daughter boards with bug-free MPUs and no cables for MIDI connection.

While PCMIDI1 always sounds correctly, PCMIDI2 is OK with many games I tested (ex. Budokan, SQ3, Willly Beamish, Beneath of Steel sky..) but problematic with some games (ex. DOTT, SAM&MAX, Tie fighter) mainly Lucas Arts' IMUSE engine. I can not tell those are everything. There may be more if more test done.
Anyway If I run the games, line-in of the Orpheus doesn't work, therefore I can hear no MIDI sound with the aforementioned games.

It doesn's seem a problem of the PCMIDI standalone card when I see an evidence that output of PCMIDI2 (3.5 stereo jack) sounds correctly all time even during playing the problematic games, too. Furthermore, once after trying to execute those games with the PCMIDI2, Line-in of Orpheus turned no sound from PCMIDI2.

The phenomenon is observed when Orpheus driven by Unisound driver but Orphinit, Re-initialization of the orpheus or reboot of McCake by SysEx message doesn't help. I had to cold boot a computer. I am very appreciated if someone help me out.

PS. Computer is
CPU: SS7 Pentium 90 Mhz (downclocked from 130Mhz)
Mobo : BCM VP1543 (ALI Alladin V, SS7)
VGA : Geforce 2 MX400 32MB AGP (No ISA IRQ allocated in BIOS)
RAM : 32MB SDRAM
HDD : SSD 8 GB
SOUND : Orpheus (A220, I7, D1) with PCMIDI_X2GS & PCMIDI standalone with McCake
etc: ACPI, IRQ3 & IRQ4 Serial port, Printer port disabled in BIOS.
Orpheus Driver : Unisound v.0.76f

hmmmm
that does not sound like a unisound issue at all tbh
some thoughts:
a. are you still using P0 in your "set blaster=" variable? because it is always needed if you don't want to use CSMPU - nonmatter if it's disabled in eeprom
b. make a test and do not use IRQ2 for PCMIDI2 - see if that changes anything

sadly, if a game decides to disable line-in or mess with software mixer settings there is nothing to be done - it cannot be avoided by any existing sound driver - the ultimate solution is to use an external mixer and take out the software mixer from the equation

as a sidenote CSMPU does not have any playback issues like the SoundBlaster MPUs - so there is no need to have a PCMIDI just to drive the X2GS that does not need roland mode
obviously since you want to use 2 wavetable boards this info does not really help here unless it turns out to be a case of IRQs and you want to free an extra one

Hi,

keropi wrote on 2021-11-01, 16:17:

a. are you still using P0 in your "set blaster=" variable? because it is always needed if you don't want to use CSMPU - nonmatter if it's disabled in eeprom

Parameter “P0” in SET BLASTER= was no help and further tried gave “U0” in order not to allocate any IRQ to CSMPU but no difference, too. Actually, my first reporting was made based on disabled CSMPU using EEPROM.

keropi wrote on 2021-11-01, 16:17:

b. make a test and do not use IRQ2 for PCMIDI2 - see if that changes anything

I tested IRQ5, 7 for PCMIDI2, but no difference.

keropi wrote on 2021-11-01, 16:17:

sadly, if a game decides to disable line-in or mess with software mixer settings there is nothing to be done - it cannot be avoided by any existing sound driver - the ultimate solution is to use an external mixer and take out the software mixer from the equation

Yes, I too thought the case that game overrides CS Mixer setting. Then External mixer is a way to go. However when I saw Orphinit did work normally, it doesn’t look like the case.

keropi wrote on 2021-11-01, 16:17:

as a sidenote CSMPU does not have any playback issues like the SoundBlaster MPUs - so there is no need to have a PCMIDI just to drive the X2GS that does not need roland mode

Right, I heard CSMPU has no issue. For testing, I turned on CSMIDI again and set PCMIDI to go through CSMPU. I checked CSMPU work fine. But It was not a solution to the line-in issue as Orpheus didn’t sound from PCMIDI2 (with some particular games).

