Moar pics...

When I tested the card briefly today it was detected with the Add Non-PNP Hardware Wizard in Windows 98SE and mostly works with the default drivers. Sound effects are all good... all of the playback modes tested in DXdiag worked perfectly. OPL3 music works fine. However, unsurprisingly, when I tried to play back a .mid file with the MPU-401 selected the system would just repeatedly freeze until I forced it to reboot. If I pull the DISMPU jumper it no longer freezes when I do this, but I just get some odd ticking\static sound with no playback. I'm assuming the DISMPU jumper disables the wavetable header and the external MPU-401 interface. When you pull it off, those are enabled and the Wavefront chip is disabled. Putting it back on enables the Wavefront chip... which apparently Windows 98SE does not like with it's default Jazz16 drivers.

If there are any Media Vision collectors or driver hoarders out there that may have drivers for this (DOS or Windows), here are the leads I have on finding them...

Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

JidaiGeki wrote on 2023-01-09, 07:40:

Nice one! The MV Jazz Wave (aka MediaVision PAW-200 Pro Audio) looks like a pretty complete sound card, would be interesting to see how wavetable sounds.

However, the driver for the wavetable might be hard to find - the DOS Reloaded guys were looking for it (https://dosreloaded.de/forum/index.php?thread … -1995/&pageNo=3). From magazine reviews, the driver file seems to be called "MVLITE.EXE" (https://archive.org/details/Pcmania36/page/n43/mode/2up and https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German- … de/2up?q=mvlite). I've got one of these without the backplate, but haven't been able to start the wavetable. Been on the lookout for random MediaVision floppies but nothing so far.

...aaand, that's about the best info I have found so far. Any help would be much appreciated!

Some more tidbits of information I've dug up...

The ICS2125M-001 "waverom" on my card is apparently a 512KB ROM, where as other ICS Wavefront devices may use 4MB (2 x 2MB ROMs), 2MB, or 1MB sets.

I have attached the datasheets for the chips on this card. I'm not sure if there is a difference between the 2125M and the 2125, so I have included datasheets that mention both.

It looks like the 1MB and 2MB ROMs use a 44pin SOP... I wonder if that is what would go in the empty 44pin location on my card? If so, it's interesting that they bothered designing the card for either ROM and yet opted to sell it only with the cheapest one. Unless of course someone out there has one with a larger ROM?

1WaveFront Sounds are masked ROMs that serve as the
2wavetable for the ICS2115 WaveFront Synthesizer. Each
3sound set, 4 MB, 2 MB, 1 MB and 512 KB, contains the
4musical data needed to synthesize the instruments from the
5General MIDI specification. The 4 MB sound set consists of
6two 2 MB ROMs, the ICS2124M-001 and ICS2124M-002.
7The 2 MB sound set consists of one 2 MB ROM, the
8ICS2122M-001. The 1 MB sound set consists of one 1 MB
9ROM, the ICS2121M-001. The 512 KB sound set consists of
10one 512 KB ROM, the ICS2125M-001.

1• Complete set of General MIDI sounds, which contains 128
2instruments and 69 drum sounds.
3•• Available in four sizes, 4 MB, 2 MB, 1 MB and 512 KB,
4to provide the optimal balance between price and
5performance for many applications.
6•• 16-bit linear wavetable (ICS2124-001/-002), compressed
7wavetable (ICS2122-001 and ICS2121-001), or full-
8featured wavetable (ICS2125-001).
9•• ICS2121 is footprint-compatible with the ICS2122.

Nice one, and I'll follow this thread with interest!

Other sound cards also use the 2115 chip, including TB and Aztech, but also this oddity - Need help with a strange soundcard (SB16+ICS wavetable) - there are drivers posted in page 1 (ctsb16.zip), could be worth a try. The driver package contains WFLITE.DRV, which seems to be a Windows driver for the WaveFront, but if it needs to be initialised in DOS and the MediaForte drivers don't work then the search will continue.

