The ZZ9000 and its ZZ9000AX card

[SmoothRunnings]

I have both in my A2000. I received them last week. I am also using the Dickie Olga card.

Has anyone setup the ZZ9000AX card on their Amiga who can advise me on how to get it working? The documentation says to install AHI 4.18 on your Amiga as its the most compatible, but doesn't say anything about the installation process if I need to select another card other than Paula; there is no ZZ9000AX as a choice and I haven't been able to find any solution online thus far.

If anyone knows could you chime in!

Thanks,

 

[cv643d]

Mate, you need the latest drivers from here: https://mntre.com/docs-amiga.html#zz9000ax

 

[SmoothRunnings]

Mate, you need the latest drivers from here: https://mntre.com/docs-amiga.html#zz9000ax

I was able to get the sound working, I had to use shell to added it to the addaudio....something command. But I previously already had the latest drivers installed.

 

[StrongARM]

I had to use shell to added it to the addaudio....something command.

...which wasnt explained in manual/FAQ??

 

[Xanxi]

Do you have clean audio and good output level from the AX?
It seems that card hasn't been satisfactory to anyone, that's why i used the experiences related by others and left mine in its box for the last 2 or 3 years to save me the hassle.

 

[cv643d]

Do you have clean audio and good output level from the AX?
It seems that card hasn't been satisfactory to anyone, that's why i used the experiences related by others and left mine in its box for the last 2 or 3 years to save me the hassle.

I had a ZZ9000AX that had a background noise, you could her bus activity get mixed in and a loud noise in the background. I sent it back to MNT and they confirmed it was broken.

Then I got a replacement, and it was quiet (no background noises) - but the problem I had with it was that all passthrough sound from Paula sounded distorted, I am not talking audiophile (gut feeling) level distortion, it was quite obvious Paula music and sound did not sound as it was supposed to sound! clearly there was something up in how native Amiga sound got mixed in on the ZZ9000AX when hooking it up to the ZZ9000 output and it was messing with it.

I solved the problem by not connecting the ZZ9000AX to Paula (I did not connect the 3 wire cable from ZZ9000AX to ZZ9000). Instead I run output from the Z9000AX to the sound input on my A4000 so it gets mixed into the motherboard audio out and that let me have crystal clear ZZ9000AX output and beatuful (as is) Paula output!

I dont know if the problem was that I was running the setup on an A4000TX, I have in my todo list to test the setup on my A4000T, but as the problem is fixed...

 

[Xanxi]

Ah good you can obtain something satisfying to you.
Using the input on the motherboard is however annoying because as you may have noticed its level is only 50% compared to Paula as it was meant for CDROM audio. Unless the ZZ9000ax has a mean of increasing its level output without noise.

 

[cv643d]

Ah good you can obtain something satisfying to you.
Using the input on the motherboard is however annoying because as you may have noticed its level is only 50% compared to Paula as it was meant for CDROM audio. Unless the ZZ9000ax has a mean of increasing its level output without noise.

Did not know that, need to doubble check that next time I have the system running. I did not notice it when playing MP3s or using AHI. Will check later today.

 

[cv643d]

Can confirm ZZ9000AX output is slightly lower than Paula output, strange I did not notice that before. Could perhaps solve it by running both outputs through a mixer. Or could you change to lower resistors on the A4000 motherboard to increase sound level from audio in?

 

[Xanxi]

I think modding is possible but i don't need to bother about it anymore.
As you can see in my signature, the audio setup in my A4000 is so complicated that i use a Roland/Edirol mixer anyway, and the mobo header is actually connected to the CDROM.
So, i have Paula out + CDROM on 1 stereo channel of my mixer, then the audio board of my bridgeboard (MK8330 from Keropi and Mames) which is a central part of the computer because it also output my SIDBlaster through line in and my Prelude/MPEGIT through aux in and also another USB Soundblaster mounted internally as another AHI card routed to the Prelude line in, and finally other channels of the mixer for all my MIDI stack which is currently made of 6 devices.
Note that this setup can only work because the MK8330 is a very clean card with no noise and because the A2386 runs itself on power up and activate the MK8330 immediatly (unlike the GoldenGate).

 

[qz3fwd]

Speaking of Leo, I just picked up from the post office a MK1869 sound card from him this afternoon!

 

[Xanxi]

Good, i believe this one is on par with the MK8330.

 

[cv643d]

I think modding is possible but i don't need to bother about it anymore.
As you can see in my signature, the audio setup in my A4000 is so complicated that i use a Roland/Edirol mixer anyway, and the mobo header is actually connected to the CDROM.
So, i have Paula out + CDROM on 1 stereo channel of my mixer, then the audio board of my bridgeboard (MK8330 from Keropi and Mames) which is a central part of the computer because it also output my SIDBlaster through line in and my Prelude/MPEGIT through aux in and also another USB Soundblaster mounted internally as another AHI card routed to the Prelude line in, and finally other channels of the mixer for all my MIDI stack which is currently made of 6 devices.
Note that this setup can only work because the MK8330 is a very clean card with no noise and because the A2386 runs itself on power up and activate the MK8330 immediatly (unlike the GoldenGate).

Sorry for steering the thread away....

I have looked into the SIDBlaster but havent found that much info around it specifically for Amiga use. Is the only things you need to get it going in an Amiga an USB card and this playsid.library (https://github.com/erique/playsid.library) - Are you happy with it?

 

[Xanxi]

Sorry for steering the thread away....

I have looked into the SIDBlaster but havent found that much info around it specifically for Amiga use. Is the only things you need to get it going in an Amiga an USB card and this playsid.library (https://github.com/erique/playsid.library) - Are you happy with it?

The SIDBlaster is recognized directly as SIDBlaster by Poseidon USB stack.
Then it can be adressed by playsid.libray from the Hippoplayer pack, since the updates from 2023.
Thanks to this, it can play SID files without the need of emulation with anything using playSID library, including various players, Magic64 emulator and IMP3.
Hippoplayer also can use the SIDBlaster of course.
For Magic64, it helps having accurate sound and music while lowering the burden on the CPU for the emulation. 68060+SIDBlaster combo give perfectly fine C64 for any game.

With the latest playSID.library, other hardware can also be used, the Zorro SID card and and the USBSID-Pico. I own those ones too but didn't got the time to try them so far.

Note that i am using the SIDBLaster with a Deneb in DMA Z3 mode on the A4000. I am not sure it would work with a slower USB card like the Subway. My main A1200 has a Vampire V2 and already gives perfect C64 emulation with software emulation of playsid.library bases on ReSID without the need of additional hardware.

On the subject of the ZZ9000, surely it could be possible to use the FPGA for a good ReSID emulation of the SID but no one has ever done development for this board unfortunately (don't ask me, i know nothing) about software development).

 

[cv643d]

Sweet, will order a few PCBs and build the SIDBlaster. I have the Z2SID card (v2) but so far while I have got it working it is too noisy and unusable on my systems (will try to fix it though). Much prefer real SID than emulated SID, had a HardSID ISA BITD blew me away sound quality wise.