Timur Tabi's Crystal Semiconductor and OS/2 Web Page

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Crystal Semiconductor - the best sound chip for OS/2!

This page is designed to answer the question, "What is the best sound card for OS/2?" The answer is simple - any sound card with a Crystal Semiconductor codec. Unfortunately, finding such a sound card is more difficult than it should be. Why?

Because Crystal Semiconductor doesn't make sound cards, they make codecs (sound chips). Not only that, but Crystal Semiconductor doesn't deal with end-users, we only deal with OEM's (original equipment manufacturers).  Our customers purchase our chips by the tens of thousands and use them in their sound cards or motherboards.  In fact, the overwhelming majority of our chips end up on motherboards (we're talking 95%) , not sound cards.  Then, they ask us for drivers for whatever operating systems they want supported.  All of them ask for Windows 95, many also ask for Windows NT, and a few (mostly in Japan) ask for OS/2.

So this page lists all the sound cards I know with a Crystal Semiconductor codec that work or don't work with the Crystal Semiconductor OS/2 drivers.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

1. I am not Crystal Semiconductor technical support. Do not email me for help in resolving your problems. If you want technical support, please follow the support procedures outlines in the readme.

2. I will not recommend any product.  Although I no longer work for Crystal Semiconductor, I am not now nor have I ever been a testing laboratory.  I have little experience with the products listed on this page, so I cannot tell you which are better.

3. Everything I know on this subject is on this web page! Do not email me asking for more information. Why else would I have created this web page?

4. If you are a sound card vendor that sells a sound card that uses a Crystal Semiconductor codec and your product is not listed, I apologize for the omission, but you must know that I have used every means available to locate the cards in question. If you do not advertise that your product uses Crystal Semiconductor parts and that the card works under OS/2, then you should not be surprised that it's not listed here. I am definitely interested in knowing about your card, I will add the information as soon as you send it to me.

Why are Crystal Semiconductor-based sound cards the best?

Compare for yourself. Look at the list of sound cards which are based on Crystal Semiconductor's products, and you'll see the best in the business.

Crystal Semiconductor is the #1 provider of PC motherboard audio. If you have a motherboard with built-in audio support, there's a good chance that it has a Crystal Semiconductor chip on it.

Crystal Semiconductor's codecs provide true hardware compatibility with the SoundBlaster Pro, MPU-401, and OPL-3. You don't need funky drivers emulating hardware and causing compatibility problems to get your software to work.

Why are the Crystal Semiconductor OS/2 drivers the best?

While other companies flounder with OS/2 support, or even drop it altogether, Crystal Semiconductor cares about its OS/2 customers. Some Crystal Semiconductor employees are even OS/2 fans.

Here's a list of features that distinguish the Crystal Semiconductor drivers:

• Excellent device-sharing with DOS and Win-OS/2
  
• Full DART compatibility
  
• RTMIDI support
  
• Full-duplex (independent sampling rate with the 2.x drivers)
  
• The best installation program of any OS/2 audio driver - only the Crystal Semiconductor driver uses undocumented MMPM/2 installation API's to keep your CONFIG.SYS and MMPM2.INI clean.
  

Okay, okay! So where can I get these great drivers?

The DD Pak also has drivers, but that web page isn't updated as often. Also, many manufacturers of Crystal Semiconductor-based hardware already offer OS/2 drivers.  You should try these first!  See the answer to the question, "I can't seem to get my sound card working under OS/2. What should I do?" below for a full explanation as to why this is important.

There are two versions of the driver.  The 1.x driver is a "Mode 2" driver only (See Q7) and therefore work only on cards that have the 4231, 4232, 4236, 4236B, 4237B, and 4238B chips.  The 2.x driver is a "Mode 3" driver only, and therefore works only on cards that have the 4235, 4236B, 4237B, 4238B, and 4239 chips.

The 1.x driver comes with support for both FM MIDI and Wavetable MIDI.  Before you install the driver, you must determine what kind of MIDI support you have, adn then you must select the correct option during the install.  All sound cards have FM MIDI support, but some have Wavetable MIDI, which sounds much better.  The 1.x driver has a filename of the format CWOS21xx.ZIP.

The 2.x driver comes in two versions - one that only has FM MIDI support and another that only has Wavetable MIDI support.  Determine which one you need, and download that version only.  The FM MIDI version has a filename of the format OS22xxFM.ZIP and the Wavetable version is OS22xxWT.ZIP.

Q11 and Q12 talk about FM MIDI vs. Wavetable MIDI.

Note 1: There is a lot of confusion between the 4236 and the 4236B. Wherever you see one listed, keep in mind that it could really be the other. Please email all corrections to me.

