How close to the SB16 is the FM801? \ VOGONS

How close to the SB16 is the FM801?

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First post, by JimZ

Posted on 2010-05-29, 20:30

JimZ Offline

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The Forte Media FM801 is a PCI sound card that contains an OPL 2/3 compatible synth, according to the site http://dev.kewl.org/fm801/Doc/. My question here is, how close to the actual OPL3 is it, and if anyone owns a card like this, is it compatible with DOS games and programs?

To any owners of FM801-based cards:
1 Download the attached exe
2 Open it and get the midi
3 Play the first 30 seconds or so of the song
4 Record (mp3 or ogg, wav if you must) and upload it in a reply
That would help me in comparing the outputs of the synths

Last edited by JimZ on 2010-05-30, 01:56. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 1 of 5, by Davros

Posted on 2010-05-29, 22:01

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Its supposed to be very compatible with dos
heres a review :
http://www.3dss.com/reviews/FM801/FM801.html

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Reply 2 of 5, by elianda

Posted on 2010-05-30, 03:39

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I own this card: http://mail.lipsia.de/~enigma/neu/pics/fortemedia.jpg
Though I just tried it once if it is in working condition. So at the moment it is not equipped in a running system.

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Reply 3 of 5, by JimZ

Posted on 2010-05-30, 04:01

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Nice to know that someone on this forum owns this card...
If you have time would you test it out? If not, no problem.

Reply 4 of 5, by Great Hierophant

Posted on 2010-05-31, 17:25

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According to the 3dss review, this card emulates a Sound Blaster Pro, just like every non-Creative PCI sound card seems to emulate. So, the answer to the topic question is "not very."

As far as OPL2/3 support, unless the card is from Yamaha or licensed the OPL core/design from Yamaha, it is highly unlikely to sound true.

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Reply 5 of 5, by Davros

Posted on 2010-05-31, 20:09

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eh?
sbpro (which is backward compatible with sb and adlib) is supported by nearly everything

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