There are games that used a special TB MIDI chip? Hmm... I never saw any.

But damn. I agree. MT-32 first!!

Snover wrote:

There are games that used a special TB MIDI chip? Hmm... I never saw any.

Not that I know of, but it's still an intriguing possibility - use VDMSound as a general soundcard emulation framework.

Another odd idea: could one emulate a soundcard using software and have it show up as a device in Windows 2000/XP Device Manager to be used? You'd think so, but I don't believe any third-party hacker has done it yet. 😀

Why would one make a "software soundcard"? Atleast why would one make a software MIDI card? MIDI is just the means to control a synthesizer... no drivers involved

I like the idea of a software driver for the sblive MPU-401 midi out port though !

Stiletto wrote:

Not that I know of, but it's still an intriguing possibility - use VDMSound as a general soundcard emulation framework.

Me want Gravis Ultrasound in VDMSound.

You get GUS emulation at http://listen.to/gusemu/ as standalone application. 😀

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Me want Gravis Ultrasound in VDMSound.

Stiletto wrote:

Not that I know of, but it's still an intriguing possibility - use VDMSound as a general soundcard emulation framework.

Can be done, though there aren't many soundcards left to emulate (that do anything fancier than SB, AdLib, etc... except for Tandy maybe but then trhe graphics get all screwed up with Sierra games).

Stiletto wrote:

Another odd idea: could one emulate a soundcard using software and have it show up as a device in Windows 2000/XP Device Manager to be used? You'd think so, but I don't believe any third-party hacker has done it yet. 😀

Yes, can do it, that's how Windows' MIDI soft-synth works (though it interacts with the k-mode mixer directly I'm afraid). But you can easily write a driver that takes in the requests then passes them to a user-land process that can then use DirectSound and so on without messing with the k-mixer (kernel-mode sound mixer).

MT-32 update: just got an USB interface that I'll use to digitally record the MT-32 and even take a sneak preview at the ROM 😁 . Of course, it will be weeks before I can do anything with it because of work and so on, but hell, we're getting there! Should be able to achieve around 1MBps (around 250ksamples/second at 16-bit stereo, i.e. around 5x oversampling which is quite gewd!)

V.

vladr wrote:

You get GUS emulation at http://listen.to/gusemu/ as standalone application.

Smartypants. You know we discussed this before, his emulator is great, but apparently only for demos (as in hacker demos), not games. I've yet to hear of a single GUS game that worked with it. Can't you just swipe his code or something? Heh.

Have you e-mailed him to ask him why GusEMU won't work with the games in question? He's a very nice guy, I'm sure he'll anwer you, if not ask me and I'll contact him (we kept in touch for a while). Beware, he may reply in German after seeing your alias, so make sure that the language of correspondence is established first. 😀

V.

vladr wrote:

Have you e-mailed him to ask him why GusEMU won't work with the games in question?

Finally broke down and mailed him. Just couldn't think of a casual way of saying "Hey could you make this thing compatible with every GUS game? Thanks."

vladr wrote:

MT-32 update: just got an USB interface that I'll use to digitally record the MT-32 and even take a sneak preview at the ROM 😁 . Of course, it will be weeks before I can do anything with it because of work and so on, but hell, we're getting there! Should be able to achieve around 1MBps (around 250ksamples/second at 16-bit stereo, i.e. around 5x oversampling which is quite gewd!)

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Finally broke down and mailed him. Just couldn't think of a casual way of saying "Hey could you make this thing compatible with every GUS game? Thanks."

Great. I was going through the same dilemma.

You may need to make a rough list of games that could use the GUS for him, we should start a separate thread for that.

I've been hoping that he'd give permission for GUSEmu to be integrated into VDMSound as a component, although it could still have its own separate identity as a system-wide thing. But that's for Vlad and him to hash out.

Snover wrote:

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Samples == bad if used IN simulation, but good if used to DERIVE emulation. But the best is when you have enough documentation and enough reverse-engineering of the silicon that you don't NEED samples if but to verify your emulation. That's what hanging around MAMEDEVs has taught me, at least. Have fun, Vlad. But I'd roll all the patches and updates into VDMSound 2.05 first, if I were you. Still, there's no reason why you couldn't work on both at once. 😀

vladr wrote:

Can be done, though there aren't many soundcards left to emulate (that do anything fancier than SB, AdLib, etc... except for Tandy maybe but then trhe graphics get all screwed up with Sierra games).

... Hm, I shall start a new list: "Cards to Emulate" 😉

Yes, can do it, that's how Windows' MIDI soft-synth works (though it interacts with the k-mode mixer directly I'm afraid). But you can easily write a driver that takes in the requests then passes them to a user-land process that can then use DirectSound and so on without messing with the k-mixer (kernel-mode sound mixer).

...and other soft-synths. I just wondered if it would be "easier" than what VDMSound is currently doing.

Stiletto wrote:

I've been hoping that he'd give permission for GUSEmu to be integrated into VDMSound as a component, ...

Reply received. Unfortunately,:

Most games use either the GUS MIDI, which is an emulation
requiring an TSR driver under DOS, or they use DMA for
uploading sample data to the GUS.
However, most games also use protected mode, and protected
mode DMA compatibility within a DOS box is not something
Windows (both 9s as well as NT) is good at.

We´re already in contact, both having the same problem.
A solution is not found yet, though.
------------------------------------------------
Hrmm. There's got to be a GUS game somewhere that accesses the audio card like those demos do...

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Reply received. Unfortunately,: Most games use either the GUS MIDI, which is an emulation requiring an TSR driver under DOS, or […]
Show full quote

Reply received. Unfortunately,:

Most games use either the GUS MIDI, which is an emulation
requiring an TSR driver under DOS, or they use DMA for
uploading sample data to the GUS.
However, most games also use protected mode, and protected
mode DMA compatibility within a DOS box is not something
Windows (both 9s as well as NT) is good at.

We´re already in contact, both having the same problem.
A solution is not found yet, though.
------------------------------------------------
Hrmm. There's got to be a GUS game somewhere that accesses the audio card like those demos do...

... ... ... it can't be impossible... ... ... 🙁