Note 2: Since the 4231 is not a PnP device, any sound card that claims to be PnP (or PnP-like) and has a 4231 will in all likelihood NOT work with OS/2, as it would have to use some custom ASIC for which there are no OS/2 drivers.

Tell me more about Crystal Semiconductor's codecs

The "A", "B", and "C" designations are used to indicate the type of chip.  "A" chips are Mode 2 chips only.  "B" chips can do Mode 3 (and maybe also Mode 2).  "C" chips are PCI chips.

If you have any additions to this list, please email me (address below).

Other Sources of Information

• The README for the driver. There is a lot of information in the readme, including some not-so-well-known tidbits about OS/2 itself.
  
• There is a transcript of an online chat with Joe Nord of Crystal Semiconductor, who is the developer of the OS/2 audio drivers.  During the chat, he answers some common problems and talks about the drivers and OS/2 multimedia.
  
• OS/2 Warp's online documentation. Find the Assistance Center icon and open (double-click) it. Double-click on Information, then on Tasks, and then open the OS/2 Warp Desktop Guide. Click once on the plus (+) before "Using Multimedia", then double-click on "Installing Multimedia Support". There's lots of basic information on how to install and configure audio devices, including how to install support for Win-OS/2 audio for the various Crystal Semiconductor codecs.
  
• Rod Smith's OS/2 sound card page - a great web resource for getting any sound card to work under OS/2.
  
• Shure's Microphone and Sound Card page - The complete scoop on what it takes to get a microphone that works with a sound card.
  
• My new user page - My main web page is designed specifically for the new user or anyone thinking about installing OS/2. It contains lots of good information on, among other things, how to install OS/2 and how to get your hardware supported under OS/2.
  
• The new Category 90 IOCtls - a an extension to the MMPM/2 IOCtl interface to support mixer control.
  

Other software that can be used with a Crystal Semiconductor-based sound card.

• The MPU-401 audio device driver, on the DD Pak. FTP:  ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/os2ddpak/mpu401.exe.
  
• The OPL-3 audio device driver.  This driver comes with the Crystal Semiconductor driver anyway, but you might want to try the version that's on the DD Pak.  FTP:  ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/os2ddpak/opl3.exe.  You can also grep the Win-OS/2 driver -  ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/os2ddpak/opl3_win.exe.
  
• The ICS-2115 driver.  This driver initializes the ICS-2115 chip on the Turtle Beach Tropez so that the MPU-401 driver can recognize it.  FTP: ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/system/drivers/sound/ics2115.zip.
  
• The Turtle Beach Tropez Plus driver.  It's not available on the DD Pak yet, but it is on the DDK, so you could at least download it and build it.
  
• RTMIDI, the real-time MIDI subsystem.  RTMIDI works with the MPU-401 driver and the OPL-3 driver, so any RTMIDI app should work as well.
  
• Any MMPM/2 applications you can find in the os2/apps/mmedia directory on the hobbes.nmsu.edu ftp site.
  
• Cornel Huth's shareware mxCS2 and mxCS3 mixer - audio mixers panel that bypasses the driver and programs the hardware directly.  You download them and see screenshots at http://40th.com/os2mixers.html.
  
• The hobbes.nmsu.edu /pub/os2/apps/mmedia/util/mixers directory - lots of third-party (free and shareware) mixers for a variety of sound cards.
  
• LBMix and LBCSMix - LBMix uses the new Category 90 IOCtls.
  
• The MMPACK from Theta Band Software - it includes an enhanced MPU-401 driver that replaces the one shipped with the Crystal Semiconductor drivers.
  

Frequently Asked Questions - answers to the most common problems people have reported.

A: Using your favorite text editor, open the file \MMOS2\MMPM2.INI on your boot drive (see Q6 first, though).  The information in this file is divided into sections, and each section starts with a label enclosed in square brackets, [].  Look for the section labeled [Drivers].  In this section, there is a line that starts with the word Ampmix.  Take a look at this line.  Mine looks like this:

     Ampmix=IBMAmpMixBusAudio01,IBMAmpMixOPLAudio01,IBMAMPMIXMPU40101

Each of these three items is known in MMPM/2 terms as an amp-mix device.  The first one is the default amp-mix device, and it is unfortunately the only device that most MMPM/2 applications use.  A well-written MMPM/2 application (and most of the MMPM/2 applications that come with OS/2 are not well-written) will scan each amp-mix device until it finds one that it can use.  If it only checks the default device, and that one just happens to not support the right features, the application will fail.