I have one of these cards on the way and will hopefully be able to get it fully working.
Here is the translated text from the PC Player magazine (German) article that mentions MVLite.
https://archive-org.translate.goog/stream/PC- … en&_x_tr_pto=sc

MPU compatibility via driver: The »PAW-200G« by Media vision. So some games can deal with the driver don't make friends. […]
Show full quote

MPU compatibility
via driver: The
»PAW-200G« by
Media vision. So
some games can
deal with the driver
don't make friends.

cards was the case.
He consumes all
However, only 7 Kbytes
R.A.M; that should happen too
in a complete
grafted system me-
at least still be left.
On the subject of compa-
There are good things to report in terms of tability: Adlib and Sound Blaster
recognized every software we tested with the card; in the
The PAW-200G also supports Sound Blaster mode
»Pro« version with 44.1 kHz, 8 bit and stereo. bitch do-
te, on the other hand, the MPU interface of the card. Unfortunately, Media
Vision decided to use General MIDI sound generation
cannot be connected to the MPU port using hardware. If
So a game uses the MPU interface, the general
MIDI synthesizer on the PAW-200G is initially silent. The
The connection is made by the program MVLITE.EXE, which contains the
installation routine into the AUTOEXEC.BAT. Also the-
This program remains resident in memory and consumes
around 28 Kbytes. Apart from this, it's hard to forget
Painful loss of RAM occurs with such drivers.
Experience has shown that there are difficulties when playing games in Protected
Run fashion. The Media Vision driver doesn't make any difference.
take: “Heretic” and “Shadow Caster” are running, the newer ones
However, don’t play “System Shock” and “Descent”. A
Any wavetable board that may be plugged in will play against it
even without this driver.

Given the 51 2K ROM on the card, we expected
No wonder from the General MIDI sound section. A listening test
with our MIDI file collection confirmed that: The sounds
seem flat and choppy and have different loudness.
When many voices play, a mash of sounds is created in which...
the individual instruments can hardly be heard.
Even hardened techno musicians should be impressed by this
Sound quality is hardly something to be happy about. The card also only offers one
General MIDI and a visual kit set; that's for musicians too
few. Overall, the sound quality is still
better than a game using the Adlib chip. Because in
Due to the panic of the gaming hustle and bustle, we players normally
wisely to do something other than the last overtone nuances of the
to enjoy music.

cyclone3d wrote on 2024-05-30, 03:43:

I have one of these cards on the way and will hopefully be able to get it fully working. Here is the translated text from the PC […]
Show full quote

I have one of these cards on the way and will hopefully be able to get it fully working.
Here is the translated text from the PC Player magazine (German) article that mentions MVLite.
https://archive-org.translate.goog/stream/PC- … en&_x_tr_pto=sc

MPU compatibility via driver: The »PAW-200G« by Media vision. So some games can deal with the driver don't make friends. […]
Show full quote

MPU compatibility
via driver: The
»PAW-200G« by
Media vision. So
some games can
deal with the driver
don't make friends.

cards was the case.
He consumes all
However, only 7 Kbytes
R.A.M; that should happen too
in a complete
grafted system me-
at least still be left.
On the subject of compa-
There are good things to report in terms of tability: Adlib and Sound Blaster
recognized every software we tested with the card; in the
The PAW-200G also supports Sound Blaster mode
»Pro« version with 44.1 kHz, 8 bit and stereo. bitch do-
te, on the other hand, the MPU interface of the card. Unfortunately, Media
Vision decided to use General MIDI sound generation
cannot be connected to the MPU port using hardware. If
So a game uses the MPU interface, the general
MIDI synthesizer on the PAW-200G is initially silent. The
The connection is made by the program MVLITE.EXE, which contains the
installation routine into the AUTOEXEC.BAT. Also the-
This program remains resident in memory and consumes
around 28 Kbytes. Apart from this, it's hard to forget
Painful loss of RAM occurs with such drivers.
Experience has shown that there are difficulties when playing games in Protected
Run fashion. The Media Vision driver doesn't make any difference.
take: “Heretic” and “Shadow Caster” are running, the newer ones
However, don’t play “System Shock” and “Descent”. A
Any wavetable board that may be plugged in will play against it
even without this driver.

