Ardent Tool of Capitalism

Audiovation

@8FD6.ADF IBM Personal Audio Adapter/A (original from Model 77 refdisk v1.1)
@8FD6.ADF IBM Audiovation Adapter (modified?; rename)

193-355 IBM AUDIOVATION ADAPTERS

Mwave and MIDI
Bradly Parker's MWAVE stuff (Readme) (archived source)

Christian Hansen's pages (archived):
Audiovation Drivers
Audiovation & CoolEdit 1.53
Ripping CD-Audio

Audiovation Files
Audiovation
   CD Audio Ports
   Audiovation Ports
   Joystick/MIDI Port
   Joystick Schematic
Options FRUs
Audiovation Under W95
Game Port Settings
Diagnostic Testing
   Wrap Cable
Buzzing
ADF Sections

Audiovation Files

av211.exe Win/DOS install disk 1 of 3 (Thanks to Martin Adams)
av212.exe Win/DOS install disk 2 of 3
av213.exe Win/DOS install disk 3 of 3
av21util.exe Audiovation Utilities/Diagnostics
av20doca.exe Audiovation Adapter/A Technical Information From User's Guide MCA (WP 5.1) (alt)
OS/2 MMPM (DEAD)

AVMWM.DSK Audiovation OS/2 Manager - 21 June 2016
avmwm.exe Audiovation OS/2 Manager (salvaged by Dennis Smith)
AVMMPM.DSK Audiovation MMPM/2 support - 21 June 2016
avmmpm.exe Audiovation MMPM/2 support (salvaged by Dennis Smith)
avos221.exe OS/2 Fix for release 2.1 (salvaged by Dennis Smith)

MIDI Pac Files
Talk-To Plus Speech Recognition Application 1/2
Talk-To Plus Speech Recognition Application 2/2
Monologue Text-to-Speech Application
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
Powertracks Pro
TalkWorks

Audiovation

(outline from William R. Walsh, original HERE)

There are no visible reference designators on the board. The designators shown here are made up.

CD Audio Ports

Based on ChipChat ports, may be incorrect. YMMV.

Audiovation Ports

Joystick/MIDI Port

Adapter 15-pin female DB15 Connector

Joystick Schematic

Options FRUs

System Requirements (Minimum) MCA Computer with 386SX-25 or faster processor.

Note: Some audio applications are very demanding and may require a 486DX-33

Drivers

From Christian Hansen:
   Audiovation works different from the ACPA. You'll need three diskettes with drivers. They are designed for Windows 3.x, but works under Win95.

Whenever you install software like RealPlayer, Cool Edit, QuickTime and what have you, choose the 16-bit versions, even though you are running win95. I once tried the nice Swedish game *sinksub* The 32bit version was mute, the 16bit with crisp sound.

From Christian Hansen:
   There are no drivers written specifically for Windows 95 / 98 / NT or any other operating system. The drivers do work with Windows 95, but are not pallable to all applications. If you want to play DirectX games – get another sound card. If you want to get sound from the Internet – use Netscape. If you want to make recordings under Windows 95, get Cool Edit 1.53 from Syntrillium, since the W95 built-in sound sampler don’t work. The drivers don’t work in a plain DOS environment - DOS applications must run in a DOS window under Windows.

Bundled Software (from Martin Adam's size)

Band-in-a-Box (bandinabox.zip)
An application to play MIDI music arrangements for Windows by PG Music, Inc., enables the AUDIOVATION adapters to play back these songs at near-CD quality performance.

QSound
An application that provides three-dimensional sound by Archer Communications Inc., gives the Mwave sampled-sound MIDI synthesizer incredible three-dimensional effects on ordinary speakers.
I got it. Looking at a site to store it.

Monologue (monolog.zip)
A text-to-speech application by First Byte, Inc., that translates written text into spoken words. The text-to-speech synthesis engine translates English ASCII text strings into synthesized audio output for various applications, including word processing and spreadsheets.

Talk-To Plus (talktodisk1.zip, talktodisk2.zip, talkworks.zip)
A Speech Recognition application, from Dragon Systems, Inc., that provides an alternative to mouse or keyboard input. Users of Windows 3.1 can navigate the graphical user interface with spoken commands, such as "File Save" and "Font Bold". An active vocabulary of 64 commands changes automatically as applications are started and swapped. Talk-To Plus supports speech recognition in U.S. English only.

M-ACPA Compatibility

Audiovation adapters support applications written for the M-Audio Capture and Playback Adapter (M-ACPA) if the applications conform to the M-ACPA device driver interface and do not require M-ACPA DSP code.

Audiovation Under W95

Q: Do Win95 drivers exist for the Audiovation sound board?
A: Sorry, Win3.1 16-bit drivers are the latest.

From Peter:
  ... which can be used under Win95. The card even has a software Sound Blaster emulation for the DOS-mode / DOS-box which -at least- works with DOOM... :-)

The 16-bit software comes with own Mixer / Volume control... the one from Win95 cannot be used and software which *requires* the Win95 controls do not work.

One trick: do not install the Win95 Multimedia stuff or uninstall it if you have it installed already. Then install the MWave software and reboot the system. Make sure the MWave stuff loaded properly - then install the Win95 Multimedia stuff again. The MWave will become "primary audio device" after that. Then you can play WAVs, MIDs, RMI and such ... some movies do not run with sound however. Depends on.

