FMV Towns - very quiet sound output in Towns mode

[Kurasiu]

Hey everyone!
I recently managed to get the first model of FMV Towns, which I managed to restore to the former glory, including installing Japanese Windows 95, and setting a separate Towns partition via FMDISK utility.

However I have one last major problem - for some reason the sound output in Towns mode is very quiet! I have only one original game to test (Viewpoint), and I have to crank up the volume to maximum on the front panel to fainly hear the soundtrack playing on the headphones jack. Same on the audio out on the AWE32 in the back - when plugged in I just hear some noise and very quiet soundtrack.

I don't have much experience with these FMV machines, so at first I thought maybe I need to use the SB16 mixer, but setting it did no difference. I tested the card under Windows 95 and DOS games, and sure enough it works absolutely fine, with crisp, loud audio playing.

Is there something I'm missing (like a separate mixer software for the Towns mode), or is it a problem with the Towns card itself?

[Cyothevile]

I don't own an FMV to study but from what I've first hand observed the sound OPAMPs on some Marty and even a desktop have had a similar issue with BGM audio.

Put tatsujin oh in your PC and go to the options setting and do the BGM audio test. Is it ONLY the BGM audio that is jacked up or is it *all* audio?

[Kurasiu]

Thanks for the tip! I've actually managed to find the issue... or rather my lack of knowledge.

Turns out I completely forgot about the audio in/out port on the Towns PCI card. I had no idea it requires a separate cable to play audio in Towns mode (for some reason I thought AWE32 alone can output Towns audio by default). By making a very quick mini DIN-8 cable, I've verified that it indeed works absolutely fine.

So yeah, problem solved. Leaving this for any future FMV Towns owners who would happen to stumble on the same issue.