keropi wrote on 2021-11-01, 16:17:

obviously since you want to use 2 wavetable boards this info does not really help here unless it turns out to be a case of IRQs and you want to free an extra one

Understood your point.
Fortunately, Today I found a thing interesting from tests. Firstly, I regret not to give an information that I was using S/PDIF output of Orpheus all time. It’s shame that I couldn’t figure out that S/PDIF may make some faulty situation (with some particular games) in Unisound & Orpheus. The problem was observed only when I was using S/PDIF output with some particular games under driven by UNISOUND with a parameter “/XOS1” which enable S/PDIF output. On the other hand, when I used an analogue output (3.5 jack) on Orpheus card with whatever “/XOS0” or “XOS1”, All my worrying has gone and I could hear sound of PCMIDI2 in the particular games,too.
Now best solution that I can choose at the moment is to use analogue output instead of S/PDIF with Unisound, Or use Orphinit driver with a configuration “Routing Mode=analogue” in Orphues.ini if I want to use S/PDIF.

Thank you for supporting, Kepopi!

To make cause of the problem clear, I have tested more with an Orpheus card and Unisound driver.
And finally I found what specific condition makes S/PDIF output not sounds a line-in sound source. 😀
That was a moment when a game initialized SB PCM sound. At that moment, sound from Line-in going through S/PDIF stopped.
I wonder if this is only an abnormal case of me or an issue commonly happened to any Orpheus with Unisound (i used Unisound v 0.76f)

copymaker wrote on 2021-11-04, 12:14:

I wonder if this is only an abnormal case of me or an issue commonly happened to any Orpheus with Unisound (i used Unisound v 0.76f)

No, this is in no way your fault, mistake or mis-configuration. It is a side-effect of the way UNISOUND initialises the card. Whether this was a deliberate choice that JazeFox made or an oversight isn't clear. He is aware of some shortcomings in UNISOUND's Orpheus support, and it is apparently somewhere on his to-do list, but he has already stated that there is no predicted date for it to be fixed, and that it is not a priority.

Thank you for the advise, I'm satisfying enough to be clearly aware it is an issue.

Unisound 0.76f fails to detect ESS1869F card but properly initializes Aztech card for me. Will test it with more ESS cards in the future. I see no reason why download server of such small utility is a 3rd party web site.

Because the author decided to share it there? Way to complain about useless stuff seriously, just be grateful.

No issues with any ESS cards here with Unisound.

BloodyCactus wrote on 2021-10-30, 02:10:

well non pnp dont really have an init sequence per se, just when you use them you issue some hardware resets to the IO space.

To reset anything (DSP) I have to set the base address, so initialize the card.
I compiled this program (SBPNPXT.zip - Setup SB16 PnP on 8088/286)for TOS, but it did not detect any SB cards (it finds other cards, e.g. network). So I think SB cards need something extra during initialization.
It remains to look for a card with jumpers.

I thought you wanted to init a non-pnp sound blaster, to which you just FORCE the dsp reset at the fixed address (eh: 0x220). sbpnxt is for pnp cards…

Diamond Mozart OPL3 ISA PNP Sound Card don't be supported by Unisound v7.6f

The card is working with factory driver, such as 601b112. The download links paged by Phils https://www.philscomputerlab.com/btc-1820-moz … oak-oti601.html

The host:
Intel PIII-1000EB / 440BX
MS-DOS 6.22
Matrox G450 DH PCI
onBoard Adaptec AIC-7895P disabled
(No other cards)

The card model:
Diamond Mozart OPL3 ISA PNP Sound Card
Diamond Computer Systems IDW30601206 S601206-A
(Mozart BTC-1820)

The chips:
- Mozart OTI601 (OAK Technology)
- CS4248-KL (Crystal Semiconductor)
- YMF262-M (Yamaha)

The message by Unisound v7.6f:

Universal ISA PnP Sound Card Driver for DOS v0.76f. (c) JazeFox 2019-21 -------------------------------------------------------- […]
Show full quote

Universal ISA PnP Sound Card Driver for DOS v0.76f. (c) JazeFox 2019-21
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
..
No PnP sound card detected.

