DOS Days

Aztech

Aztech Labs started in 1986 as a manufacturer of disk drives and modems. They arrived slightly late to the home computer audio market, but became very successful in this area, primarily because they formed strong partnerships with the big box PC-compatible OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and peripheral manufacturers such as Packard Bell, Reveal, Trust & HP.

The company are still in business but focus these days on wireless technology for businesses and IP cameras.

When the multimedia boom hit in the 90s, Aztech were quick to launch a series of 'Multimedia Upgrade Kits' (MUKs) that comprised one of their sound cards, a CD-ROM drive, two desktop speakers, and usually a CD-based game title. Such kits include the Asteroid and Voyager, both released in 1994. Asteroid was marketed as the basic kit while Voyager was aimed at the more experienced gamer. Both contained the exact same hardware (a Nova 16 sound card and Aztech Labs' Zeta CD-ROM drive) but Voyager included Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Comanche: Maximum Overkill, Wired for Sound Pro, The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia, Macromedia Action! 2.5, Learn to Use Windows and Professor Multimedia. Asteroid came with only the latter three plus Day of the Tentacle.

While the Aztech range of sound cards doesn't quite rival Creative Labs in terms of the volume of model numbers, they probably run in 2nd place with in excess of 30 different sound cards produced between 1992 and 1998 (33 models are covered here at DOS Days).

Creative Labs issued a lawsuit against Aztech Systems Pte Ltd in 1996, stating that Aztech had infringed on their copyright in various firmware and software they had created for the Intel 8051. Both the firmware in this chip and their CT-VOICE.DRV and TEST-SBC.EXE files were allegedly copied in full or in part during the creation of Aztech's BX, NX and NX Pro sound cards. Aztech denied the infringement (despite stating they had a right to debugging the Creative card they had purchased to understand its mode of operation), and won the case in the High Court. It went to appeal and was overturned in favour of Creative on the grounds that it was a patent case, not a copyright case, and that Aztech did not have the right to use and sell the protected work.

2nd- through 4th-generation cards all supported Sound Blaster Pro 2.0. None of their cards supported Sound Blaster 16.

The best Aztech card that supports the broadest audio formats is the Sound Galaxy Pro 16 (I38-MMSD810). This supports Covox Speech Thing, Disney Sound Source, Sound Blaster Pro 2.0, Ad Lib and Windows Sound System. The only thing it doesn't have is wavetable header support under MS-DOS.

1st Generation

The first generation of Aztech sound cards was based around the Aztech AZTSSPT0592-U01 or AZTSB0792-U07 chipset. All of the 1st-generation cards support Adlib and Sound Blaster 2.0, and aside from the BX cards also support Disney Sound Source & Covox Speech Thing. Some of the later ones from 1993 onwards added Sound Blaster Pro 2 and Windows Sound System support. *None* of the 1st generation cards got an MPU-401 UART-compatible MIDI interface - instead theirs was compatible with the Sound Blaster MIDI ports.

2nd generation

All 2nd-generation cards have the AZT-1605 chipset. Whilst these have the excellent Yamaha YMF-262 OPL3 chip for stereo FM synthesis, they only support Ad Lib, Windows Sound System, and Sound Blaster 2.0 (mono) on their DAC. They do not support Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 digital output under DOS. The 2nd generation also dropped support for Covox Speech Thing and Disney Sound Source. All of this generation got an MPU-401 UART-compatible MIDI interface.

3rd generation

All 3rd-generation cards have the AZT-2316 chipset. These all support Adlib, Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 and Windows Sound System. They are configured through a combination of jumpers on the board and software settings via the CONFIG.EXE utility in the driver software. Settings from this utility are saved to the card's EEPROM, so it will retain its settings next time you reboot assuming the jumper marked JMPCFG is set to EEPROM on the card.

All 3rd-gen cards have an MPU-401 UART-compatible MIDI interface. One advantage of these is that the first two generations were supposedly timing-sensitive, i.e. if you're running a gen-1 or gen-2 card in anything faster than a 486 you may experience issues - these problems are gone in the 3rd generation of cards.

The AZT-2316 lacks a low-pass filter, which makes the output sound more treble-y when compared to the Sound Blaster Pro.

