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OPL FM Polyphony - What's the deal?

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First post, by crash.

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Greetings,

I've got a few different sound cards that have OPL-3 FM synthesis, but there seems to be some variation in polyphony. Specifically, on some cards the notes get cut off while music is playing, but not on others.

One type of card, Sound Blaster Pro 2 has YMF262 OPL-3 FM synthesis, but notes get cut off. Another is an Intel board with an onboard YMF724 sound chip, which does not seem to have polyphony problems. I can't seem to find specifications for the FM polyphony of either.

Otherwise, does anyone know what ISA sound card had genuine OPL FM synthesis and the highest polyphony?

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 3, by leileilol

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Odd. My YMF262-equipped CS4231 has no polyphony issues, neither does my AWE32 (but has Creative FM instead), however my AWE64 has serious FM polyphony issues. Ditto for my ESS1688.
Song tested for this was Doom's E2M2 and Doom II's MAP01.

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Reply 3 of 3, by crash.

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Hmmm... The game I was testing with was Dungeon Master II. I'm not sure there will be a problem with all games, since it will depend on the density of the music. I'll have to think of a painless way to record game audio, and would have to re-assemble one of the systems with onboard YMF sound.