Is there a way to get an EWS64 working under Windows 2000? updated: 2000-03-12

Note by Arnoud de Jong: as we don't work with Windows NT or Windows 2000 ourselves, we can not confirm that the drivers will also work with an EWS64-S. We will ask Terratec about that, as there seems to be some confusion.
And another remark: please bear in mind that Windows 2000 is the successor of Windows NT, and not of Windows 98! Consequently W2k is mainly targeted at the 'business market' and not primarily intended for home users (although it might fit the needs of many of them). The successor of Windows 98 will be Windows Millennium (so far: a codename). Bottom line: do not expect the same multimedia capabilities of Windows 2000 as you can expect from Windows 98 or the coming Windows Millennium. A smooth operation of Windows 2000 more or less depends on the so called 'hardware compatibility list', which you should always consult before you install this operating system on your computer (go to the Microsoft site). Also: you can not upgrade from Windows 98 to Windows 2000. You will have to make your system 'dual-boot' by installing both operating systems on different partitions.

On February 28 2000, Terratec released beta 1.1 of the Windows 2000 drivers. Please go to our Download section, Drivers page for further information.

Contribution by Marcel Stritzelberger

Yes it works! But only the Codec. You only have to install the Crystal Codec (selectable manually under the Audio-, Video-, Gamecontroller) and then you have rudimentary sounds under W2K. Thats it :-) I have played "Homeworld" and Quake3 with full Sound!

Updated contribution by Marcel Stritzelberger 2000-03-07

The Windows 2000 driver is slow....very slow. To get the EWS run in full speed, I did some experimenting and it works fine. For example, you can play Ut with full sound and no glitches. Simlpy install the EWS-driver, after that, install the Crystal Codec WDM Driver instead of the EWS-Codec driver. For better results in playing with an Joypad or Joystick, install the Crystal WDM Gameport instead of the Terratec one. It works fine. In the Sound and Multimedia settings, set the Crystal Codec for default playing. Also the EWS-Mixer is working, only with an little error message, but it doesnt matter. Try it out.

Updated contribution by Marcel Stritzelberger 2000-01-20

In addition to my former contribution, I can report that the Gameport is working as well. Simply install the Crystal game port.....:-). The seconond thing is a little bit tricky: if you have a dual boot system (win98 and W2k) you may notice, that the sound is not working under w2k. That is normal! If you want to switch between w98 and w2k, you have to turn off your computer! The EWS has to be clean and empty, when you want to hear anything! Test it. This is a resolution for W2k final.

Contribution by Jaman J. Cantor

Well, someone other might found this too but here is my version: Yesterday i installed win2000 rc3 just for testing. I already knew that there is no driver support for my EWS64 XL so installing w2k was somehow pointless because i really need soundcard on my daily use. Well, after spending time about one hour with w2k i returned back to win98. But because new features of w2k was very nice i cursed Terratec few times and went to web. Ews stresscontroll....nothing there about w2k... (no... there was a question mark =). Then i remembered that times ago on your page was something about nt4 drivers that might work on ews64...was it Guillemot drivers or something... So i turned my explorer to Guillemot pages. Nothing there either.... "There must be another soundcard that uses same processor..." and with searchengine i found link Hoontech pages. After clicking annoying Korean language dialogs too many times i found Windows NT 5.0 WDM drivers.... Drivers that are about one year old, still on alpha stage, doesn't give hope too much but decided give a try. Boot to w2k and after unzipping i went to control panel. Then i did normal Add Hardware/Add a new device/No, I want select..../Sound, video.../Have Disk and select folder where i unzipped drivers. And choosed SoundTrack WDM Device. Unexpectedly i heard very familiar klip from my speakers.... Holding breath i quickly start Winamp and VOILA! Music flowed from speakers better than ever :) Then i tried few audio program and all working just fine. I even can play many audiofile simultaneously. Not so much ews64 features (if any?) supported with these drivers but at least I can listen mp3s while waiting drivers from Terratec =8-) And because i start writing of this mail right after i got my ews64 working, i don't have so much experience about these drivers but i'll write as soon as someting interesting come out. And here is the link to those drivers: http://www.hoontech.com/download/sound/driver_6.htm

Contribution by Rutger Vos 990508

So far the ews64xl is not supported by BeOS. It seems that someone is working on Beos drivers (check http://www.lebuzz.com, in the "driverwatch" section).

Contribution by Eelco den Heijer 981225

Lately I am interested in the new operating system; BeOS. If I understand correctly, this OS is aimed at Multimedia operations, and is super multi-threading and very fast in general. I have several questions:

1. Does anyone have (MIDI) experience with BeOS?
2. Does anyone have a clue whether the EWS64 is or will be usable under BeOS?

Contribution by Paolo Ciarlo 981225

I received the new Music machine issue with the following 'Highlights of New BeOS Releases':

• BeCmix R3-PPC - Freeware - An audio mixing and signal processing package
  http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/BeCmixR3PPC/?nl9813
  
• BeCmix R4-PPC - Freeware - An audio mixing and signal processing package
  http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/BeCmixR4PPC/?nl9813
  
• Zerius Vocoder for PPC - Freeware - A software channel vocoder.
  http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/ZeriusVocoder/?nl9813

On July 2 1999 Terratec released a new beta version (1.0 beta 2) of Windows NT 4 drivers for the EWS64 L/XL. You can download them via our Download Page.

Note: Terratec made a special NT-drivers FAQ available to us. You can dowload it via our Download Page (Documentation section).

