jpk@chvax.uucp (Jean-Pierre Kousz System Manager UNIGS) (10/23/90)
I have a soundblaster board with midi box in my pc. Now I'm searching software with a driver for this box (the adlib software doesn't work). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JEAN-PIERRE A. KOUSZ USENET: jpk@chvax K+K COMPUTERTRAINING AG Postfach 353, 8304 Wallisellen, 01/830 75 70 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
meattle@aludra.usc.edu (Saumya Meattle) (04/25/91)
Hi,
I was thinking of buying a soundcard for my pc compatible... and I guess
have nearly settled on a CMS Soundblaster... My budget is about 160$ or less..
Could someone please tell me the best place to buy that card from...or if you
know of a card with similar capabilty below that price...
Does the sound blaster have stereo music?
Is there any place which sells the adlib for below 80$...
all details appreciated...
Thanks..
Saumya
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Saumya Meattle
University of Southern California < Fight the Power>
Internet: meattle@aludra.usc.edu > May the Force be with you <
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=meattle@aludra.usc.edu (Saumya Meattle) (04/26/91)
Hi..
I was planning to buy a soundblaster but I got mail messages saying that
the companies making the soundblaster, adlib and roland roland were coming
out soon with new music cards.. do you think it it worth waiting?
Does anybody have any info about the release schedule and the capabilites
of the new cards.. more important what is the approx. price of the new
cards..
Please reply by private email...
Thanks..
Saumya
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| Saumya Meattle |
| University of Southern California |
| Internet: meattle@aludra.usc.edu |
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gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu (James P Gurganus) (04/27/91)
I've got an Adlib card right now with a 386SX-16. I may soon have the opportunity to buy a 486. I heard from somewhere that the Soundblaster cards don't function properly in high speed machines (like a 386-33). So, is this true? And if so, at what level of speed does the Soundblaster start to mess up? (Could I use a Soundblaster in a 486 or 386 without the turbo button on?) Does the same problem affecting the Soundblaster also effect the Adlib?? I'd like to get a Soundblaster because of its extra features... Thanks for any information! James Gurganus (gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu)
smsmith@hpuxa.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M. Smith) (04/27/91)
gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu (James P Gurganus) writes: > >I've got an Adlib card right now with a 386SX-16. I may soon have >the opportunity to buy a 486. I heard from somewhere that the >Soundblaster cards don't function properly in high speed machines >(like a 386-33). So, is this true? And if so, at what level of >speed does the Soundblaster start to mess up? (Could I use a >Soundblaster in a 486 or 386 without the turbo button on?) Does >the same problem affecting the Soundblaster also effect the Adlib?? >James Gurganus (gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu) As far as I know the speed problem occurs only on 386-33's and only with Soundblasters. It's a software problem, not a hardware problem. Here's a summary of responses I posted one or two months ago after I complained about Soundblaster's "incompatibilities" with my new 386-33: -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1991 23:32:50 GMT Lines: 61 Thanks to all of you who responded! I got over a dozen email letters from 386-33 owners. My problem was (is) that my Soundblaster would not work correctly with most of the games I had. Symptoms included buzzing, screeching, missed notes, and tinny music. The severity of the problem depended on the game I was running. Ultima VI was the worst. Wing Commander sounded OK (usually) though now and then there were sustained notes that could only be remedied by exiting to DOS and restarting the game. About half of the 386-33 owners who emailed me said they had the same problems with the same games. One person said that I should just forget about running a SB on a 386-33 because everyone they knew who had a SB in their 386-33 had problems with it. Those that experienced no problems were usually not running the same games as I was, so I realized that different software had different effects. One very informed person posted an article in response to mine (you may have read it). This person, in summary, said that the problem had to do with the drivers written for the particular game, and that the fault was Creative Lab's because they sent out the wrong info to the game developers. Apparently there are timing problems with faster machines, and the drivers need to be written so that they will work correctly on 386-33's. This explains why some games work OK and others don't. Here again are the games I'm running: Ultima VI: Screeching, tinny music, missed notes. Krynn: same as Ultima VI Secret: same as Ultima VI Wing Commander: OK 99% of the time; occasional sustained buzzing. My major concern, and the motivating force which led me to post my query to the net, was that I thought it could be a hardware problem; so I wanted to take care of it as soon as I could while everything was still under warranty. Temporary solutions: 1) Run system at a slower speed. Works fine. 2) Turn memory cache off. Works fine. 3) Run application with QEMM loaded. Helps to slow things down a bit so that the screeching goes away, but Ultima VI still sounds funky. Conclusions: It's a software problem which hopefully will be ironed out as new games are developed. Now I just configure my system so that it will be OK for the particular game I'm playing: Turn cache off for Ultima VI and SSI games, and no change needed for Wing Commander. Stephen M. Smith \ + / <smsmith@hpuxa. \+++++/ " #*&<-[89s]*(k#$@-_=//a2$]'+=.(2_&*%>,,@ ircc.ohio-state. \ + / {7%*@,..":27g)-=,#*:.#,/6&1*.4-,l@#9:-) " edu> \ + / BTW, WYSInaWYG \ + / --witty.saying.ARC
bmarsh@cod.NOSC.MIL (William C. Marsh) (04/27/91)
In article <1991Apr26.192948.13193@en.ecn.purdue.edu> gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu (James P Gurganus) writes: > > I heard from somewhere that the >Soundblaster cards don't function properly in high speed machines >(like a 386-33). So, is this true? The problem with the Sound Blaster and fast machines was a software problem, not something inherent with the boards. There is fixed software available on their BBS (At least there was a long time ago when I called it up). Also, a friend has a Sound Blaster installed in his Micronix 386/33 machine with no problems. Bill -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@cod.nosc.mil uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!nosc!bmarsh "If you are not part of the solution, you're part of the problem..."
