VOGONS


First post, by dreamblaster

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Here's a project I have been working on for quite a while...
I am very happy I can finally announce this .. !

DreamBlaster X2GS
waveblaster compatible soundcard featuring dual soundbank support :

  • a preloaded officially licensed, read only 16mbyte GS bank.
  • an updatable user bank (up to 48mbyte). 
X2GS_TOP.jpg
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X2GS_TOP.jpg
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8314 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

X2GS BANK INFORMATION :

  • Full GM/GS implementation
  • 128 GM instruments
  • 180 variation instruments
  • More than 200 drum sounds in 15 drum sets + 1 SFX set
  • All samples are in 16bit quality
  • Official Dream/Roland License
  • Intended for gaming (don't use in musical instruments)
  • Switching between X2GS bank and the user bank, can be done using NRPN messages.

The X2 upload tools and presets work also with this X2GS.
Default address 0x70000 -> only has effect on the user bank.
Alternative address 0x50000 -> effect location for GS bank
For bank switching, you can use some midi files : see also https://serdaco.com/downloads/X2/?dir=X2GS_Documentation :

Filename
BANKMIDI.zip
File size
775 Bytes
Downloads
184 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • X2GSBANK.MID : select X2GS bank
  • USERBANK.MID : select user bank
  • NEXTBANK.MID : switch to other bank

For X2GS soundbank MIDI instrument map, see attached spec pdf.

Filename
X2GSBANKSPECSV1.pdf
File size
572.03 KiB
Downloads
184 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Notes : As this is officially licensed product, i signed a contract with Dream, where I agree to conform to the rules :
The X2GS bank is used with the express permission of Roland Corporation. This bank is used conforming a license agreement with Dream.
Each X2GS features a license sticker from Dream, that ensures the license fee is paid. (this is the sticker at the bottom side)
It is only allowed to use this bank in my product when preloaded on the hardware and readonly, so this bank cannot be updated, and the bank cannot be distributed separately.
X2GS may not be installed in any musical instrument. Using this product in the manufacture of musical instruments or selling this product for use in a musical instrument is a violation of the intellectual property rights of Roland Corporation and will result in liability for infringement.

RolandDreamGMLogos.png
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RolandDreamGMLogos.png
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20.41 KiB
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8314 views
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Fair use/fair dealing exception

Launch price is 85 euro.
PM me if interested, or have a look at https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS
Available now.

youtube demo playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI91S8 … WHa5FfjnDI5mPrv

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  • X2GS_BOTTOM.jpg
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    File license
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Last edited by dreamblaster on 2022-07-03, 06:17. Edited 2 times in total.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 1 of 307, by keropi

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excellent news!!!! 😀
as a sidenote this new X2GS will also be available bundled with Oprheus with a small price increase to reflect the licensing costs 😀

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 2 of 307, by keropi

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I am attaching some recordings I made, the source are GS midi files - I thought to try something different than the usual game-recordings approach since there are YUCATAN recordings and the GS bank is more or less the same...

GS - 02 - Ys - Feena.mp3

GS - 04 - Ys - To Make the End of Battle.mp3

GS - 05 - Ys4 - Darm ~ The Dawn of Ys.mp3

hope you enjoy them - they are on mega and can be played without downloading, I forgot the forum has a 5mb limit and these are 7mb...

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 3 of 307, by dreamblaster

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X2GS bank playing Doom E1M1, using default preset

Attachments

  • Filename
    DoomE1M1.mp3
    File size
    2.21 MiB
    Downloads
    160 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 4 of 307, by Salient

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Wallet: Noooooooooooo...................

MIDI comparison website: << Wavetable.nl >>
(Always) looking for: Any Wavetable daughterboard, MIDI Module (GM/GS/XG)

Reply 5 of 307, by 1541

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Wow this is great news!

Sorry for the following silly questions:
- Which NRPN tool would you recommend to perform bank switching under DOS?
- What is the default bank?
- Will the X2GS remember the last bank switch or does it have to be switched again on every reboot?

💾 Windows 9x resources (drivers, tools, NUSB,...) 💾

Reply 6 of 307, by keropi

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^ since the needed messages are inside .MID files then PLAYMID.EXE will work fine under DOS

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 7 of 307, by dreamblaster

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1541 wrote on 2021-04-24, 13:23:

Sorry for the following silly questions:
- Which NRPN tool would you recommend to perform bank switching under DOS?

Just use playmid to play the provided MIDI files at bootup ?

1541 wrote on 2021-04-24, 13:23:

- What is the default bank?

X2GS

1541 wrote on 2021-04-24, 13:23:

- Will the X2GS remember the last bank switch or does it have to be switched again on every reboot?

no, it is not remembered.
but if you bridge jumper J2 on the X2GS, it will boot using the user bank instead of the X2GS bank.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 9 of 307, by Lennart

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Yet another nice MIDI daughterboard, congrats! 😀

Am I correct in assuming that the hardware is essentially the same as the X2, except instead of having 64MB of Flash memory for an updatable sound bank it splits it into 2 banks (16MB preloaded GS bank and 48MB updatable)?

Also, what is the difference between the 16MB preloaded bank of the X2GS and the Dream Cleanwave128 bank? I was always under the impression that the latter used Roland samples as well.

