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1992-05-13
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Windows Drivers for the Pro AudioSpectrum 16
Version 1.2
copyright 1991,1992, MEDIA VISION
(510) 770-8600
Thankyou for purchasing the Pro AudioSpectrum Plus or Pro
AudioSpectrum 16! We think you're going to love your new card. This
release (5/14/92) includes new Windows drivers for the Pro AudioSpectrum
family of audio adaptors.
These drivers require Windows 3.1 and will not work with Windows 3.0 with
Multimedia Extenstions. Since Windows 3.1 now contains most of the features
of Multimedia Windows, we will assume that most of you will be upgrading
to Windows 3.1.
Media Vision will continue to improve and enhance the Windows drivers in
order to continue to be the best source of Multimedia Windows
products for your PC. The new Pro AudioSpectrum cards are capable of so
much, we will probably be adding features to the drivers for another
year.
We will be working on supporting multiple Pro AudioSpectra in a
single system. (Pro AudioSpectra is the plural form instead of the
awkward form 'Pro AudioSpectrums') Those of you that have upgraded from
the original Pro AudioSpectrum, don't sell your old one just yet. With
two Pro AudioSpectra you might want to record on one while playing back
from the other. Supporting multiple cards in the system requires new ways
of handling multiple mixers, synthesizers, etc. When we sort all this
out, you can expect new drivers.
If you want to stay current with what's happening in the world of
multimedia, windows, and the Pro AudioSpectrum 16, subscribe to
CompuServe. Once online type GO MEDIAVISION. This will take you to
the Media Vision section of the Multimedia Vendor forum. Each day,
Monday thru Friday, a Media Vision representative will stop by to
answer your questions. We also hope to establish a presence on
Internet, BIX, America Online and Prodigy. Look for our
representatives on those services.
Be sure to check the NEWS section toward the end of this file.
IMPORTANT: THE SND BLASTER SECTION OF THE PRO AUDIOSPECTRUM 16 IS, BY
DEFAULT, SET TO IRQ 7, DMA 1, PORT 220. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CONFIGURE
THE PROAUDIOSPECTRUM TO THE SAME IRQ OR DMA CHANNEL AS THE SND
BLASTER. IF YOU DO, THE SYMPTOM WILL BE A SHORT SECTION OF AUDIO
PLAYED OVER AND OVER AND NOT STOPPING. SHOULD YOU HEAR UNENDING SHORT
LOOPS OF SOUND , CHECK FOR IRQ CONFLICTS.
Here is a description of the files on this disk:
OEMSETUP.INF This file allows you to add drivers to Windows using
the drivers applet in the control panel. If you
use the drivers applet, you will not have to
manually edit your system.ini file. Using the
Install disk will, in most cases be preferable to
installing drivers via the drivers applet.
MIX.EXE This program allows you to modify those mixing controls
that you'll want to change most often.
Its main difference from promix is that it doesn't
cover nearly as much screen area.
This program can be added to your \windows directory.
PROMIX.EXE ProMix can be launced from the WIN.INI 'load' line.
If you have Windows 3.1, use the Program Manager's
File/Preferences menu item to select the open
minimized option.
This program can be added to your \windows directory.
Here's a nifty feature: When running Windows, you can
use the CTRL-ALT-U, CTRL-ALT-D, and CTRL-ALT-M sequences
to adjust the master volume.
The system menu contains a new feature: a pair of
DB meters. The DB meters are active only during record
and playback of waveform data.
Owners of the original Pro AudioSpectrum may be
surprised to see two new sliders on the PROMIXER.
The BLSTR channel controls the Snd Blaster-compatible
digital audio source. The new slider on the far
right is a master record level that lets you adjust
the total volume of all sources routed to the record
mixer.
MMMIXER.DLL This DLL must be in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
MMMIXER.DLL is like MMSYSTEM.DLL in a couple of ways.
First, it provides a driver-independent layer for all
mixer API's. Second, it loads any mixer device drivers
in the system.
If you build an application that makes use of our
mixer API's, this DLL handles the call. If there are
no mixer device drivers in the system, the mixer
API's will simply return an error. This means you
can utilize the Pro AudioSpectrum 16's mixer capabilities
without requiring the user to have our hardware.
No changes this release.
