An odd thing-my SoundBlaster 16 compatible sound card (Avance Logic, ALS100+) will only play MIDI when certain programs are running (mostly games), but when I open a program designed specifically to playback MIDI, or any other kind of sound (like MegaMIDI, ACP, etc.)it will not work. Is this the incompetence of a inferior, blind newbie?

A program must be run before *any* sound will come out of my speakers,--> a3config.exe
This program sets port=220 IRQ=5 DMA-1=1 DMA-2=3 on the sound card chip and it also sets something called MPU401 to port=330 and IRQ=9.
My blaster variable is set like this:

BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 REC3 P330 T6.

How can I redirect the output from some program to the sound card? What does the programs that work and have proper sound output have that the inoperable ones don't? Anyone who can redirect me to a page or two that deals with sound cards and DOS is more than welcome.

"How can I redirect the output from some program to the sound card?"

??

Doesn't work like that.

Any Readme files included with your soundcard package?

Are you running in plain DOS or Windows? If you're running Windows, what are the soundcard's resources listed as? Is your BIOS set as Plug'n Play aware?

It's quite common to need a small configuration program to run initially in DOS, particularly with integrated sound boards. The majority of DOS programs have their own internal setup for sound, as well as use the Soundblaster variable

Setting the BLASTER environment variable

Thanks for the tip about the majority of DOS programs having their own config programs. It saved me some headaches. With the use of some time and a little black magic, I have got sound working for the programs that didn't before.

Sure - most that I've encountered will have an in-game setup or else a separate configuration utility. Those that don't (like Wolfenstein, say) get their info entirely from the environment variable.