If you haven't guessed by now, the problem that can occur after installing the 1.71 drivers, or any audio device driver, is that the wrong amp-mix becomes the default.  In most cases, the result will be this:

     Ampmix=IBMAMPMIXMPU40101,IBMAmpMixBusAudio01

The IBMAmpMixBusAudio01 amp-mix device represent the Crystal Semiconductor driver, which is actually only a driver for the wave-audio (a.k.a digital audio or PCM audio) features of the sound card.  This is amp-mix device that should be default, but as you can see the amp-mix for the MPU-401 driver (which is only a MIDI driver) is actually the default.  What happens is that that application tries open the default amp-mix for wave-audio, but the MPU-401 driver doesn't support that so it returns failure.  The application then gives up.

The fix is to make the IBMAmpMixBusAudio01 device the first device on the Ampmix= line, and you can do this with your text editor.  For instance, the example about should read:

     Ampmix=IBMAmpMixBusAudio01,IBMAMPMIXMPU40101

You will have to reboot after you make this change.  If it still doesn't work, try re-installing the MPU-401 driver, which is available on the DD Pak.
 

Q2: I upgraded to a PnP Crystal Semiconductor-based sound card (4232 or higher), and I can't get the driver to use the same resources that my old card used. For example, the card insists on using IRQ 7, even though IRQ 5 is available!

A: When you install or remove any PnP device (which includes all PCI devices) under Warp 4, you must perform a full hardware snoop. When you boot the computer, press ALT-F1 when you see the white bar in the upper-left corner of the screen. From the menu that appears, press F5.
 

Q3: I can't seem to record, and therefore I can't use VoiceType. Either I can't hear anything, or the volume is too low or too high.

A: The quality of the microphone is very important, and is often overlooked. You can't just plug in any microphone, you have to make sure it matches your sound card, and it's quite possible to have to buy a new microphone when you upgrade your sound card. Check out Shure's Microphone and Sound Card page. Also check the readme to see which CONFIG.SYS parameters to use in order to adjust the microphone gain.

Also note that some microphones require a power source.  Microphones are mono sources, but if the microphone has a stereo plug, then one of the "channels" is used to deliver power to the microphone.  Some sound cards are set up to do that, but some cards aren't.  For instance, the SB-16 does supply power, but the Tropez Plus doesn't. If your sound card doesn't supply power to your
microphone and your microphone needs it, you'll need an adapter. Check with the maker of your microphone.

Also, try using Cornel Huth's mxCS2 or mxCS3 mixer.  See the previous section, labelled "Other software ..." for information on where to find it.
 

Q4: I don't get audio in my DOS games and/or Win-OS/2 applications.

A: Try downloading and installing the Windows 3.1 drivers.  The Windows 3.1 driver can tell when they are running under Win-OS/2 and they configure themselves accordingly.  In addition, you may need to modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT to load the DOS program CWBINIT.EXE, which configures the card for Sound Blaster Pro emulation.  Although all Crystal Semiconductor-based sound cards support the Windows Sound System interface, many games fail to work this interface and need to use the Sound Blaster Pro interface instead.
 

Q5: I can't seem to get my sound card working under OS/2.  What should I do?

A: Well, the one thing you should NOT do is to email me for help - remember, I'm not tech support, and everything I know is on this page.  But here are a few things you can try:

• Are you using the drivers that came with the card or that are available on the manufacturer's web site or BBS?  Remember, Crystal Semiconductor doesn't deal with end-users directly, only OEM's.  If the OEM asks for OS/2 support, we test our current driver with their hardware under OS/2.  If it works, we give them that version of the driver.  After that, as we update the driver, we DO NOT test the new versions with old hardware.  Updates to our drivers are primarily targeted to supporting new hardware.  If an OEM wants the new driver supported under OS/2 with his hardware, he must specifically request that.  Most OEM's do not make such requests, even for Windows 95.  Therefore, almost every sound card and audio-enabled motherboard is certified only with ONE version of our driver, and usually an old one at that.  If there is a driver available from the OEM, you must use that version of the driver.  Any other version is unsupported.  If you wish to have your hardware supported by a more recent version of the driver, you must ask the OEM (not Crystal Semiconductor!) to support this version.  If he refuses, you are on your own.  You're best bet now (although there are no guarantees) is to create a detailed bug report and submit it to Crystal Semiconductor.
  
• Try Windows 95.  If it doesn't work there either, then you probably have a hardware problem.
  
• If you're having problems with volumes, gains, or certain inputs not working (e.g. you can record from the microphone but you can't hear your CD's), you may need to add some command-line parameters to change the hardware mixer.  The readme has all this information.
  

