VOGONS


First post, by kirikl

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Hello. I'm trying to find good OPL3 card. It doesn't matter if it will be ISA or PCI. ISA was standard when it was in fashion. Looking for music purposes of using OPL3 or decent compatible, so I don't care about DOS or games on this machine.
Machine: P3-1000, Three PCI, one ISA.

Problems and thoughts:
1.Working in Windows 9x only.... XP is more important for me just for stability or I'm fine with 2k, just had multimedia problems in 2k in the past.
2.Noisy. That is most important factor. I don't want to use any sound suppressors, though I have one, but personally don't like them.
3.Ideally it would be good to find those processors which can give FM Chorus and Reverb effect. I know AWE64, but that's out due CQM... Terratec Maestro 32/96card have that, but it has weird FM. Especially any drum sounds. THAT part is not NECESSARY at all, since I'm using hardware processor, which gives MULTI effect only though on everything. But could be nice add-on.

Cards I tried:
1.Yamaha 719. Kinda most authentic FM... but... Noisy! Other Yamaha 701 and another 719 have different technical problems, so I didn't really try them... Work in both systems.
2.Sound Blaster CT2260 - Noisy! Clicking problems on 16-bit audio... although it is not primary use of this computer, still disappointing, maybe it is just my unit. Using in XT machine with only 8bit. Works fine.
3.Packard Bell / Washington 16. Works only in Windows 9x/DOS
4.Acer Magic S20. Works only in Windows 9x/DOS. Kinda Noisy.
5.OPTi card. I think I made it work in both Windows... FM quality is little weird. Just different, that different I don't like.
6.ADP card, ORCHID 32 without wavetable chips... Just weird card and working only in W9x/DOS
7.Aztech (multimedia HP 16, N270) - current card I'm using. Decent FM quality. Work in any systems. I even tried it in XT machine. PCM quality is weird, but I don't care about this much. Finally quietest I tried from my list. It has it's own FM but I can't say much difference between OPL3 and Aztech FM.

Other card I have but haven't tried yet:
Ensoniq aka SB PCI with wavetable part. Not sure if that has FM part.
ESS Solo1 PCI. Not sure if it has real FM or emulation.
ESS Business Wavetable. Don't think it has FM part at all.
Other ESS, although ESS has decent FM, it is still different FM. But if you have choice for output quality, please write it down. Thanks

Which SB16 (since it is standard supported in both systems) would be good in this case? (Good FM/Good quiet output)

I know someone can have multiple questions. Why FM (OPL3 compatible) for music? Why XP? I bought DA FM SYNTH. OPL3 standalone device. It has different problems I don't like. For example it can't work with sustain pedal properly for example. Only first 6 channels available, no drums. I know usually now people use one channel only for recording single instrument. But that's what I have in mind, I decided to build powerful enough computer to handle XP with OPL3 card in it, which has decent output quality.

Thanks everyone!

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 1 of 9, by cyclone3d

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Yamaha ymf 7x4 PCI. (724, 744, or 754)

Beware of remarked CMI or other cheap Chinesium based cards.

OPL will work on these cards regardless of whether or not you motherboard supports. PC-PCI, DDMA or DSMA

Output on a decently made card will be top notch.

What motherboard do you have? Does it have PC-PCI / SBLink?

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 2 of 9, by kirikl

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cyclone3d wrote on 2022-08-13, 22:14:
Yamaha ymf 7x4 PCI. (724, 744, or 754) […]
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Yamaha ymf 7x4 PCI. (724, 744, or 754)

Beware of remarked CMI or other cheap Chinesium based cards.

OPL will work on these cards regardless of whether or not you motherboard supports. PC-PCI, DDMA or DSMA

Output on a decently made card will be top notch.

What motherboard do you have? Does it have PC-PCI / SBLink?

Ga-6vmm

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 3 of 9, by Joseph_Joestar

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I second the Yamaha YMF7x4 suggestion. Some of these cards come with digital out (SPDIF) which makes noise-free recording a breeze.

Their DOS compatibility does vary a bit depending on the motherboard. Some chipsets are more problematic than others in that regard, but VIA based boards generally work fine with these cards.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 4 of 9, by kirikl

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Guys I faced some problems with integrated XG chipsets. Either getting XG or FM.... I remember that work wdm driver in 2k I had only XG and on XP only FM... Maybe I'm taking about different chipset. Laptops circa Pentium 2 / Transmetta.
I was considered to use Sony Picture book C1. But it is SO SO noisy....

Last edited by kirikl on 2022-08-14, 13:47. Edited 1 time in total.

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 5 of 9, by Tiido

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Like ISA YMF71x, YMF7x4 PCI cards have OPL3L in them (YMF289 equivalent).

Did you disable the speaker amp on the noisy cards you have been testing ? If YMF71x was really noisy it likely was because of that.

T-04YBSC, a new YMF71x based sound card & Official VOGONS thread about it
Newly made 4MB 60ns 30pin SIMMs ~
mida sa loed ? nagunii aru ei saa 😜

Reply 7 of 9, by kirikl

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Tiido wrote on 2022-08-14, 07:34:

Like ISA YMF71x, YMF7x4 PCI cards have OPL3L in them (YMF289 equivalent).

Did you disable the speaker amp on the noisy cards you have been testing ? If YMF71x was really noisy it likely was because of that.

Ha! Never thought of it. Thanks, I'll check

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 8 of 9, by kirikl

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Thanks guys. Ordered 724v-e. Very good output! That's what I need. Amplifier is very strong as well.

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 9 of 9, by kirikl

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No noise at all. On maximum

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300