I would like to hear some recordings of old DOS games using either the Ad Lib sound card, or the Ad Lib gold sound card. Also, does the Creative 8-bit (or 16-bit) Soundblaster do a good job of emulating the Ad Lib card? Is the quality OK, if you compare the two cards' music output?
Adlib = OPL2 right? So any card with an OPL2 or OPL3 chip should sound very much like an Adlib card.
Adlib Gold is a different beast though.
yep AdLib is just an OPL2 and nothing more... if it sounds any different from a SB that has a real OPL it would be because of the amps or something... hear some recordings here: http://crossfire-designs.de/index.php?lang=en … undcards&page=6
It's pretty much what the mole said 😀
Can't do much wrong there anyways, considering the original AdLib is just an OPL2 + corresponding Amp stuck on the ISA bus (technically it's so easy, one can even drive the card on an LPT port ... external power supply required tho). Any card with a YM3812 or YMF262 should sound pretty much exactly like it.
Thanks very much for the info people. I was a bit late, when I joined the retro party, and there are some things I never managed to find, at a reasonable price. An Ad Lib card was one of them, and another was the LAPC-i. I did find a CM-32L and MT-32, so that's OK, but as for the Ad Lib - well, I will have to settle for SB "emulation". I guess it isn't really emulation, as the OPL2 is catered for using hardware.
wrote:Thanks very much for the info people. I was a bit late, when I joined the retro party, and there are some things I never managed to find, at a reasonable price. An Ad Lib card was one of them, and another was the LAPC-i. I did find a CM-32L and MT-32, so that's OK, but as for the Ad Lib - well, I will have to settle for SB "emulation". I guess it isn't really emulation, as the OPL2 is catered for using hardware.
If you want an "authentic" AdLib, cloning (as in 1:1 copying the logical working and not adding any features like the Soundblaster ... just what I'm doing with the SSI 2001) might be an option, considering the card's design is very, very straight forward.
An original AdLib is a decent collector's item ... but otherwise useless, with all those cheap compatibles around.
RG100 has a original game blaster. IMO much more interesting than an Adlib card 🤣
wrote:RG100 has a original game blaster. IMO much more interesting than an Adlib card 🤣
I got it from our good friend here on Vogons, Salient. Also, I have bought his Disney Sound Source module, which makes another interesting acquisition. 😀 I only began collecting PC stuff about 2.5 years ago, and have been very pleasantly surprised at the amount of junk I've managed to get. Some things I don't own are: any PC cases, and also anti-static bags. 🤣
These items are in good hands. That's what counts!
Got one of these GameBlasters as well, alongside a DSS ... and a recently aquired Ensoniq Soundscape classic.
Currently I just wish, there was a central place where people could gather knowledge/technical details/history/docs about said old (sound) hardware ... considering how hard those are to get nowadays and how hard it can be to find infos on them *hint*hint*. All those external sound solutions seem quite interesting to me (DSS, Logitech Soundport, Media Vision Audioport, DS201, digispeech port-able sound, Intersound MDO and the like).
Germany is so much better for Retro hardware. It makes me upset just thinking about it 😒
I saw a boxed SB Pro sell of 1.5 Euros and I saw quite a few 386DX boards go for just a few Euros.
I found that the more "exotic" cards I encountered, the more I value my Creative Labs and Roland stuff. They are the originals and as authentic as it gets...
wrote:I saw a boxed SB Pro sell of 1.5 Euros and I saw quite a few 386DX boards go for just a few Euros.
Yeah, but then again really useful stuff like the Sound Canvas or Gravis Ultrasound usually ends for horrendous prices, so it's a medal with 2 faces.
Needless to say I got _extremely_ lucky to even find a GameBlaster for sale here (which actually was at a flea market). Only other I've seen ended for 90€ on ebay.
Also prices like 30-50€ for 386DX boards aren't so uncommon anymore here either.
IIRC I also got my DSS from Salient 😁
I also did manage to find a reasonable priced AdLib and a bopxed complete GameBlaster from eBay, but thoses searches took YEARS...!
I would love a compact parallel port OPL2 device, there's music for your old laptops right there.
wrote:I would like to hear some recordings of old DOS games using either the Ad Lib sound card, or the Ad Lib gold sound card. Also, does the Creative 8-bit (or 16-bit) Soundblaster do a good job of emulating the Ad Lib card? Is the quality OK, if you compare the two cards' music output?
what kind of music u'd want to hear?
The original adlib 8 bit sells for quite a chunk, what id really like to get for my collection though is an adlib gold 1000, with the surround daughterboard thank you.
I wonder how much those go for nowadays, bound to be quite lot...
Anyone has recordings of Dune 1 from a real Adlib gold + surround board ?
Not sure if they are worth anything but I had an AdLib card, although the 3.5mm socket snapped off (probably an easy fix) but my brother binned it. Might still have the manual.
wrote:my brother binned it.
😳
wrote:Anyone has recordings of Dune 1 from a real Adlib gold + surround board ?
http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php/topic,2 … 4.html#msg24554
i have bid a yamaha FB-01 sound module(still on the way), its based on OPP chip, how does it sound compare to adlib?
