Very nice!

I guess this conclusion also applies to the 718?

I think I actually got an ESS Audio Drive.

Excellent job, mate. Very interesting results! Thank you for doing this 😀

Did you happen to notice if one was more speed sensitive than the other?

Also, what is the mixer like? Can you control digital vs wavetable? That never quite worked with the Audician 32 Plus for me.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Also, what is the mixer like? Can you control digital vs wavetable? That never quite worked with the Audician 32 Plus for me.

The mixer - like the card initialisation software - is simple yet effective. Yes you can control the wavetable independently - and you could with the Audician too from memory but it was an infuriating case of trial and error. I think one of the WSS settings did the trick for me.

The warmer sound of the Audiodrive is something I appreciate too - much closer to a real SB Pro 2 than most clones I've tried.

Your findings regarding the OPL are interesting though - the ES1688 is never accompanied by a real OPL3 in my experience, always their clone called ESFM or some such. Don't get me wrong I think ESFM sounds great, but I would have thought the OPLSAx cards would win with regards to accuracy given they have a real OPL3 in 'em.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

I guess this conclusion also applies to the 718?

Yep.

clueless1 wrote:

Did you happen to notice if one was more speed sensitive than the other?

EDIT: No.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Also, what is the mixer like? Can you control digital vs wavetable? That never quite worked with the Audician 32 Plus for me.

As badmojo already said, yes.
You can control the wavetable return, synth (FM), Wave, line, mic, cd return, and master.

badmojo wrote:

The warmer sound of the Audiodrive is something I appreciate too - much closer to a real SB Pro 2 than most clones I've tried.

This is actually important to have a brickwall filter at the niquist frequency (half the sampling rate) to eliminate aliasing.
CD and sound cards at 44.1Khz have a brick wall filter at 20Khz to 22Kz to eliminate aliasing, it is no different on a 22Khz cards like the SB.
The SB-Pro2 has a 22Khz sampling rate in DOS and the brickwall 10Khz lowpass filter has a scientific reason behind it, plus the major nostalgic value of the games sounding just like they used to.

badmojo wrote:

Your findings regarding the OPL are interesting though - the ES1688 is never accompanied by a real OPL3 in my experience, always their clone called ESFM or some such.

This is indeed very different, but to me it sounds more correct on the ES1688 than the YMF719.
Just listen to the lead instrument sound, it is more like a saxophone with good vibrato on the ES1688 compared to a thin mosquito-like sound on the YMF.
I think we need a recording from a SP-PRO 2 card of the the Stunts track for verification.

Sweet. Badmojo has already documented a few of the ESS cards. I'll have a look at mine at home and test it when I get around. Once I've done all the Super Socket 7 videos, I can do DOS type videos for a while so that should come in handy.

These are the two ESS cards I have:

James-F wrote:

Just listen to the lead instrument sound, it is more like a saxophone with good vibrato on the ES1688 compared to a thin mosquito-like sound on the YMF.
I think we need a recording from a SP-PRO 2 card of the the Stunts track for verification.

Interesting. And I agree with you on the sax. Could it be that ESFM is actually better sounding than a real OPL3? The YMF sounds like every other card with OPL3 (with more or less onboard filtering).

Phil, the second one has a dry leaf on the PCB, some say it's a crucial component to the fantastic sound of that card. 😁

oerk wrote:

Could it be that ESFM is actually better sounding than a real OPL3?

It does sound better on this example. 😀

EDIT:
I've posted another example from Warcraft where Nuked/YMF719 sounds different to ES1688 OPL.
Mind you, Nuked-OPL is perfect emulation of the YMF289/YMF262 chip, but it sounds like the ES1688 has something different going on and sound not bad at all.

To not upload the same files twice, here they are:
DOSBOX fork with better FM synthesis?

EDIT 2:
Okay it has been clarified to me that the ES1688 is the different sounding chip, not the YMF719.
Further info: Re: DOSBOX fork with better FM synthesis?

The ES1688 has more raw/gritty OPL3 sound on a particular waveform (which I definitely like), it stays in my MMX build because the more compatible SB-Pro2 emulation with proper lowpass filter.

EDIT: non relevant.

We should come up with a list of things to test for whenever someone wants to test a sound card, especially the less known ones?

