It's in this archive with the PNP config app.

Referring to my photo on the previous page, the card on the bottom left. In DOS, when I run esscfg.exe, it says: "ESSCFG Version V5.2 Unable to find AudioDrive ES1868-based chip!". If I run the older esscfg.exe version, it says: "Unable to find ES688, ES1688, or ES1788". Looking at the chip on this card, it says ES1688F. Win98 can "see" this card OK. Currently, I am using a DOS 6 HDD. There's a curious looking "mini jumper" immediately underneath the wavetable header, extreme right edge.

I can get the other 2 cards to work OK, in DOS. The small one on the right in the photo sounds good. It sounds cleaner than the Compaq card. Also, I got the DOS mixer working! 😀

You shouldn't need the esscfg app at all unless your mobo lacks PnP support.

RG100 in that thread you posted on the previous page, I also uploaded my driver disc! I also fixed a type, my cards are also ES1868F chips (not 1866)...

As swaaye mentioned, these cards just work and don't need initialization to work. Not even the Blaster variable is needed for most games 🤣

However if you want to change the configuration (e.g. move the midi port from 330 to 300 or change address or IRQ) you need to change the ini file (it's a text file and you just change 220 to 240 or 330 to 300 or whatever else you want to change) and then run the initialization tool and it writes the new config onto the card.

My driver disc also has a mixer tool which will write an entry into autoexec.bat...

This is what my cards look like:

retro games 100 wrote:

Gerwin, what exactly do you mean by ESS hardware wavetable? I just received 3 ESS cards. I have tested them inside Windows 98. For each card, Win98 automatically detected them, and installed the software from the Win98 CD. I tested them using dxdiag.exe. They seemed to work OK. I ran Doom from within a "dos box" inside Win98, but I couldn't get the FM music to work - I just heard silence. However, General Midi produced music OK.

Do you know where I can obtain the DOS drivers for these sound cards please? I would be happy to record some music from them if you want. Thanks a lot. 😀

I mean ES689, ES690 and ES692 Wavetable chipsets. (I added them to the list in my overview, at my signature) Two of the soundcards on your picture have a wavetable with ROM. I actually remember seeing the Lite-on card on ebay a little while ago, you grabbed it right? I was suspicious of that power connector, made me think it needs a power adapter to function???
Good thing you already found the drivers, looking forward to hear a recording.

ES938 Audio Effects Processor (mixer expansion) for Chips without integrated 3-D audio processing. ES968F […]
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ES938 Audio Effects Processor (mixer expansion) for Chips without integrated 3-D audio processing.
ES968F Audio Effects Processor (mixer expansion) for Chips without integrated 3-D audio processing.
ES689 Wavetable Music Synthesizer chip, 32 voices simultaneously at 44.1 kHz CD-quality
ES98X for ES689, wavetable sample set ROM, from InVision Interactive, GM, 128 melodic instruments, 47 rhythm instruments.
ES690 Wavetable Music Synthesizer chip, chorus+reverb, 52-pin PQFP package, APM,
ES981 for ES690, 1MB Wavetable Sample Set ROM
ES692 Wavetable with 1MB ROM, GM, 128 melodic instruments, 32 voices, 16-bit, 44.1 kHz.

Thanks very much for everyone's help. I got it working! 😀 I used the "older" esscfg.exe. Please note that the card I was testing was ES1688F based. It's really easy to get these cards muddled up. That's 16..., not 18... BTW, to get esscfg working (because I really wanted to change the card's resources), I set the BIOS options to "PnP OS = No", and "Resources = Auto". I also tried a different ISA slot.

As seen in the earlier photo, this card has a wavetable header. I slapped on a Yamaha DB, and got funky tunes working in DOS. And no stuck notes, hehe. And what's more, no TSR needed for any of this stuff. I've still got 619K of memory, and I can use all of the card's features in pure DOS. 😀 Typing mem /c /p at the command prompt shows that absolutely nothing has been added to the PC's memory.

Re: Gerwin's reply - thanks a lot for the info! I will test the onboard wavetable ROM. Maybe that "mini jumper" disables the DB attached to the wavetable header? Yes, that may have been me who bought that odd looking ES card with the power? connector. Seems to work without one, which is good. As soon as I have got the onboard wavetable ROM tested OK, I will make some recordings... 😀

Sweet! Looks like on of these ESS cards and a Yamaha DB are quite a good solution if you only have a single ISA slot...

Are these Yamaha DB cheaper / easier to get compared to the Roland DBs?

The seem more prevalent on eBay so it's more likely that you'll find sane sellers perhaps.

Hmm that reminds me that I haven't tested the external midi port yet... Oh well something to do for today 🤣

No way! I removed the Yamaha daughterboard, and reran Doom.exe (choosing General Midi for music), and the music quality doesn't suck! In fact, it sounds just like using a fairly typical "regular/standard" daughterboard! The chips on this thing read: ES981P, ES689F, ES968F. I'll make some recordings in the morning. BTW, the chips on the other small ES card read: ES981P, ES689F.

Wait a minute...

AFAIK these don't have wavetable technology built in, or do they?

Did you play Doom from inside Windows maybe?

Gerwin's info is excellent about this kind of stuff. This card has built in wavetable ROM. I was using it in pure DOS. 😀

Before I make the onboard wavetable ROM recordings, I really want to compare this music with the Yamaha daughterboard attached to this sound card. The problem is, I don't know which is which. I think that every music test I have run so far, I have been hearing the onboard wavetable music, and not the attached DB. I have tried various things, with the Yamaha DB attached.

1) Leave the wavetable "mini jumper" alone. Currently set to "capped / On".
2) Remove this "mini jumper".
3) Use esscfg (older version 1.9), and set MPU401 to Enabled
4) Set MPU401 to Disabled

For each test, I run essvol.exe, and set the AuxB volume to 0. I am guessing that AuxB is the wavetable header music volume? However, when I run Doom, I always hear music, which makes me think that the music is always coming from the onboard wavetable ROM, and not from the attached DB.

Wow if you hadn't removed the DB you would have never found this out...

Maybe turn up every mixer slider and see if you hear things "double" so to speak?

Still pretty cool that this card has onboard wavetable...

PS: I tried the external midi port on my cards and they work just fine! However no MPU401 intelligent mode, as Wing Commander wouldn't load 🙁

EDIT: Looks like there are a ton of flavours of ESS soundcards. Anyone found a good reference comparing chips / cards and what differences there are?

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

EDIT: Looks like there are a ton of flavours of ESS soundcards. Anyone found a good reference comparing chips / cards and what differences there are?

You can try the list in my signature: ISA soundcard overview

Thanks bookmarked!

What ESS card would you say is the top of the range version? I didn't even know that there where cards with wavetable, so I'm quite impressed...

After a couple of hours of testing, and ringing in my ears, I'm confident that I can switch between daughterboard wavetable and onboard wavetable, inside pure DOS. I'll do some recordings of the onboard wavetable ROM music ASAP. I'd say it's on par with a typical 1 meg DB.

swaaye wrote:

The seem more prevalent on eBay so it's more likely that you'll find sane sellers perhaps.

I found some for 20 bucks shipped but it's a NEC. They claim:

NEC XR385 midi card, which is an exact clone of the Yamaha DB60XG

Anybody know more about this?

Yes, quite a few people on Vogons have the NEC Yamaha clone DB. I have one too. Recommended! 😀