Baslinux mailing list

["Samual Acorn" <sam.acorn AT gmail.com>]

On 04/07/06, sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Jul 2006, Samual Acorn wrote:
>
> > ....as far as AWE32 problems go i cant help you anymore... ive taken
> > the AWE out of my system and put the SB16 back in.... why? for some
> > odd reason that awe card gives my computer a serious case of the
> > hiccups (spontaneous reboots) and random problems with the second ide
> > controller not liking certain cdrom drives.... my gut thinks that
> > because there is no jumper to disable the panasonic/mitsumi/sony cdrom
> > connectors (like there is on the sb16) that thats where my secondary
> > ide weirdnesses are coming from (if i enable, say, the panasonic
> > interface on the sb16 card im using now the second ide quits working
> > all together or works -very- strangely)... for all i know the awe
> > might have all 3 (sony mitsumi and panasonic) enabled with no way of
> > disabling them...
>
> I was able to disable the onboard controllers in DOS using CTCU/CTCM.
> isapnp should be able to do something similar.

this isnt a PnP card... all hardware jumperes.... i can change the
addresses of the cdrom controllers but i cant disable them AFAIK

CT2760

> > as far as the random reboots... well... im not sure if its the
> > physical damage the card endured in the shop i bought it at (none of
> > the traces look broken but that doesnt rule out any ESD damage) or
> > again.. an unseen conflict with the second ide...
> >
> > but with the awe i cant get my system to run for more than 2 days (and
> > thats pushing it) and im tired of seeing fsck fix my harddrives (who
> > knows what data im loosing) but the sb16 will let me run this system
> > for months on end (or until the power company hiccups)
>
> I never heard of such a problem with sound cards before.  Interesting.

i had a multiport card whose serial port was struck indirectly by
lightning... everything else in the computer was OK but the damaged
multiport card was causing problems with the other cards (the network
card wouldnt work and the second harddrive completely disappeared)...
might explain some of the troubles you have with the mobos with
damaged/dead IDE/serial/lpt ports... remember... every card in the
computer rides the same bus... one dies (or is half dead) the others
are going to smell it...

> >
> > and since 99.9% of what i listen to goes to the DAC anyway
> > (ogg/mp3/xm/it/s3m/mod) and with timidity installed (using the same
> > soundfont i was loading into the awe) i dont need the awe....
>
> Timidity does sound much better than awe.  How did you load an .sf2 or
> .sbk sound font for timidity, which Ron set up with .pat files?

well... from what i read between you and ron he used an old copy of
timidity from slackware 4.... i downloaded/compiled/installed the
latest release from the timidity homepage...  so i dont know if the
old one supports soundfonts but..

the timidity config file; /usr/local/share/timidity/timidity.cfg has
just one line in it;

soundfont /usr/share/soundfont/ct2mgm.sf2

the same SBlive soundfont i was using sfxload to copy to the AWEs ram....

note: if you use a soundfont it has to be a -complete- soundfont... as
in all the instruments must be in it... if you use something like
synthgs.sbk from the awe32 setup program it wont work because that
file points to some instruments that are in the awes ROM... (the awe
has 1MB of rom containing the full GM sound set... synthgs.sbk just
adds a handfull of extra samples but uses the rom for the most part)


> Could I substitute some larger .pat files for the small ones in GUS2
> (violin, for instance), taking them from other sources?

i wouldnt see why not... the quality difference might be a bit
notcable tho... a high quality violin playing infront of a so-so piano
for instance?

why dont you download fasttracker or something similar and make music
using it rather than using midi?... at least that way other ppl that
play your songs will hear them the same way you did when you composed
them... could even include vocals and completely custom instruments
not found in any gus patch or soundfont....

give this song a listen;
http://www.modarchive.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi?W/wb_voice.xm

if the link doesnt work search for 'world of voices' on www.modarchive.com

every instrument in that song (even in the part in the middle that
sounds technoish) was custom made from the two artists own voices...
something i didnt believe (the techno part anyway) at first till i
listened to each sample in fasttracker... you cant do stuff like this
with midi...


> > interesting to note tho... without the awe the only midi device i have
> > to choose from when using '-e' with playmidi is the external port ;)
> You probably did not insmod opl3.

the opl3 isnt a midi device.... its a synth chip like the commodore
SID or the tandy 3-voice or the atari pokey... ...but yes... opl3 is
insmoded and works...

> > ... might want to hunt down some old hardware jumpered sb16 cards...
> > might make life a little easier... the cards built in volume slider
> > comes in quite handy at times too... (its where the line out jack is
> > on awe cards)
>
> I have several of those (CT1740?), also some SBPRO (CT1600).  I have at
> least 10 SB16 cards in case you ever need one.  2940 2960 4170 4180...
> The IDE controllers are not a problem if I boot from DOS after disabling
> the controllers with CTCU.  I might switch to a 1740 and timidity to use
> the vol control, thanks for the idea.
>
> > also interesting to note; with the sb16 i dont hear the noise of the
> > data flowing over the network like i could with the awe... (conflict?
> > card damage? at this point i dont care anymore... i dont have to hear
> > it)
>
> I don't think I heard this noise.

sounds like a faint dzzzzt dzzzzt ... the sound of the signalling sent
over the coax cables being picked up by the card... the sb16 doesnt do
it tho....  (yes im using a 10base2 coax network.... hey... if it aint
broke.....)

it could also be that the cdrom controllers addresses were riding on
top of the network card and i was hearing it that way too... at any
rate... i like my hw jumpered sb16 better... the system runs a whole
lot more stable and interestingly enough a lot faster and cooler
too... seems that card was causing more problems than i thought...

> > --sam
>
> Sindi



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