************************************************ The Windows Driver in this version is now genaric. To use it with OEM boards like the SC600 REV 1 with the TDA8421 tone controller chip (all rev 1's have this), you must insert the line IsDvb=1 in the [sndscape.drv] section of the SYSTEM.INI file, then restart Windows. ________________________________________________ ISSUES Latest Version 1.30.03 **Windows Drivers** The Windows driver now correctly handles games which leave the programmable interrupt con- troller (PIC) unmasked. Previously, certain games would leave the PIC in a state which, when going into Windows, caused the system to lockup. **Installation** The uninstall program will now check for the SNDSCAPE environment variable before running. If it is not present, the uninstall will not run. This will prevent the program inadvertently deleting files. The installation program copies the Windows directory location to your SNDSCAPE.INI file. **SSInit** SSInit now needs to know where your Windows directory is located. If it can not find it, SSInit will prompt you to enter your current Windows directory. **SSCD.SYS** The SSCD program uses new command line argu- ments. The previous version uses the Port= argument to find the Soundscape base address. The new version uses /B:. This is the only argument in SSCD. **Makeboot** There is a generic makeboot utility that will create a boot disk to initialize the Soundscape card. If you need to create a boot disk it is recommended that you use this utility. **Windows** There is a new Windows driver included in this release. This driver allows DOS games to run in a DOS Box under Windows. It will also fix any problems associated with applications authored with the Director. The driver has an on-line help associated with it. Please consult the on-line help for quest- ions regarding driver configuration. To access the driver setup, open the Control Panel and double click the Soundscape icon. **Audiostation** There is a new version of Audiostation (1.78) that fixes incompatibilities with some CD-ROM brands. **OS/2 Support** OS/2 Support has been implemented in this re- lease. The OS/2 drivers as well as a README can be found on disk 2. **Installation** **Firmware** The Sound Blaster emulation is now 2.0 compat- ible. This fixes games that only support Sound- Blaster 2.0 or higher (Cyberia, Creature Shock). It also will clean up games that try to simulate the auto-restart capabilities of a Sound Blaster 2.0 on earlier Sound Blaster models (i.e., Rebel Assault). In some games, it may be necess- ary to select Sound Blaster Pro to take advant- age of the additional 2.0 functions. **SSInit** The SSInit Exit dialog is more intuitive. Now, the only choices in the Exit dialog are Accept or Discard changes. In previous versions, when in- voked, SSInit would read in the current settings from the card and display the Quick Setup dialog. Then if the user selected Advanced it would discard any changes made on this dialog and reload all the values from the SNDSCAPE.INI file. This has been a source of confusion for our customers. In this version, all settings are obtained from the SNDSCAPE.INI file and if the user selects "Accept", upon exit the changes are written back out to the INI file. If the user selects "Discard," no changes are saved and the Soundscape card will be left in the same state as when SSInit was invoked. Detection of the Wave Port and Base Port is now done when SSInit is invoked OR anytime you exit the Hardware settings page. If either port fails detection, SSInit will put the user back into the Hardware page. The user can then change the Port and select OK or select Cancel to abort any changes. **MT32 Utility** The MT32 program will now set the Soundscape card to MT32 mode when invoked without any argu- ments. Example: MT32 <- Sets the Soundscape card to MT32 mode MT32 ON <- Sets the Soundscape card to MT32 mode MT32 OFF <- Sets the Soundscape card back into the default (General MIDI) mode. **Installation** Added a test for the PCI bus that will detect when the installation program is first run if a PCI bus is installed in the system. If a PCI bus is detected, the installation program will ask the user if they wish to reconfigure their inter- rupts to facilitate the PCI bus. (See Installat- ion Notes 1.20.03 below). **Firmware** The Soundscape firmware files SNDSCAPE.CO0 and SNDSCAPE.CO1 are now generic. This means that they can be used with all OEM versions of Ensoniq Soundscape. The impact of the generic firmware on the original OEM boards is that use of the TDA8421 tone controller chip has been disabled. This was done because of increased code space as well as to facilitate faster development. **SSInit** The SSInit interface is now the same for all Soundscape OEM boards. This can be seen by bringing up the mixer. The DMA test failed on some systems in v1.20.03. It has been fixed in this release. **VSB** Because