Gravis Ultrasound ACE?

[raifield]

I've been trying to locate a Gravis UltraSound ACE card without any luck to go alongside a SB16.

eBay hasn't been very helpful, though there are a good number of (expensive!) Gravis UltraSound Classic cards available from Hungary and one reasonably priced ($35) from Massachusetts. I'd rather not replace the SB16 just for the better music and my past experience at trying to install two audio cards in one system doesn't lend well to a repeat performance.

I didn't know that there was a version of the UltraSound specifically designed to work alongside another card though, so if I can find an ACE I'd be all set.

 

[Maverick1978]

They crop up every once in awhile. Last ones I saw were in the $120-130 range. Sadly. (I'm after one too)

 

[PeterNC]

Post ads on the various vintage gamer communities as well (AmiBay / Vogons / DosForum.de and so on). You never know. Sometimes having something cool to trade works better than $. Or just wait for it to pop up on eBay and hit the Buy it Now button.

 

[Trixter]

I'd rather not replace the SB16 just for the better music and my past experience at trying to install two audio cards in one system doesn't lend well to a repeat performance.

I ran an SB16 and a GUS side by side for years. All you have to do is make sure they don't conflict. IIRC, my settings were:

SB16: port 220, IRQ5, DMA1, HDMA5
GUS: port 240, IRQ7, DMA7, HDMA7

I believe my SB autoexec line was "SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6" and my GUS autoexec line was "SET ULTRASND=240,7,7,7,7". I then plugged the output of the GUS into the line input of the SB16, the line output of the SB16 to speakers, and had the SB16 mixer program run in autoexec.bat to turn line-in on. (Or, I might have done this in reverse, piping the output of the SB16 into the GUS, I don't recall.)

IRQ7 is the printer port, but this is not a problem as long as you don't try to print and use the GUS at the same time.

 

[PeterNC]

The above applies to any sound cards side by side. I do this with a Roland RAP-10 (GM, SC-7) and a SB Pro 2 CT16(0/9)0.

 

[Trixter]

I didn't know that there was a version of the UltraSound specifically designed to work alongside another card though, so if I can find an ACE I'd be all set.

BTW, the ACE is configured exactly the same as the regular GUS. It's not a wavetable bolt-on card, but a GUS with the ability to record removed, no joystick port, and with 512K memory populated on it. Otherwise you have to configure it the same as a GUS, so you'll have to deal with resource configuration eventually.

If you use the values I posted verbatim, it should work. It did for me.

 

[Maverick1978]

I ran an SB16 and a GUS side by side for years. All you have to do is make sure they don't conflict.

Curious - was this the system in the Gateway P133 Desktop case that was used in making the Mindcandy DVD? If so, that system's actually in my collection now - I purchased it from Dan's ebay about a year ago, intending to strip out the GUS and resell the system - until I realized what it was used for. I've kept it in as-found condition since then.... love those DVDs, btw (know that I've told you that before, but it bears repeating!)

 

[Trixter]

Curious - was this the system in the Gateway P133 Desktop case that was used in making the Mindcandy DVD? If so, that system's actually in my collection now - I purchased it from Dan's ebay about a year ago, intending to strip out the GUS and resell the system - until I realized what it was used for. I've kept it in as-found condition since then.... love those DVDs, btw (know that I've told you that before, but it bears repeating!)

Now that's out of left field! Actually, the system in question used for the first DVD was a Gateway Pentium 120 system, and I still have it. So you have Dan's machine, not mine -- feel free to strip the GUS out of what you have ;-)

Glad you like the DVDs. Volume 1 and 2 are available for FREE now on www.mindcandydvd.com -- if you don't have volume 3 yet then please buy one ;-)

 

[Maverick1978]

Hey, I specialize in left field!

Come to think of it, it might have the P5/120 on it rather than P5/133... I'll have to double-check! Dan had messaged me that it was used in the making of MindCandy and that it probably still had some of the software and demos on there (it certainly did, including a batch-driven "dual boot" mode so it could be used for gaming as well, as it had the fully registered version of Death Rally installed)

Ah... fun stuffs

So far as MindCandy - I have Vol.1 and Vol.3 Blu that I purchased from the website when preorders for 3 first opened up. I hunted down Vol.2 on eBay, and it came with a duplicate Vol.1

So.. how 'bout this? First person to PM me about it can have my spare MindCandy Vol.1 for free! - It's a region-1 DVD, however, so you anyone outside of the States will need a region-free player (and uh, well depending upon international destination cost, might have to chip in a few bucks for shipping!)

For anyone not familiar with the MindCandy DVD series, go visit the link Trixter posted above - it's essentially Trixter's historical record of the "Demo Scene" from the 1990's through current, and it includes several demos in their entirety, interviews with Trixter (yes, you can see and hear the Man himself!), and coverage of some of the Demo parties - quite cool! Vol.1 covers the 1990's PC demo scene, Vol.2 covers the Amiga demo scene, and Vol.3 includes modern demos from 2000-2010. There's lots of other goodies as well, including interviews with some of the famous groups/personalities from the scene. They're fun views, if you were ever into those demos, or wondered what all the "Intro's" and "Greetz" messages were about!

 

[Trixter]

For anyone not familiar with the MindCandy DVD series, go visit the link Trixter posted above

I appreciate the good reviews but this is very off-topic. I'm more interested in:

I'd rather not replace the SB16 just for the better music and my past experience at trying to install two audio cards in one system doesn't lend well to a repeat performance.

I gave you known compatible settings; did you give it another try?

 

[Maverick1978]

Sorry. Didn't mean to hijack the thread

 

[oblivion]

What about conflicts over the gameport? Can the ultrasound gameport be disabled? How big is the issue I've read about with games that autodetect adlib?

 

[Great Hierophant]

What about conflicts over the gameport? Can the ultrasound gameport be disabled? How big is the issue I've read about with games that autodetect adlib?

The Gameport is an issue that needs to be dealt with, even on the ACE. The physical port is gone but the interface is still there. The answer is here : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2012/07/gravis-ultrasound-and-dos-games.html

The Adlib ports can be disabled in hardware on the ACE and it will never be a problem with that card. With the other Ultrasounds, I asked that question and this is the answer I got : http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=34408&p=290745&hilit=ultrasound+adlib#p290745

I pretty use the same Sound Blaster/Ultrasound setup as Trixter, but I assign IRQ7 to the Sound Blaster for compatibility with early games and IRQ5 for the Ultrasound.

 

[oblivion]

The Gameport is an issue that needs to be dealt with, even on the ACE. The physical port is gone but the interface is still there. The answer is here : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2012/07/gravis-ultrasound-and-dos-games.html

The Adlib ports can be disabled in hardware on the ACE and it will never be a problem with that card. With the other Ultrasounds, I asked that question and this is the answer I got : http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=34408&p=290745&hilit=ultrasound+adlib#p290745

I pretty use the same Sound Blaster/Ultrasound setup as Trixter, but I assign IRQ7 to the Sound Blaster for compatibility with early games and IRQ5 for the Ultrasound.

thanks for the info. Like the op I've been looking for an ACE for some time now but I think I may just give in and pick up a regular model for now since it doesn't seem to hard to make it play nice for the most part with anouther card.