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3D Movie Maker: MIDI Does Not Work Properly with SB AWE 32

Article ID: 143232

Article Last Modified on 8/17/2005

APPLIES TO

This article was previously published under Q143232

SYMPTOMS

When you run 3D Movie Maker on a computer using a SoundBlaster AWE 32 card, you experience MIDI sound problems. Problems include very low volume, or a lack of MIDI sound from any program you use after running 3D Movie Maker and until you restart your computer.

RESOLUTION

Try one of the following resolutions.

Resolution 1

Use the following steps to play MIDI with the Creative Labs SB AWE 32 driver v. 4.11.10:
  1. Restart your computer.
  2. With the right mouse button, click the Volume control icon located on the Windows 95 taskbar, and then click Volume Controls.
  3. Set master Volume Control (far left control) to half of the maximum volume level.
  4. Set Wave volume to maximum volume level.
  5. Set MIDI (Synthesizer) volume to maximum volume level.
  6. Close Volume Controls.
  7. Use Media player to play canyon.mid.

    To find Canyon.mid, do the following:
    1. With you right mouse button, click the Start button, and then click Find.
    2. In the Named: box, type the following:

      canyon.mid

    3. In the Look in box, enter the hard drive where you installed Windows. For example, enter

      c:\

      where C is the letter of the hard drive where you installed Windows.
    4. Click Find Now.
    5. Double-click Canyon.mid.
  8. Set your speaker volume to your preferred setting.
  9. Start 3D Movie Maker and create a movie with MIDI sounds.
MIDI should now play correctly.

Resolution 2

Switch the MIDI drive to use FM Synthesis rather than WaveTable Synthesis. To use FM Synthesis, follow the steps below.
  1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
  2. Open the Multimedia control panel.
  3. Click the MIDI tab.
  4. In the MIDI output section, select the FM Synthesis for Single Instrument.
NOTE: Switching to FM Synthesis eliminates the problems with MIDI volumes and 3D Movie Maker (as well as other products from other vendors), but you may notice that the FM Synthesis sound quality is lower than the WaveTable Synthesis sound quality.

MORE INFORMATION

If you are using Creative Labs, SB AWE 32 driver v.4.12.7 (dated 12/21/95), you should hear MIDI regardless of system volume levels. With this driver, however, you can no longer change the volume of individual MIDI sounds in 3D Movie Maker.

The older (4.11.10) driver incorrectly reports volume settings and always returns to full volume (100 percent), regardless of the setting. The volume setting is logarithmic, not linear; anything below 50 percent with this driver is silence.

The newer (4.12.7) driver locks the volume at 100 percent to avoid losing sound in applications such as 3D Movie Maker.

3D Movie Maker experiences this problem because it allows individual MIDI volumes adjustments within the program and the driver does not report these volumes correctly to the system. Most other programs leave MIDI as is or set it to 100 percent.

Other sound boards (such as the UltraSound Max) may display similar problems because of borrowed hardware or software from Creative Labs AWE 32.

The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

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