diff --git a/Documentation/sound/alsa/ALSA-Configuration.txt b/Documentation/sound/alsa/ALSA-Configuration.txt
index d766054..3df33ea 100644
--- a/Documentation/sound/alsa/ALSA-Configuration.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sound/alsa/ALSA-Configuration.txt
@@ -1716,8 +1716,52 @@
     dma2            - DMA2 # for CS4232 PCM interface.
     isapnp          - ISA PnP detection - 0 = disable, 1 = enable (default)
 
+    The below are options for wavefront_synth features:
+    wf_raw	    - Assume that we need to boot the OS (default:no)
+	If yes, then during driver loading, the state of the board is
+	ignored, and we reset the board and load the firmware anyway.
+    fx_raw	    - Assume that the FX process needs help (default:yes)
+	If false, we'll leave the FX processor in whatever state it is
+	when the driver is loaded.  The default is to download the
+	microprogram and associated coefficients to set it up for
+	"default" operation, whatever that means.
+    debug_default   - Debug parameters for card initialization
+    wait_usecs	    - How long to wait without sleeping, usecs
+		      (default:150)
+	This magic number seems to give pretty optimal throughput
+	based on my limited experimentation. 
+	If you want to play around with it and find a better value, be
+	my guest. Remember, the idea is to get a number that causes us
+	to just busy wait for as many WaveFront commands as possible,
+	without coming up with a number so large that we hog the whole
+	CPU. 
+	Specifically, with this number, out of about 134,000 status
+	waits, only about 250 result in a sleep. 
+    sleep_interval  - How long to sleep when waiting for reply
+		      (default: 100)
+    sleep_tries	    - How many times to try sleeping during a wait
+		      (default: 50)
+    ospath	    - Pathname to processed ICS2115 OS firmware
+		      (default:wavefront.os)
+	The path name of the ISC2115 OS firmware.  In the recent
+	version, it's handled via firmware loader framework, so it
+	must be installed in the proper path, typically,
+	/lib/firmware.
+    reset_time	    - How long to wait for a reset to take effect
+		      (default:2)
+    ramcheck_time   - How many seconds to wait for the RAM test
+		      (default:20)
+    osrun_time	    - How many seconds to wait for the ICS2115 OS
+		      (default:10)
+
     This module supports multiple cards and ISA PnP.
 
+    Note: the firmware file "wavefront.os" was located in the earlier
+          version in /etc.  Now it's loaded via firmware loader, and
+	  must be in the proper firmware path, such as /lib/firmware.
+	  Copy (or symlink) the file appropriately if you get an error
+	  regarding firmware downloading after upgrading the kernel.
+
   Module snd-sonicvibes
   ---------------------
 
diff --git a/sound/isa/Kconfig b/sound/isa/Kconfig
index ea5084a..6b6aa2c 100644
--- a/sound/isa/Kconfig
+++ b/sound/isa/Kconfig
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@
 config SND_WAVEFRONT
 	tristate "Turtle Beach Maui,Tropez,Tropez+ (Wavefront)"
 	depends on SND
-	select FW_LOADER if !SND_WAVEFRONT_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL
+	select FW_LOADER
 	select SND_OPL3_LIB
 	select SND_MPU401_UART
 	select SND_CS4231_LIB
@@ -430,8 +430,9 @@
 	depends on SND_WAVEFRONT
 	default y
 	help
-	  Say Y here to include the static firmware built in the kernel
-	  for the Wavefront driver.  If you choose N here, you need to
-	  install the firmware files from the alsa-firmware package.
+	  Say Y here to include the static firmware for FX DSP built in
+	  the kernel for the Wavefront driver.  If you choose N here,
+	  you need to install the firmware files from the
+	  alsa-firmware package.
 
 endmenu
diff --git a/sound/isa/wavefront/wavefront_synth.c b/sound/isa/wavefront/wavefront_synth.c
index bacc51c..2da11e8 100644
--- a/sound/isa/wavefront/wavefront_synth.c
+++ b/sound/isa/wavefront/wavefront_synth.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <linux/delay.h>
 #include <linux/time.h>
 #include <linux/wait.h>
+#include <linux/firmware.h>
 #include <linux/moduleparam.h>
 #include <sound/core.h>
 #include <sound/snd_wavefront.h>
@@ -53,9 +54,8 @@
 
 /* XXX this needs to be made firmware and hardware version dependent */
 
-static char *ospath = "/etc/sound/wavefront.os"; /* where to find a processed
-						    version of the WaveFront OS
-						 */
+#define DEFAULT_OSPATH	"wavefront.os"
+static char *ospath = DEFAULT_OSPATH; /* the firmware file name */
 
 static int wait_usecs = 150; /* This magic number seems to give pretty optimal
 				throughput based on my limited experimentation.
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
 module_param(sleep_tries, int, 0444);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(sleep_tries, "how many times to try sleeping during a wait");
 module_param(ospath, charp, 0444);
-MODULE_PARM_DESC(ospath, "full pathname to processed ICS2115 OS firmware");
+MODULE_PARM_DESC(ospath, "pathname to processed ICS2115 OS firmware");
 module_param(reset_time, int, 0444);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(reset_time, "how long to wait for a reset to take effect");
 module_param(ramcheck_time, int, 0444);
@@ -1938,111 +1938,75 @@
 	return (1);
 }
 
