Download DOSBOX and run a game with the OPL3 emulation.

A midi synth with an OPL waveset is not going to be very accurate at all as the technology is completely different.

Edit: after listening to th video, it definitely sounds like some sort of wavetable.

What year was this?

cyclone3d wrote on 2026-01-05, 18:58:

Download DOSBOX and run a game with the OPL3 emulation. […]
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Download DOSBOX and run a game with the OPL3 emulation.

A midi synth with an OPL waveset is not going to be very accurate at all as the technology is completely different.

Edit: after listening to th video, it definitely sounds like some sort of wavetable.

What year was this?

Like I said, the soundfonts i've tested are nowhere close to what I used back then. I believe this PC was built in 1998. Thanks.

I'm wondering if it was using the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth that was available in Windows 95 and higher.

If built in 1998 it would have either come with Windows 95 or 98.

The first clip sounds like good old FM synthesis, but I don't know what exact variant. Could be OPL, CQM, ESFM etc going through the windows 95/98 midi mapper. The second clip is probably the built in Win98 GS Wavetable.

What exact game was the audio played / generated from?

If we can figure that out, it is going to be much easier to figure out what type of card the music came from.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-01-06, 02:03:

The first clip sounds like good old FM synthesis, but I don't know what exact variant. Could be OPL, CQM, ESFM etc going through the windows 95/98 midi mapper. The second clip is probably the built in Win98 GS Wavetable.

It really is! Sounds a lot like OPL, but maybe not as harsh sometimes. I'll work on another clip with the game playing with the soundfont (OPL 3) so we can check the difference. Thanks for your input!

cyclone3d wrote on 2026-01-06, 03:38:

What exact game was the audio played / generated from?

If we can figure that out, it is going to be much easier to figure out what type of card the music came from.

The first one is a fan game of NiGHTS Into Dreams, the midi files are embedded in a Klik n Play enclosure, so you need to play the game to play the audio files. As I said in my last reply, I will make another video trying to play the track again with an OPL3 soundfont so we can hear the difference more clearly. Thank you for your input!

NiGHTSaturn wrote on 2026-01-06, 08:59:

cyclone3d wrote on 2026-01-06, 03:38:

What exact game was the audio played / generated from?

If we can figure that out, it is going to be much easier to figure out what type of card the music came from.

The first one is a fan game of NiGHTS Into Dreams, the midi files are embedded in a Klik n Play enclosure, so you need to play the game to play the audio files. As I said in my last reply, I will make another video trying to play the track again with an OPL3 soundfont so we can hear the difference more clearly. Thank you for your input!

Soundfonts are not going to sound anything like the original.

If it was wavetable, even with the same soundfonts, it is going to sound different on different synths.

And an OPL soundfont is not going to sound anything like real OPL.

There's an OPL3 emulator for Windows XP.
It should do for MIDI about as good as an SB16, but I haven't really tested it.
Windows, Doom, Apogee OPL3 Synthesizer.
https://github.com/nukeykt/WinOPL3Driver

Doing some more research and here is what the manual says as far as music support goes:
"Music for this picture
Selects a musical accompaniment. The entries are shown in a “play list” to
the left of the screen.
Play Plays through the entire play list.
Klik & Play User’s guide
35
Remove Deletes the selected piece of music in the play list.
Random Plays the list in a random order while the picture is being displayed.
Keep Previous Music
Continues to play any music left over from the previous frame. When this
finishes, a new piece of music will be selected from the play list.
Add Inserts a piece of music into the current play list. This music should be
available from a standard “.MID”, or “.MUS” (Windows version only) file.
You can choose your music using a selector:
Midi file enters your music from a midi file in “.mid” format."

So this means the game had to use either a .MID or .MUS file for the music.

With the sound of the music and what Klik & Play supported, you must have had a card that had included an FM MIDI driver for Windows.

Per ChatGPT:
On Windows 95/98/ME, Creative’s ISA SB16/AWE driver stacks typically install an MME MIDI output device called “Creative FM Synth” (or similar). That device renders standard Windows MIDI through the card’s FM synth block — i.e., the OPL3 path on cards that have real Yamaha OPL3 (or through Creative’s CQM “OPL-compatible” block on later cards).

You can see this in Creative’s own AWE64 Gold readme: their “Virtual MIDI Driver” can route MIDI to multiple devices, including “FM” (device code 10) on the card.
astonisher.com

ISA Sound Blaster families that came with that Win9x “FM synth” MIDI device

These are the big buckets that (when using Creative’s Win9x drivers) expose FM/OPL-style MIDI playback:

Sound Blaster 16 (ISA) — including the many CTxxxx SB16 variants
SB16 retained OPL-3 FM synthesis support; later SB16-era boards may use CQM instead of a true Yamaha OPL3, but the Win9x “Creative FM Synth” concept is the same.
Wikipedia

Sound Blaster ViBRA 16 (ISA) (SB16-derived OEM/value boards)
These are SB16-class designs; depending on exact model/revision they may have real OPL3 or integrated CQM, but they’re in the same Win9x driver ecosystem as SB16.
Wikipedia

Sound Blaster AWE32 / Sound Blaster 32 (ISA)
These have the SB16 “FM + digital” section and the EMU8000 wavetable synth section; DOSDays explicitly notes the AWE32 includes Yamaha OPL3 as part of that FM/digital section.
DOS Days

Sound Blaster AWE64 (ISA)
Same overall idea (SB16-class + EMU synth), and Creative’s Win95-era readme explicitly includes routing to FM as a MIDI destination on the card.
astonisher.com
+1

Quick “gotchas” (so you don’t get tricked by model names)

This is about Windows MIDI (MME) → FM synth. That’s different from DOS games that talk directly to OPL registers (AdLib/SB music). In Win9x, you’re choosing a MIDI output device like Creative FM Synth in MIDI Mapper / app settings.

