pdw wrote:

Author of the OPL2LPT software here.

[ ... ]

Now, about Sound Blaster functionality. Sound Blaster cards support the Adlib port range for compatibility, but additionally expose the OPL2 somewhere in the 220h range.

Heavens be praised! I have been wondering about this for years, if not decades. I knew that Adlib uses 388h, but never knew if that was just rolled into the "Sound Blaster" standard, or if Creative decided to add additional ways of using OPL. I'm so glad that I finally know the truth!

pdw wrote:

In my experience, nearly all DOS software uses the Adlib ports rather than the Sound Blaster ports for OPL music, though they may name it "Sound Blaster" rather than "Adlib".

This is what I've long suspected, but had no easy way of determining.

pdw wrote:

DOS games that use the OPL2 but don't support Adlib are quite rare (most notably exceptions are games that use Creative's SBFMDRV driver, such as early versions of Jill of the Jungle.).

Do you happen to know if those early versions of Jill of the Jungle sound any different to the human ear than later versions? That's one of the games on my vintage To-Play list and I just purchased a copy from someone on eBay.

See Jill of the Jungle Sound Effects for lots of discussion on Jill of the Jungle.

News from the Belgian assembly factory : OPL3LPT boards batch expected to be ready in may.

Couldn’t wait for factory-produced one 😉
..made some mistakes designing this one, but it works. Sort of. Can be switched between OPL2 and OPL3.

noop wrote:

13032D7B-A6AE-479C-AE7D-D079795470C6.jpeg

Couldn’t wait for factory-produced one 😉
..made some mistakes designing this one, but it works. Sort of. Can be switched between OPL2 and OPL3.

wohoo that's fantastic 😀

noop wrote:

13032D7B-A6AE-479C-AE7D-D079795470C6.jpeg

Couldn’t wait for factory-produced one 😉
..made some mistakes designing this one, but it works. Sort of. Can be switched between OPL2 and OPL3.

wohoo that's fantastic 😀

noop wrote:

Couldn’t wait for factory-produced one 😉
..made some mistakes designing this one, but it works. Sort of. Can be switched between OPL2 and OPL3.

Well done, congratulations! 😀

noop wrote:

..made some mistakes designing this one, but it works. Sort of.

Like!

pdw wrote:

I guess there's a use case if your computer already has Sound Blaster compatible audio but you don't like its FM audio. I might implement this if people seem interested in this scenario.

Hi, I would be interested precisely on this. I'm having issues with OPL3-based sound cards on fast systems where the MB doesn't offer an option to set "I/O Recovery Time". I don't find this issue with cards like the AWE64 or SB emulation in Aureal Vortex, and this is the perfect companion for those cards.

Someone has experience in designing box art ?
I think it would be fun to have a 'boxed' version...
Also it will have a 3d printed enclosure.

This is a bit off topic, but my OPL3 user mode driver can now change the address where it looks for an OPL chip.
https://github.com/datajake1999/OPL3EMU/releases/tag/1.0.5
Can someone please test it with an OPL3LPT and post the result?
I have tested my CMI8738, and that works very well, but I wonder if the OPL3LPT will have problems with the driver.
Files I want tested:
Clouds.mid: Windows OPL3.
D2Map07: Doom OPL3, Doom2 Patch, Doom2 OPL3 mode.
Full version of Grabbag: Apogee OPL3, Duke Nukem 3D tambers.
Thanks.

datajake1999 wrote:

This is a bit off topic, but my OPL3 user mode driver can now change the address where it looks for an OPL chip.

The OPL3LPT is not a pass-through device.
You have only one data port on the LPT, so you need to manipulate the control bits of the LPT as a faux address bus, to select one of the 4 ports on the OPL3 chip before you send the data.
It should be easy to integrate that into your passthrough driver, but it would require a special mode.

The first opl3lpt panel...

I call dibs on one! 😜

Looks very nicely done, as always. I cannot wait to try it out 😁

Are printed cases planned? I sure hope so.

That is super tidy looking nice work!

my 486 laptop will love it.

Oh gosh ! I'm waiting for it since so long time. 🤣

jaZz_KCS wrote:

Are printed cases planned? I sure hope so.

Yes, printed cases coming soon (probably next weekend).

I am extensively testing boards right now. They all look perfectly soldered, but about 50% of the boards don't work, and I think it is due to the YAC512 DAC chips. 😢
I am planning to make a DAC test rig (ideas welcome) and replace the broken DAC chips to fix these boards.
For now, I test all boards extensively, and will only ship the perfectly working ones.
I am also doing endurance tests and all seems fine in the good boards.

I postpone global release in my webshop for now,
and will make the currently limited quantity of perfect working boards available for friends and vogons members only:
45 euro for opl3lpt pcb (packet can ship tomorrow if you only require the pcb)
5 euro for enclosure (packet will ship in approx 1 week, if you want an enclosure as well)
+ shipping cost depending on your location and shipping method (7 in EU, 9 outside EU, for tracking add 10)

so if you pm your shipping address to me, for a quote and fast shipment,

dreamblaster wrote:

I am extensively testing boards right now. They all look perfectly soldered, but about 50% of the boards don't work, and I think it is due to the YAC512 DAC chips. 😢

Sad. Apparently they are not even testing these before selling.

Maybe you should 1st check if clock on the pin 24 is OK. I found my version of clock generator (based on yours from OPL2LPT) to not be 100% stable and not always able to start oscillating.
If power and clock are there, OPL2 chip should already stream some samples from pins 19-23.

Anothe idea is that since the device is write-only, you can try connecting multiple devices in parallel to a single LPT port to speed things up.

Dreamblaster sent me one of the OPL3LPT.

I tested it on Indiana Jones and the fate of atlantis (1992) et The Legend of Kyrandi (1992). The sound is pretty well ! I use the OPL2LPT tools to run it correctly.

I really appreciate the tiny size of this new device instead of the OPL2LPT which was big.

Some photographs of the OPL3LPT compared to the OPL2LPT.

Oh this will not longer block my rs232 ports, so i can use a Mouse with OPL3LPT together 😀

Nice build!