Fortissimo-2 soundcard problems

[erwin1978]

To anyone who owns a Fortissimo 2 soundcard.

Have you experienced any system lock-ups when playing midi files or surfing a webpage that has midi songs playing in the background?

Also, shouldn't the hardware synthesizer use less cpu resource than the Yamaha SYXG50 soft synthesizer. I'm using win2000 and if I use the Fortissimo 2 to play midis the cpu is around 40%, but if I use the Yamaha software synthesizer it's down to around 15%.

 

[Arris]

I'm using the Fortissimo2 on windows 98SE and haven't had any problems with it so far. When I get the opportunity I will check the CPU usage for playing Midi files.
3DS Thomas did a review of this card and noted that this card didn't tolerate much change in the system fsb speed (which overclocks the PCI bus too). I have my system running 1.4Ghz Athlon@1.5 with a 143fsb and haven't experienced any problem yet... Maybe the lockups are related to this? Are you overclocking your fsb at all?

Do you have the latest driver update?

 

[erwin1978]

I don't overclock and I have the 1.50 drivers. The lock-ups occur when I use winamp and media player to play midi files interchangeably. Winamp uses the built-in wavetable while media player uses the Yamaha soft synthesizer. I use both so I can compare the difference in sound quality. My guess is that both synths are conflicting with the system.