of our changes in our Sound Blaster emulation code the following files are no longer needed: VSB_EMM.COM EMM386.EXE MAKEBOOT.EXE These can be removed from your Soundscape directory. **Windows Drivers** The Windows Driver is now generic. To use it with OEM boards with the TDA8421, you must in- sert the line IsDvb=1 in the [sndscape.drv] sect- ion of your SYSTEM.INI file. If necessary, this is done at boot time. The compatibility problem with programs authored with the Directory v4.x has been fixed. **Installation** When you first run the installation program it will display a dialog asking you if you have a PCI BIOS. If you have a PCI BIOS or are unsure then you should change your default MIDI IRQ. In most cases IRQ 10 is a safe choice. **Compatibility Note** Some older DOS programs (usually games) do not allow you to specify an alternate IRQ and assume IRQ 2/9. If you have any software that does this then you will need to make a change in your BIOS. Typically, the PCI BIOS allows you to allocate one or more IRQs for use with either the PCI bus or the ISA bus. By default, many of the BIOSs use IRQ 9 as the PCI IRQ. To resolve a con- flict you must tell the PCI BIOS to use a dif- ferent IRQ. This can generally be accomplished by going to the PCI settings screen of the BIOS setup pro- gram. Once there, most setup programs give you a set of IRQs that can be switched between the PCI bus and the ISA bus. The basic idea is to set IRQ 9 to the ISA bus and while each manu- facturer may implement this differently the common selections are: IRQ 9 ISA/PCI IRQ 9 Available/Used -> where Used allocates the IRQ to the ISA bus. IRQ 9 Free/Used -> where Used allocates the IRQ to the ISA bus. For additional information consult the BIOS documentation that comes with your PC. The software will remove any previous reference in your AUTOEXEC.BAT of the following: SSINIT SNDSCAPE environment variable BLASTER environment variable It will then place the new Soundscape startup information at the TOP of your AUTOEXEC.BAT. **Firmware** The software now addresses the MIDI volume pro- blem that was present in v1.20.0x. In earlier versions of 1.20.0x if the synth volume was set to 0 occasionally you would hear buzzing from the synthesizer. The MIDI routing bug in 1.20.0x has been fixed. In earlier versions of 1.20.0x the ability to use an external synthesizer from DOS was not implemented correctly. **Installation** Installation program will now check for a pre- vious CD-ROM install. If it detects Soundscape CD-ROM drivers in your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC. BAT It will not overwrite them. **SSInit** SSInit now downloads both the General MIDI firm- ware and the FM firmware. Previous versions of Soundscape software required the Soundscape card to be redownloaded when switching between GM and FM mode. This is no longer necessary. The SSInit command-line interface has changed. To initialize the Soundscape card type SSINIT- /I. This is done at boot-up time. The Hardware Test page has changed. To Test your current hardware settings select Hardware Tests, then select either IRQ or DMA Test. These tests will show conflicts with the current hard- ware settings. If there is a conflict, it can be resolved by making changes on the Hardware Settings page in SSInit. The Synth Settings screen has been removed. A MIDI Settings screen has been added to SSInit. Under DOS MIDI data can go to either the internal synth or the external MIDI port. The MIDI settings screen allows you to route your MIDI data to either the Internal Synth or External MIDI port. The default for the MIDI routing is the Internal Synthesizer. **MT32** A new utility has been added to allow switching between the General MIDI patch set and the MT32 patch set. To switch between the patches you need to run the MT32 command. The arguments for MT32 are as follows: MT32 [ ON | OFF ] [ /? ] Where ON switches to the MT32 patch set, OFF switches to the General MIDI set. MT32 without any arguments returns the current patch set. **Firmware** The intermittent noise that was present in the 1.20.0x Sound Blaster emulation has been eliminated. **Windows** SSINITGM.DLL has changed to handle the new firmware. TAPIPKB3.DRV has changed to handle the new firmware. ************************************************ Issue: Cd audio and SC600 Issue: Timeout loading sndscape.cod Issue: Where to buy a midi cable for the sc600 Issue: Cdr101 and SC600. ================================================ Issue: Cdr101 and SC600 Solution: Try the spinf test with the cd-rom drive.. If the cd-rom is spinning, then try Changing the Select jumper on the back of the drive from 0 to 1. This has worked a lot of times. ================================================ Issue: Cd audio and SC600 Solution: If you can hear music cds on the front but not through the speakers, then you should check that the cd-audio connector is connected in the appropriate connector. The SC600 rev 1 Panasonic cd-audio con- nector is in the middle. The SC600 rev 3 is on the bottom. ================================================ Issue: Sc600 installation and IBM with smart BIOS. Some of you may have run into a problem getting an SC600 to install in a new IBM with the "Smartbios". Seems the smart- bios keeps reconfiguring the SC600 to what it wants. Solution: In the CMOS setup in the bios you must "declare" the slot containing the SC600 as an ISA type slot, that way the system bypasses trying to configure the SC600. This should solve the pro- blem. ================================================ Issue: Timeout loading sndscape.cod Solution: On some 24-bit video cards require IRQ 2 in order to run in 24-bit mode (such as Diamond Stealth 24x). If you disable the IRQ on the video card, the video card itself will then run only in 16- bit mode. Therefore, you will need to change the IRQ on the sound card, not the video card. ================================================ Issue: Where to buy a midi cable for the sc600 Solution: Customer can buy a cable from MIDI MAN The telephone number for MIDI MAN MIDI CABLE IS: 800-969-6434. Make sure the cable has in ICs in it. ************************************************ Soundscape SC600 Troubleshooting Follow steeps 1 thru 7 for troubleshooting sc600 rev 1 or 3 1. Hardware Connections: make sure you plug in a set of Headphones or amplified speakers on the jack labeled OUT. ================================================= 2. Boot / Power Up errors: When the system boots the SC600 initializes to GM mode and it should give you a DONE message if everything is O.K. A. Timeout waiting for Acknowledge: This is an IRQ conflict with the Base port IRQ. B. Card not at I/O port: This means that the Jumper setting for the port address on the card itself does not correspond to the software setting. C. Timeout waiting for Rx ready or Tx ready: This message is very uncommon. It could be an IRQ, Base Port Conflict or an improperly seated board. D. Soundscape S-1000 or S-2000 Board not detected: This can be Port address con- flict, However, it is more likely the card is not seated properly or is located in a malfunctioning bus slot. E. No error message at all, but system Locks: This could be any of the above problems. This problem has also been found in PCI bus machines where the IRQ'S being used for SC600 has actually been reserved for the PCI bus in the system BIOS. These IRQ'S need to be made available for ISA bus use instead of PCI bus use. F. Set Blaster Environment ?Variable does not exist or is poorly constructed: This line in the Autoexec.bat file is either missing, out of order, or has invalid parameter. Its order should be exactly as follows: SET BLASTER = A220 Ixx Dx T1 SET SC600 = C:\SC600 C:\SC600\SSINIT GM G. Timeout waiting for DMA complete: This is a DMA conflict. H. If there are no error messages at all one thing could be still a problem and one cannot see it is when you have a WAVE IRQ conflict, in order to see that try playing a wave file. ================================================ 3. DOS Utility SSINIT: This is the program file located in the SC600 directory that allows you to change the set- tings for the sound card, note you have to have a mouse in order to use this program,. Note: The Base port and Wave port address need hardware jumper changes also for changes to take effect. ================================================ 4. Testing WAV and MIDI files under DOS: Once you're in the SC600 directory: - Run DRIVER - Change to Songs directory - Type PLAY ISLAND which is a midi file and it should start playing if you have the speakers connected properly. - Change to Sounds directory - Type DAPLAY DOORBL this is a wave file. ================================================ 5. Testing Sound Blaster Emulation If the game has one option for sound card then you initialize the SC600 in FM Mode and in the game you select Sound Blaster and make sure you match the settings of the card in the game exactly. ================================================ 6. Windows Troubleshooting: 1. No sound when playing wave files, make sure the drivers in control panel they say DRIVER O.K. on both of them. 2. Check the Sound Mapper there also and make sure it says the following: PLAYBACK : Soundscape ( wave ) Wave Out RECORDING : Soundscape ( wave ) Wave Input ================================================ 7. Testing for conflicts in Windows: A. No Interrupts : This is an IRQ problem B. HW Init Failure : This means the sound card didn't initial- ize properly at Boot Up. C. DMA Services not available : This is a Tough one : 1. You have to try different DMA's first. 2. Edit SYSTEM.INI check the Microsoft Virtual DMA driver under the [386ENH] section because it could be conflict- ing with the VVDMAD.386 loaded by the Soundscape software.http://134.147.107.1/soft/driver/ENSONIQ/W95HINT.TXT