DOS Sound Distorted/Overdrive?

[rwmech]

I'm just having a terrible time trying to get the DOS Soundcard function to work.  I really wanted to avoid installing windows on this box. 

I've tried 2 soundcards.  Both SB Compatible.  One an opti 82c931 chipset the other an ESS ES1989S chipset.

Both seem to function fine in other dos programs.  DOOM3 and KRAPTOR that come with the freedos install run just fine.  Sounds great.  Additionally the "demo" apps for both soundcards also sound just fine.

When I run DOSCAB on the box the sound is very "scratchy" or distorted.  In fact, it sound like it's being Overdriven as if the sound being sent to the speakers is the wrong voltage.  I originally thought that the problem couldbe the hardware driver being set to high.  The other apps play fine though. 

Whats wierd here is that BOTH soundcards work fine.  The only issue though is that under doscab they have this distortion.  I tried tweaking settings and even tried some of the other fixes with the [Sound] config area but since I dont see any documentation for it I'm at a loss to know what my options are.

The cards are officially SB Pro compatable.  Like I said they seem to work everywhere including DOSCAB except the sound is distorted.

Hopefully there is a fix/setting for this that can get me running under dos. 

Thanks!

[MrD]

I'm using an ES1989 (I think.  I can check when I get home.  It's an ESS something close to that) .  Don't you have to load a mixer/volume program prior to running DOSCab?   I do anyway.  You can set the volume and a few other settings in there.   I'm using an external AMP in my box.   I initially set the volume down a bit (as I recall) so it starts up at a mid level and not full on.   Part of that is set in DOSCab, the other I think is in the mixer.   Then I set the AMP's volume to avoid distortion.    Since you get the same results from 2 different cards, maybe the volumes are just set too high.   Once it's running, I can use DOSCab to adjust the volume up and down.   I'm pretty sure there is a fixed / adjustable setting in jukebox.ini or one of those files as well.