Given the 51 2K ROM on the card, we expected
No wonder from the General MIDI sound section. A listening test
with our MIDI file collection confirmed that: The sounds
seem flat and choppy and have different loudness.
When many voices play, a mash of sounds is created in which...
the individual instruments can hardly be heard.
Even hardened techno musicians should be impressed by this
Sound quality is hardly something to be happy about. The card also only offers one
General MIDI and a visual kit set; that's for musicians too
few. Overall, the sound quality is still
better than a game using the Adlib chip. Because in
Due to the panic of the gaming hustle and bustle, we players normally
wisely to do something other than the last overtone nuances of the
to enjoy music.

That is so funny that you posted this, I was just looking at sold listings online (to torture myself I guess?) and saw that listing. Nice find. 😁

I still haven't found the drivers to make the wavetable work properly. If you stumble across any, please post here and PM me so I don't miss it. 😀

EDIT: Also, I see the one you have coming has the same ROM as mine. So, at this point the only two that have been photographed online have the same 512K ROM.

I'm guessing the unpopulated location would support an ICS2122 (single 2MB) ROM like the one that the Turtle Beach Maui uses.

Amazing how diverse all the stuff paired with a Jazz was - I have a Logitech Soundman Wave, which is a similar board, but with an OPL4 for wavetable. Not great, although in the same league as the ICS 2115 in terms of synth. Logitech did use a 2MB ROM though. Nice synth, shame about the jazz.

dionb wrote on 2024-05-31, 17:29:

Amazing how diverse all the stuff paired with a Jazz was - I have a Logitech Soundman Wave, which is a similar board, but with an OPL4 for wavetable. Not great, although in the same league as the ICS 2115 in terms of synth. Logitech did use a 2MB ROM though. Nice synth, shame about the jazz.

Yeah, MediaVision was involved in a lot of really odd and adventurous product designs. There are so many that I'm sure some have yet to be pictured online.

I also have a Soundman Wave. It is a rather impressive looking card (looks expensive). I haven't had a chance to use a Jazz16 much in general... I'm honestly not sure what exactly it is that has given them a poor reputation.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-05-31, 23:51:

[...]

Yeah, MediaVision was involved in a lot of really odd and adventurous product designs. There are so many that I'm sure some have yet to be pictured online.

I also have a Soundman Wave. It is a rather impressive looking card (looks expensive). I haven't had a chance to use a Jazz16 much in general... I'm honestly not sure what exactly it is that has given them a poor reputation.

Early versions of the cards had a non-SBPro compatible mixer (MVA508). Later cards (including the Soundman Wave) replaced that with one that was compatible, but a lot of damage was already done. Also the buggy MPU-401 implementation from the PAS16 carried over onto these cards (as it was onto the SB16 - IMHO best indication of some 'creative' borrowing going on there). There were supposedly also issues with the game port, although I've never experienced that.

I have this card too ! Back in 2017 with this topic and this one several years later driver still not aviable.

This sound card has a very good sound quality, FM part has crystal clear sound but wavetable part seem to be a mystery. If it expose as MPU-401 devive it is in conflict with MIDI daugtherboard or external MIDI devices. I notice the MPU-401 interface is enabled by default without any driver.

If a midi keyboard is plugged on joystick port you can control any other MIDI device from there. It's enabled directly at POST.

I'm really curious to know how the wavetable part works. Can it be operated at the same time as the OPL3 and a MIDI daughter card, as is the case with the SBAWE32.

the history of this sound card is really obscure...