26
11.
Rerouting CQM/OPL3 Port 388h (Classic Method)
This section explains how to reroute FM Synth via Creative software. Skip it if you use UNISOUND.
Note:
Due to unavailability of any documentation for Creative parts (especially, CT8920 chip),
they've been treated as "black boxes", copying their input/output tracing and schematics from the
CT4520 card.
That way, we can't disable the CQM completely. It has to be moved away from the 388 port manually,
what can be done with standard drivers both in DOS and Windows.
OPL3 is hard wired to 388 port for Adlib compatibility. You'll always find CQM rather than OPL3 on the
SB port when selecting SB FM output instead of Adlib. That's the consequence of the first two
paragraphs above.
To reroute CQM to another port and activate OPL3 on the port 388 make the following steps:
1)
Find the «
Discrete OPL3 FM Synth
» switch on the back side of the sound card and set it to
OFF (1)
position. This will enable the OPL3 FM Synth at port 0x388h.
2)
Open
ctpnp.cfg
file located in
CTCM
directory (for example,
C:\CTCM\ctpnp.cfg
). Go to section
[SB16]
. By default you'll see the following lines:
[SB16]
Disable=0
Csn=1
CardId=<your_card_id>
Serial=<your_card_serial_number>
LogDev=0
Port0=220
Port1=330
Port2=388
Irq0=5
Dma0=1
Dma1=5
3)
Replace the line
Port2=388
with
Port2=398
to reroute the built-in CQM FM-synthesizer to port
398h. Save the changes. Now OPL3 Synth can take up the port 388h without any conflicts.
4)
Launch default Creative mixer utility named «
MIXERSET
» (for example,
C:\SB16\mixerset.exe
).
Activate «Line-In Output» for Left and Right channels and tune «Line-in Volume / Balance» (see
the picture below). Do not forget to save your settings by pressing «
Save
» button.
