AGP? Which leads me to the side question:are there any non graphics AGP cards?

I don't know AGP is only graphic-support.

Probably going to be one of the Yamaha PCI sound cards, and only for Windows 9X. Problem is, the generic built in drivers list the OPL3 device (at 388), but the drivers Yamaha used to provide do not. There is, somewhere out there in the bowels of the internet, a MIDI device driver made for OPL3 devices, but I long since lost my copy.

Hmmm, you can get something very close to OPL3 with the ESS solo-1.

Looking at your previous thread, you were trying to access the FM chip within windows. For that, the ESS solo-1 does work, but you need to make sure you load the VXD drivers (not the newer WDM drivers)

I wonder, how would OPL3LPT compare in such task...

canthearu wrote:

Hmmm, you can get something very close to OPL3 with the ESS solo-1.

Looking at your previous thread, you were trying to access the FM chip within windows. For that, the ESS solo-1 does work, but you need to make sure you load the VXD drivers (not the newer WDM drivers)

Does this ESS solo ES1938S Chipset works?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-1CH-PCI-Slot-ES193 … sktop-PC-Game-/

Muz wrote:

canthearu wrote:

Hmmm, you can get something very close to OPL3 with the ESS solo-1.

Looking at your previous thread, you were trying to access the FM chip within windows. For that, the ESS solo-1 does work, but you need to make sure you load the VXD drivers (not the newer WDM drivers)

Does this ESS solo ES1938S Chipset works?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-1CH-PCI-Slot-ES193 … sktop-PC-Game-/

Your link doesn't work. It is missing the ebay item number.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-1Channel-PCI-Slot- … PC/282752513418

The only non-graphics application I've seen on an AGP card is a firewire port. The ATI Radeon 8500 ALL in Wonder graphics card also has a firewire port on it, but you still have graphics on the AGP port. It would be interesting to see if firewire transfer across the AGP port is faster or slower than on an ordinary PCI port.

Muz wrote:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-1Channel-PCI-Slot- … PC/282752513418

I wouldn't trust that specific card at all. The chip looks like an obvious counterfeit.

Here are a few with genuine ESS chips... that also have the SB-LINK / PC-PCI header or at least the pads for it if you want to add it yourself.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diamond-multimedia-S … -1/283040636049
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sound-Card-Audio-PCI … UT/132713028219
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diamond-Sonic-Impact … ng/183316797072
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ACER-Aopen-AW300-ESS … RK/162942726677

Get this one if you can. The header can be soldered in and is functional in DOS.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-Soundkarte-ESS-E … TitleDesc=0%7C0

This one is fine except no MIDI header.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Labs-ESS-PC … i+card+ess.TRS0

For true OPL3 on a PCI card, surprisingly enough there is a modern alternative, and it's very cheap also. A couple of years ago I was browsing ebay and I came across a very cheap Chinese PCI sound card (I think I paid $3 for it with free slow shipping from China). The picture was of a very simple card, reduced PCB size, but it had an actual Yamaha XG chip on it. I bought a few and when they arrived I tested them in DOS, FM sounded great and SB compatibility was... well what you expect from a XG. I don't know if they're still available, but that was a good find at the time. The downside is that it doesn't have a game/MIDI connector so no hope for driving external MIDI modules. But for $3 can't complain.

(edit) I searched ebay and aliexpress and it seems that those cards have disappeared unfortunately.

Yamaha OPL Audician 32 Plus

Intel486dx33 wrote:

Yamaha OPL Audician 32 Plus

That is an ISA sound card.