-#include <linux/fs.h>
-#include <linux/mm.h>
-#include <linux/slab.h>
-#include <linux/unistd.h>
-#include <linux/syscalls.h>
-#include <asm/uaccess.h>
-
-
 static int __devinit
 wavefront_download_firmware (snd_wavefront_t *dev, char *path)
 
 {
-	unsigned char section[WF_SECTION_MAX];
-	signed char section_length; /* yes, just a char; max value is WF_SECTION_MAX */
+	unsigned char *buf;
+	int len, err;
 	int section_cnt_downloaded = 0;
-	int fd;
-	int c;
-	int i;
-	mm_segment_t fs;
+	const struct firmware *firmware;
 
-	/* This tries to be a bit cleverer than the stuff Alan Cox did for
-	   the generic sound firmware, in that it actually knows
-	   something about the structure of the Motorola firmware. In
-	   particular, it uses a version that has been stripped of the
-	   20K of useless header information, and had section lengths
-	   added, making it possible to load the entire OS without any
-	   [kv]malloc() activity, since the longest entity we ever read is
-	   42 bytes (well, WF_SECTION_MAX) long.
-	*/
-
-	fs = get_fs();
-	set_fs (get_ds());
-
-	if ((fd = sys_open ((char __user *) path, 0, 0)) < 0) {
-		snd_printk ("Unable to load \"%s\".\n",
-			path);
+	err = request_firmware(&firmware, path, dev->card->dev);
+	if (err < 0) {
+		snd_printk(KERN_ERR "firmware (%s) download failed!!!\n", path);
 		return 1;
 	}
 
-	while (1) {
-		int x;
-
-		if ((x = sys_read (fd, (char __user *) &section_length, sizeof (section_length))) !=
-		    sizeof (section_length)) {
-			snd_printk ("firmware read error.\n");
-			goto failure;
-		}
-
-		if (section_length == 0) {
+	len = 0;
+	buf = firmware->data;
+	for (;;) {
+		int section_length = *(signed char *)buf;
+		if (section_length == 0)
 			break;
-		}
-
 		if (section_length < 0 || section_length > WF_SECTION_MAX) {
-			snd_printk ("invalid firmware section length %d\n",
-				    section_length);
+			snd_printk(KERN_ERR
+				   "invalid firmware section length %d\n",
+				   section_length);
 			goto failure;
 		}
+		buf++;
+		len++;
 
-		if (sys_read (fd, (char __user *) section, section_length) != section_length) {
-			snd_printk ("firmware section "
-				"read error.\n");
+		if (firmware->size < len + section_length) {
+			snd_printk(KERN_ERR "firmware section read error.\n");
 			goto failure;
 		}
 
 		/* Send command */
-	
-		if (wavefront_write (dev, WFC_DOWNLOAD_OS)) {
+		if (wavefront_write(dev, WFC_DOWNLOAD_OS))
 			goto failure;
-		}
 	
-		for (i = 0; i < section_length; i++) {
-			if (wavefront_write (dev, section[i])) {
+		for (; section_length; section_length--) {
+			if (wavefront_write(dev, *buf))
 				goto failure;
-			}
+			buf++;
+			len++;
 		}
 	
 		/* get ACK */
-	
-		if (wavefront_wait (dev, STAT_CAN_READ)) {
-
-			if ((c = inb (dev->data_port)) != WF_ACK) {
-
-				snd_printk ("download "
-					    "of section #%d not "
-					    "acknowledged, ack = 0x%x\n",
-					    section_cnt_downloaded + 1, c);
-				goto failure;
-		
-			}
-
-		} else {
-			snd_printk ("time out for firmware ACK.\n");
+		if (!wavefront_wait(dev, STAT_CAN_READ)) {
+			snd_printk(KERN_ERR "time out for firmware ACK.\n");
+			goto failure;
+		}
+		err = inb(dev->data_port);
+		if (err != WF_ACK) {
+			snd_printk(KERN_ERR
+				   "download of section #%d not "
+				   "acknowledged, ack = 0x%x\n",
+				   section_cnt_downloaded + 1, err);
 			goto failure;
 		}
 
+		section_cnt_downloaded++;
 	}
 
-	sys_close (fd);
-	set_fs (fs);
+	release_firmware(firmware);
 	return 0;
 
  failure:
-	sys_close (fd);
-	set_fs (fs);
-	snd_printk ("firmware download failed!!!\n");
+	release_firmware(firmware);
+	snd_printk(KERN_ERR "firmware download failed!!!\n");
 	return 1;
 }
 
@@ -2232,3 +2196,5 @@
 
 	return 0;
 }
+
+MODULE_FIRMWARE(DEFAULT_OSPATH);