burkey@duncan.cs.utk.edu (Michael Burkey) (04/28/91)
Some of these problems, (ie hung note on wing commander) happen even of 25Mhz 386's. Also, the record to disk functions occasionally bomb and lock up on high speed 386's with IDE hard drives!!! SBlasters are nice but the drivers really suck. I think the hardware DMA/IRQ support could use a little work as well. M Burkey
bjorn@valhalla.esd.sgi.com (Bjorn Lindstrom) (04/30/91)
In article <1991Apr28.032255.27738@cs.utk.edu>, burkey@duncan.cs.utk.edu (Michael Burkey) writes: |> Some of these problems, |> (ie hung note on wing commander) |> happen even of 25Mhz 386's. Also, the record to disk functions occasionally |> bomb and lock up on high speed 386's with IDE hard drives!!! |> |> SBlasters are nice but the drivers really suck. |> I think the hardware DMA/IRQ support could use a little work as well. |> |> M Burkey I have heard about problems with the 386's and 486's using the SoundBlaster. Apparently, the SoundBlaster does not use "well-behaved" code. This naughty code conflicts with the caching of memory, and can usually be fixed by disabling the ram cache for applications that use the SoundBlaster. I don't know if there are newer versions that are better-behaved, but the dealer you purchased the 386 from should be able to tell you how to temporarily disable the cache using software, if the machine did not come with a utility to do this already. Good luck, and if anyone has anything different to say... FLAME ME. I am only relating information I have heard, and I am only trying to help. Bjorn
tlo@cbnewsj.att.com (trevor.l.obermann) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr26.192948.13193@en.ecn.purdue.edu> gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu (James P Gurganus) writes: > > I've got an Adlib card right now with a 386SX-16. I may soon have > the opportunity to buy a 486. I heard from somewhere that the > Soundblaster cards don't function properly in high speed machines > (like a 386-33). So, is this true? And if so, at what level of > speed does the Soundblaster start to mess up? (Could I use a > Soundblaster in a 486 or 386 without the turbo button on?) Does > the same problem affecting the Soundblaster also effect the Adlib?? > I'd like to get a Soundblaster because of its extra features... > > Thanks for any information! > > James Gurganus (gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu) In my experience with the Sound blaster card in my 80486 (33mhz) I have had no problems with it at any speed. -- +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+ + Trevor L. Obermann Compuserve 71556.351@compuserve.com + + AT&T-BL MT NJ Usenet tlo@cbnewsj.att.com + + GEnie Trevor +
burkey@duncan.cs.utk.edu (Michael Burkey) (05/07/91)
Thanks for the advice. However, I AM the dealer for this unit and disabling the cache does not help matters at all. I'm beginning to suspect a collision between the DMA on my IDE hard drive and the sound blaster. Mike
brian@clipper.ingr.com (Brian Smith) (06/25/91)
I just purchased a Sound-Blaster board and was a little disappointed to find that very little technical info comes with it. I want to play around with voice samples in conjunction with a neural net but, the booklet that comes with the board barely mentions the hardware at all. They offer to sell you a technical data book and a software library for $100 but, I don't want the software tools, I just want to know what the ports do so I can write my own code for the DAC and ADC. Can anyone tell me where I can get this information without having to pay for a bunch of stuff I don't want? The booklet does give the address for each of the ports but, the info isn't very descriptive. Anybody know the details? - Brian -
sap@sactoh0.sac.ca.us (Stephan A. Puga) (06/27/91)
My SB won't work in the cmoputer I have! (Has anyone heard of HD
Computers?) I keep getting error 0400 when running the TEST-SBC program.
I know I have AMI BIOS (I'm running a 33MHz '386). I have run the Checkit
program and none of the cards installed use DMA channel #1 so I don't
understand how a conflict could occur (unless it is a bad motherboard
design). Should I sell this thing and try for a Soundmaster?
Any help would be appreciated!
Stephan A. Puga
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# When I discover this file, # sactoh0.SAC.CA.US #
# I will change it! # UUCP=..ames!pacbell!sactoh0 #
################## default .signature file #############*****mnrausch@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Martin Rausche) (06/27/91)
sap@sactoh0.sac.ca.us (Stephan A. Puga) writes: >My SB won't work in the cmoputer I have! (Has anyone heard of HD >Computers?) I keep getting error 0400 when running the TEST-SBC program. >I know I have AMI BIOS (I'm running a 33MHz '386). I have run the Checkit >program and none of the cards installed use DMA channel #1 so I don't >understand how a conflict could occur (unless it is a bad motherboard >design). Should I sell this thing and try for a Soundmaster? > >Any help would be appreciated! I know about this problem with C&T motherboards. In my case only a change of the motherboard fixed this problem. (My local dealer fixed this problem for free !!!!!!!!!). I use a SIS motherboard now. Maybe you've a similar problem, but I don`t know whether switching to Soundmaster can fix that problem or not. Martin. > > Stephan A. Puga >-- >############################################################# ># When I discover this file, # sactoh0.SAC.CA.US # ># I will change it! # UUCP=..ames!pacbell!sactoh0 # >################## default .signature file #############***** --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Martin Rausche | | EMail: mnrausch@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de | | Trust me, I know what I'm doing -- Sledge Hammer | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------