The mixer DLL has two BIG selling points:
1) Interrupt-driven timed volume fades
If you're a programmer, investigate
the mixSetState function as defined
in the MIXSPEC directory.
2) Startup volume initialization
The first time the MIXER driver is loaded
it reads WIN.INI for volume setting and
patch information. When Windows shuts
down, the current settings are saved.
Here's a sample WIN.INI entry:
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[mvmixer.drv]
LineIn1=SYNTH MUS] PLAY L=100% R=100% @=0000
LineIn2=MIXER MIX] PLAY L= 72% R= 72% @=0000
LineIn3=AUX AUX| PLAY L=100% R=100% @=0000
LineIn4=CD CDA| PLAY L= 0% R= 0% @=0000
LineIn5=MIC MIC| PLAY L= 0% R= 0% @=0000
LineIn6=DIGITAL WAV] RECORD L= 0% R= 0% @=0000
LineIn7=SPKR SPK] PLAY L=100% R=100% @=0000
LineIn7=BLSTR WAV] PLAY L=100% R=100% @=0000
LineOut1=MASTER AMP| PLAY L= 79% R= 79% @=0000
LineOut2=RECORD WAV| PLAY L=100% R=200% @=0000
StereoEnhance=ON
Loudness=ON
Bass=50
Treble=78
SaveSettingsOnWindowsExit=YES
LINE FIELD:
There are 7 input Lines and 1 output line.
Note: the Pro AudioSpectrum 16 has a second output
line.
PATCH NAME:
The field immediately after the '=' is the patch name.
These names (ie. SYNTH) appear in promix.exe at the
bottom of each slider pair.
DEVICE TYPE
The next field is the device type field. The device
type determines the type of icon displayed in MIX.EXE
Each device type has a standard 3-letter mnemonic name
that can be obtained by calling mixGetDeviceName. The
current list of types is:
N/C No Connection SPK PC speaker
CDA Compact Disk Player AAT Analog Audio Tape
AUX Auxillary DAT Digital Audio Tape
MIC Microphone TEL Telephone
VTR Video Tape Recorder MIX Mixer
VDP Video Disc Player EQU Equalizer
MUS Musical Instrument AMP Amplifier
WAV Digital Waveform Player LPA Phonograph Audio
RAD Radio TVA Television Audio
UNK Unknown Device Type
The fourth character indicates whether the user is
responsible for making the physical device connection.
Think of the character as the mounting bracket of an audio
card. A hole, the '|' character, represents a mini
phone jack. If the fourth character is ']', the connection
is made by the driver. The '|' character indicates a jack
or connector must be hooked up before audio can be
heard. User-friendly applications may use this information
to remind the user to connect a particular device.
OUTPUT CONNECTION
The next field corresponds to the internal mixer
connection info. The word PLAY indicates that input
is routed to the PLAY output (LineOut1). RECORD
means the input is routed to the ADC circuitry.
VOLUMES
If it isn't obvious, the L= and R= fields specify the
volumes of the left and right channels at start-up.
ASSOCIATION
This field is used to save information that specifies
a relationship between a mixer input and some other
device in the system. For example, if there are two
CD's in the system and one is connected to LineIn4
and the other is connected to LineIn3, the
dwAssociation can be used to determine which MCI CD
device is on which input.
MISC
The other lines are self explanatory. In the future
we will let users change the settings through control
panel's driver setup.
CHANGING WIN.INI
As an example, if you connect your Walkman to LineIn3
(AUX), you can replace the word AUX with RADIO.
Then, change the device type field to RAD|
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
This DLL was developed to provide MultiMedia developers
better control over audio mixing functionality than
is afforded by the current volume API's. Every
attempt was made in the API design to avoid its being
biased toward any specific mixer hardware.
Furthermore, the driver design is modeled after Microsoft's
Multimedia Windows driver design in order to facilitate
its acceptance.
We are offering this DLL to Microsoft and the MPC
community as a proposed standard for Multimedia Windows
volume control. There is no license required to use
MMMIXER.DLL and you may freely distribute it with your
products.
Hardware manufacturers are encouraged to develop there own
drivers to work with MMMIXER.DLL. Media Vision does
not yet offer a DDK for mixer drivers. Parties
interested in the source to mvmixer.drv should
contact Media Vision's Jim Gifford at (415) 770-8600.
