VOGONS


First post, by boxpressed

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Not that we would want to use GM.DLS if we had a choice, but still. I have a few variants of the CMI8738 and noticed that what the driver calls "C-Media MIDI Synthesis" is just a softsynth using the GM.DLS patchset. (I renamed it GS.BAK and ran DXDIAG, which did not play music until I renamed it back.)

Can all PCI sound cards access a softsynth that can use Microsoft's GM.DLS patchset? Or just the models that were specced for it? I notice that it sometimes shows up in the MIDI tab (under Multimedia) as an option but doesn't always.

Reply 1 of 4, by Stretch

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The older VXD drivers have an OPL2 MIDI device and a Softsynth device that uses a 3 MB DLSWAVE.DAT, but I haven't tested it because the digital output stopped working on my CMI-8738. I have another CMI-8738 with digital but I won't be able to install it until the weekend.

Win 11 - Intel i7-1360p - 32 GB - Intel Iris Xe - Sound BlasterX G5

Reply 2 of 4, by boxpressed

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Stretch wrote:

The older VXD drivers have an OPL2 MIDI device and a Softsynth device that uses a 3 MB DLSWAVE.DAT, but I haven't tested it because the digital output stopped working on my CMI-8738. I have another CMI-8738 with digital but I won't be able to install it until the weekend.

That's interesting. My drivers are VxD, but nothing happens when I select FM synth in the DOS games, and there's no FM option under the MIDI tab. I'll have to find some older drivers if it's true that the CMI-8738 has an embedded OPL3.

Reply 3 of 4, by Stretch

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Last VXD with FM Synth I could find: http://web.archive.org/web/20060117220544/htt … w9x191cfull.zip
Last VXD: http://web.archive.org/web/20020401230733/htt … _WIN9x_1096.zip
WDM: Never used except for dogbert's unofficial CMI WDM driver http://code.google.com/p/cmediadrivers

Last edited by Stretch on 2017-01-11, 12:11. Edited 2 times in total.

Win 11 - Intel i7-1360p - 32 GB - Intel Iris Xe - Sound BlasterX G5

Reply 4 of 4, by Kamerat

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boxpressed wrote:

Can all PCI sound cards access a softsynth that can use Microsoft's GM.DLS patchset? Or just the models that were specced for it? I notice that it sometimes shows up in the MIDI tab (under Multimedia) as an option but doesn't always.

Tried to see if there's any difference between VxD and WDM drivers?

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
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