> Just looked into the Audiovation ADF - must be the @8FD6.ADF you'd downloaded, right? Mentioned the comments inside the file? You could enable a PS/1 compatible MIDI port on the card with changing one POS byte and uncommenting some more lines further below. The funny fact: the MIDI port sits at I/O 330h and uses Int 7 (uh-oh... poor printer port!)

I don't know, Win95's "Control Panel|System" utility doesn't show my LPT ports to utilize their "so-called" IRQ assignments.

> ...and the game-port sits at I/O 200h - which is a lot more into the standards directions. However: I'm afraid you will get problems with the shared Interrupt 7 under Win95, which totally dislikes IRQ-sharing.

That's because the Microsoft "whiz kids" who wrote Windows 95 were "PS/2-ignorant" and didn't even *know* there *was* a machine which supported IRQ sharing! (Ed. or they knew about it and simply ignored it) Too bad they didn't walk down the hall to the WinNT development people, as they (and any remaining Microsoft OS/2 people <g>) already *knew* of the PS/2's *superior* IRQ sharing capabilities!

> Maybe you need to reconfigure your LPT1 to IRQ5 ... Damned Win95! Damned Microsoft. Why couldn't they get it right *one time*.

Game Audio Port Address, IRQ / DMA Channel (default settings)

Port Address = 220
Interrupt Line (IRQ) = 7
DMA channel = 1

Diagnostic Testing

There are two ways to test the Audiovation Adapter/A. You can use the Test Your Computer on the system Reference diskette, or you can use the standalone diagnostic program AUDDIAG.EXE located on the Audiovation Utilities/Options diskette.

Wrap Cable

During some of the tests you will be asked to connect the Wrap Cable from the adapter's Line-In port to the adapter's Line-Out port or from the adapter's Mic-In port to the adapter's Line-Out port. The Wrap Cable is the stereo 1/8" - 1/8" audio patch/wrap cable that came with the Audiovation Adapter/A.

It is not a special cable, and if you have misplaced it, you can purchase a stereo 1/8" - 1/8" audio patch cable in most music or electronic stores. If you have the MIDI and Joystick Option you are asked to use a MIDI cable to Wrap from MIDI Out to MIDI In. (If you have this option we assume that you have purchased MIDI cables to connect your keyboard and you can use one of those cables as the Wrap cable. Again it is not a special cable.)

Buzzing

I have a computer with an audio front panel that is connected to my Audiovation Adapter using an internal cable. There is nothing connected to Line-Out on the Audiovation rear panel. When I try to use the Audiovation Adapter, I get a buzz from the front panel speaker(s).

Some Audiovation Adapters have an internal wrap circuit from Line-Out to Line-In for diagnostic testing. When a 1/8 inch phone plug is inserted into Line-Out to connect a speaker or headset the internal wrap circuit is disconnected. But when the audio front panel is used instead of the Audiovation rear panel, the internal wrap circuit is not disconnected.

Try inserting the headphone set into the Line-Out socket. If the buzz stops and the Adapter functions OK you have an internal wrap circuit that needs to be disconnected. One solution is to purchase a 1/8 inch phone plug and insert it into the unused Line-Out socket on the Audiovation rear panel.

AdapterId 8FD6 IBM Audiovation Adapter

To enable PS/1 MIDI mode change pos[0]=XX00X0XX to pos[0]=XX00XXXX and uncomment the lines related to MIDI at the end of this file

I/O Address Selection
   This item enables the selection of I/O addresses that are used by the adapter
      <0400-041F 04F8-04FF>, 0800-081F 08F8-08FF, 0C00-0C1F 0CF8-0CFF, 1000-101F 10F8-10FF, 1400-141F 14F8-14FF, 1800-181F 18F8-18FF, 1C00-1C1F 1CF8-1CFF, 2000-201F 20F8-20FF, 2400-241F 24F8-24FF, 2800-281F 28F8-28FF, 2C00-2C1F 2CF8-2CFF, 3000-301F 30F8-30FF, 3400-341F 34F8-34FF, 3800-381F 38F8-38FF, 3C00-3C1F 3CF8-3CFF, 4000-401F 40F8-40FF, 4400-441F 44F8-44FF, 4800-481F 48F8-48FF, 4C00-4C1F 4CF8-4CFF

Arbitration Level
   This item enables the selection of available MicroChannel Arbitration levels.
      <Level 8>, 9, A, B, C, D, E, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7

Fairness Enable/Disable
   Enables the MicroChannel Fairness feature to be enabled or disabled.
      <Disabled>, Enabled

Note: To enable PS/1 MIDI mode - uncomment the following lines and re-configure

MIDI Port Enable/Disable
   MIDI may be enabled or disabled by the user. If an MPU adapter is also installed in the same system using Primary addresses, set this item to 'Disabled' or use the Alternate addresses for the MPU
      <Enabled (io 0330h-0335h int 7)>, Disabled

Game Port I/O address
   The game port I/O address is located at 0200h - 0207h
      <0200h-0207h>

DSP Interrupt Selection
   Digital Signal Processor Interrupt is set at 15. It cannot be changed.
      <interrupt Level 15 decimal>