Hello, I'm trying to get my old computer to play MIDI files
for it's Sound Blaster 2.0...

I got an SBMIDI.exe file for a Sound Blaster Pro, and while
it works, it sounds horrible, lagging, and sounds like the
patches it load are absolutely bad.. (im guessing because
the Pro had two 3812's, and mine only has 1)..

Anyone got SBMIDI.EXE for the old Sound Blaster? Thanks!

What's the CT number of your card?

It's CT1350B

I tried Creative Labs website, seems they abandoned the
whole Sound Blaster line before the "16"..

Yeah, I've got the installation disks for some early 16's--CT16XX--but nothing that early. There wasn't an SBMIDI file on my disks but I think the files are compressed so it may not show. I googled ct1350 and got quite a few hits. Here's one:

http://members.driverguide.com/driv...

I assume the download would include that file if it was available for that model.

problem: Those drivers are all for Windows.. I'm running
DOS 4...

I tried Driver Guide, i downloaded so many, i broke the quota
and now have to wait a week..

Any win 3.1 drivers are just dos drivers. There may be separate win 3.1 software (not drivers) that 9X will use too. But that's separate from the drivers themselves. Those cards came out before 9X so any included drivers must run in dos.

Setting up the card for dos is going to be a matter of configuring autoexec.bat and maybe config.sys correctly. Here's some info on that:

http://rinkworks.com/apogee/s/6.4.2...

That's just a generic configuration for the SET BLASTER line and may not be exactly what you need.

For the T parameter:

1 - Sound Blaster 1.5
2 - Sound Blaster Pro I
3 - Sound Blaster 2.0
4 - Sound Blaster Pro II
6 - Sound Blaster 16/AWE 32/32/64

Since it's an .exe file, SBMIDI probably is designed to run from autoexec.bat or even can be run later from the dos prompt. Another file, something like SBINIT and/or SBLOAD may need to run also from autoexec.bat.

The original disks for that card (if you can find them) should setup autoexec.bat and load the necessary files. The size of the download I linked to above led me to think it may be the original setup but I haven't checked it.

But any configuration or file that runs from autoexec.bat is for dos.

Well I know the basics of DOS, I'm A+ Certified ;)

SBMIDI is designed to be a separate driver, from the SET
BLASTER stuff.. It's only meant to be used, when you want
to use it. And it's a tad designed to use with playmid.exe,
also with the package.. my driver disk seems to be
corrupt, and are lacking these (but it does install the
demo MIDI files)

I do remember though, with the old sound blaster line,
Windows 3.11 DID need drivers in itself, it installed the
mapper and everything under windows (in the control
panel under sounds devices)...

Z3100SN1.ZIP and Z3100SN2.ZIP from:

http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdo...

are supposed to be the original installation disks for the CT1350 as supplied by Tandy. All the files look to be compressed in INSTALL.001 and INSTALL.002 so you may need to do the full installation in order to extract the ones you need.

That's the exact one I used on my IBM.. It totally lacks the
MIDI player, which is highly odd, as it has everything else,
even Sbaitso..

(but oddly Parrot don't load either, something about a bad
picture file)

I downloaded the file in my driverguide link above. It's a generic upgrade for several of their cards. I can send the files necessary for the soundblaster 2.0 upgrade if you post back your email.

if it has sbmidi.exe, sure

blackevilweredragon at gmail.com

I sent it but it came back. You'll have to change your email preferences so it'll accept attachments with a .zip extension.

It should take it, it's Gmail, it allows everything..

You did notice I had changed the @ symbol to the text "at", and put spaces in it, right? I did that to avoid Spambots (which I already get 200 spam a day, no kidding either)

I sent it again with the same results. It was refused due to 'illegal attachment'. I've always had this problem when sending zipped files to people using gmail. I know nothing about gmail but there must be something you can do to fix it.

There isn't sadly... GMail is like communism sadly (though
they DO have good service, they give all that space for
nothing)...

Use this one instead then: Hakemon at cfl.rr.com

Well this is weird. I sent it to the second address but it was rejected again for the same reason but it was rejected by your gmail account. Gmail must be filtering both your accounts.

crap, that's right, i use Gmail as my interface for both
accounts.. that's stupid it rejected it, try sending it again in
like 10 minutes.. im gonna turn off forwarding on my local
mail server..

actually, and two, rename the ZIP extension to DAT, JPG,
TXT, or whichever, just fool the filter, it'll get through that
way..

I renamed it to .jpg and sent it to the second address. It appears to have gone through OK.

got it, gonna try it right now..

didn't work... it was missing the file...

I found this download site:

http://www.pldos.pl/windos/download...

which has a MIDIER dos midi player for SB cards. The download includes sbmidi.exe. The text file mentions that if you have problems using it with an older card you should try SB122OLD.EXE instead.

You could download it and see if the SBMIDI.EXE it uses will work with your setup. If not you could try SB122OLD.EXE. Or you could just try using the MIDIER program instead of the Soundblaster Midi program.

it's SBMIDI.EXE crashed the computer attempting to treat it as
a SB16..

As for SB122old.exe, that did the same, it was the right one,
said it as SoundBlaster 1.5 and 2.0, but it still locks up the
computer...

pitty, i guess the only thing this computer will ever do is CMF
files..

Yeah, I can't think of anything else. Did you try the midier program or just use its sbmidi and sb122old in the soundblaster player?

Maybe part of the problem is it doesn't want to run on an old XT.

i couldn't even get SB122OLD to load, which is really the
SBMIDI.EXE I needed (it's internal name is SBMIDI.EXE), except
it's the "right" one..

It's odd my XT could load the SB Pro driver, but not the older
driver.. musta been a fluke..

can an SB Pro run in an 8-bit ISA BUS?

You might need to change the name of the sb122old.exe file to sbmidi.exe in order to get it to load.

I assume the Pro cards are 16-bit? Some 16-bit cards run OK on an 8-bit ISA bus so you'd just have to try it and see.

i'll try renaming it when i get home from school, but i don't know if that will fix it.. it's a very picky machine it seems...

i don't have a Pro on me right now, but yea, hopefully it will work..

an update has unraveled itself here..

when i load the old SBmidi.exe that IS the right one, with the
/2 switch for it to use the midi port instead of the YM3812, it
loads, and guess what, it controls my roland synthesizer
beautifully (though kinda sloppy with good even tempo)..

I'm glad it worked out. Thanks for posting back.

No problem, being i used to come here years ago, as a tech, i
kinda like knowing when something worked out or not. ;)