The Dumpp data:

OTI601 has no PnP support, it has only its own custom jumperless configuration like some OPTi cards and many others that predate the ISAPnP spec. Later OTI605 adds PnP support.

Tiido wrote on 2021-11-08, 02:48:

OTI601 has no PnP support, it has only its own custom jumperless configuration like some OPTi cards and many others that predate the ISAPnP spec. Later OTI605 adds PnP support.

I see. And it looks more complicated, the card fits the OTI-601B driver, but not with OTI-601E and OTI-601F driver. How to identify the version of OTI-601? http://www.plasma-online.de/index.html?conten … re/oak_oti.html

I just wanted to pop in and thank Jazefox for making this program. I just spent hours trying to get the original SB16 drivers to work with my setup. I ran into an odd bug that I just couldn't quite resolve. 3 hours later and being no closer to the solution I thought, "Why don't I just try Unisound?" 10 minutes later it was working flawlessly. Literally the only thing I had to do was read the Unisound.txt and figure out how to set the CD volume. If I would have just started with Unisound, I'd have so much of my life back!

Absolutely couldn't be any easier.

digistorm wrote on 2020-06-07, 14:14:

Uninstall feature sounds like a great idea, because in my 486, as soon as I initialize my AWE64, my RTL8019 network card (that does NOT share any resource with it) is not recognized anymore by the DOS drivers, not even after a soft reboot. Only a hard reset will enable it again, or booting into Windows 95. It is driving me nuts 🤯

I have exactly the same problem. Same network card, different sound card.
Funny enough, when I load unisound before the RTL8019 packet driver, it believes it sits in an 8 bit slot. In either case, I loose communication with the network card.
Is it possible that unisound triggers some response in the RTL8019? My workaround currently is to load either network or sound.

My feeling is that something is wrong with the PnP implementation of the Realtek card, as the author of Unisound tried all kinds of things and nothing helped in the end. So I ended up getting a 3Com card from EBay and that solved my issues 😕

S_crumb wrote on 2021-11-13, 14:27:

I just wanted to pop in and thank Jazefox for making this program. I just spent hours trying to get the original SB16 drivers to work with my setup. I ran into an odd bug that I just couldn't quite resolve. 3 hours later and being no closer to the solution I thought, "Why don't I just try Unisound?" 10 minutes later it was working flawlessly. Literally the only thing I had to do was read the Unisound.txt and figure out how to set the CD volume. If I would have just started with Unisound, I'd have so much of my life back!

Absolutely couldn't be any easier.

I completely agree, this is one of the most impressive and generous community projects to support the retro hardware/software community I've come across since I got back into retro hardware... The entitled/demanding tone in some of the responses here drives me crazy given this is a labor of love provided at no charge to the community. Which reminds me ... I need to shoot a tip over to Jazefox for the work they've done developing and maintaining this.

Do you have any plans to add support for PCI PnP cards like FM801, ESS Solo-1 and YMF7x4 etc?

appiah4 wrote on 2021-11-22, 19:28:

Do you have any plans to add support for PCI PnP cards like FM801, ESS Solo-1 and YMF7x4 etc?

Unfortunately, getting these working is much more involved than the ISA PnP setup done by UNISOUND.

PCI does not natively support ISA DMA transfers, which is used generally for ISA sound cards. So your PCI sound card drivers need to do a complex setup and/or emulation to get them to act a bit like an ISA sound card. Each card uses it's own methods to emulate ISA sound, and methods change depending on what motherboard the system is running as well.

The author of the program is absolute genius!
Tested with 6 random ISA sound cards — 100% success with UniSound [some of the markings on the chips were strange to me]