philscomputerlab wrote:

Has anyone got a recording of the MT-32 emulation?

Something challenging, like Wing Commander, Space Quest III or The Heart of China would be interesting.

I happen to have an Orchid Soundwave 32 with the standard ROMS (bought one a couple of years ago for cheap when the wave table synthesis bug bit me).
I'm not quite sure what part of the MT-32 it is suppose to emulate but, I couldn't get it to run with Space Quest III (I might have missed something).
However, after hearing the quality of the card's samples, I wasn't too bothered to try any further.
The card only supports Sound Blaster (DSP 2.0), meaning you're stuck with mono Sound Blaster digital output.

However, I can try perhaps and see if I can get it working with an intelligent mode game.
I wouldn't mind obtaining some of those Invision ROMS but, after hearing some of the recordings of moturimi1, I'm also not overwhelmed.

Why is this thread in the emulation forum?

jesolo, you might have to use SoftMPU?

Or you could test Fate of Atlantis or Monkey Island 2. I believe these games don't require an intelligent mode compatible MPU401 interface.

Moved to Marvin.

philscomputerlab wrote:

Has anyone got a recording of the MT-32 emulation?

Something challenging, like Wing Commander, Space Quest III or The Heart of China would be interesting.

Here are some recordings of MT-32 emulation I made quite some time ago:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99196890/ … arrivalMT32.MP3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99196890/ … y2introMT32.MP3

collector wrote:

Why is this thread in the emulation forum?

Just look at my registration date and first post timestamp. I was a lurker and a newbie here 😀

philscomputerlab wrote:

jesolo, you might have to use SoftMPU?

Or you could test Fate of Atlantis or Monkey Island 2. I believe these games don't require an intelligent mode compatible MPU401 interface.

Apologies, I wasn't very clear. It does playback General MIDI and "normal" MT-32 music but, I wasn't quite sure how it was supposed to work with games that requires an intelligent mode MPU-401 interface. Back then, SoftMPU did not exist.

Does it emulate an MT-32 by just remapping the instruments (similar to some other wavetable cards) or, is it able to interpret the sysex commands of the MT-32 as well?
I could perhaps now try to playback via SoftMPU and see what happens but, the sound quality of the samples is still not very good.

RacoonRider wrote:

Here are some recordings of MT-32 emulation I made quite some time ago:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99196890/ … arrivalMT32.MP3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99196890/ … y2introMT32.MP3

Thanks for that!

"Does it emulate an MT-32 by just remapping the instruments (similar to some other wavetable cards)"

AFAIK yes: there is no uploading of patches to the MT-32. But it sounded pretty nice among its contemporaries, I think.

Jesolo, pls. drop me a living email address of yours via PM. (For some reason my PMs do not lauch from the Outbox)

RacoonRider wrote:

Here are some recordings of MT-32 emulation I made quite some time ago:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99196890/ … arrivalMT32.MP3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99196890/ … y2introMT32.MP3

By the way, this surely does not sound like the worst sound card ever to me, does it to you?

I hate to quote Wikipedia... but I read this and it seemed suspicious:

Wikipedia wrote:

the Orchid SoundWave 32 card released by Orchid in 1994, whose on-board DSP allowed for a more faithful reproduction of the original sound characteristics.

Can anyone confirm the SoundWave uses DSP functions to more faithfully replicate LA synthesis?

Mine dates 1993... They are probably wrong.

Just to correct some wrong information provided earlier in this thread:

The original ROMs (Prosonus) were 2x 512KB = 1MB ROM which contain 2MB sound font (compressed)
The later ROMs (Invision) were 2x 1MB = 2MB ROM which contain 4MB sound font (compressed)

Let me add just some lines about the sound: It doesn't compete with Yamaha, Korg or Roland, neither regarding the sample quality nor in terms of harmonic sample adjustment. Some of the Prosonus instruments sound like sampled FM-tunes, not like recordings from real music instruments. The samples in the Invision ROM are better, but still leave much to be desired. But the card has its own charm. In some games like Settlers or Warcraft III, the lead orchestral instruments are much less opulent / less pronounced as in sound fonts from other makers. The quite minimalistic appearance gives a whole different interpretation of the very same played notes, as some instruments are not longer subpressed by an all-present orchestra. For example in Warcraft III I LOVE the biggest of all brass instruments, the tuba. It sounds really nice and makes the song an interesting listening experience.

Best regards
Fabian

Thanks, Fabian.

as you can see, some of us wanted to make further comparative recordings but you have beaten us to the conclusion.
I think percussions are also better on the Invision ROMs. (Punchier, having depth)

I am a bit puzzled about the size of ROMs. Maybe there are THREE versions... ???

Now I have the original 2 x 512 kb pair of Orchid (EuPhonics) ROMs - but this is about 750 kb data zusammen, the bigger part of the second chip is filled with zeros !!! (It is not trucated, closing copyright string is present at EOF )

AND

another 2 x 512 kb set, (Invision string on the sticker on the chips, not in the binary dump). The second ROM chip here also has some blank space at the end, although only about 40 kb. (It is not truncated either, EOF string is there.)

If anyone is positive about having 2 x 1 mb ROMs on an Orchid SW32, please make a recording of anything we already have. The DOOM soundtrack might be a good first choice...