See the MIXSPEC directory for detailed information on the
Multimedia Mixer API.
MVMIXER.DRV This file belongs in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
This is Media Vision's Mixer driver for the Pro
AudioSpectrum family of products. In the [drivers]
section of your system.ini file, you must have the line:
mixer=mvmixer.drv
MCIMIXER.DRV Put this file in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
This driver provides a set of extended MCI commands
for accessing mixer capabiities.
Under the [mci] section of your system.ini file, you
must have the line:
mixer=mcimixer.drv
Developers may ship this driver, license free, with
their products.
See the MIXSPEC directory for detailed information on the
Multimedia Mixer MCI command set (MCIMIXER.DOC).
MVPROAUD.DRV This file belongs in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
This driver supports WAVE (digital sound) audio, MIDI I/O
and auxillary volume control.
In the [drivers] section of your system.ini file, you
should have the following three entries:
wave=mvproaud.drv
midi=mvproaud.drv
aux=mvproaud.drv
This driver keeps configuration information in your
system.ini file under the header [mvproaud.drv]
If it fails to find that entry, it will
check to see if MVSOUND.SYS is loaded and use it's
settings. Failing that, it will look for the
outmoded [mvwave.drv] and [mvmidi.drv] entries.
As a last resort, the driver will default to IRQ=7
and DMA=1.
When our aux driver is the only one in the drivers
section, a call to auxGetNumDevs returns a value
indicating 4 aux devices are in the system:
Device 0 is internal CD-ROM volume
Device 1 is auxillary (line in) volume
Device 2 is microphone volume
Device 3 is master volume
While we provide a Multimedia Mixer library, we still
support the existing volume control calls, auxGetVolume
and auxSetVolume, when this driver is installed.
In the [drivers] section of your system.ini file, you
must add the line:
aux=mvaux.drv
VPASD.386 This file belongs in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
It provides extra buffer space needed to handle
16-bit digital audio.
You must have the following line in system.ini's
[386Enh] section:
device=vpasd.386
Also you must add the following line to system.ini's
[mvproaud.drv] section:
buffer=32
TBWAVE.DRV This is the .WAV driver for Media Vision's Snd
Blaster-compatible ThunderBoard product. It can
be added to your system.ini file giving you a second
digital audio device:
wave1=tbwave.drv
This driver is not automatically installed. Many
low-end PC's may not be able to accomodate two
digital audio channels playing simultaneously.
CPU speed, hard disk speed and available RAM will
determine whether your system can handle dual DACs
and at what sampling rates.
VTBD.386 Put this file in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory if you
will be using tbwave.drv
You must have the following line in system.ini's
[386Enh] section:
device=vtbd.386
VADMAD.386 Put this file in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
This file is not required for Windows 3.1.
VADMAD stands for "virtual audio DMA device". If you
run Windows in 386 enhanced mode, you must add
device=vadmad.386
to the [386Enh] section of system.ini. This device
driver allows our wave driver to use auto-initialized
DMA mode. When this file is not present, you will
hear a PC-speaker beep as Windows boots and you will
not be able to play any digital audio sounds.
MCIMIXER.DOC These two files describe Media Vision's proposed
MIXAPI.DOC standard for software controlled mixer devices.
_____________________________________________________________________
SAMPLE SYSTEM.INI FILE DRIVERS SECTION
[drivers]
timer=timer.drv
Wave=mvproaud.drv
Wave1=tbwave.drv
MIDI=mvproaud.drv
MIDI1=opl3.drv
mixer=mvmixer.drv
Aux=mvproaud.drv
[mci]
CDAudio=mcicda.drv **
WaveAudio=mciwave.drv 4
Sequencer=mciseq.drv
mixer=mcimixer.drv
** Windows 3.1 owners. The mcicda.drv can be installed if you have
a MPC-compatible CD-ROM drive. This driver will allow you to control
your CD through MCI programs like MPLAYER. MCICDA.DRV can be found
on disk #4 of your Microsoft Windows installation diskettes.
To install the file, run the control panel and select the drivers
applet. Press the 'Add' button and select the [MCI] CD Audio driver.
