retro games 100 wrote:

1) It would be fun to test the 32MB SIMM stick to the max. Is there are 28MB bank/font I can download from the net?

IIRC the AWE32's DIAGNOSE.EXE utility will check the RAM for ya. I assume that this utility also comes with the AWE64, but I'm not sure (?). The DIAGNOSE.EXE utility (among other things) has an option to test any SIMMs on an AWE32, so's I'm figuring that it should work on an AWE64 with the adapter as well.

Heh, back in the day, that's how I used to test 30-pin SIMMs in general (for system RAM)... mount them on one of my AWE32s, and then test them with DIAGNOSE.EXE <grin> 😀

(**EDIT**) P.S. A really nice 28MB SoundFont is "Chorium" -> http://www.un4seen.com/download.php?extra/ChoriumRevA.rar 😀

retro games 100 wrote:

2) Once I get the funky tunes working, what is the best method to make a recording - I could then provide a download link for people to listen to it. Should I use SPDIF, as seen in the first image above?

The easiest thing to do is to simply record using the usual Windows sound mixer. You'll need to click on "Options/Recording Settings" (I forget exactly how it's worded), and then (of course) slide the MIDI slider up a bit as well as selecting MIDI for the recording source.

Then fire up your MIDI player and digital sound recording utility of choice (such as GoldWave), and record your MIDI. This will record across the AWE32/AWE64's internal bus, and is equivalent to recording via the SPDIF... without all of the additional hassles of hooking up cables and such 😀

retro games 100 wrote:

3) What does MB_PRO do? This is the pin arrangement seen in the first image.

The MB_PRO connector is an external audio connector of sorts. Here's the pinout:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MB_PRO pin connector assignments:

Pin = Description
1 = AGND
2 = KEY
3 = LINE_IN
4 = AGND
5 = LINE-OUT-L
6 = AGND
7 = LINE-OUT-R
8 = MONO-IN
9 = AGND
10 = MIC-IN
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

retro games 100 wrote:

4) I have left the jumper MFBEN closed. I guess that is the right thing to do.

The MFBEN jumper need to be closed in order for the AWE32/AWE64's emulated MPU-401 to function. Here's another message with a bit more deatils -> http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php?topic=3092.0 .

(EDIT) P.S. LOVE that pic #2! I've looked at that one for many many years, until I got my SBLIve! and installed WXP on my current rig 😀

Lastly, a few soundfontish things -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/ . BTW, if you MIDI sequence (and use the old Cakewalk Pro v3.01), of special interest in those files is AWE32R_C.zip and NRPNCalc.zip.

Wow, awesome reply, thanks! 😁 I made a recording of Duke Nukem using the Chorium Rev A 28MB sound font 2. The AWE64 settings can be seen in the image below. I'm not sure if they are the most suitable. I just experimented with the settings! The download link for the DN 3D music recording appears after it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?p7gnl1ivn071xw4 (Duke Nukem 3D intro music)

retro games 100 wrote:

Wow, awesome reply, thanks! 😁

Glad to be of help 😀 I've been AWE-ing since... gawd, I forget... 1994-1995 or so 😀

retro games 100 wrote:

I made a recording of Duke Nukem using the Chorium Rev A 28MB sound font 2. The AWE64 settings can be seen in the image below. I'm not sure if they are the most suitable. I just experimented with the settings!

Here's how I've always set up my AWEs (and currently my SBLive!, for the settings that it shares with the AWE):

For the recording and playback mixers: I usually set the Master and MIDI volumes to about 3/4 of the way up; highlight/click on the slider, press HOME on your keyboard, and then press PAGEDOWN once time; for each of the sliders. This usually gives a good starting point as far as volumes when recording a MIDI.

For that Bass and Treble: one "PAGEUP" for the Treble, and one "PAGEDOWN" for the bass, for the sliders shown in your "Advanced Controls" pic.

For the "Effect" tab for the MIDI synth: *MOST* *definitely*, "Hall 1" for the reverb! "Chorus 1" looks fine, and the Bass and Treble sliders look good to me 😀

For the "3D Stereo Enhancement" in the "Advanced Controls" pic: I'm not sure if that affects MIDI or not (my AWE32s didn't have that feature). But, if it does, you prolly would want to disable that, as it (prolly) will affect any panning controllers used/embedded within the MIDI files.

