Frequently Asked Questions about: SOUND EXPRESSION 14.4SRS, V.34SRS and V.34SVD ========================================================== Product codes: SE14SRS, SE34SRS and SE34SVD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document is arranged in the following sections: (A) - General Information about the Sound Expression (B) - Hardware Questions (C) - MediaWorks by Midisoft Section A - General Information about the Sound Expression ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What are the Sound Expression 14.4SRS, V.34SRS and V.34SVD? The Sound Expressions 14.4SRS, V.34SRS and V.34SVD give you the ultimate multimedia communications product all on a single card. With one simple installation, you get a high speed data/fax modem, voicemail system, full duplex speakerphone, the unparalleled quality of SRS Labs' 3-D Surround Sound, VoiceView, easy Plug and Play installation, Windows 95 Compatibility and with the SE34SVD you also get Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data (DSVD). 2. What audience is it targeted towards? The Sound Expression is targeted for home and small office users. 3. What software is bundled with the Sound Expression? - MediaWorks by MidiSoft - Talkshop by Radish - Proshare by Intel (SE34SVD only) - Online services diskettes - Drivers and Utilities 5. Where can the Sound Expression be purchased? Boca Research enhancement products are available worldwide through authorized Boca Research retail stores, distributors, or many end-user catalogs. To purchase Boca Research products or for more information, call your local distributor or Boca Research sales staff at (407)997-6227. 6. What kind of warranty does the Sound Expression have? All Boca Research products carry a five-year warranty. Section B - Hardware Questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What kind of CD-ROM drives does the Sound Expression support? The Sound Expression SE14SRS, SE34SRS and SE34SVD supports Enhanced IDE CD-ROM drives only. 2. What are the specifications for the modem on the Sound Expression? - Supports up to 14.4Kbps data transmissions (28.8Kbps for SE34SRS and SE34SVD) - Supports up to 14.4Kbps fax transmissions - Maximum throughput up to 57.6Kbps with data compression (115.2Kbps for SE34SRS and SE34SVD) - Supports Class 1 and Class 2 fax specifications - Group 3 send and receive fax capability - Caller ID support - DSVD - Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data (SE34SVD only) - Protocol compatibility: V.34 (SE34SRS only) V.32, V.32bis; V.42/MNP2-4 and V.42bis/MNP5; V.22, V.22bis; Bell 212A, Bell 103; V.17, V.29, V.27ter, V.21 channel 2, EIA-578. 3. What are the specifications for the 16-bit sound? - Integrated sound controller compatible with SoundBlaster Pro, Adlib and Microsoft Windows Sound System. - 8 or 16 bit mono or stereo sound - Sample rates up to 44.1khz - Stereo FM synthesis with SRS 3-D Surround Sound - Built-in Soundblaster compatible digital audio processor 4. What hardware settings does the Sound Expression support? Modem: - Com port: 1, 2, 3, 4 (or 5 for Win95 PnP only) - IRQ: 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 or 11 Sound Blaster: - I/O Addresses: 220 and 240 - IRQ: 5, 7, 10 - DMA: 0, 1, 3 Windows Sound System: - I/O Addresses: 530, E80, F40, 604 - IRQ: 7, 9, 10, 11 - DMA: 0, 1, 3 CD-ROM: - I/O Addresses: 170 - IRQ: 15 MPU-401 Interface: - I/O Addresses: 300, 320, 330 - IRQ: 2/9, 5, 7 5. Can I install the Sound Expression with an existing sound card already installed? No. The Sound Expression is a sound card. You cannot have more than one sound card installed in your system or they will conflict. 6. Will the Sound Expression work with SoundBlaster compatible games and applications? Yes. The Sound Expression is 100% SoundBlaster and SoundBlaster Pro compatible. 7. What Chipset does the Sound Expression 14.4SRS and 28.8SRS use for the modem? Uses a Rockwell RCV14DPi-EC for the SE14SRS and RCV288DPi for the SE34SRS and SE34SVD. 8. What chipset is used for sound and MIDI? Crystal OPL3 chipset. 9. What are the Pin-outs for the CD Audio connectors on the Sound Expression? PIN 1 2 3 4 --------------------------------------------------------- Sony/IDE L G x R Panasonic x R G L Mitsumi R G L x R - Right speaker L - Left speaker G - Ground x - Unused 10. What are the Pin-outs for the Midi/Game port on the Sound Expression? Pin# Description --------------------------------------- 1 +5 Volts 2 Button 4 3 Position 0 4 Ground 5 Ground 6 Position 1 7 Button 5 8 +5 volts 9 +5 volts 10 Button 6 11 Position 6 12 TX MIDI 13 Position 3 14 Button 7 15 RX MIDI 11. What types of microphones are recommended? - Dynamic Microphone - impedance of 600ohms or less, 1/8" jack - Electret Microphone - sensitivity of -64dBspl (Sound Pressure Level), no Impedance rating, 1/8" jack. 12. What types of speakers are recommended? The Sound Expression can be used with either Amplified or Non-Amplified computer speakers. 13. Does the Sound Expression support a Wave Table add-on card? Yes. Any Waveblaster compatible wavetable card should work. We have tested cards from Crystal, Ensoniq, TurtleBeach, Creative Labs, Silicom and Genoa AudioBlitz Wave 32. 