You will be prompted to insert your original Windows install disk.
_____________________________________________________________________
MEDIA VISION NEWS:
Media Vision will shortly announce two new audio adaptors:
The Pro AudioSpectrum Plus with Sony interface AND
The Pro AudioSpectrum 16 with Sony interface
This means that owners of Sony's Laser Library or other CD-ROM
drive's that use the Sony bus will be able to upgrade their system
to an MPC by getting one of the above cards.
Installation Notes
------------------
The sub-mini jacks at the back of the board are:
Top: External Input
Middle: Amplified Output
Bottom: Microphone input (MONO)
The four pin header connector is for the PC-speaker input.
The five pin header connector is for the CD-Audio internal input.
There is a second five pin header in the center of the Pro-16.
This header is for a second internal CD input. That input will be
supported in the next software release. That input will take over
the so-called "record monitor" input which appears as the second
channel from the left on the Pro Mixer (PROMIX.EXE)
If you have bugs to report, technical questions or feature requests
regarding this software, please contact Media Vision Technical Support:
Tech Support Voice: (800) 638-2807 or (510) 770-9905
Tech support's FAX: (510) 770-9592.
We have increased the number of Tech Support lines from 6 to 15.
BBS: (510) 770-0968 2400b 8n1
BBS: (510) 770-1661 2400b 8n1
BBS: (510) 770-0527 9600b 8n1
We now have a total of four BBS lines at 2400 baud and four additional
lines at 9600 baud. If one of the above numbers is busy, your call
will be "rolled-over" to one of the new lines.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FIXES IN THIS RELEASE
1) Support for hi-order IRQ's (above 7)
2) Using MCI player to play short .WAV files no longer skips
3) MIDI input no longer becomes disabled at random times (or at all)
4) WaveOutReset fixed, avoiding GP faults.
5) MediaPlayer 'thumb' not correct on playback of some WAV formats
6) DMA channels 0,5,6,7 are now supported on the Pro AudioSpectrum
Plus and Pro AudioSpectrum 16.
7) We are providing a small program called DMAFIX.EXE that restores
the DMA channels to a safe state when run after running
TrakBlaster Pro. We suggest you make a file called TBPRO.BAT
that has 3 lines in it:
@ECHO OFF
FILE_REQ
DMAFIX
Make sure you copy DMAFIX.EXE to your TrakBlaster Pro
subdirectory. TrakBlaster Pro leaves the DMA channel in a state
that causes Windows to slow to a crawl. This program is a
temporary fix. We will contact Volker Zinke, the author of
TrakBlaster Pro, to make the correct fix.
8) "Audio dropouts when running Microsoft Works, Kings Quest V,
Grandma and Me and BattleChess"
Fixed.
This bug was caused by problems with DMA buffer maintenance.
9) "Recording causes system crash when using both VPASD.386 and any
one of QEMM, 386Max, EMM386.EXE."
FIXED.
This bug was two-fold. A Windows API call was being made at
interrupt time which is illegal. This caused a crash under low
memory conditions. Also, Windows was not allowing a certain DMA
operation and was 'Nukeing the system VM'
10) "Pocket Recorder (not supplied in driver release) level
indicators don't work"
FIXED
11) "Pocket Recorder fails in 32K colors mode."
This bug was unrelated to Pocket Recorder
12) "Constant static. Some motherboards have an unreliable crystal."
PAS16.SYS has already been made available for download. This
should fix the problem for DOS. Windows was resetting the
'alternate crystal select' bit, causing the static to reappear
in Windows. These drivers are supposed to leave that bit alone
now but we need more test data to confirm this.
13) "If share.exe is loaded in autoexec.bat, remove it before
installing Media Vision DOS software."
This bug has been fixed. You can now install with SHARE loaded.
14) "The new OPL-3 chip is not being restored to Adlib compatability
mode on Windows exit"
FIXED.
11) "DOS IRQ and DMA settings are not restored on Windows exit"
FIXED
12) The Pro AudioSpectrum 16 manual has been revised to be more user-
friendly. An index has been added and the documentation has
been reviewed for technical accuracy.
13) "F/X doesn't support AT DMA/IRQ channels."
FIXED. The new version will be distributed via mail to all
current owners of the Pro AudioSpectrum 16.