Jolaes, now I'm starting to get confused. I always thought I have the non-Invision ROMs, but if how do I know for sure? The only thing I'm sure about is that they are 1Mb. Here's the card:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99196890/ … ns/P1020992.JPG

From 1st glance you have the exact same card as I.
You need to dump the ROM content to be 100 percent sure, but I already did that on a card with the exact same looking ROM chips. yes, I consider these to be the first, ORCHID made ROMs.
The problems you wrote about in 2012 may originate in using the wrong driver for the card. This card needs v 1.4.

Jolaes76 wrote:

The 2 x 512 kb set, (Invision string on the sticker on the chips, not in the binary dump). The second ROM chip here also has some blank space at the end, although only about 40 kb. (It is not truncated either, EOF string is there.)

I think in all cases where XXX-0004 is written on the chips this means 4 MBit --> 512 KB.
As far as I know there are 8 MBit (1 MB) ROMs out there, but in this case only 1 chip is installed (you can real the manual).
Of course I would be happy if someone was able to check out wheather there is a InnoVision ROM with 2 MB compressed wavetable samples or not.

I also checked my other sound card, a Orchid SW32 SCSI. It has the same InnoVision Roms and looks like this one: http://www.yjfy.com/images/oldhard/sound/Soun … ave_32_SCSI.jpg It sounds the same and also has 2 x 512 KB ROMS = 2 MB uncompressed wavetable data. The Jumper is in the 2 MB position.

Here is one more recording: The intro of ECO Quest 1 (GM): https://www.dropbox.com/s/xjfzx4t2oy3dmsn/Eco … vision.mp3?dl=0
Sounds much better than DOOM or the Dark Forces Intro. I think the brass section is one of the cards weaknesses as well as the strings.

MT32 emulation is a mess, even though I use the correct driver version and DSP. (version 2.1 and seperate MT32.LD)
Here is a sample of a part of the SQ4 intro: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ar5oy1vocyd2ve/Emu … 20_SQ4.mp3?dl=0

I must say I'm also very intrigued and would very much like to know if there were two "versions" of the Invision ROMs.

I did some digging and came across this topic: Re: Find information about Orchid SoundWave 32
Most of what we've discussed already is addressed in the topic. So, won't repeat it again.
The Soundwave 32 & Pro manuals state the following:
"There are two 512K Wavetable ROM chips on the SoundWave32(Pro), which stores 2MB of compressed sample sounds. The DSP on the card decompresses the sample sounds when it plays them.
The default setting of 512K gives you 2MB of authentic instrument recording. The 1MB setting is for the optional 4MB of sample sounds."

The SoundWave 32+ & SCSI models' manuals state the following:
"The SoundWave 32+SCSI and SoundWave 32+Studio uses two 512K Wavetable ROM chips for 2MB of compressed sample sounds. The SoundWave 32Pro SCSI used a single 1MB ROM chip for 2MB of compressed sample sounds."

Therefore, according to the manuals, the optional ROMs (which I presume are the Invision ones) must be 4MB uncompressed or 2 x 1MB compressed (it cannot be 2 x 512K ROMs).
It would be nice if someone has one of those ROM chips, as I would like to hear what those recording sounds like with the updated DSP code.

The original InVision ROMs are 2x 1MB . The original Prosonus ROMs are 2x 512K. Hence the according jumpers on the card and the reference to the ROMs in the manual. I could provide pictures if needed. I have both versions and both firmware codes. One must use the updated firmware with the Invision ROMSs. If you run the regular firmware, the instruments sound screwed up. Also one should be a bit generous when it comes to file sizes. When a company claims "1MB sound font" or "4MB sound font" the actual filesize may vary. I think it is ok to call claim "4MB sound font" even if the actual size may be 3.7MB or so. Also, the powerful ADSP-2115 decompresses samples in realtime so the uncompressed size of the actual waveform samples might remain unknown to us (at least without further investigations).

Is this card GM or GS? DOS or Windows? What kind of soundfont does it use? Year of issue? Original price? Was this offerred only through Gateway?

dnewhous wrote:

Is this card GM or GS? DOS or Windows? What kind of soundfont does it use? Year of issue? Original price? Was this offerred only through Gateway?

• General MIDI only, but also supports the Roland MT-32 via instrument remapping.
• Both DOS & Windows.
• It doesn't use soundfonts, since the card doesn't have onboard RAM (samples are either stored in two ROM chips or one ROM chip, the latter being for the later models). Refer earlier posts for the type of ROMS that the card had or that were optional.
• 1993
• Original price (for the SoundWave 32): $299 (refer https://books.google.co.za/books?id=nhSywJ4rn … 20price&f=false)
• No, Orchid Technology marketed their own sound card. It might have been bundled with Gateway computers (similar to how other manufacturers, like Packard Bell, bundled Aztech cards with their PC's).

Downside:

• No real OPL2 or OPL3 chips (OPL2 emulated via software, poorly).
• Standard onboard MIDI samples are crap (for a lack of a better word). Optional Invision ROMS provided slightly better quality samples, but still not in your Roland/Yamaha playing field.
• No Sound Blaster Pro compatibility, only Sound Blaster 2.0 (mono).
• No Wave Blaster header (although, there were other "wavetable" sound cards that also didn't have a Wave Blaster header, like your Aztech Sound Galaxy Waverider cards).

Attached the manual of the original SoundWave 32 (refer the Technical specifications for more detail on the card). It also provides more information on the capabilities of the card.