14. What External connectors are on the Sound Expression? RJ-11 for telephone line-in 1/8" Microphone Input 1/8" Line input 1/8" Line output 1/8" Speaker Input (for non-amplified speakers) Joystick / Midi port 15. How many phone lines does the Sound Expression support? The Sound Expression supports a single phone line only. 16. Does the Sound Expression contain an on-board speaker for the modem? No. The Sound Expression does not contain any on-board speaker. You must connect external speakers to the Sound Expression. 17. What is the recommended initialization string for the Sound Expression? AT&F&C1&D2&K3 18. Why can't I play audio CDs in Windows 3.1? If you get the error "YOUR CD-ROM DRIVE IS NOT AVAILABLE" when trying to play audio CDs, then Windows [MCI] CD-Audio driver is not installed. The CD-Audio driver is supplied by Microsoft with Windows, but is not installed by default. To install the Windows CD- Audio driver, first go to Windows Control Panel, then into DRIVERS. If you do not see the [MCI] CD-Audio driver listed, click on the Add button. You will then get a list of drivers which will include the [MCI] CD-Audio driver. You must then Add this driver and you will be prompted for your Windows diskettes to load the driver. Section C - MediaWorks Voicemail Software by MidiSoft ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Will MediaWorks automatically detect between Voice and Fax calls? Yes. MediaWorks will answer with the Main Greeting that you setup. At any time during the Main Greeting that Fax tones (or CNG tones) are detected, the fax will be received. 2. How many Mailboxes can I have in MediaWorks? You can have up to 89 mailboxes. 3. Is there a limit to the length of messages that MediaWorks can accept? You can set the maximum message length to 1, 2 or 3 minutes. 4. Can MediaWorks page me on my beeper when I receive a message and/or fax? Yes. You can set Midisoft Voice to send you a page whenever you receive a fax or a voice mail message. You can also choose to forward faxes to another fax machine. 5. Can people with rotary phones leave messages in MediaWorks? Yes, MediaWorks will allow rotary phone callers to leave a message during the main greeting. 6. Can MediaWorks forward my incoming faxes to another location? Yes. MediaWorks does have the ability to automatically forward your incoming faxes to a fax device at another location. 7. Can I use MediaWorks to call bulletin board services? Yes. MidiSoft Modem is a data terminal for data communications, such as bulletin board services and file transfers. 8. Does MediaWorks need to be running to receive voicemail and faxes? No. Only the Call Manager application needs to be running to receive voicemail and faxes. 9. Can I fax my existing documents directly from my word processor application? MediaWorks allows you to fax directly from any Windows applications, so you can fax your existing documents directly from the Windows word processor you already use. 10. Will MediaWorks fax from DOS applications. No. MediaWorks is a Windows application and only has the ability to fax out of other Windows applications. 11. How do I manually receive a fax? There is a manual receive option in MidiSoft Fax that appears in the FAX pull down menu. 12. Why is Call Manager answering with a handshake noise? Call Manager is assuming your modem is only a fax/data modem. This is because for some reason the wrong settings are in the MIDICOMM.INI file under [MODEM]. They should be: Modes available=Fax, Data, Voice, SpeakerPhone Mode=Fax, Data, Voice 13. I can't get the speakerphone to use the phonebook I set up in Fax. Phonebooks are not integrated in the current version of MediaWorks. 14. I can't hear messages that are left in my mailbox. Why? If you can hear wave files in other applications, it is most likely that Auto Convert to Wave files is not enabled under Options, Record Settings, in Midisoft Voice. There is no way to listen to RIFF files through this application. 15. Greetings are not playing. How come? If Call Manager is recognizing the call but not playing the greeting message, make sure that the greeting actually is selected in the appropriate mailbox. If the greeting you are not hearing is one you imported from a wave file, make sure the original wave file is 8 bits and either 11.025 or 22.050Khz. 16. I want to change the greeting, but there is no menu option for doing so. To change the greeting, select the greeting you want and then click on the cassette button located on the top tool bar in Midisoft Voice. 17. How do I leave memos for other mailboxes? Use Message, Record a Local Message, to record a message in your inbox. Then choose Mailbox, Forward Message to send that message to the desired recipients. 18. How come I can't hear the messages in the System folder? You can't listen to these because they are stored in RIFF format. These are not intended to be heard, used or manipulated by the user. 19. Midisoft Voice continues to page me even after I have successfully received a page. Why? Voice will keep attempting to page you for however many re-tries you specify, even if it is successfully able to connect using the pager number. There is no confirmation tone sent back to Call Manager after a page, and so it has no way of knowing whether a page is successful. Paging is designed to work this way as a safety measure. 