FM chips don't use general MIDI sound banks. Some drivers translate the General MIDI information to something compatible with FM chips.

I'm pretty sure his question is meant the other way. He's looking for a GM sound font that sounds like an OPL3. At least that's how I understand it.

Hi,

Under windows, opl2 (adlib), has a sound bank to be compatible general midi.
I got this one.
But on opl3 the sound is different, so i assume there is another sound bank for these ones as for the ess.
where can i find these ones ?
Thanks in advance,
Rgds,

anonyme-x22 wrote:

Hi, […]
Show full quote

Hi,

Under windows, opl2 (adlib), has a sound bank to be compatible general midi.
I got this one.
But on opl3 the sound is different, so i assume there is another sound bank for these ones as for the ess.
where can i find these ones ?
Thanks in advance,
Rgds,

Attempt #2:

On the hardware OPL2 and OPL3, there is no general MIDI soundbank. They use a driver (a prorgram) that translates the General MIDI information to FM-compatible instructions. These instructions are then interpreted by the OPL2 or OPL3 chip and converted to sound. As OPL2 and OPL3 are different chips, they will sound different even when playing the same MIDI file.

General MIDI devices such as the Sound Canvas use a different, PCM-sample-based, sound synthesis method than OPL2 and OPL3, which use FM (Frequency modulation). FM-synthesis is a sound synthesizing method that does not use PCM sound banks.

If you want a sound bank for another sound card that sounds like OPL2 or OPL3, you'll need a sound card that can load user banks (e.g. Soundblaster Live).

derSammler wrote:

I'm pretty sure his question is meant the other way. He's looking for a GM sound font that sounds like an OPL3. At least that's how I understand it.

No, OP has it right. A sound bank isn't a sound font.
Sound font = recordings of instruments.
Sound bank = description of how to synthesize instruments (e.g. OPL2/OPL3 FM Bank Editor for Windows/Linux/MacOS X) using a specific chip.

OPL MIDI players use an FM bank. That's what the OP means.

Hi,

Are you ok with the definitions ?
Here are the mines:
Soundbank = patch bank for a synthetizer (opl2/opl3/mt-32/sc-55, whatever you want)

So attempt #3 :')

There is a (FM) general midi sound bank for the opl 2 which i got.
Is there also a general midi one for the opl3 and ess available somewhere , or theses ones never been ripped ?

Thanks in advance,
Have a good day,
Rgds,

There's lots. Not sure how you use them though. libADLMIDI has quite a few:

https://github.com/Wohlstand/libADLMIDI/tree/master/fm_banks

Hi,

Thanks for the link, a good resource.
Unfortunately, they have not any gm bank for opl3.

Have a good day,
Rgds,

DMXOPL maybe: https://github.com/sneakernets/DMXOPL

anonyme-x22 wrote:

Hi, […]
Show full quote

Hi,

Are you ok with the definitions ?
Here are the mines:
Soundbank = patch bank for a synthetizer (opl2/opl3/mt-32/sc-55, whatever you want)

I don't think I fully agree with this definition. Although it works for the OPL2/OPL3, since they are true synthesizers, for most PCM romplers (General MIDI and others) you can't actually define your own patch banks with new instruments. They use more or less fixed patches with (a few to many) tweakable parameters, and although the sound for a particular patch can be transformed up to a degree you are stuck with the original instruments because the core waveforms can't be changed.
The MT-32 is a bit of a special case, since it allows the assembly of waveform segments.

Hi,

@realnc: thanks for the link but it's a custom patch for doom. Nothing to do with the original opl3 gen midi sound bank

@yawetaG: A patch is not linked to the wav source nor to the sound unit type. All expander/synthesizer have patch/sound whose are defined by there customizable parameters. (On a SC-880, you can even store 256 user sound(patch)) A lot of sound till the sc-55 use the same waveform and tweaked parameters to achieve different patch(sound). The difference is in the name of the device after the designation. (Opl2 Synthesizer, SC55 Expander)
Regarding the MT-32 it's a synthesizer because the pcm waveform used in the unit are attack waveform except for a very few and the drums ones, all of them must be combined with an oscillator to finish the sound. At least every device which can create it's own sound after the defined ones can be considered as synthesizer. Even the SC-55 can be considered as a synthesizer, it's just sold as an expander, because of the lack of user memory area, but with midi sysex to recall modified sound that do the trick. To finish everything with a sampled,generated waveform is a synthesizer because digital is synthetic...