A: When MMPM/2 shuts down (or more accurately, when MDM.DLL terminates), it overwrites MMPM2.INI.  You need to edit the MMPM2.INI while MMPM/2 is not running.  There are two ways to do this:

• Boot from another partition
  
• Remove system sounds by running dinstsnd.cmd.  Just disabling system sounds does not unload the DLLs.  They remain resident - on every event, systems sounds run long enough to decide whether to make noise.  By running dinstcmd.cmd, you remove system sounds altogether. Dinstcmd.exe can be found in \MMOS2\INSTALL.
  
• You might be interested in the MM Pack from Theta Band Software - this package includes a utility that can scan your MMPM2.INI for errors.
  

A: This is difficult to explain fully without providing a list of very technical details of the differences.

Mode 1 is the same as the Windows Sound System standard that Microsoft created many years ago.  Mode 2 contains extensions which can be found on the 4231 and higher chips.  Mode 3 adds further extensions and is found on the 4235, 4236B, 4237, 4238, and 4239.

Suffice it to say that Mode 3 allows more mixing combinations than Mode 2.
 

Q8: My operating system currently doesn't support a particular Crystal Semiconductor codec.  What can I do to get drivers written?

A: Let's assume you're talking about getting the latest Crystal Semiconductor PCI audio codec (whatever it happens to be now) supported in OS/2, although this question really applies to any operating system and any Crystal Semiconductor codec not supported by that operating system.

Crystal Semiconductor doesn't sell to end-users, only OEMs.  This has the disadvantage that we don't have good name recognition (their products are better than all of the SoundBlasters combined, yet few people know them by name).  The advantage is that their marketing and development decisions are much easier to make.  Instead of dealing with millions of customers, they only deal with a hundred.

So when it comes to driver support, they only listen to our OEM's.  Having hundreds or thousands of end-users email Crystal Semiconductor and ask for X (where X is the unsupported OS) support for whatever OS will get our attention, but that's about it.  However, it can't hurt, so you should do that as well. Just don't email tech support with these requests.

The only way to get them to commit to support is to have THEIR customers tells them, "we require X support".  That means you need to approach a manufacturer, whether that's a manufacturer of sound cards or motherboards, or a manufacture of complete systems, and get THEM to ask Crystal Semiconductor to support X.  Chances are, a reseller like Dell or Compaq will only care about X drivers IF THEY PRELOAD OR SUPPORT X ON THEIR HARDWARE.  So asking a company that doesn't preload OS/2 or even support OS/2 will not get you anywhere.

So what you need to do is to find some VAR or OEM who

• 1) Wants to use our products
  
• 2) Needs support for X
  

Q9: I installed the drivers on my Warp 3 system, but my DART apps don't sound right.

A: When the Crystal Semiconductor drivers are installed on a Warp 3 system, they automatically add DART support.  Unfortunately, Warp 3 FixPack 26 and above already have DART support, in fact they have better DART support than what comes with the Crystal Semiconductor drivers.  So if you install the Crystal Semiconductor drivers on Warp 3 + FP 26 (or higher), you will effectively back-level MMPM/2.

Crystal Semiconductor is aware of this problem and is working on a fix.  Note that this is not a problem if you install FP 26 (or higher) after installing the Crystal Semiconductor drivers, or if you have Warp 4, since the Crystal Semiconductor drivers don't update anything on Warp 4.

In the meantime, you can solve the problem by using restoring the APMMXMCD.DLL driver.  It should be stored on your hard drive somewhere with the name AMPMXMCD.00N.
 

Q10: I've installed both the OPL-3 (for FM Synthesis MIDI) and the MPU-401 (for WaveTable MIDI) drivers on my Warp 4 system, but my MIDI sounds the same regardless of whether I use the "MIDI" or "MIDI 2" icon.

A: This is a bug in the WorkPlace Shell (WPS) of Warp 4, or perhaps it's a bug in the interaction between the WPS and MPPM.EXE.  Actually, IBM says it's working as designed, but it's really a bug because:

• This behavior does not occur in Warp 3, even if you apply the latest fixpack (which replaces a lof of code in Warp 3 with stuff from Warp 4, including MMPM/2).
  
• What's the point of creating a "MIDI 2" object on the desktop if it always works the same as the "MIDI" object?
  