Anyhooo, just my personal preferences; been the way that I've been recording my compositions for a decade and a half 😀

P.S. Check my message here (dunno if it affects the AWE64 or not though) -> Noisy Soundcards - A short roundup (messages 4 and 6 from the top of that thread).

Pimped out AWE64 GOLD 🤣

That's excellent!

I have attached CTCM.ZIP which contains CTCM.EXE (run this under DOS to get the PnP going) and DIAGNOSE.EXE as mentioned by rfnagel.

DIAGNOSE.EXE tests all the resources (Address, IRQ, DMA) but also the memory. Wondering what it "thinks" of all this memory...

Although I'm not very familiar with Duke Nukem 3D, that tune sounds fantastic. DOOM should also run in a DOS window from windows.

Regarding the MB_PRO connector. It's a connector used by Creative support / tech people to test cards. Instead of plugging in the devices the traditional way, they just hook up a cable to this singe port and are done.

The older Sound Blaster cards had a similar port.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Pimped out AWE64 GOLD 🤣 That's excellent!

Heh, that SIMM adapter is a pretty spiffy thing 😀 Screw Creative Labs and their premium priced $$$ "memory modules"!

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

DIAGNOSE.EXE tests all the resources (Address, IRQ, DMA) but also the memory. Wondering what it "thinks" of all this memory...

One thing I do remember; for one 32 meg stick (or two 16 meg sticks) the RAM test took an EXTREMELY long time (this, on my old 486 DX4-100 at the time).

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Although I'm not very familiar with Duke Nukem 3D, that tune sounds fantastic.

@retro games 100,

I'm on a miserable dialup (so's I didn't listen to your recording). But I'm assuming that it was "GrabBag"? That's an AWESOME tune... GO LEE JACKSON! 😀

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

DOOM should also run in a DOS window from windows.

BTW, FWIW, DOOM/DOOM2/Heretic/Hexen's MIDIs don't have ANY Reverb or Chorus MIDI controllers embedded within them (CC91 and CC93). Whilst I can live without Chorus, not putting Reverb in a MIDI file is, well, blasphemy <grin>. The Duke3D ones have those controllers in them though (as does most other games that use MIDI for their music playback).

P.S. (general info) While the DOOM/DOOM2/Heretic/Hexen's sound engine(s) indeed support MIDI CC91 and CC93, unfortunately they do NOT support NRPN and RPN MIDI controllers. Specific NRPN controllers; when used on any EMU compatable MIDI hardware (EMU8000/EMU10K/etc...); can be used for a plethora of things... notable, providing even MORE reverb 😀

P.P.S. Things that will sound EXTREMELY nice with an AWE/Live and the Choruim soundfont:

Anything WAD based (DOOM/DOOM2/Heretic/Hexen).

The ("XMI" format) MIDI soundtrack from "Extreme Assault" - Chris Huelsbeck... WOW!

Warcraft 1 and Warcraft 2 music (snag the files here -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/ ... the "Warcraft" ZIPs, MIDIs include added/embedded NRPNs for more reverb).

Anything in this ZIP -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/WeedsGM3_MIDIs.zip (among other things, includes a couple of my own tunes).

...and this here -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/Rol … _MIDI_Files.zip (originally shipped on the Roland SC-88 Pro's included CD-ROM).

Heh, oh, and of course, all of my music from Eternal DOOM <grin> -> http://www.teamtnt.com/ixet.htm 😀

I would love to see a video of DIAGNOSE.EXE testing this humongous amount of memory 🤣

I think I spent half my life looking at bars slowly move from left to right 😵

BTW, another fairly decent soundfont is "General User GS" -> http://www.schristiancollins.com/generaluser.php . Oh, and of course, the old bog standard "8MB E-mu Systems GM Revision B" (8MBGM.sf2) is pretty good and well balanced for it's smaller size.

That's really cool, I might get one for Christmas 😁
RetroGames100 could you record Doom E1M1 and the Warcraft II main menu theme with that soundfont for me ? 😀

Thanks very much people, especially rfnagel! I have downloaded every suggestion provided. I will make some recordings today, including Doom E1M1 and Warcraft II, and provide the download links when I post back later today...

retro games 100 wrote:

Thanks very much people, especially rfnagel!

