ADVANCED WAVEFFECTS UTILITY =========================== Your sound directory contains a DOS utility called AWEUTIL which allows you to perform the following operations on your Advanced WavEffects audio card: * Initialize AWE hardware to play music synthesis effects * Use MIDI Emulation to support computer games * Control Music Synthesis Effects * Troubleshooting To get more information on your AWEUTIL options, please follow the steps below: 1. Change to your sound directory. 2. Type AWEUTIL /? and press . The AWEUTIL options available for your audio card will appear: /U Unload /S Initialize only /R:nnn Set Reverb level to nnn /C:nnn Set Chorus level to nnn /KEY Enable keyboard controls (default) /KEY- Disable keyboard controls /EM Enable MIDI Emulation /EM- Disable MIDI Emulation /EM:GM Enable MIDI Emulation using General MIDI /EM:GS Enable MIDI Emulation using GS Emulation /EM:MT32 Enable MIDI Emulation using MT32 Emulation where nnn ranges from 0 (no effect) to 100 (maximum effect). NOTE (1): Your audio card may or may not support the control of music synthesis effects. If it does not, the /R:nnn, /C:nnn, /KEY, and /KEY- options would not be displayed. In this case, please skip the following sections related to music synthesis effects: * Initialize AWE hardware to play music synthesis effects * Control music synthesis Effects NOTE (2): Your audio card may not have DRAM (either built-in, installed in SIMM socket or installed using DRAM daughterboard). In this case, you can only have GM mode MIDI emulation and not GS and MT32. NOTE (3): If your audio card cannot support features stated in NOTE (1) or NOTE (2), the respective options will not be displayed when you query AWEUTIL with /? switch. Initializing AWE Hardware to Play Music Synthesis Effects --------------------------------------------------------- Before you can play music synthesis effects, you need to initialize the AWE hardware by typing this command line: AWEUTIL /S NOTE: This command initializes the AWE hardware only and does not leave the program resident in system memory. Using MIDI Emulation to Support Computer Games ---------------------------------------------- Although protected mode software does not support MIDI Emulation, you can still play music from this software using the 4-operator synthesizer chip. AWEUTIL allows you to enable the MIDI Emulation feature of your audio card. This feature allows games and other software that do not support wavetable synthesis to play wavetable music from the sound card. Note that you also need to enable the MFBEN jumper on your audio card for MIDI Emulation to work. For more information, see the section "MPU-401 MIDI Emulation" in the chapter "Knowing Your Audio Card" of your Getting Started. The command line for specifying the type of MIDI Emulation is : AWEUTIL [/EM] [/EM-] [EM:xx] [/U] The parameters for this command line are as follows: /EM:xx Specifies the type of MIDI Emulation where xx represents GM, MT32, or GS. /EM Enables MIDI Emulation. /EM- Disables MIDI Emulation. /U Unloads the program from memory. NOTE: The /U command leaves the program resident in memory. The Windows driver (SBAWE32.DRV) disables MIDI Emulation if you run Windows. Therefore, you will need to enable MIDI Emulation again after you exit from Windows. Controlling Music Synthesis Effects ----------------------------------- The command line to set music synthesis effects is: AWEUTIL [/R:nnn] [/C:nnn] The parameters for this command line are as follows: /R:nnn Sets Reverb level to nnn /C:nnn Sets Chorus level to nnn where nnn ranges from 0 (no effect) to 100 (maximum effect). NOTE: If you get an "Unrecognize command switch" message when you specify the parameters discussed in this section, your card does not support the control of music synthesis effects. Using the Hot Keys ------------------ The following are hot keys which you can use to control your music synthesis output effects when AWEUTIL is resident in memory. KEY FUNCTION Increments Reverb level by 3 %. Decrements Reverb level by 3 %. Increments Chorus level by 3 %. Decrements Chorus level by 3%. Sets Reverb and Chorus levels to zero. Restores Reverb and Chorus levels. NOTE: Both Reverb and Chorus effects in this case apply only to music synthesis. If your audio card does not support the control of music synthesis effects, the above hot keys will not be applicable. You can enable or disable your keyboard controls using the following switches: /KEY Enables the keyboard controls (default). /KEY- Disables the keyboard controls. Troubleshooting --------------- This section provides tips for resolving some of the problems that you might encounter with AWEUTIL. PROBLEM -- System hangs when you play games under MIDI Emulation. CAUSE -- 1. AWEUTIL cannot co-exist with games that use DOS extender. 2. Some games require a MPU-401 'Smart' mode that is different from the UART mode used by your audio card. So, you have to use AWE's music synthesis capabilities instead. SOLUTION - 1. Type AWEUTIL /S and press to set your audio card to Adlib compatibility. 2. Change your game's software setting to "Adlib or Sound Blaster compatible". PROBLEM -- Not enough memory after you have installed the audio card's software or loaded AWEUTIL. CAUSE -- Applications that make use of MIDI Emulation require a lot of conventional memory to run. So do some games. SOLUTION - Use a memory manager to optimize your conventional memory. We recommend that you use a third-party memory manager such as QEMM, 386MAX, or MEMMAKER. However, should you still face memory shortage after optimization, remove two DOS drivers named CTSB16.SYS and CTMMSYS.SYS from your CONFIG.SYS file if you have them installed. This will help you gain 37 KBytes of conventional memory. But you will not be able to play or record .VOC or .WAV files under DOS. PROBLEM -- "Feedback path error" message. CAUSE -- The hardware might be incompatible. SOLUTION - Type AWEUTIL /S and press to set your audio card to Adlib compatibility.