4th Generation

The 4th-generation cards are based around the AZT-2320 chipset. These still come in both PnP and non-PnP variants. For DOS gaming, the PnP ones are naturally more difficult to configure (you usually need to load the DWCFGMG.SYS driver at startup - this is the Intel PnP configuration manager - and then run DIAGNOSE.EXE), so probably best to avoid these cards for that purpose. The 4th generation really doesn't provide any benefit over the 3rd-gen cards either, and since most 4th-gen cards are PnP, I would advise sticking to 3rd-gen non-PnP cards.

A summary of all the Aztech sound cards for DOS. Click for a larger version

Issues with poor digital sound quality

Poor digital sound quality in DOS is actually due to a setting in the soundcard's Mixer control utility. This can affect 1st-gen right up to 4th-gen cards. All you have to do is to load the Mixer control TSR (normally found under the relevant soundcard's subdirectoy called "utility") and look for a setting where you can toggle between MONO or STEREO (the older soundcards' Mixer control had drop down menus, whereas the newer ones had a more simplified Mixer control). Select MONO (not STEREO), save and exit. You can unload the Mixer TSR afterwards. If you playback your games' digital sounds now, the sound quality will not sound as distorted/muffled. Bear in mind that this won't affect the actual digital sound output - a stereo sound source will still produce stereo sound provided you select the correct option in the game (SB Pro or SB Pro 2).

Wavetable Support

Some cards support wavetable daughterboard cards via a Wave Blaster header. Some support Aztech's own wavetable daughterboard called WaveTide - this requires both a Wave Blaster header and an EXPCON (expansion connector) header to be present on the card.

Here are some Aztech drivers and other software that aren't necessarily model-specific:

Aztech Business Audio Drivers for Win3.1
Aztech Sound Galaxy Drivers for Win3.1
Aztech IDE CD-ROM driver
Aztech Multimedia Kit add-on programs
Aztech WaveTide MIDI Synthesizer software
Sound Galaxy Developer Kit Version 1.06

Aztech sound cards by generation (in chronological order):

Pre & 1st Generation 2nd Generation 3rd Generation 4th Generation
BX (1992)
NX (1992)
BXII (1992)
NXII / NXII Extra (1993)
NX Pro / Extra (1993)
NX Pro 16 / Extra (1993)
Basic 16/Pro 16 (1994)
Nova 16 / Extra (1994)
Pro 16 II (1995)
Orion 16 (1995)

 Waverider 32+ (1995)
Washington 16 (?)
Multimedia Pro 16 (?)
Multimedia Pro 16 IIB-3D (?)
Multimedia Audio Telephony 2000 (?)
Multimedia Audio Telephony 3200/3260 (?)
Pro16 II-3D PnP (?)
Nova 16 Extra II-3D (?)
Multimedia Pro 16 ABI/ABO (?)
Waverider Pro 32-3D (?)
 Waverider Pro 32-3D PnP (?)
Waverider Platinum-3D PnP (?)
Multimedia Pro-16V (?)
Multimedia Pro-16 IIIS+ PnP (?)
Multimedia SC128-3D (1997) 


 

Pro 16 II   

Introduced: 1995
FM synthesizer: Yamaha YMF262-M (OPL3)
Audio codec: Crystal CS-4231A-KL
Chipset: AZT-1605-U05 (2nd generation chip)
DAC: Yamaha YAC512
Wavetable Interface: Yes
CD-ROM Interface: IDE
Plug & Play: No
FCC ID: I38-MMSD822 or I38-MMSN822
Price: £67 (Sep '95)

Another Sound Blaster Pro 2.0-compatible card from Aztech.

The MIDI/game port is MPU-401 compatible. The wavetable header is suitable for Aztech's WaveTide daughterboard only.
As with most cards that came before it, the Pro 16 II is "auto-init" (automatic initialising) DMA which allowed the card to produce a continuous loop of double-buffered sound output.

