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Synths and Their Drivers

R

Radium

Jan 1, 1970
0
Sound Blaster 16 ISA has the hardware FM synth OPL3 and the driver
is named "Creative Music Synth [220]". The 220 is the address port for
the driver.
You'd be suprised. The driver makes as much of a difference as the
synth itself. Try a Yamaha PCI card. It has the same OPL3 chip as the
SB16. However, the sounds are very different -- all because the driver
is different.

IMHO Creative Music Synth is the best FM driver.

Why does the driver make so much of a difference?
 
V

Veli-Pekka Tätilä

Jan 1, 1970
0
Radium said:
Why does the driver make so much of a difference?

Hmm, probably because there's no standard GM set for the OPL-3 based cards.
You know, the sound parameters (registers) are the same in each card but the
renditions of GM specific sounds depend on the driver being used.

I remember seeing some drivers for Windows 3.1 (9x?) allowing you to make
new OPL patches a little like a sound editor for the OPL-3.

Surely the sounds are not different in DOS games between the SB and the
Yamaha cards, right?
Also, some of the other components like the digital to analog converter may
affect the basic sound of the chip. Some late 80s arcade games used the same
OPL chip but it does sound very different.

BTW:
Could you please stop cross-posting? I wouldn't want to subscribe to all
those other groups just to be able to see how this thread goes (posting in
rec.music.makers.synth).
 
B

bigtiny

Jan 1, 1970
0
Because the chip is, well, just a chip!

The driver will determine which features of the hardware (chip) will
be used and how. For instance, you can have a chip with a robust set
of available functions, but a driver that is written to only take
advantage of a few of them...it all depends on what the drivers'
authors wanted to implement....

bigtiny
 
R

Radium

Jan 1, 1970
0
Where can I find more information on Creative Music Synth?

I would like to know:

1. Technically, how it differs from other FM drivers

2. How those differences change the characteristics of the sound
played from the OPL3 chip

Because the chip is, well, just a chip!

The driver will determine which features of the hardware (chip) will
be used and how. For instance, you can have a chip with a robust set
of available functions, but a driver that is written to only take
advantage of a few of them...it all depends on what the drivers'
authors wanted to implement....

bigtiny

Sound Blaster 16 ISA has the hardware FM synth OPL3 and the driver
is named "Creative Music Synth [220]". The 220 is the address port for
the driver.
You'd be suprised. The driver makes as much of a difference as the
synth itself. Try a Yamaha PCI card. It has the same OPL3 chip as the
SB16. However, the sounds are very different -- all because the driver
is different.

IMHO Creative Music Synth is the best FM driver.

Why does the driver make so much of a difference?
 
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