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Sound Blaster Configuration Help

Sound Blaster Configuration allows you to update the Sound Blaster 16 settings in your DOS and Windows system files SYSTEM.INI , CONFIG.SYS  and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Your old system files will be saved with the extension B~K.

Sound Blaster Configuration will prompt you to reboot your system for the changes to take effect

CAUTION: Base I/O address and MPU-401 MIDI port settings are not software configurable. You need to turn off your computer and change these settings by enabling or disabling appropriate jumpers on the Sound Blaster 16 audio card. Otherwise Sound Blaster 16 device drivers will report errors when your system or Windows is restarted.

Base I/O Address

MPU-401 MIDI Port

IRQ

DMA Channel


Base I/O Address

The I/O (input/output) address is the address used by your computer's microprocessor to distinguish the audio interface form other peripheral devices in your system when sending or receiving data. Twenty consecutive I/O addresses are occupied by the audio interface.

There are four base I/O addresses available: 220H (factory default), 240H, 260H and 280H.

Note: You need to change the  base I/O address jumper setting on the audio card manually.  Figure 2 shows four selections of jumper settings of the base I/O address on  the Sound Blaster 16 audio cards. Refer to the Getting Started manual for the exact location of the jumpers that define the base I/O address.

Figure 1: Disable and enable jumper.

Figure 2: Base /O address selection.


MPU-401 MIDI Port

MPU-401 MIDI Port is used for MPU-401 UART mode interface. There are two base MIDI port available: 330H (factory default) and 300H.

Note: You need to change the base MIDI port jumper settings on the audio card manually. Refer to the Getting Started manual for the exact location of the jumpers that define the base MIDI port on the Sound Blaster 16 audio card. Figure 1 shows two selections of the MIDI port address.

Figure 1: MPU-401 MIDI port selection.


IRQ

The IRQ (Interrupt) line is the signal line your audio interface uses to notify your computer's central processor that it wants to send or receive data for processing. Four interrupts are available: 2, 5 (factory default), 7 and 10.

Note: IRQ setting is software programmable.


DMA Channel

The DMA (Direct Memory Access) channel is the signal line your audio interface uses for data transfer directly to the system's memory. The audio interface allows you to transfer your data through an 8-bit or 16-bit DMA channel.

For 8-bit (Low) DMA channel, three channels are available: 0, 1 (factory default) and 3.

For 16-bit (High) DMA channel, four channels are available: 5 (factory default), 6 , 7 and DMA. The option DMA uses 8-bit DMA channel, which is the Low DMA Channel selected, to transfer 16-bit digitized data.

Note: DMA channel settings are software programmable.