Scythifuge wrote on 2023-12-19, 23:46:

I have a feeling that there is an OPTi chip under that televideo sticker...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175671344324?hash=it … %3ABFBM3Mi4x5Bj

yes it is

DerBaum wrote on 2023-12-15, 01:21:

and then i found this: https://www.amibay.com/threads/diamond-k2y-pr … d-opl3.2442355/ (wich confirms it as a OPTI card... and it was sold with a proper price... forget the ebay prices...)

DerBaum wrote on 2023-12-20, 00:12:

Scythifuge wrote on 2023-12-19, 23:46:

I have a feeling that there is an OPTi chip under that televideo sticker...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175671344324?hash=it … %3ABFBM3Mi4x5Bj

yes it is

DerBaum wrote on 2023-12-15, 01:21:

and then i found this: https://www.amibay.com/threads/diamond-k2y-pr … d-opl3.2442355/ (wich confirms it as a OPTI card... and it was sold with a proper price... forget the ebay prices...)

I have a feeling I found the card or at least one close /related to it. Many thanks!

Wait... My old card may have had a real OPL chip back in the day? That is awesome!

I have this Expertmedia MED2000 card on a local auction site.

Scythifuge wrote on 2023-12-20, 02:19:

Wait... My old card may have had a real OPL chip back in the day? That is awesome!

Most cards around this time used FM Synthesis.
I made extensive tests with real and "fake" OPL chips from all over the 90s.

To keep things short: I have come to the conclusion that most the "fake" OPL chips are also based on a 1:1 copy of the Yamaha design and/or even used real DIEs inside the chips.
Maybe they even came from the same factory.
(Its not the "fake" FM chip that sounds strange... its the super cheap soundcard design it was used in...)

Longer answer:
Yamaha had a deal to offer FM Synthesis chips.
If you wanted to make a soundcard or synthesizer you had to buy or license FM Synthesis from Yamaha.
Around 1994 1995 Yamahas rights for FM Synthesis expired. And soon after that the chip manufacturers started to pump out tons of cheap chips without expensive license fees that are called different but are real fm chips.
But that doesnt say that it was different before 1994... they just had to hide it better that they relabeled chips...

You will find tons of chips that dont look like FM Chips but are indeed real... like the one in the post above from Zerthimon (LS-212)...

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-12-20, 13:47:

I have this Expertmedia MED2000 card on a local auction site.
med2000.jpg

Nice! It looks like it uses an OPL clone chip.

So I just found out that the Acer Magic S20 and the miroSOUND PCM10 are basically the same cards, so while it would be cool to acquire a Reveal brand for nostalgia reasons, I have a few options. 86Box supports the Acer and Miro, so I can play around with it before getting a physical card.

DerBaum wrote on 2023-12-20, 14:27:

Most cards around this time used FM Synthesis. I made extensive tests with real and "fake" OPL chips from all over the 90s. […]
Show full quote

Scythifuge wrote on 2023-12-20, 02:19:

Wait... My old card may have had a real OPL chip back in the day? That is awesome!

Most cards around this time used FM Synthesis.
I made extensive tests with real and "fake" OPL chips from all over the 90s.

To keep things short: I have come to the conclusion that most the "fake" OPL chips are also based on a 1:1 copy of the Yamaha design and/or even used real DIEs inside the chips.
Maybe they even came from the same factory.
(Its not the "fake" FM chip that sounds strange... its the super cheap soundcard design it was used in...)

Longer answer:
Yamaha had a deal to offer FM Synthesis chips.
If you wanted to make a soundcard or synthesizer you had to buy or license FM Synthesis from Yamaha.
Around 1994 1995 Yamahas rights for FM Synthesis expired. And soon after that the chip manufacturers started to pump out tons of cheap chips without expensive license fees that are called different but are real fm chips.
But that doesnt say that it was different before 1994... they just had to hide it better that they relabeled chips...

You will find tons of chips that dont look like FM Chips but are indeed real... like the one in the post above from Zerthimon (LS-212)...

I posted about the "fake" chip before I saw that you posted this, hehehe. Thank you for this information! It is definitely good to know.

Scythifuge wrote on 2023-12-20, 14:46:

So I just found out that the Acer Magic S20 and the miroSOUND PCM10 are basically the same cards, so while it would be cool to acquire a Reveal brand for nostalgia reasons, I have a few options. 86Box supports the Acer and Miro, so I can play around with it before getting a physical card.

Basically the same.. but with the slight difference that they are completely different 😁

The acer card has a manual volume wheel wich indicates a completeley different routing for the sound signals.
the miro card does have a OPL4 instead of a OPL3...

If you drift away that far from your card you can just get any soundcard... Except you want specifically the OPTI installer experience...

Any " K2Y-PRO16" card will be the same as the one you really want. Chips may be labeled different or other slight differences. But the main experience will be exactly like the one you really want.

---
edit:
I also noticed that the Chip on the K2Y cards relabeled for Reveal have the partnumber "RV82C929KT" ... The OPTI branded Chips are called "82C929A" . They did not even try to hide that its the same chip 😁

DerBaum wrote on 2023-12-20, 14:53:

Basically the same.. but with the slight difference that they are completely different :D […]
Show full quote

Scythifuge wrote on 2023-12-20, 14:46:

So I just found out that the Acer Magic S20 and the miroSOUND PCM10 are basically the same cards, so while it would be cool to acquire a Reveal brand for nostalgia reasons, I have a few options. 86Box supports the Acer and Miro, so I can play around with it before getting a physical card.

Basically the same.. but with the slight difference that they are completely different 😁

The acer card has a manual volume wheel wich indicates a completeley different routing for the sound signals.
the miro card does have a OPL4 instead of a OPL3...

If you drift away that far from your card you can just get any soundcard... Except you want specifically the OPTI installer experience...

Any " K2Y-PRO16" card will be the same as the one you really want. Chips may be labeled different or other slight differences. But the main experience will be exactly like the one you really want.

---
edit:
I also noticed that the Chip on the K2Y cards relabeled for Reveal have the partnumber "RV82C929KT" ... The OPTI branded Chips are called "82C929A" . They did not even try to hide that its the same chip 😁

Memories are hazy though I think that my card *may* have had a volume wheel, but I can't be sure. I need to find the release years of all of these cards to see which ones would have been available in 1993. We ended up tading the 486SX for a DX2/66 through Sun TV, and then ended up shipping that to CTC where I convinced them to sell me a trade for a Pentium 90 with the newly released Windows 95 on CD. I think that I used the same card through all three machines, though if these cards are from 1994, then I traded the original card. It is difficult to remember for certain. However, I believe it was the same card.