Reply 10 of 307, by dreamblaster

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Lennart wrote on 2021-04-24, 14:32:

Am I correct in assuming that the hardware is essentially the same as the X2, except instead of having 64MB of Flash memory for an updatable sound bank it splits it into 2 banks (16MB preloaded GS bank and 48MB updatable)?

Yes
It has different firmware, different memory organisation, .. but hardware is the same basis.
Due to licensing restrictions, and needed encryption/protection for the GS bank, this is explicitly a separate product.
It is forbidden for this product to use in musical instruments, and forbidden to distribute the bank outside of the product (seems this is very important for Roland - I need to note this).

Lennart wrote on 2021-04-24, 14:32:

lso, what is the difference between the 16MB preloaded bank of the X2GS and the Dream Cleanwave128 bank? I was always under the impression that the latter used Roland samples as well.

X2GS uses Roland samples, officially licensed by Dream
Cleanwave uses "clean" Dream samples as far as I know.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 12 of 307, by Bancho

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Is this basically a Yucatan on the X2?

Damn, my wishlist for Serdaco stuff keeps growing!

I want the Chill II, the ESS board, I did want the Yutacan, but even though I own a X2, i wanna add this to the wish list. I'm going to have to do an order soon to make the most use of the shipping costs!

Reply 13 of 307, by dreamblaster

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Bancho wrote on 2021-04-24, 15:16:

Is this basically a Yucatan on the X2?

Yes that description comes close. The new GS bank is higher quality than Yucatan, but it will sound similar in style.
X2GS adds dual bank support with dual presets, so the sound characterics can be tweaked as well, for both banks.
I optimized the Buran bank in new revision 1.1, so it fits within the 48 mbyte limit.
This means it combines GS bank (as in Yucatan) and Buran bank (as in X2) in one card, best of both...😀

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 14 of 307, by digger

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With respect to dreamblaster's labor of love, am I the only one here who finds the license restrictions questionable? Since when does a software license get to dictate how I, as a hypothetical customer, am going to use the hardware I bought?

If I interpret this correctly, I am in violation of the terms of use when I put this wavetable header in an external MIDI enclosure, hook it up to a MIDI keyboard and start playing music with it. I find that quite restrictive. It tells me what I can and cannot do with my own equipment, and I don't like it.

Maybe it only applies to whomever distributes the product, but as a seller you can't guarantee that none of the buyers will ever use it as a musical instrument.

Reply 15 of 307, by dreamblaster

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digger wrote on 2021-04-24, 22:11:

With respect to dreamblaster's labor of love, am I the only one here who finds the license restrictions questionable? Since when does a software license get to dictate how I, as a hypothetical customer, am going to use the hardware I bought?
If I interpret this correctly, I am in violation of the terms of use when I put this wavetable header in an external MIDI enclosure, hook it up to a MIDI keyboard and start playing music with it. I find that quite restrictive. It tells me what I can and cannot do with my own equipment, and I don't like it.
Maybe it only applies to whomever distributes the product, but as a seller you can't guarantee that none of the buyers will ever use it as a musical instrument.

I understand your feeling, but personally, I am simply grateful to be able to make an official product based on Roland samples.
Even if this means a lot of restrictions. I am 100% committed to complying to the license agreement, as a seller.
This includes the obligation to mention the restrictions and copyrights in the documentation.
The X2GS is oriented at retro gamers, and I think the Roland based bank is most relevant for this purpose these days anyway.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 16 of 307, by yawetaG

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dreamblaster wrote on 2021-04-24, 14:36:
Yes It has different firmware, different memory organisation, .. but hardware is the same basis. Due to licensing restrictions, […]
Show full quote
Lennart wrote on 2021-04-24, 14:32:

Am I correct in assuming that the hardware is essentially the same as the X2, except instead of having 64MB of Flash memory for an updatable sound bank it splits it into 2 banks (16MB preloaded GS bank and 48MB updatable)?

Yes
It has different firmware, different memory organisation, .. but hardware is the same basis.
Due to licensing restrictions, and needed encryption/protection for the GS bank, this is explicitly a separate product.
It is forbidden for this product to use in musical instruments, and forbidden to distribute the bank outside of the product (seems this is very important for Roland - I need to note this).

That probably means the bank is also used in some official Roland products, likely their home keyboards (maybe this one?). I think the restriction literally means using the bank in a musical instrument is not allowed.

If an user decides to use the product the Roland bank is used in for making music, that is not forbidden - and most importantly, that is not your responsibility. A one-off item for personal use would not be worth Roland's time and money to make an example of. However, if an user would decide to buy these boards in bulk and produce a keyboard based on them for commercial purposes, the user would probably get into legal trouble, especially after your explicit warning.

Note I am not a lawyer.

Reply 17 of 307, by dreamblaster

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yawetaG wrote on 2021-04-25, 07:28:

If an user decides to use the product the Roland bank is used in for making music, that is not forbidden - and most importantly, that is not your responsibility. A one-off item for personal use would not be worth Roland's time and money to make an example of. However, if an user would decide to buy these boards in bulk and produce a keyboard based on them for commercial purposes, the user would probably get into legal trouble, especially after your explicit warning.

Yes indeed, that is also how i interpret it.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 18 of 307, by dreamblaster

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Some more X2GS demo's :

Sam and Max : A pleasantly understated credit sequence : https://youtu.be/Q87zc2hV98s
Tie Fighter : Title theme : https://youtu.be/-BLHWDgK_3Q

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !