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WFW 3.11 Midi Mapper help

C

Culbrelai

Experienced Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2017
Messages
65
Location
SE Michigan, USA
Hey, recently got TexElec's new MCA Adlib clone. Works great in games. Having issues in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 though.

System specs are:

IBM PS/2 Model 9595/A
Pentium 66
XGA-2
IBM SCSI Corvette with SCSI2SD
Nakamichi CD Changer
two 2.88mb floppy drives
TexElec AdLib clone
16 MB RAM

PC DOS 7
WFW 3.11a OEM

Installed the adlib driver that comes with Windows, reinstalled the Midi mapper driver too. There simply isn't a midi mapper control panel applet like there should be, its just not there. What's going on here?
 
"midi mapper control panel applet"

I haven't run WfW in a looong time... Did you install multimedia support?
 
Sound adapters usually come with a SETUP.EXE on the Installation Diskette with the various files and interconnections pre-configured. Installing individual drivers may accomplish the same thing, but will require the MIDI Mapper to be manually set up.
 
"Installed the adlib driver that comes with Windows, reinstalled the Midi mapper driver too. There simply isn't a midi mapper control panel applet like there should be, its just not there" "TexElec's new MCA Adlib clone. Works great in games. Having issues in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 though"

Oops, blew right past this.

Are the games DOS based?

https://github.com/schlae/plaid-bib/blob/master/README.md#compatibility

This card uses the P82C611 bus interface chip and will not work with faster MCA systems. For a more widely-compatible version, use the Plaid Bib CPLD version.

Uses the Yamaha YMF262-M and not the YM3812

Errata, does not apply -The YM3812 FM synthesis chip has minimum timings that are somewhat too slow. For example, the read pulse width minimum spec is 200ns. The 82C611 generates the read pulse based on the MCA CMD signal, which asserts for only part of the default transfer cycle. A fast machine like the model 90 has a default transfer cycle time of 200ns, so CMD is low for only about 90ns. This is too short to properly read from the FM chip, meaning that Ad Lib auto detect functions will fail to see the card.

Preliminary SWAG - WfW is not a single user like DOS. Perhaps the extra bit twiddling stuffs things up?

Still looking...
 
http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/sound/Resound_2_OPL3_MCA.html

I found the DOS driver, SOUND.COM [IIRC, 1.3 to 1.51], but what that does for your issue, I dinna ken. The YMF262 seems to be fast enough, but the P82C611 MCA interface was made for a SIMMpler, slower, era. I'm not seeing anything on replacing the P82C611 with a CPLD. One SWAG is the P82C611 is too slow on a Pentium system. The 8580 era systems had a 10MHz DMA clock, the M class and Pentiums use a 20MHz DMA clock.

NOTE: MCA is asynchronous, meaning participants negotiate speeds. BUT transfers need to meet timing windows. Something that worked under a single user OS might assume the glide path of a brick. Dunno. Did you remove any previously installed sound cards before installing the Resound/2?
 
Not exactly sure what normally causes the MIDI mapper control panel to appear, but do you have both MIDI items in the drivers list?
drivers.png

Is there a MIDIMAP.CFG that says something in it about Adlib/Synthesizer/OPL2 or something like that?
 
I slogged through the web a bit. The Adlib is FM Synthesis. Is there a selection for "FM Synthesis" or similar?
 
Installing the built-in Adlib driver of Windows 3.1x should automatically install the MIDI mapper as well. Try installing the SB 1.5 or 2.0 driver and see if it appears then.
 
Im going to jump on this old train to. I have an adlib card I have installed into a system. Ran windows 3.11 install. Under control panel, DRIVERS, I have installed "ADLIB" and Midi mapper shows up. But I have no sounds of any kind in windows. Am I missing something?
 
By "no sounds in Windows", are you talking about the GUI notification sounds? Because you're never going to hear those.

Adlib and Adlib clones that use the YM3812/YMF262 are purely FM synth devices, they cannot play PCM audio at all. The only exception being those tiny number of games that abused the FM operators to approximate PCM audio.

If you haven't tried games that use MIDI for music like Sim City or Sim City 2000, you should try those. You should hear music, but none of the PCM audio sound effects are going to work. You could try installing the PC Speaker sound driver and see if Windows can play from both devices at the same time. You'll want to make sure that interrupt mode is on in the PC Speaker driver so that PCM audio doesn't lock the system up while playing. It will sound a bit crap, but it will have sound.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
By "no sounds in Windows", are you talking about the GUI notification sounds? Because you're never going to hear those.

Adlib and Adlib clones that use the YM3812/YMF262 are purely FM synth devices, they cannot play PCM audio at all. The only exception being those tiny number of games that abused the FM operators to approximate PCM audio.

If you haven't tried games that use MIDI for music like Sim City or Sim City 2000, you should try those. You should hear music, but none of the PCM audio sound effects are going to work. You could try installing the PC Speaker sound driver and see if Windows can play from both devices at the same time. You'll want to make sure that interrupt mode is on in the PC Speaker driver so that PCM audio doesn't lock the system up while playing. It will sound a bit crap, but it will have sound.
Click to expand...
Did you have tried to add "AdLib Wave" driver in Windows 3.1/3.11?

archive.org

Adlib WAVeform driver for Win 3.1 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Adlib WAVeform driver for Win 3.1
archive.org
 
Huh, neat. It looks like it has the same limitations as the PC Speaker driver though, according to the readme text file. And it can't do PCM and FM at the same time.

It sounds much like how the YM2612 works on the Sega Genesis. The Z80 used for the sound CPU just streams PCM audio directly to the YM2612 and plays it on the 6th operator in special PCM mode. Though, the YM2612 can do FM and PCM at the same time.
 
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