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Date: Mon, 16 Jan 95 10:32:22 PST
From: mvlauw@ntmtv.com (Wilkie Lau)
Message-Id: <9501161832.AA05483@jupiter.mtvyp>
To: sfleinen@ingr.com, aria@WI.LeidenUniv.NL
Subject: Re: Sound Blaster compatible?

Hi everyone,

I've tried sb199 and it definitely sounds better for Maximum Overkill.
So, Sean, thanks for all your help. However, I am still having problems 
in getting the SB digital speech to work completely. One example is 
Under a Killing Moon. When I tried to use the UKM auto sound config, it
detects the SB at IRQ 5, 220H and DMA 1 just as what it should be for the
SB setting on my Maestro card. However, when I click the "sound test" 
button it just make a pop sound and no speech was heard. Then I tried to
configure the digital music as SB also. Again it detects the SB, but this
time it plays the music when I do the music sound test. Now, if I continue
with the game my system will hang when it get to a point where digital 
speech begins. I know the problem that I am having is definitely the sound
card rather than the rest of the hardware as Peter had experienced in his 
system, because when I replace the Maestro with a SB compatible sound card
UKM works fine. So, for some reasons the speech is still not working even
with SB199 for my Maestro. And I am wondering has anyone figure out a way
to make their Aria 100% SB compatible?

Thanks in advance for your valuable comment.

Wilkie.

> From sfleinen@sean.jersey.ingr.com Thu Jan 12 14:35:05 1995
> From: sfleinen@sean.jersey.ingr.com (Sean F. Leinen)
> Subject: Re: Sound Blaster compatible?
> To: aria@wi.leidenuniv.nl
> Date: Thu, 12 Jan 95 17:38:08 EST
> Cc: mvlauw@ntmtv (Wilkie Lau)
> 
> In Message-Id: <9501121810.AA08489@jupiter.mtvyp>,
> mvlauw@ntmtv.com (Wilkie Lau) writes:
> 
> > Hi everyone,
> > 
> > I have purchased the ViVa Maestro 16VR for about a year now. It sounds
> > great for any games that make use of it in native mode. However, I have
> > been having a lot of problems with it when the games only support Sound
> > Blaster compatible mode and especially when it requires the digital 
> > speech capability of SB. To solve this problem, I put another SB clone
> > board in the system. But I paid the price of occupying two slots for
> > sound and now my system has only one 8 bit slot left which leaves me no
> > room for expanding.  So, I am wondering did anyone out there figure out
> > a way to solve the "not so SB compatible" problem? In theory, since the
> > aria is a DSP board, if someone write some SB digital speech emulation 
> > code and upload it to the board and redirect all the SB sound command 
> > to such emulation code, shouldn't it work?
> > 
> > Thanks in advance for any valuable comment.
> > 
> > Wilkie.
> 
> WILKIE:
> ------
> 
> You're in luck - I have the very same sound board you have
> and have already gone down this road (a while back).
> 
> You are exectly right about the DSP on the MaestroVR!  It can
> be reprogrammed with a simple utility.  The utility you want
> is "SB199.ZIP" on the Aria ftp site:
> 
>    ftp://ftp.wi.leidenuniv.nl./pub/audio/aria/upgrades/sb199.zip
> 
> When you unzip this file, you will have "SB199.COM" and a
> README.TXT file.  The "SB199.COM" will reprogram the
> MaestroVR's DSP with SB emulation version 1.99.  I've found
> that the SB201.COM (beta) doesn't work with the MaestroVR,
> because of the DSP version.  The 1.99 version is the last
> *released* version from Sierra anyway, and definitely makes
> a huge difference in the sound quality.  The sound under
> games like "The 7th Guest" with SB199.COM is just *so* much
> improved!
> 
> I found out long ago that I was using the MaestroVR for both
> SB emulation and MIDI applications, and the card isn't designed
> to run both simultaneously - it has to be "switched" on the
> fly.  I've created two DOSKEY macros in my C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
> which make this *so* easy:
> 
>    doskey sbmode=miditsr2/s $T sb199 $T sbvol 63 63
>    doskey ariamode=miditsr2/a
> 
> The "MIDITSR2.EXE" has already been loaded into high memory
> earlier-on in the C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT.  By merely typing-in
> "sbmode" I can switch the MaestroVR into SoundBlaster mode,
> reprogram the DSP to version 1.99, and adjust the volume to
> the maximum value of "63" in one shot.  Similarly, by typing
> "ariamode", I can switch the MaestroVR into (as it's name
> implies) "Aria" mode for use with native applications and
> General MIDI.
> 
> If you plan to use the MIDI portion of the MaestroVR for
> "General MIDI" (for regular MIDI use, or for games), then
> you'll probably want to pull over a copy of Danny Tauritz's
> excellent "The Aria Support List v2.08" and "The FAQ v1.05"
> from:
> 
>    http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl./aria
> 
> These two documents discuss the "MIDITSR2.EXE" I'm using
> above, as well as the required MIDI loopback cable to use
> with it (you can either purchase this, or make one yourself
> from directions in "The Aria Support List v2.08").  Games
> such as DOOM/DOOM II sound utterly awesome in General MIDI
> mode on the MaestroVR.
> 
> If you have trouble getting the above two documents (or do
> not have access to a web browser), let us know and one of
> us will send you a copy through e-mail.
> 
> -SEAN
> -- 
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Sean F. Leinen                    VOX: (201) 460-7427             |
> | NY/NJ Senior Systems Specialist   FAX: (201) 460-0801             |
> | Intergraph Computer Systems      UUCP: ...!ingr!jersey!sfleinen   |
> | One Meadowlands Plaza            ARPA: sfleinen@ingr.com.         |
> | East Rutherford, NJ 07073        HTTP: ftp://ftp.jersey.ingr.com. |
> | MAILSTOP: NJRUT                  Compu$pend: 75453,1411           |
> +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
> 