Absolutely.

I have found a bug plaguing all the SB-Pro cards, but it deserves it's own thread.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

We should come up with a list of things to test for whenever someone wants to test a sound card, especially the less known ones?

I would vote for including recordings of music from various "sound setup" programs. I know people tend to use the most liked songs from certain games but I think its much easier to simply hop into a game's sound setup application and hit "test music". Besides, in my DOS\9x system I have 5 music options under Windows that I can switch between without leaving the sound setup program (OPL3, built in AWE32 soundfont from the game, installed soundfont, MT32 or MT200 GM\GS), so if I want to compare the sound of someone's recordings online of various output options, I can directly compare them to mine without having to go back and forth or mess with output settings that are more problematic to change (like in Windows).

James-F wrote:

I have found a bug plaguing all the SB-Pro cards, but it deserves it's own thread.

Hum, but the SB-Pro is the de-facto standard OPL3 card... so aren't all other cards buggy when they don't do what the SB Pro does? 😀

Ozzuneoj wrote:

I would vote for including recordings of music from various "sound setup" programs. I know people tend to use the most liked songs from certain games but I think its much easier to simply hop into a game's sound setup application and hit "test music". Besides, in my DOS\9x system I have 5 music options under Windows that I can switch between without leaving the sound setup program (OPL3, built in AWE32 soundfont from the game, installed soundfont, MT32 or MT200 GM\GS), so if I want to compare the sound of someone's recordings online of various output options, I can directly compare them to mine without having to go back and forth or mess with output settings that are more problematic to change (like in Windows).

I like the idea with the "test music". Anything that makes testing simpler gets my vote 😀

I can think of a few: Descent, Descent 2, Dark Forces, Duke 3D, Wing Commander III

Know of any others?

Phil, that second card is interesting. I haven't seen before an ESS card with discrete OPL chip. I wonder what that "ESS sound" jumper does. It would be cool if it allowed you to switch FM sound between ESFM and OPL. 😀

It would be interesting to know if the ES1868 is as good as ES1688... it seems to be easier to find. 😀

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

I like the idea with the "test music". Anything that makes testing simpler gets my vote :) […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote:

I would vote for including recordings of music from various "sound setup" programs. I know people tend to use the most liked songs from certain games but I think its much easier to simply hop into a game's sound setup application and hit "test music". Besides, in my DOS\9x system I have 5 music options under Windows that I can switch between without leaving the sound setup program (OPL3, built in AWE32 soundfont from the game, installed soundfont, MT32 or MT200 GM\GS), so if I want to compare the sound of someone's recordings online of various output options, I can directly compare them to mine without having to go back and forth or mess with output settings that are more problematic to change (like in Windows).

I like the idea with the "test music". Anything that makes testing simpler gets my vote 😀

I can think of a few: Descent, Descent 2, Dark Forces, Duke 3D, Wing Commander III

Know of any others?

Warcraft II

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

We should come up with a list of things to test for whenever someone wants to test a sound card, especially the less known ones?

I would start with these:
* Capable 8-bit to 2-bit ADPC, required in games like Duke Nukem II.
* Lowpass Filter frequency and a screenshot of white noise.
* Harmonic Distortion with -0.1dbFS 440Hz sinewave, measurement and screenshot.
* Signal to Noise Floor measurement (RMS noise floor to -0.1dbFS Signal Peak before clipping).
* OPL3 quality and accuracy to Nuked-OPL (because it has zero noise and 100% accurate to YMF262).
* MPU-401 availability, free of hanging note bug, free of stuttering in games like Duke3D.

How would one get these graphs? I remember analysing recordings with Audacity, it clearly showed the difference with the SB Pro 2 output filter on and of.

Other things I would be interest in:

- Is R and L swapped? If so, does this affect everything, just digital, FM, what about wavetable.
- "computer thinking noises"
- Games that are known to be tricky for compatibility (any candidates?)
- Does it have PC speaker input?
- Does it have treble and bass options?
- Any sound processing like 3D Stereo or Stereo Expand
- Any sound processing like adding Chorus or Reverb
- Line-out, speaker out or configurable?
- Do large wavetable boards fit?
- Ease of driver installation