Good question.
I haven't checked the ADPCM support. But up to now, it worked with everything I threw at it and even some (poorly coded) stuff that doesn't work on a true SoundBlaster like the "Crystal Dreams" demo where selecting SoundBlaster often just results in sound for 1 second, followed by silence.
DOOM, DUKE3D, SYNDICATE, QUAKE, FC's Second Reality.

Mine has a genuine Yamaha OPL3 chip.

I'll check for Duke 2 compatibility.
I'll also check for reversed L/R channels.

Thanks for the reply it sounds promising 😀
I will wait for the extra test results before getting one to mess with... It's not like they are expensive but I don't want yet another card I won't use 😉

I don’t know of any compatibility issues - from what I understand it should be as good a SB Pro clone as the later chipsets but the downside is that you need a TSR for the MPU401 to work. The one I have also has a bit of a yucky ‘pop’ When you power on the PC.

Have you considered a nice ES1688 based card? You lose the OPL3 but get the awesome ESFM, no TSR required either. I’m guessing you’re not too worried about MPU401s now that I think about it, being the father of amazing MPU cards and all 😀

^ yep that is correct I don't really care about the MPU implementation. All I care is to get a decent SBPRO alternative - I don't even care if the OPL3 onboard is a clone, I'm gonna replace it. I have seen the threads about the newer ESS chipsets and it does seem great but I was wondering about the older 688 one - maybe it is more suitable for older systems/games .
I suspect the bootup pop you get is from the card's design, back then noone really cared about such things 🤣

It's a fantastic SB Pro clone IMO. This card is what I use with my UMC 486 SX33 and it's my favorite ISA sound card.

I have three of these. Let me know if you need an ES688 card to try out neighbor 😀

^ nice boards you can replace the clone opl3+dac with the real deal as well
thanks for the offer - I did find a board locally to test, just wondering if it worths it... have you tried Duke Nukem II ? do you get all the sfx?
And what about Halloween Harry? Any crackling sound on the music?

keropi wrote:

^ nice boards you can replace the clone opl3+dac with the real deal as well
thanks for the offer - I did find a board locally to test, just wondering if it worths it... have you tried Duke Nukem II ? do you get all the sfx?
And what about Halloween Harry? Any crackling sound on the music?

Haven't tried either game I'm afraid, I could try them next week though.

My understanding is that the illegal clones are generally very, very good. Maybe even silicon level copies of genuine OPL3 chips.

I'd love to hear a critique from an FM aficionado about how they stack up.

badmojo wrote:

but the downside is that you need a TSR for the MPU401 to work.

Why do all people complain about that or call it a downside? Almost every single sound card requires to load some kind of driver to use all features. It's not really an issue at all.

I have three similar cards ES1688, 1868 and 1869. Since ES-FM is pretty much exactly like Yamaha OPL3, I don't think getting an ES688+OPL3 offers any benefit over the others. There was an FM test here on vogons were ES-FM was tested to match exact OPL3 behaviour: Re: The way to detect OPL3 clone

The MPU-401 TSR for the ES688 may be a myth, which I think originated in one article that I used as a source for my ISA soundcard overview. I would like to see a copy of that TSR so I can conclude that it actually exists.

I have this monstrosity in my collection and I really like it:

Edison Gold 16 Revision 1.0

derSammler wrote:

badmojo wrote:

but the downside is that you need a TSR for the MPU401 to work.

Why do all people complain about that or call it a downside? Almost every single sound card requires to load some kind of driver to use all features. It's not really an issue at all.

Because I presume it takes up some memory and it’s another variable that might conflict with your setup. Given the choice b/w having to find the right version of a given piece of old software (these cards rarely come with disks) and having to install it / do memory memory management, or a function just working, I’d always choose the latter.

gerwin wrote:

I have three similar cards ES1688, 1868 and 1869. Since ES-FM is pretty much exactly like Yamaha OPL3, I don't think getting an ES688+OPL3 offers any benefit over the others. There was an FM test here on vogons were ES-FM was tested to match exact OPL3 behaviour: Re: The way to detect OPL3 clone

The MPU-401 TSR for the ES688 may be a myth, which I think originated in one article that I used as a source for my ISA soundcard overview. I would like to see a copy of that TSR so I can conclude that it actually exists.

It is not a myth I have posted the TSR on VOGONS before let mendig up the post.

EDIT: It’s ENMPU.EXE found in the driver disks I posted here

appiah4 wrote:

It is not a myth I have posted the TSR on VOGONS before let mendig up the post.

EDIT: It’s ENMPU.EXE found in the driver disks I posted here

I have now seen the ENMPU.EXE there in your second driver disk, thanks for putting that straight. Indeed it is not a myth after all.