Please also download the specifications document to get information about current limitations and know bugs of this version. You will find a link to this document in the description of the drivers file on the Download Page.

Instructions for installation you will find in our ScrewDrivers section, Drivers Installation Guide.

Note that the SCP does not have further information on the NT drivers! Please use ewsnt@terratec.de for beta feedback.

Contribution by Michael Nottebrock

Just wanted to report that Gerd Rausch did another small update on the EWS64 Linux drivers, now they compile with kernel 2.4-test9 (and probably all other 2.4 versions).

Contribution by Daniel Ciesinger

Great thing: The EWS64XL Linux driver is finally working. It is very reliable and supports the S/PDIF input! You can download the most recent version at http://www.anime.net/~sam9407/

(Note by Computer ConText: The drivers have been written by Gerd Rausch, the EWS64L/XL has been done by Florian Weimer. We removed all former remarks about this issue).

Answer from Terratec (D. Croe), translated from German by Computer ConText.

Our first step will be a conversion program for the Soundfont format. After this the AKAI-format will be implemented. At this moment we can't say how this support will exactly look like.

Official Terratec statement, May 1998, subject: Reading Akai cd-roms

TerraTec never said that the EWS software would be able to read either CD ROMs or diskettes in the AKAI format and we apologize for any misunderstanding.
In the very first brochures (and unfortunately the online help) it said that (raw)samples in the AKAI S-1000 format could be processed. This would be part of a future software update (Ed!son) and would only work via a SCSI-connection from a S-1000 sampler (and not 1100, 2000, 2800 and so on…).
We  clarified this position e.g. in a FAQ last year. Now there are a number of third party software packages that will do this (WaveLab, SoundForge and so on…) and much more, combined with better editing capabilitys. For this reason the function will not be implemented in Ed!son anymore.

Remark by us: if this topic is of interest to you, you may also want to have a look at the Akai-disk program at our Download Page.

Update 99-04-07

With the 1.50ß version of Ed!son support for cd-roms in the AKAI S1000 format was introduced.

Answer from Terratec (D. Croe), translated from German by Computer ConText.

We will provide those. At this moment there is a 30-Band Vocoder under developement and a professional Hall-effect. Expected: April-May 1998.

Official Terratec statement May 1998

We are not developing a vocoder. At least as long as Ed!son is not ready.
The development of this software on the EWS-DSP has been done by a highly motivated student for his diploma. So no human resource at TerraTec has been 'wasted' on this project. But to be honest, for this project to be a completed product, a lot of work still has to be done.

In the email list Linux loyalists suggested all kinds of software, including the links where to get it. Let's preserve those suggestions here

Contributions by Dirk Nolte, Rainer Hahn, Olaf Stetzer and 'Sawtooth'

As for other software I'd recommend tkdesk, for file manager tool, nedit for a windows type editor, 'though Emacs is supposed to be very powerful (ie. not that easy to use at first, but with lot's of editing tools, macros, code editing etc.).
Netscape is pretty good for all your internet stuff. For a Xwindows manager I like fvwm95.
All your compilers and languages are there: C, C++, BASIC, FORTRAN, LISP, FORTH, PERL, Python. TklTc.

For graphics use The Gimp (photoshop-like) and Xv(browser).

Games: DOOM, Xscrabble(great), Xboing(block) and many more.

There's loads of software on all the usual Sun sites. To save download time try the InfoMagic 6 CD sets ~$30. These include 3 free Linux distributions, including RedHat and copies of the GNU and Sunsite archives: http://www.infomagic.com. (If you haven't
already bought the 'official' RedHat installation box, don't, their support is not worth much and you can print off the HTML version of the manual). Also the version of the OSSFree sound driver supplied with the latest RedHat won't work with the EWS. Get ossfree38s9 from http://www.4front-tech.com/linux.html. Recompile the kernel with support for the Crystal card. Don't use the Soundblaster option.

Rainer Hain: Linux is great for certain tasks. I run some Linux Servers at work, 'cause my budget didn't allow me for a HP UX machine at that time and I found out, that I actually don't need one anymore when running Linux. They are even going to port my beloved Informix to it.However, I wouldn't recommend it as a standard operating system for end-users. Ever tried to install some fonts for star office? Or install a printer not captured by APS filter?
Or grabbed a program from the net and found out you had to compile it first. It failed and you found a read.me saying something about a certain lib you don't have. And if you manage to find this lib, the proggy won't compile still, `cause you installed the lib in the wrong path. So you end up editing the make-files and the C-headers. There are more "standards" of a Unix system then they are Unix systems at all.
I often get mad in fumbling with config files spread all over the place (and on different places on every Unix system).
KDE is absolutely great, but I managed to get a early Alpha to work, unfortunately not the later Betas, might be an issue with my distribution.
There's no perfect system, I would stick to good ol' Win95 or NT for Audio work.

Olaf Stetzer: In my humble opinion the comments from Rainer Hain about Linux are to negative. I work with Linux for years now, wrote my diploma thesis on it and must say: If you use standard apps (for Linux) you don't have to worry about compiling them with lots of error messages etc. I use debian for one year now, and with this nearly all dependencies between apps and librarys are resolved automatically.
However if you want to try some exotic software his comments may be true, but as linux and software for linux is growing so fast these problems are fewer each new month I think.

© 1998-2000, Computer ConText, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, except for contributions made by others.

Latest update on page: 10-04-99

Latest update on page: 10-04-99