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OPL3-compatibles

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First post, by 640K!enough

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After recent experience with Crystal FM, I have come to wonder: just how compatible are these allegedly OPL3-compatible designs?

Aside from sounding rather different in many cases, Crystal FM seems not to support the OPL3 percussion mode. Are there different implementations of Crystal FM? Is there a version that supports all major OPL3 features?

Crystal FM aside, how do the other designs fare? Are there any that are mostly feature-complete? Are there any that actually produce decent results? Discussion and audio samples would be most welcome.

Reply 1 of 2, by j^aws

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Most OPL alternative sound cards have issues with 2/3 bit ADPCM. Regarding OPL, ESFM has issues with one of the tracks in Tyrion 2000. Dune is a good litmus test for OPL as well. Crystal FM can sound a bit thin at times. There are other clones that I haven't tested much of yet, and there's the infamous CQM as well.

Reply 2 of 2, by 640K!enough

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I've heard enough of Crystal FM to know that it can be passable, if you're not familiar with anything else, and don't already know what something should sound like. I don't consider it useful in many other cases, and I can only imagine that CQM sounds worse, and is even less compatible.

One particular curiosity involves the supposed "unlicenced clones". Does anyone know just how close they come to the real thing? Unlike Crystal FM, do they properly support percussion mode?

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