20. Why do some of the documents I select for faxing not sent? How do I use Midisoft Fax to send a document from my word processor? You can only send standard ASCII text file, such as those viewable through Notepad. For other types of documents, you can fax them by using the document application's print option, selecting Midicomm Fax as the output. 21. How come Call Manager shuts down every time I use Midisoft Modem? Midisoft Modem requires constant availability of the com port. Only one program can access the com port at a given time, and so Call Manager must be closed so Midisoft Modem can have that access. 22. I have several messages in my inbox which won't play. I realize now that this is because I had Auto Convert to Wave Files unchecked under Options Record Settings in Voice, and consequently incoming messages were only stored in RIFF format on my drive. How can I listen to these files? Open MIDICOMM.INI, which is located in your Windows directory. Look for an entry called [VOX] and include (or change) the lines "OutputDevice=" and "InputDevice=" like this: OutputDevice=SPEAKER InputDevice=WAVEAUDIO (Valid entries for OutputDevice are HANDSET, SPEAKER, and WAVEAUDIO. Valid entries for InputDevice are HANDSET, MICROPHONE, and WAVEAUDIO.) Rerun Call Manager and Voice. You will be able to hear all messages now, since files are now played via your modem speaker. (The default setting for OutputDevice is WAVEAUDIO. With this default setting, only *.wav files can be played and heard since your sound card cannot play *.rif files. The Rockwell chip plays and records *.rif files.) Important: After listening to messages this way, change back the ini settings to WAVEAUDIO. Other input/output devices will not function properly in all respects. 23. How do I change the location information I entered during install? This information is located under [SPEAKER PHONE] in MIDICOMM.INI. 24. What if I forget my password? Look at VOX.INI in the MIDICOMM directory (not Windows). Look for an entry that looks like [User: {name}]. Then check the line "Password=" under that entry. 25. How can I change the top-level message? This message now says, "If you know the two digit extension of the person you wish to reach..." and is the first message you hear when calling in. You can change this by doing the following: 1. Record your greeting as an 8-bit wave file using AudioWorks (remember to hit the pause button to start recording in Audioworks, because the pause button comes on as soon as you start recording). 2. Run Voice. Select the Admin mailbox and choose Message Import WAV file as Greeting. Browse for the wave file you recorded, choose OK, and note the file name that is converted. (It will look like 00011011.WAV. The software is converting your wave file to a riff file, both of which will exist in the wave.dir and rif.dir directories under c:\midicomm. The only reason you are selecting Import WAV for Greeting is because it is an easy way to convert a wave file to a riff file.) 3. Annotate the converted file so you know what it is. e.g., call it "Introductory Greeting" or something like that. Select the greeting that was previously set for the Admin box and press the cassette button to set it back to be the Admin greeting (which is not the Intro greeting). Leave the greeting message you just created in step 2 in the Admin greeting folder. 4. Open VOX.INI, located in the MIDICOMM directory, and look for the line, "MSG_MAIL_BOXES_TOP_LEVEL=" under "[MSGINDEX]". Change the number following to the name of the copied rif file. Don't include the .RIF extension. For example, if the file converted during step 2 appeared as 00011011.WAV, you would have a line like this: [MSGINDEX] MSG_MAIL_BOXES_TOP_LEVEL=00011011 Note: That will not be the only entry under [MSGINDEX]. 5. Save VOX.INI, then rerun Voice and Call Manager. 26. How is caller ID handled? Caller ID needs to be supported by the remote caller's central office as well as your own central office (i.e., both users have to have their local telephone co. enabling caller ID). The caller ID information is passed between the first and second ring, and is detected and decoded by the hardware. The software simply receives this information (if it is provided) and displays it. The content of the caller ID depends on: a) what the sender's CO sends; b) what your CO receives and passes on; c) what your hardware/firmware decodes and passes on to the software and d) how your software interprets what is passed on to it. Currently, Midicomm only displays the phone number of the incoming call, even if you have name and number supported by your service. 27. Why do I end up with 0-page faxes in my inbox? This can happen if a user calls in and hangs up while the greeting message is playing. Midicomm will then hear silence on the line, which it will interpret as an incoming fax/data call. It will then try to answer the phone as a fax. After a while it will time out, report an error, and place a 0- page fax in your inbox. This is a known bug which has been fixed in our latest version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c), 1995, Boca Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Boca Research, BRI and the various Boca Research products contained herein are trademarks of Boca Research, Inc. Other references to computer products use trademarks owned by their respective manufacturers. The technical information contained herein is subject to change without notice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------