So just to clarify, ESFM is the name of the OPL clone they are using?

I take it it's one of the better clones available?

Call me stupid, but I think the music in Doom actually sounds good using Ensoniq's "simulated FM Synthesis." Dark Forces, on the other hand, sounds bad.

Say, may I provide a recording of Star Wars X-Wing's opening from my OPTi 82C929A?

You can provide whatever recordings you would like. 😀 Would be great. I'm fresh out of stuff to record I think.

ESFM is what ESS calls their FM synth. They say that it has some extra capabilities over OPL3, but obviously it sounds almost identical when mimicking an OPL3.

I can record various sound cards for you using X-Wing:

-SoundBlaster AWE64
-Diamond Multimedia Monster Sound with Aureal Vortex 2 chipset
-ESS Maestro-2 ES1968S
-C-Media CMI8738
-C-Media CMI8738 LX(just bought this a few minutes ago)
-SoundBlaster Vibra128
-SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
-ESS Solo-1(also newly acquired)
-ESS AudioDrive ES1868F(third newly-acquired sound card)
-Aztech AZT2320
-OPTi 82C931

And here's a sound clip of X-Wing using my OPTi 82C929A(NOTE: this is a rather large WAV file - I don't like to use any other format as their quality is inferior to WAV - and I called this an 89C929A when it's actually an 82C929A, whoops): http://www.mediafire.com/?6671uuqfbqjucd8

use FLAC. It's lossless and about half the size of wav.

I don't think we need to record cards that are largely similar. AWE64 is the same as AWE32 basically. Already have OPL3. Already have ESFM.

I tried Vortex 2 in Windows but it didn't work properly and was playing the wrong instruments and such. I don't know if its nasty OPL3 emulation is worthwhile. It's not that great of a DOS card really. I discovered a few days ago that its daughtercard header has problems too.

I think I'm mostly interested in different wavetable synths at this point. However, I haven't wanted to get into a Live! or newer because then you're just cataloging the infinite selection of soundfonts.

OPL3 seems to sound different from sound card to sound card, be it due to the use of an incorrectly cloned YMF262 or different external circuitry. Case and point: my OPTi 82C929A. Its OPL3 seems a fair bit rougher than the SoundBlaster Pro 2.0 and the ESS AudioDrive ES1869. I wouldn't be surprised if the sound would be different on my ESS AudioDrive ES1868F and ESS Solo-1. This is why I record numerous different sound cards, even though the sound doesn't change much or at all.

I'm just not that enthralled with the varieties of deficient OPL3 clones or the nuances of how the various craptastic analog circuit designs impact a real OPL3. 😉

I am thinking of recording OPL2 and getting some OPL4 recordings however.

I've always been curious to hear OPL4 FM Synthesis. Are there any DOS games that support it?

I think OPL4 is a GM synth that's a hybrid of FM and sample synthesis.

What sound cards have an OPL4?

This is interesting: http://alag3.mfa.kfki.hu/dcsabas/hi-fi/waveopl4.htm

info here too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YMF278

The only OPL4 card I know of offhand is the Logitech Soundman Wave. I once had a demo audio CD of that from Logitech and I wish I still had it.

Apparently it kinda sucks but it is still interesting.

Oh btw, Elianda set me up with a huge selection of recordings that I need to upload. There is an OPL4 in there.

Nice.

By the way, I found some flaws in the OPL2 part of ESS AudioDrive ES1868F. Like with the SoundBlaster AWE64, certain notes are different, and this is most noticeable with the floppy disk edition of Star Wars X-Wing(the Collectors' CD-ROM edition doesn't show as many flaws). So it looks like the ESS AudioDrive does NOT contain a perfect replica of the YMF262, which is fully OPL2-compatible.

The ESS Solo-1 is a major pain. With one set of drivers, I can get digitized sound, but no FM Synthesis(only General MIDI), and with another set of drivers, I get FM Synthesis(which seems more accurate to the real YMF262 on the Solo-1 than the AudioDrive) but no digitized sound. I don't get it. And FYI, I'm trying to run the Solo-1 on a PC running Windows 98 SE.

Some remarks:
The GUS PnP 4MB fp file is 'Everquest Freeport Theme' (Freeport and Akanon are cities)
4 MB means the AMD 4MB RAM-Soundfont
I didn't made recording with Utopia yet.

Cards used:
Orchid SoundWave 32: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/orchid … SoundWave32.jpg
with 512 kB original Orchid ROM-Soundfont (there was later a upgrade with replacement Eproms from InnoVision)
Mozart WaveTable with OPL4 and 2 MB Yamaha ROM: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/mozart … e_with_OPL4.jpg
GUS: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/gus34.jpg
ProPats should be known
GUS PnP: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/gus_pnp.jpg
with either classic GUS patchset and GUS PnP Soundfonts. GUS PnP can do some more effects than a GUS classic, so it can sound different even with the same patchset.
Dream with 4 MB Roland: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/maxi_s … home_studio.jpg
The Roland-SF is in the ROM of this card
Dream with other SFs like the CrystalWave were recorded from a EWS64XL with loaded SF: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/ews64xl_front.jpg
Especially the 10 MB GM soundfont was loaded in combination with an additional Drumset SF. The different drums are a bit prominent in some tracks.
The Dream DSP and Firmware in respect to Midi Playback should be the same on both cards.
ofcourse SCB55: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/roland … cb-55_gross.jpg
and WB1: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/WaveBl … ster_CT1900.jpg
and some of my SB/AWE32s.

I wonder is the Software SF2 Soundfont on the Creative CD the same as in the ROM of the AWE64 Gold?

I haven't gone deeply into OPL remake quirks yet.

The choice for using the EverQuest Startup Music is mostly because it uses alot of polyphony and the SCB-55 has really difficulties with it.
Newer DSPs with more polyphonie do not show these drop outs. Also some instruments sound weird on some cards, just try AWE32 1MB 😉.

Ace and I think that AWE32 is reminiscent of SNES sometimes. It is a strange patch set. Sometimes it's pretty bad but other times it sounds fairly unique and likeable...

Ok I put up more details on the recordings and linked to pics of everything.

elianda, I'm curious about how you recorded. The recordings are mono. The files have 2 channels but they appear identical.

You are right and I did some analysis why some recordings were mono and some stereo and I found the source of the problem. It is not soundcard related, whenever I put my external mixer in between the original signal gets joined to mono. The Mixer itself has 4 stereo inputs and a stereo output though...
What a fraud.
Yeah I should have noticed the difference, but I didn't expected this.

There will be ofcourse updated recording, now in stereo - really.

Oh that is annoying. 🙁

If you're going to re-record things can you add one of the games I used? That would be good for comparison purposes.

Do you have the Midi files available somewhere?

Well I've been recording the games as they play, but I'm sure the MIDI files are out there. I've been recording what the games themselves play because in my experience ripped MIDI files don't work quite right and don't sound the same.