Welcome to the Orpheus Sound Card homepage.
Currently this page serves as a quick setup guide , it will eventually
be updated and become fully functional.
Orpheus is a PC ISA 16bit soundcard , aimed for DOS usage.
Features:
Please keep in mind that this is still and ISA soundcard based
around a 1997 audio controller working inside systems up to 30
years old and playing DOS games that
have low bitrate and compressed samples to accomodate the hardware
limitations of the time.
More info and development log can be found on the official
VOGONS thread HERE
Videos about the Oprheus Soundcard
RMC - The Cave : Orpheus
I + Dreamblaster X2 - A new ISA Sound Card for Retro PC Gamers
LGR : Testing the
New Orpheus Sound Blaster-compatible ISA Card
Jumper Settings:
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PCMIDI Resources Control (only installed when
PCMIDI is onboard) P - jumper closed = port 330 , open = port 300 3,5,7,2 = select *one* IRQ for use defaults shown: port 330 and IRQ2 selected |
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MIDI Signals Control to allow a dual-mpu
setup If PCMIDI is installed and you also activate CS4237 MPU device you can select which MPU device controls each port. Move jumper to I (for PCMIDI) or CS (for CS4237) for each jumper WTC= Wavetable Connector JYC = Joystick Connector MOC = MIDI Out Connector defaults shown: all ports controlled by PCMIDI MPU , if there is no PCMIDI installed on board the jumper block has no use |
PCMIDI MPU interface info:
If you want to find out more about the PCMIDI part
then please visit the PCMIDI Homepage
ORPHINIT driver:
This is a driver software developed specifically for
the Orpheus Sound Card by VOGONS user 640K!enough
It is INI driven like the official Crystal driver , so you have
to edit said INI file to change resource and mixer settings.
Usage is pretty straight forward: edit ORPHEUS.INI if needed and
lauch ORPHEUS.BAT , that's it!
You can have multiple INI files and use them with the /F: switch
, for example: ORPHINIT /F:DMA0.INI
Grab the latest version HERE.
For more information and bug reports please visit the offficial
VOGONS release thread HERE.
UNISOUND driver:
Configuration examples:
a. for an Orpheus soundcard with PCMIDI installed add these
lines to AUTOEXEC.BAT (assuming UNISOUND is located in C:\UNISOUND
directory)
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4
C:\UNISOUND\UNISOUND.COM /VC80
/VL80 /VF60
with these settings SoundBlaster is configured at port
220 , IRQ 7 , DMA 1
b. for an Orpheus soundcard with CS4237 MPU add these
lines to AUTOEXEC.BAT
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H3 P330 T4
C:\UNISOUND\UNISOUND.COM /XOM1 /VC80
/VL80 /VF60
with these settings SoundBlaster is configured at port
220 , IRQ 7 , DMA 1 , HIGH DMA 3 and CS4237 MPU is using port
330
Official Crystal DOS drivers:
Important notice: these drivers are completely unoptimized for
Orpheus, they are
only useful in case something does not work with current DOS init
programs so
you can at least use the card in some problematic scenario.
Specific Orpheus support , coding and testing based on feedback
are still undergoing.
HERE
you can download a copy of the official Crystal DOS drivers.
There is an ORPHEUS.TXT with installation info inside the archive
- basically all you have to
do is extract the files to a directory, edit CWDAUDIO.INI in case
you want to use different
resources and chose if you want to have the CS4237 MPU device
enabled or disabled.
Then add the lines described in ORPHEUS.TXT in your config/autoexec
and reboot!
Those drivers DO NOT offer a way to activate s/pdif output under
DOS.
Windows drivers:
Although Orpheus is designed as a DOS sound card windows
drivers do exist - but sadly due to it's closed-source nature
some limitations are in effect...
EEPROM restore/config tool:
Use FLASH.COM to restore the card's eeprom settings
and disable or enable CSMPU device at ports 300 or 330.
Remember to power cycle the system once you write new eeprom
data to the card.
Download HERE.
Known issues:
Duke Nukem II :
CS4237 chip does not support all ADPCM sample compression modes
the game uses. Please use
AdLib sound effects for the game OR the ADPCM FIX from K1n9_Duk3
posted on VOGONS forum HERE.
Tyrian and Tyrian 2000 : On most systems the game only
works with WSS and DMA0 selected. You can easily change
resources on the fly by modifying the BLASTER variable and running
UniSound to re-init the card or use ORPHINIT with an
INI file that specifies DMA0 to be used. This just seems to be
the game's sound driver incompatibility with the CS4237.
How to order it:
There are 3 flavors of the card - prices listed include
registered airmail shipping:
Orheus soundcard : 130eur
Orpheus soundcard with PCMIDI installed: 180eur
Orpheus soundcard with PCMIDI installed and Dreamblaster X2 daughterboard:
230eur
Ordering is temporarily
closed because of the overwhelming Orpheus soundcard
receipt. We cannot currently work on anything else unless Orpheus
orders drop
to a sane amount. We are constantly working on it but it is time
consuming, thanks
all for your understanding and patience!
* Orders up to 28 FEB 2021 are recorded and will be honored, when
your turn
comes you will be contacted via the email you have provided in
the order form.
Be advised that these are the only email addresses that will contact
you about a purchase (either Edro or Leo depending on availability)
:
Important: please know we do
the best we can to ship cards as soon as possible - covid restrictions
though really make it hard to do that in
a timely manner. Post offices close earlier, parts are super delayed
and everything just moves slower - on top of that each card requires
a
good chunk of time to build and test.
The receipt of the Orpheus card is overwhelming and we thank everyone
for it! It looks like we are heading for 3rd and 4th batches which
sadly means there will be long waiting times in the range of 1~2
months :(
Rest assured we are doing our best with the means we have !
Problems?
Just contact us!
We'll be happy to help and resolve any issue you might have!
Thanks for looking!