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AU8820 Windows 95 Driver README.TXT
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This is version 4.05.0112.12 Release Candidate 1 of the Aureal Vortex
AU8820 Windows 95 driver.
I. Overview
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A. WINDOWS 95 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
* 75MHz Pentium-compatible CPU (200+ MMX CPU recommended for full
A3D performance).
* 16MB DRAM (the Vortex hardware wavetable engine uses a native
4MB sample set. Samples are stored on disk and swapped to RAM
as required. Typical DRAM footprint is <2MB.
* 15MB hard disk space
* CD-ROM drive
* Access to Microsoft Windows 95 Installation CD-ROM.
* Good-quality speakers or headphones and connecting cables.
* Joystick and MIDI keyboard (optional).
B. NEW FEATURES:
1. 64-Voice Wavetable
The 1.10+ releases add a configurable 32-voice software wavetable
engine to the 32-voice hardware wavetable engine already
available. The Vortex Control Panel's MIDI tab selects between:
* 32 voice pro mode (hardware only)
* 64 voice gamer mode (32 h/w, 32 speed-optimized voices)
* 64 voice pro mode (32 h/w, 32 quality-optimized s/w voices.
Overall voice quality has been improved.
2. Intelligent Wavetable Voice Allocation
If an application requires more than 32 wavetable voices, and a
64-voice wavetable mode is enabled, the Vortex drivers examines
available CPU cycles before issuing new notes. If sufficient CPU
cycles are available, the drivers create wavetable notes as
required.
3. Improved MIDI performance
Vortex now includes its own MIDI driver that replaces the
lower-performance default MIDI driver supplied with Windows 95.
The Vortex MIDI driver increases the number of games that can
use wavetable in a DOS box.
4. Multimedia Application Installation
During the Vortex driver installation, the driver requests the
Windows 95 CD-ROM and installs the multimedia applets (Volume
Control, Sound Recorder, Media Player, and CD Player) if not
already installed on the system.
5. Enhanced Vortex Control Panel
The panel organization has been improved. Individual tabs can
be hidden and the control panel name can be changed with
command-line parameters. Coding has been restructured to
facilitate localization.
6. Improved Mixer
The Windows 95 mixer now displays only those devices that are
available on the system. The mixer also provides a +20dB gain
switch setting for condenser/electret microphone support.
7. DirectSound Safe Mode
Some DirectX games do not check the number of hardware buffers
available before creating a new DirectSound buffer. This can
result in no sound. A button on the Vortex Control Panel A3D
tab lets you disable DirectSound hardware acceleration.
8. Multiple Sound Card Configurations
The 1.10+ releases let users install sound cards from multiple
vendors in their system. If two A3D cards are installed in one
system, A3D will be used on only one of the cards, selected
randomly.
C. WINDOWS 95 DRIVER ISSUES:
1. Joystick Acceleration - When installing new joysticks, the standard
analog gameport is used by default. Use the Gameport control
panel's "Advanced" tab to select the Vortex gameport driver.
2. Changing audio hardware settings - Select "Base Configuration 6"
before manually changing joystick or legacy I/O resources. See
DOSGAMES.TXT in this directory for more information.
3. Multiple sound cards - Some sound cards, such as Ensoniq sound
cards, do not correctly report their I/O port utilization to the
operating system, which can result in device conflicts and hang
the system.
4. Vortex settings in Autoexec.bat & dosstart.bat are not removed when
the driver is removed from the system.
5. A system hang will sometimes occur if USB is enabled when the
Vortex driver is installed (IBM 300GL and Sony VAIO).
6. If MIDI is playing, a playing note may hang when the system is
suspended.
II. QUICK START
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1. Remove any existing Vortex drivers from previous installations.
2. Install the Vortex hardware.
3. Install the Vortex Windows 95 drivers, Microsoft DirectX 5.0,
and Vortex demonstration applications.
In most cases, you will be able to insert the card into your
computer, insert the Installation CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and
follow the on-screen prompts for complete system installation.
III. SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
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A. DRIVER INSTALLATION
If you have older drivers in your system, please uninstall them
first, as described in Section C below.
1. Power on the system, placing the Install CDROM in the
CDROM drive.
2. Windows 95 displays "New Hardware Found" message and starts
driver installation.
3. If Windows prompts you to provide the drivers for the PCI
multimedia audio device, choose "Driver Disk Provided by
Manufacturer" and select the installation CD-ROM's root ("\")
directory.
4. You may also be asked to insert the Windows 95 CD-ROM during
the install process.
Note: Some Windows 95 versions (OSR2) do not show this prompt.
Instead, they ask whether to search the diskette and CD-ROM drives
for the appropriate drivers.
Installed drivers may include Vortex PCI audio, Vortex wavetable,
Vortex mixer, DOS modem port, Vortex gameport interface, Vortex
MPU401 interface, and Vortex Sound Blaster emulation.
Depending on the version of Windows 95 and the configuration of the
system, you may be prompted to provide several file locations. Here
are the CD-ROMs and directory locations for which you may be
prompted:
Vortex Installation & Driver Disk \Win95
Windows 95 Installation Disk \Win95
Microsoft DirectX 5.0 \directx\directx\dxsetup
Vortex Application Setup \Setup
PCI Multifunction Audio Device \Win95
B DIRECTX 5.0 INSTALLATION
You may be prompted to install Microsoft DirectX 5.0 after Vortex
driver installation.
1. When the DirectX setup panel opens, select "Reinstall
DirectX". (Even if you do not have DirectX installed on
your machine, the Microsoft DirectX 5.0 setup program still
asks if you wish to reinstall).
2. You may receive some prompts as to whether to replace specific
DirectX files on your computer. If you've previously installed
an older version of DirectX on your machine, be sure to replace
any sound-related DirectX drivers. Video DirectX drivers do not
need to be changed.
NOTE: You may be asked to reboot several times during installation.
Reboot when asked. Additional software will continue to load when
Windows restarts, until all components have been installed.
C. UNINSTALLING WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS
For driver releases prior to 1.0, please the UNINSTAL.BAT file as
described in the previously distributed install guide. For driver
releases 1.0 and later, you can use the following procedure:
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1. Open to the Windows 95 Device Manager (right-click on "My
Computer" and select "Properties").
2. Open the "Multifunction Adapters" tree and select "Vortex
Multifunction PCI Platform"
3. Press the "Remove" button at the bottom of the Device Manager
window pane.
4. The drivers are now removed from memory, but are still on the
hard disk. To delete the files from the hard disk:
a. Open the Windows 95 control panel's "Add/Remove Programs"
applet.
b. To remove the drivers, double-click "Aureal Vortex". A
Vortex uninstaller application starts.
c. To remove the demo applications, double-click "Aureal
Vortex Applications". There is no need to reboot the
computer.
For Technical Support please contact your board manufacturer.
Aureal. A3D, A3D-I, A3D-Interactive, and the Aureal logo are trademarks
and Vortex is a registered trademark of Aureal Semiconductor Inc.
All other trademarks are owned their respective owners.
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Aureal Semiconductor, Inc. (c) 1996-98, All Rights Reserved
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Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.