SB16 PCI / AudioPCI-era “SB” cards are different: they generally don’t have real OPL hardware; FM is usually emulated and not what you’re asking for.
Wikipedia"

----------------------------

Other brands / audio chips that had FM MIDI drivers for Win9x:

"Were there any other brand's isa sound cards that had an FM MIDI driver?

Yes. Several non-Creative ISA sound cards for DOS/Windows 9x shipped with Windows MIDI drivers that exposed an “FM Synth” (OPL-based) MIDI output, similar in concept to Creative’s “Creative FM Synth”. The key requirement was having an OPL2/OPL3 (or compatible) FM block and a Win9x MME MIDI driver that routed MIDI to it.

Below are the main families that did.

Yamaha-based cards (the cleanest, most “correct” FM MIDI)

These used real Yamaha OPL3 cores (often integrated into the chipset) and almost always had FM MIDI devices in Windows 9x.

● Yamaha OPL / YMF7xx ISA cards

Typical chips:
YMF719
YMF718
YMF715
YMF701

Examples:
MediaVision Pro Audio Spectrum–compatible Yamaha cards

Generic “Yamaha OPL3-SA” ISA cards

Windows 9x MIDI devices commonly shown:

Yamaha FM Synth
OPL3 FM Synth

These are gold-standard FM: real OPL3, excellent timing, very DOS/Win9x friendly.

ESS Technology (very common OEM cards)
● ESS Technology AudioDrive ISA cards

Typical chips:
ES1688
ES1868
ES1869

Windows 9x drivers usually expose:

ESS FM Synth
FM Music

Notes:
FM is hardware OPL3-compatible (not software)
Sound quality is slightly different from Yamaha but very good
Extremely common in OEM systems (Packard Bell, Gateway, etc.)

Aztech (widely sold retail & OEM)
● Aztech Sound Galaxy ISA

Typical chips:
AZT2316
AZT2320
AZT1605

Windows 9x MIDI:
Aztech FM Synth
OPL Synth

Notes:
Usually true or near-true OPL3
Drivers are simple but functional
Popular in mid-1990s budget PCs

OPTi (often overlooked, but real FM)
● OPTi ISA sound cards

Typical chips:
OPTi 82C929
OPTi 82C931
OPTi 82C933

Windows MIDI:
OPTi FM Synth
FM Music

Notes:
FM block is OPL3-compatible
Good DOS compatibility
Less polished Windows mixers, but MIDI FM works

Crystal Semiconductor / Cirrus Logic
● Cirrus Logic Crystal ISA cards

Typical chips:
CS4232
CS4236
CS4237

Windows MIDI:
Crystal FM Synth

Important caveat:
FM is often emulated or hybrid
MIDI FM works in Windows, but not register-accurate OPL
Fine for General MIDI → FM playback, not ideal for purists"

There are also a ton of different cards that used an external Yamaha or Yamaha clone OPL2 or OPL3 chip.

To figure out exactly what FM chip it was (I have cards with all the different FM implementations as do many others here), we would either need the original music file or the Klik & Play game.

Installed DOSBOX and used a midi player program playing through the OPL3 emulator and tried all of these and none sound anything like the song in the video:
https://www.khinsider.com/midi/saturn/nights-into-dreams

Here is a site with all of the original songs from the game and playable in the browser:
https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtra … -full-selection
None really sound like the song in your youtube video.

There are a couple other pages on that same site with different compilations of the songs from the game.

NiGHTSaturn wrote on 2026-01-06, 08:59:

cyclone3d wrote on 2026-01-06, 03:38:

What exact game was the audio played / generated from?

If we can figure that out, it is going to be much easier to figure out what type of card the music came from.

The first one is a fan game of NiGHTS Into Dreams, the midi files are embedded in a Klik n Play enclosure, so you need to play the game to play the audio files. As I said in my last reply, I will make another video trying to play the track again with an OPL3 soundfont so we can hear the difference more clearly. Thank you for your input!

Do you still have the that fan game? You can just upload it here if that's the case, since it isn't a copyrighted thing. It will be much easier to figure out what sound card was used if we can hear the music on our own hardware.

If I can get a way to play the track myself I will volunteer my soundcard collection to help figure this out. I have a pretty decent selection of cards with wavetable onboard which likely aren't going to sound anything like the soundfonts available online. It sounds FM-like, but then some lower end wavetable synths can sound like that too.