To get this card working in DOS, you usually need Windows to install it. The DOS installation does not copy any files (config or otherwise) to your hard disk, therefore it's unlikely you will get the desired configuration just by using the defaults. The Windows installation does allow you to configure the card during installation, but it also copies CONFIG.EXE to your UTILITY folder so you can tweak it later. To make things easier for DOS installation, please download P16II_UTILITY.RAR from the link below, which is a copy of the utility folder after Windows installation. Using this, you don't need to use the Windows installer if you're just trying to get the card working in DOS.

The problem with this card is that it uses MIDI 330 by default which conflicts with other MIDI devices and you need to change it to 300 to make things work. Also, the DOS HWSET utility used with other Aztech cards DOES NOT work with this one, you need the config utility mentioned before.

SoftMPU apparently locks up when used with cards that have the AZT-1605 chipset.

This card was also sold to OEMs, including Packard Bell.

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Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

Orion 16   

Introduced: 1995
FM synthesizer: Yamaha YMF262-M (OPL3)
Chipset: AZT-1605-U05 (2nd generation chip).
CD-ROM Interface: Mitsumi, Panasonic, Sony
Wavetable Interface: Yes
Plug & Play: No
FCC ID: I38-MMSN816

The Orion 16 is a Sound Blaster Pro 2.0-compatible card with a SCSI interface. The unique thing about the Orion 16 is its ability to attach an FM tuner to the expansion connector (same as the SCSI connector), and an aerial to the white connector in the top-right corner, near the backplate. Its wavetable header is WaveBlaster-compatible.

SoftMPU apparently locks up when used with cards that have the AZT-1605 chipset.

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

Waverider 32+   

Introduced: 1995
FM synthesizer: Yamaha YMF262-M (OPL3)
Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd gen chip)
CD-ROM Interface: Mitsumi, Panasonic, Sony
Plug & Play: No
FCC ID: I38-MMSD826
Price when New: $159, £113 (Sep '95)

The Waverider 32+ provides Sound Blaster Pro II, Windows Sound System and General MIDI support.

Codenamed "Washington", the first Wavefront ICS cards from Aztech have 2MB of samples (the same as found in the Turtle Beach Tropez and Maui cards) and their "VoiceCrystal Lite" soundfont is better quality than the later Samsung-chipped ones that only had 1MB of samples.

Rich Heimlich said this: "Would have been a really nice 1-card solution except that Aztech decided to go the cheap route and use the less expensive and less functional WaveFront Lite chipset.  It sounds as good as a Tropez but lacks the RAM feature. Another downside to the initial Waverider was its software implementation with a 37KB TSR needed to run General MIDI.". He scored it 3 out of 10 for digital quality and 4 out of 10 for music quality, with a total score of 5 out of 10.

SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

 

Washington 16   

FM synthesizer: Yamaha YMF262-M (OPL3)
Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd gen chip)
Audio codec: Crystal CS-4231A-KL or Crystal CS-4248-KL
Wavetable Interface: Yes
Plug & Play: No
FCC ID: I38-MMSN824 (the manual has this incorrect as MMSN822), I38-MMSN830
Known Board Revisions: V2.0B (MMSN824)

Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 card.

This board has an EEPROM on-board with a jumper that can be set to use either EEPROM or software. The jumper is set to use EEPROM.

The wavetable header is for Aztech WaveTide only. This card was OEM'd by Packard Bell with model number 030056.

SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

Image of same card but with CS-4248-KL audio codec chip.

Uses the drivers for the Pro 16 AB.

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

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Multimedia Pro 16   

Introduced: -
FM synthesizer: Yamaha YMF262-M (OPL3)
Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd gen chip)
Audio codec: Crystal CS-4231A-KL
DAC: Yamaha YAC512
CD-ROM Interface: Mitsumi, Panasonic, Sony
Wavetable Interface: Yes, WaveTide only
Plug & Play: No
FCC ID: I38-MMSN837

This card was an OEM version for Packard-Bell.
SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

A known-working driver for the Multimedia Pro 16 was provided by Andalusian RetroGamer (Jesús Daniel Borja Delgado). You can download it from the Aztech Downloads page.

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Multimedia Pro 16 IIB-3D   

Introduced: -
Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd gen chip)
Audio codec: Crystal CS-4231A-KL
DAC: Yamaha YAC512
Wavetable Interface: Yes, WaveBlaster-compatible
Plug & Play: No
FCC ID: I38-SN96103

This is the last card produced by Aztech that is *not* PnP. It does have a wavetable header.

SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.
You should be able to use the same drivers as for the Pro16 II-3D PnP (I38-MMSN845)

Audio from the Aztech Sound Galaxy Pro 16 IIB-3D can be listened to on the following game pages:

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The top image and first image above are courtesy of DOS Days' contributor, targeted.

Multimedia Audio Telephony 2000   

Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd generation chip).
CD-ROM Interface: Yes
FCC ID: I38-MMSN835

Uses the AZT2316A chip. A combined sound card and modem. SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

 

Multimedia Audio Telephony 3200/3260   

Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd generation chip).
FCC ID: I38-MMSN841, I38-MMSN842 or I38-MMSN855
Known Board Revisions: V1.2 (MMSN842), V3.2 (MMSN841)

Combined sound card and modem.

This card was an OEM version for Packard-Bell (model number 030101).
SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

Pro16 II-3D PnP    

FM synthesizer: Yamaha YMF262-M (OPL3).
Audio codec: Crystal CS4231A-KL.
Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd generation chip).
Wavetable Support: Yes, WaveTide only
MPU-401 compatible.
40-pin CD-ROM connector, 34-pin expansion connector.
Plug and Play.
FCC ID: I38-MMSN845

The original version 1.10 disks install below can be used to install and configure the card for DOS use. Here are some screenshots of the INSTALL.EXE utility running:


When you install the original v1.10 disk drivers, just 1 line gets added to CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICE=C:\MMPRO16\DRIVERS\EEPROM.SYS /88000000


and these 5 lines get added to AUTOEXEC.BAT:

SET GALAXY=A220 I5 D1 K10 P530 T6
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
SET SOUND=C:\MMPRO16
C:\MMPRO16\UTILITY\VOLSET /V:14 /X:14 /F:14 /C:14 /L:14 /M:0 /R:M

After installation and config is complete and you have rebooted, the UTILITY directory contains several DOS tools including:

  • CONFIG.EXE - Used to change the Base I/O address, IRQ and DMA channel that is stored in the EEPROM on the card.
  • HWSET.EXE - a command-line version of the CONFIG.EXE utility
  • DIAGNOSE.EXE - Used to test the various aspects of the sound card's output.
  • VOLSET.EXE - Used to adjust the volume and balance on each channel
  • SETMODE.EXE - Set the sound card to run in either Sound Blaster Pro mode or WSS mode
  • MIXTSR.EXE - a DOS TSR used to adjust the mixer settings on the fly. Uses ALT-/ to activate

    

SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

Audio from the Aztech Sound Galaxy Pro 16 IIB-3D can be listened to on the following game pages:

You can also compare the audio output of the Pro 16-II 3D side-by-side with numerous other sound cards in my Sound Blaster 16 CT2770 Retro Review.

Nova 16 Extra II-3D   

FM synthesizer: Yamaha YMF262-M (OPL3).
Audio codec: Crystal CS4231A-KL.
Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd generation chip).
Wavetable Support: Yes, WaveTide only
MPU-401 compatible.
40-pin CD-ROM connector, 34-pin expansion connector.
FCC ID: I38-MMSD846 or I38-MMSN846
Known Revisions: 1.1, 2.0

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

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Multimedia Pro 16 ABI/ABO   

Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd generation chip).
Audio codec: Crystal CS4231A-KL.
Wavetable Support: Yes, WaveTide only
FCC ID: I38-MMSN850

MPU-401 compatible.
Wavetable connector.
IDE CD-ROM interface.

This is Aztech's last card that was both non-PnP and does have a wavetable header.

Lacks a low pass filter when running in Sound Blaster Pro mode, which makes the output audio sound more tinny/treble. Overall though, this card is nice and quiet (low noise).

SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

The card was also sold to third parties who rebranded it. One example of this is the Toptek Golden Sound Pro 16 ES/MCD.

Eirik Øverby, whose card is shown in this section, got in touch with me to let me know that he tried installing a Dream Blaster in the WaveTide header on his MMSN850, and it worked! - sort of. He was only able get sound out of one channel from the Audio Out port on the back of the card. Since his daughterboard has its own audio output jack he was able to get around this problem, though it's less than ideal. If anyone has pinouts for the WaveTide header please let me know!