Yer welcome 😀

BTW (re: my custom soundfont Weeds General MIDI SoundFont v3.0 ):

Although it's too big for an AWE32/64, you just _might_ be able to load it in if you replace some of the instruments in it. I'm assuming that you have Vienna SoundFont Studio installed (preferably version 2.3... v2.4 is an abortion IMHO)?

If so, you might be able to replace some of the larger instruments to trim it down to 28MB... not sure though. Older (private build) versions of my custom SF2 were small enough to fit in one of my AWEs (in actuality, the slightly newer versions; I had split up into two pieces to load into two of my AWEs), but the newest one is about 55MB.

Anyhoo, the larger instruments in the SF2 are:

000 Grand Piano and 001 Bright Piano (both use the same instrument) = 8MB.
019 Pipe Organ & Pedals = Also 8MB.
066 Breathy Tenor Sax = 5MB.
034 Epiphone Pick Bass = 2.7.

These are the largest instruments/presets in the SF2. By replacing several of them with smaller samples, you might be able to squeeze it into your AWE 😀

retro games 100: Rocking, as Duke would say in the game 😀

Awesome, people. Slightly less awesome perhaps is my current Windows 98 CF. I don't know what's happened, but it's gone completely nuts. I'll have to reinstall it. I'll do that and all the suggestions made in this entire post this weekend. Hopefully. 😉

Luckily, I managed to get 2 things done before my Win98 install has become 100% unusable. The following 2 music tracks use the Chorium 28MB sound font. I used Goldwave version 4.26, and made the recordings on the actual Win98 CF itself, rather than sending the music across a cable to my WinXP box.

I don't know why my Win98 install has gone nuts. On boot up, it kept showing explorer errors. I changed mobos, and now windows doesn't work at all. There's a domed cap on the first mobo. Perhaps it's gone rotten. However, I can't discount the AWE64 + adapter causing some problems.

Warcraft 2 intro: http://www.mediafire.com/?pk1ix6chqt099hw (3D sound disabled)
Doom E1M1: http://www.mediafire.com/?3k3gl206q3fapjn (3D sound enabled)

Finally a Doom version that sounds different but "good different" and brings something new to the table! I like it a lot!

Woah! That Doom record sounds awesome! 😁
Warcraft II sounds great as well, but it seems to miss a few notes.
Many thanks for the recordings RG100!

Rfnagel you might know this. What about a Soundblaster Live? It has the capability to load instruments into RAM. Can you use the same patches? And would it sound good as well or are there any downsides?

Different mobo & fresh Win98 install, and all seems normal! I redid the Warcraft 2 intro song, but I played the .MID file found inside the "Original" folder. This was from the download link above, provided by rfnagel. I also disabled the 3D sound option. I also made a recording of Extreme Assault.

rfnagel, please can you tell me how I can reduce the size of the 55MB Weeds sound font, because I'd really like to try this out. I ran Vienna 2.1, and I can see the 000, 001, 019 and 034 instruments, but if I delete them then save the project, the .sf2 file is still 55MB. Thanks a lot for any advice! 😀 I am new to Vienna, and MIDI making in general. I ran diagnose version 4.04 at the Windows 98 desktop, and it detected and successfully tested the DRAM on the card. It only took about 2 minutes!

http://www.mediafire.com/?c3e92pggm293d0y (Warcraft 2)
http://www.mediafire.com/?i9crrx86d5b34l5 (Extreme Assault)

Love that DIAGNOSE.EXE screen shot 🤣

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Rfnagel you might know this. What about a Soundblaster Live? It has the capability to load instruments into RAM. Can you use the same patches? And would it sound good as well or are there any downsides?

Yes, my SBLive! can do the exact same thing; and would sound comparable, if not *exactly* the same.

The only real difference would be that the SBLive! supports EAX (Environmental Audio), which supports many more reverb and chorus effect types (as well as quite a few other effects/effect processors). But, in a nutshell; reverb is reverb, and chorus is chorus... and I like a LOT of reverb <grin>.

Oh, and of course, the SBLive! is only limited to your PC's system RAM for loading soundfonts 😀

retro games 100 wrote:

I redid the Warcraft 2 intro song, but I played the .MID file found inside the "Original" folder. This was from the download link above, provided by rfnagel.

