SOUND BOARD CHIPSET: VARIOUS PRODUCTS
by Crystal Semiconductor
Last update: 12/26/97
- Phone:
- ??
- Fax:
- ??
- BBS:
- ??
- Web:
- http://www.crystal.com,
http://www.io.com/~timur/crystalos2.html (Timur Tabi's CS
advocacy page)
- e-mail:
- pcaudio@crystal.cirrus.com
- Type:
- Varies
- OS/2 Drivers:
- Varies
- Drivers from:
-
IBM, http://www.crystal.com/drivers/audio-d.htm,
OS/2 Warp 4.0 box
- Boards using this chipset include:
- Numerous products, including Intel Atlantis motherboards, some
Acer products, the Crystal Lake boards, and Crystal Computer
Corporation products (but the last of these reportedly don't work in
OS/2).
- Comments:
- Crystal Semiconductor manufactures a number of chips and chipsets,
including the CS4231, CS4232, CS4236, CS4248, CS9233 (for wavetable
support), and CS8905 (for reverb/chorus support). I'm unclear about
precisely what most of these do, but many of them are in use in many
products. CS is also now moving into the PCI arena with at least one
PCI audio chipset (the 4610), but the last I'd heard, it was not yet
supported under OS/2. Some boards using some CS chipsets
(particularly the CS4231) may work with OS/2 3.0's "Business Audio"
drivers, and others have drivers in the OS/2 Warp 4.0 box as part of
the standard install process. Recent Crystal drivers reportedly
support full duplex on at least some hardware, but only when the input
and output sample rates are the same. I've also seen reports that
these drivers allow OS/2 programs to retain access to the sound card
when a sound-using Windows program is active. Truly simultaneous
sound is still impossible, but these drivers negotiate access when
sound requests are made rather than when the Windows program is
launched. Most CS-based boards reportedly work well in OS/2,
including VTD, though I've received some reports that it may be
necessary to modify the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS line for CWSOUND.SYS to modify
the default input volume. The parameter "/X2:9" worked well for the
person making the report, but of course this may vary from system to
system. Valid values for the /X2 parameter reportedly go up to 32.
Some people don't seem to be able to get VTD working with their
CS-based boards at all, but I don't know if this is a problem with
specific boards, the configurations in question (such as failure to
adjust the default input volume), other hardware (e.g., using the
wrong microphones -- see the Technology
section), or something else. One more tip: If you have a board that
uses a CS4231 in conjunction with an OPTi 929, you may want to use the
OPTi MAD16.SYS driver instead of the CS-supplied CWCONFIG.SYS to
initialize the board; MAD16.SYS reportedly works better with this
combination. The 1.71-level drivers do not include IBM's MPU-401
driver, so you'll need to get those separately for wavetable support.
If you do this, I'm told that Warp 4.0 has a bug that prevents more
than one MIDI device at a time from working, so you should
not install the OPL-3 driver if you want
MPU-401 MIDI. If you're looking for a CS-based board or more
technical information on specific CS chipsets, Timur Tabi's CS advocacy page
includes a fair amount of useful information, as well as CS
cheerleading (he's now a CS employee).
Copyright © 1996, 1997, Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
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