Welcome to the MK1869 Sound Card page!



(click on image for larger version - current prototype card shown)


(click on image for larger version - PCMIDI addon attached shown on current prototype card)




What is it?

MK1869 is an ISA Sound Card based on the ESS ES1869 sound controller chip with onboard wavetable synth based on the ES690 DSP.

The card is still in development and more info can be found at this VOGONS thread.
27-JAN-2025 : Card development is ongoing, current prototype version shown in the above images


The card's main features are:

AdLib, Sound Blaster and Sound Blaster PRO compatible for DOS (with SB ADPCM support)

Windows drivers with up to 48khz sampling rate

High-quality, OPL3 superset ESFM music synthesizer

MIDI port - compatible with MPU-401 UART mode

Integrated Spatializer 3-D audio effects processor

Integrated dual game port

16-bit stereo ADC and DAC

Programmable independent sample rates from 4 kHz to 48.0 kHz for record and playback

Full-Duplex operation for simultaneous record and playback

ES690: Single chip, high performance wavetable synthesizer with 32-voice polyphony

ES690: Chorus and reverb effects

ES690: 16bit 44.1 khz playback

ES690: 1 MByte General Midi instrument set - 128 melodic and 47 rythm instruments

ISA expansion header for PCMIDI addon

USB-C port for future expansion usage - specs for expansion creation will be freely available




MK1869 Driver Downloads


ESS1869 Released Drivers

Chip Model Driver Type Version Download Release Notes

ES1869
DOS

5.2
Note #1 below
Unisound homepage

0.81b
Note #2 below
Windows 3.1x

4.17.07
Installation Manual
AudioRack for Windows 3.1x
(also acts as the mixer application for win3x)

1.09
Manual
Windows 9x (VXD drivers)

4.04.00.1317
-
Windows 9x modded (VXD drivers)

4.04.00.1317
Note #3 below
AudioRack for Windows 9.x

3.00
Manual
Windows NT 4.0

2.01.18
Installation Manual
OS/2

2.10

 

-


 
#1

ESS DOS Driver notes:

If the system BIOS is a PnP one there is a good chance that ESSCFG will completely ignore user settings for IRQ/DMA/MPU and will display a message about adjusting them via the BIOS - something that most of the times is not even possible.

In this case download UNISOUND and edit ESS.BAT to disable ESSCFG and enable it.
You will still need to use ESSVOL in order to enable AuxB output - this is used by the WaveTable header on the board.


 
#2

Unisound notes:

A great replacement driver by JazeFox. Please read the included unisound.txt for more info.
/x3D0 switch makes sure that the ESS 1869 "3D sound enhancements" are OFF
If you are using the wavetable header you will also need to run ESSVOL to adjust volume for AuxB input as Unisound changes it to 0 (mute). Local mirror download
HERE.


 
#3

Windows 9x modded (VXD drivers) notes:

In most systems we tested the native ESS1869 VXD drivers have buggy DOS support under Windows98/SE (at least) which result in many games not being able to detect Adlib/FM capabilities. Use these modded drivers to revert the main driver file to the ESS1868 version which does not exhibit this bug.
There is no downside other than "3D sound enhancement" functions also getting disabled.
Both VXD driver versions use a SETUP program to easily install them and will remove any existing drivers prior to installation making changing between versions easy.


 

PCMIDI addon downloads

Please visit the PCMIDI Website for downloads and info!


DIP switch settings , click on image for full version.

Please keep in mind that PCMIDI is not a PnP device, if it is not detected then you should manually install it via the "Add New Hardware Wizard".





Contact information

Need to contact us? Need help to setup/troubleshoot things or extra info?
Please use our contact form!

Contact Form

Or you can join our Facebook group MPU-401 PC-MIDI Card Group
and make a post, we will answer ASAP!


Thanks for visiting!!!

   Back to Index



last update: 27-JAN-2025 , always a WIP