14) "Attempting to record or play WAV files with non-standard sample
rates can cause delays of up to 30 seconds before process
begins."
FIXED. Our software was relying on a math coprocessor to
operate at acceptable speeds. We have tested the fix on a
20MHz 386SX and found it be OK. Let us know via CIS email if
you discover otherwise.
15) "Equalization doesn't work on the Pro AudioSpectrum Plus or the
original Pro AudioSpectrum"
FIXED.
16) "After running Windows, I can't run any DOS software"
FIXED
Windows now restores the state of the Pro AudioSpectrum Plus and
16 cards. This includes IRQ and DMA settings. This means that
you can now use one set of IRQ and DMA channels for DOS and use
a different IRQ and DMA channel for Windows. This will allow
you to maintain compatibility with DOS applications that can't
handle the higher IRQ and DMA settings (TrakBlaster Pro, Sierra
games) and will allow you to use a 16-bit DMA channel (5,6,or 7)
when running Windows.
17) "Windows causes problems with my A) Network Adapter, B) ATI
Ultra video adaptor, C) Parallel Port."
Our auto-location of relocated Pro AudioSpectra has been
narrowed to scan only 7 locations instead of 64. If you still
experience conflict, let us know.
KNOWN BUGS
1) Original Pro AudioSpectrum induces low volume hi-frequency
system noise into 11 and 22 KHz recordings.
WORKAROUND 1: record at 44KHz and convert down
2) New drivers don't work under Windows 3.0 with MME.
WORKAROUND: migrate to Win 3.1; retain any unsupplied programs.
3) We are investigating reports of problems running Adlib and Sound
Blaster compatible games from a Windows DOS shell.
4) Running Windows in standard mode twice will result in the
startup sound looping interminably if the IRQ setting specified
on the MVSOUND.SYS command line is different from the IRQ
used by the MVPROAUD.DRV driver and only when the mvproaud.drv
IRQ channel is 8 or higher.
FEATURES IN DEVELOPMENT
1) Support sub-sampled 16-bit playback on original Pro
AudioSpectrum
2) MCI MIXER language to support STATUS command
3) Pro Mixer wave meter give more accurate display
4) Relocatibility of port addresses
5) Multiple card support
6) SCSI prefetch cache (CD-ROM)
GENERAL NOTES
1) Central Point's BACKUP and PCTOOLS 7.1 are reported to be
installing their own VDMAD.386 over the Windows 3.1.
Central Point's VDMAD.386 has the wrong version number and will
prevent mvproaud.drv from loading.
2) After changing one or more MIDI drivers, check the control
panel's MIDImapper applet. Channels 1 thru 10 should be patched
to the MIDI interface and channels 13 thru 16 should be patched
to the on-board synthesizer (MVFM.DRV or OPL3.DRV
3) Pro Mixer has two extra sliders on the Pro-16 that are not
documented in the manual. The BLSTR channel is the volume
selector for the Snd Blaster compatible DAC output. The REC IN
slider controls the recording level of the sum of the signals
mixed for recording.
4) Pocket Recorder has greyed-out compression controls. They will
be enabled when compression becomes part of the Multimedia
Windows architecture.
5) Much of the existing DOS software does not yet support hi-order
IRQ's. TRAKBLASTER PRO and PROSPEECH, for example.
6) VPASD.386 is a virtual Pro AudioSpectrum driver. Its main
purpose is to provide a 32K DMA buffer for digital audio
playback at high data rates. Windows cannot otherwise supply
more than a 4K buffer which is not sufficient.
7) VPASD.386 can be used on the original Pro AudioSpectrum to
achieve Sound Blaster compatiblity. On the Pro AudioSpectrum
Plus, VPASD.386 prevents simultaneous use of the Pro
AudioSpectrum DAC and the Sound Blaster DAC. The Pro
AudioSpectrum 16 can run both DACs simultaneously and VPASD.386
serves to give each DOS box its own virtual Pro AudioSpectrum.
8) Tech Support is often difficult to reach. The best way to get
through is to send a FAX with a detailed question. Also provide
any relevent information (ie. system type, things you've already
checked, etc. Also, if you should discover a problem but then
figure a solution, please let us know anyway. Often your
success will be a helpful tip for others.