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

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Waverider Pro 32-3D   

Chipset: AZT-2316/A/R Wavefront ICS (3rd generation chip).
Wavetable Support: Yes, onboard
FCC ID: I38-MMSN852

This is one of the last cards produced by Aztech that is *not* PnP. It has no wavetable header since it has embedded wavetable support in the form of the Aztech AZ3320, which is a rebranded SEC (Samsung) 0164 and a 1 MB ROM that holds the samples.

SoftMPU is known to work with the AZT-2316 chipset.

Some reports indicates this card was OEM'd by Trust, as the "Sound Expert DeLuxe Wave 32 3D". This is incorrect (it's close but is not a 100% match), as DOS Days Contributor Mike informed me. The Trust card uses an OPTi 82C930 chipset and the QS700 wavetable chip. You can see a picture of this card here.

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Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

Waverider Pro 32-3D PnP   

Chipset: AZT-2320 (4th generation chip).
Plug and Play.
FCC ID: I38-MMSN853
Known Board Revisions: S1.01, V1.1, V3.1, S14.02

This card is also sold as the Galaxy Pro 16 III 3D PnP. There are 4 variants of this card:

  1. No onboard wavetable and no IDE CD-ROM header. Does have the wavetable header though for Aztech WaveTide daughterboard (S1.01)
  2. No onboard wavetable but has an IDE CD-ROM header and its associated 3 small ICs to its right (V3.1)
  3. Onboard wavetable and IDE CD-ROM header (V1.1)
  4. Onboard wavetable but no IDE CD-ROM header (S14.02)

The variant of Waverider Pro 32-3D with an onboard wavetable synthesizer used the SEC (Samsung) 0164 wavetable synth chip and a 1 MB ROM that holds the samples.

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

 

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Waverider Platinum-3D PnP   

Chipset: AZT-2320 (4th generation chip).
Onboard wavetable.
Plug and Play.

Just like the Waverider Pro 32-3D, the Platinum 3D PnP came with an onboard wavetable synthesizer in the form of the SEC (Samsung) 0164 and a 1 MB ROM that holds the samples.

I could well believe these two cards are identical, and the Platinum branding was simply a means to bundle the card with some application or game software.

Drivers

For drivers, copies of original floppy disks and more, go to my Aztech Downloads page.

Multimedia Pro-16V   

Chipset: AZT-2320 (4th generation chip).
Plug and Play.
FCC ID: I38-SN96116

This card was designed for the OEM market - this one has an HP part number. Cheaply built, I wouldn't trust any 'triangle' card to be of good quality given that their very shape screams "cost reduced".

Multimedia Pro-16 IIIS+ PnP   

Chipset: AZT-2320 (4th generation chip).
Plug and Play.
FCC ID: I38-SN96104

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Multimedia SC128-3D/MM SC128-3D 

Introduced: 1997
Interface: PCI
Chipset: S3 Sonic Vibes
Plug and Play
FCC ID: I38-SN97126

The SC128-3D used the Sonic Vibes chipset from S3, which was also used on the Turtle Beach Daytona and several other cards. The Turtle Beach version of this was the very first PCI sound card on the market. The SC128-3D contains a 2 MB wavetable patch set from EuPhonics with 32 voices.

Aztech's card based on this chipset does *not* come with the optional 32Kx8 SRAM chip necessary for reverb effects, where other cards like the Turtle Beach do. It does, however, comes with a Line-Out jack in addition to Speaker-Out, Line-In and Mic-In jacks.

Like the Ensoniq AudioPCI cards, Sonic Vibes uses RAM-based wavetable patches which are loaded into RAM when the driver is initialised. The chipset supports 1 MB, 2 MB and 4 MB patchsets which are in .DLS (Downloadable Sound) format.

For legacy DOS support, it uses Distributed DMA (DDMA), and requires a small 3 KB driver to be loaded into memory for it to work. In addition, for Sound Blaster Pro support to work in DOS the chipset requires an additional driver, S3DOSVM.EXE, to be loaded into memory - this requires EMM386 to be loaded also.

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