Since it's a WPS/MPPM bug, you can use any non-WPS or non-MPPM.EXE method to play MIDI files, and they will all work.  The "MIDI" object is a pointer to the "Sequencer01" device, and the "MIDI 2" object is (or, supposed to be) a pointer to the "Sequencer02" device.  So you can, for instance, use the REXX interface to play on Sequencer02:

C:\MMOS2\SOUNDS> play file=bach.mid dev=sequencer02

A:  Both of these technologies refer to how the songs in your MIDI files are played on your hardware.  When a song is stored in MIDI format, the actual sounds of the music are not stored.  Instead, MIDI only contains information on how to play the song, not what it should sound like.  It's up to the actual hardware to determine what the sounds are.  As you can imagine, the side-effect is that the same MIDI file can sound different on different MIDI hardware.

One approach to solving this problem is the General Midi standard.  This standard specifies the musical instrument to be used for the basis of a given sound, but it still does not specify exactly how that instrument should sound.  It's still a big improvement, however, because now you can at least recognize your songs (imagine how your songs would sound if the piano was replaced with a trombone, but still playing the same notes).

So it's still up to the hardware to generate the actual sounds.  To do this, there are two possible approaches, one called FM (frequency modulation) synthesis, and the other is called WaveTable synthesis.  Synthesis is the process of converting MIDI data into actual sounds.

FM synthesis involves combining various simple tones together to approximate a sound, and it works much better for some instruments than others.  Although in theory it's capable of excellent quality, the only chip (at least as far as PC sound cards are concerned) that uses this technology is the OPL-3 chip from Yamaha, which has a very weak FM synthesis engine.  The end result is that FM synthesis sound on PC's is of a very low quality.

A much better (yet more expensive) approach is to use WaveTable synthesis (WT).  WT uses actual recorded sounds of instruments.  These recorded instruments are called samples, and the larger and better the collection of samples, the better your MIDI songs will sound.  The samples are stored in memory chips (RAM and/or ROM) on the sound card, and a typical sound card will have 1 or 2MB of RAM/ROM for this purpose.  Some sound cards allow 12MB or more.

In order to use either of these technologies, you need to have the appropriate driver.  Typically, the synthesis engine (whether it's FM or WT) will communicate with the computer via a standard interface.  Almost every FM engine uses the OPL-3 standard interface.  For the WT synthesis, the most common interface (but not as common as the OPL-3 interface for FM) is the MPU-401 standard, originally developed by Roland.  So in order to use the FM synthesis features of your sound card, you need to install an OPL-3 driver.  If you want to use the WT features instead, you need to install an MPU-401 driver.

In OS/2, the OPL-3 driver is called OPL3.SYS.  It is included in the Crystal Semiconductor driver package, and it's available in stand-alone version on the DD Pak.  The MPU-401 driver is called MPU401.SYS.  The latest version (1.1) is also available on the DDK Pak.  All versions of the Crystal Semiconductor driver up to and including 1.65 include an old version (1.0) of the MPU-401 driver.  1.71 does not include any version of the MPU-401 driver.  Versions of the Crystal Semiconductor driver after 1.71 will include the new MPU-401 driver.

For more information on MIDI itself, check out the Exploring MIDI webpage.
 

Q12: I installed the OPL-3 driver (perhaps by accident), but I want to use the MPU-401 driver instead because I have wavetable MIDI hardware.  Since I can't have two MIDI objects (see Q10), how do I replace the OPL-3 driver with the MPU-401 driver?

A: [Note: This answer may not be 100% correct].  When you install the Crystal Semiconductor driver, and you de-select the OPL-3 driver, the installation routine will interpret that to mean that you want to uninstall the OPL-3 driver.  This will allow you to download the MPU-401 driver from the DD Pak and install it.  Note that some people have reported that they needed to install the MPU-401 driver twice.

Q13: What do the 3D features for the 4237 and the 4238 do for me?

A: They provide a pseudo-3D effect for stereo audio.  You don't need any special hardware - normal speakers or headphones will do.  The effect is hard to describe, but the intent is to make your music sound as if each instrument were located in a different position, thereby adding "depth" to the audio.

Unfortunately, under OS/2, the only way to enable this support is with Cornel Huth's mxCS3 mixer app.

Q14: What about support for Crystal Semiconductor's PCI chips?

A: OS/2 drivers for the PCI audio chips have been available for some time now, and they should work on all third-party sound cards that use the supported chips.

Q15: After I play a MIDI file, I still hear "hanging notes" that I can't stop, Win-OS/2 doesn't work any more, and my system becomes erratic.  I am using the wave table MIDI driver that comes with the ISA drivers.  Is there a fix for these problems?

A: These problems are the result of bugs in the MPU-401 driver that Crystal Semiconductor uses.  Their driver, CWMPU401.SYS, is a slightly modified version of the IBM driver MPU401.SYS.  Unfortunately, both the Crystal Semiconductor driver and the IBM driver have these bugs.