FYI, the only difference of the MIDIs in the root directory and the "Original" directory:

The one's in the root directory of the ZIP archive I edited all of the reverb and chorus MIDI contrllers. Jacked up the reverb, lowered the chorus (chorus sounds weird for orchestral instruments IMHO), and added a series of EMU8000/EMU10K1 NRPN MIDI controllers to increase the reverb even more. Heh, I like reverb <grin>, especially for the orchestral type stuff 😀

Note that the reverb, chorus, and NRPNs are also supported by the AWE32/AWE64 (EMU8000 MIDI hardware), and the SBLive/Audigy/X-Fi/etc... (EMU10K1/EMU10K2/etc... MIDI hardware).

For the curious (or anyone who simply wants to be bored to death <LOL>):

This readme -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/NRPNCalc.txt from this ZIP -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/NRPNCalc.zip , as well as one of the text documents in this ZIP -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/AWE32R_C.zip ; details the following:

Here are the series of NRPNs:

NRPN - Description = Value
99 - NRPN MSB = 127
98 - NRPN LSB # = 26
6 - Data Entry MSB # = 64
38 - Data Entry LSB # = 96

...values of NRPN 6 and NRPN 38 based upon my formula in the NRPNCalc.txt mentioned above.

retro games 100 wrote:

I also made a recording of Extreme Assault.

I **LOVE** the music from Extreme Assault... Chris Huelsbeck is a musical genius, and should be composing for Lucas Films! 😀

You should hear the Redbook from the game CD... pretty impressive stuff (although I can definitely give it a "run for it's money" with my SBLive! and my custom soundfont <grin>).

Anyhow, another off-topic ramble:

Back in the dayl I had downloaded the demo for Extreme Assault, but my PC didn't have enough oomph to run it smoothly. At that time, I was composing using my old Wave Blaster (1), and the in-game MIDIs (actually, "XMI" format) sounded absolutely awesome.

I read on the Internet (or rather, what "was" the Internet at the time <grin>) that the retail game CD included Redbook tracks for the game's music. Heh, I *BOUGHT* Extreme Assault... JUST FOR the music, well before I had a PC that could run the game <LOL>!

retro games 100 wrote:

rfnagel, please can you tell me how I can reduce the size of the 55MB Weeds sound font, because I'd really like to try this out. I ran Vienna 2.1, and I can see the 000, 001, 019 and 034 instruments, but if I delete them then save the project, the .sf2 file is still 55MB. Thanks a lot for any advice! 😀 I am new to Vienna, and MIDI making in general.

Are you using v2.1, or is it v2.3? If the former, I'd recommend v2.3 ( http://www.creative.com/soundblaster/soundfont/downloads.asp / http://www.creative.com/soundblaster/soundfont/vienna23.zip ). Don't even bother with v2.4... POCrap, if ya ask me.

Anyhoo, in Vienna SoundFont Studio, "Options/Preferences/Options tab", and uncheck the checkbox "Always save unused samples and instruments". That will effectively shrink the SF2 when saving it, as it will delete all of the unused samples and instruments.

BTW, I calculated it out, and I think if you delete the instruments/presets that I mentioned in my previous message, you prolly can squeeze it into your AWE64's RAM 😀 If possible, you prolly will want to attempt to substitute something else smaller for them, otherwise any MIDIs that use those instruments, you won't be able to hear them at all (of course).

Dunno if there will be room for even smaller instruments though. I would suggest maybe the equivalent instruments/presets in the old standard 8MBGM.SF2... they sound pretty good for their sizes.

BTW, for substituting; after deleting any given instrument/preset, use Vienna's "Bank Manager" to replace them ("File/Bank Manager").

Oh, just though of something else (if after deleting the instruments mentioned previously, and you it's still too big to load into your AWE64's RAM); another that might shrink it down some is the "Studio" drum kit. I don't think that ANYONE (other than *me* <grin>) actually uses that drum kit. IIRC, that makes up about a meg of the soundfont's size.

Heh, BTW, makes sure that you audition those deleted instruments though... that 8MB grand piano and 8MB pipe organ... well, is as real as it gets 😀 Through some decent speakers with a LARGE subwoofer, those 15-foot pedal tone pipes will shatter glass <LOL>! 😀

retro games 100 wrote:

I ran diagnose version 4.04 at the Windows 98 desktop, and it detected and successfully tested the DRAM on the card. It only took about 2 minutes!

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Love that DIAGNOSE.EXE screen shot 🤣

Man, the memories! 😀 Heh, 2 minutes is pretty quick; I remember it taking eons on my old 486 <grin>.