No one has an idea of where can be found a useable rip of the opl3 general midi sound bank ?

Thanks in advance,
Have a good day,
Rgds,

There no such thing as "original opl3 gm sound bank". Software that wants to play MIDI files through OPL needs to program the chip in a way that makes it sound like the MIDI instruments that are being played. This is usually done through sound banks. Each game, each MIDI player, each application, each whatever, ships a sound bank. Windows had one as well, made by microsoft.

You need to pick one.

Hi,

I seek of course the windows FM GM sound bank for the opl3 and ess which i call "original sound bank" , whose i don't think they where done by Microsoft but more by the provider specially for the ess in order to use them in adlib tracker. I already got the windows opl2 one (don't know the provider), but sound like the opl2 midi sound of windows.

Have a good day,
Rgds,

Hi,

After researches, it's seems that there isn't any windows opl3 general midi sound bank.
In fact, there is one, but it's using 2 operator only.
Seems that only the ess used a custom 4 operator bank.

Rgds,

Windows default (OPL2) FM Midi bank was made by The Fat Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sanger_(musician)
I think I remember there being a different drum set used in later OPL3 drivers from Creative...?
It seems that all the tools necessary to make one are available.
You might start from the default Windows bank "fatv10.bnk" and replace dull sounding patches with ones that sound closer to the Roland classic sounds utilizing the OPL3 capabilities to make an enhanced custom patch set for general MIDI playback.
You can find that .BNK file in this SDK http://www.dcee.net/Files/Programm/Sound/vaisdk.zip
Certainly there are a ton of FM patches around - especially from Adlib Tracker.
Then use OPL3 Bank Editor to swap out or create new better patches https://github.com/Wohlstand/OPL3BankEditor
Then play midis through Falcosoft OPL3 GM VSTi http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html

Hi,

Thanks a lot for the informations.
It's possible for the drum set. The opl3 gm bank is in the OPL3 Bank Editor, and it's seems that there aren't any instruments using more than 2 operators.
I agree but, i don't want to make a new one, i wanted to know if there was one already done to try to translate the instruments to my tx81z.
I'm already using OPL3 Bank Editor to extract instuments from dro files, but with lemmings it's doing a mess, each time an instrument is switched it create a new one and it seems that it capture the data very strangely because, the sounds i get from the imf file aren't the same as when you play the file with imfplayer. imfplayer report about 6 instruments, imf import of the dro into opl3 bank editor report 82 instruments. Must try with another game, because lemmings is a simple port from the amiga song, and the guys don't even worked on the decompression of the patterns, same as the amiga ones, so the sounds on channel 1-2 are changing all the time, that's why perhaps OPL3 Bank Editor didn't work very well on instruments extraction.
I was also interested in the Falcosoft OPL3 GM VSTi but haven't found the program in your link.
Perhaps you know where to find the ess windows custom FM Midi Bank ?

Thanks in advance,
Rgds,

anonyme-x22 wrote on 2020-01-05, 23:07:

I was also interested in the Falcosoft OPL3 GM VSTi but haven't found the program in your link.

It's in my Soundfont Midi Player package that can be found on the site linked by Anapan.

anonyme-x22 wrote on 2020-01-05, 23:07:

Perhaps you know where to find the ess windows custom FM Midi Bank ?

You can extract it from ESS Audiodrive drivers (e.g. 1868, 1869 etc.):
Re: ESS AudioDrive (ES1868) - a surprisingly good ISA sound card
But unfortunately no ESFM emulator has been written so far meaning you will not find any player/editor that could handle ESFM banks (without real hardware). ESFM banks use native mode of ESS FM synth hardware that is very different (much more advanced) compared to OPL2/3 and not compatible at all.

Hi,

Thanks for the informations.
I thought, that the ess used a special window gm opl3 bank to use the 72 operator as 16 channel 4 operators instead of the 6 channel 4 operators!

Rgds,