Kenny Chou (aka CC Catch) was a musician who used Adlib FM + 4(??) channels of PCM sound on Sound Blaster. That was one of the finest examples of tunes with mixed FM/PCM.
http://www.baxpace.com/macrocosm.pl?M_page=zone66

About ScreamTracker3 - I really don't know if there exist any FM/PCM mixed S3M tune. I'm not sure but I do remember I've read somewhere that ScreamTracker3 may have problems with FM/PCM synchronisation/timing. But it's easy to try out :)

I'd be rather voting for OPL2/3 volume-register-writing 6-bit samples, because of no need of DMA-DAC. In that way samples can by played on AdlibGold, home build OPL3 card or 8-bit computer (if fast enought) :) Maybe it's not Hi-Fi digitized sound, but for drums and additional special FX will be OK. Music is on FM :)

S3M - FM+SAMPLES

but I am not sure that solution is what you want...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScreamTracker

" Scream Tracker supported up to 100 8-bit samples, 32 channels, 100 patterns & 256 order positions. It could also handle up to nine FM-synthesis channels on sound cards using the popular OPL2/3/4 chipsets, and, unusually, could play digital and FM instruments at the same time. "

http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=13351

In my point of view - technically it isn't a problem to make digitized sound on OPL2/3. From the programmer point of view - it has to be used on one or more channel (best in AM mode to twice the loudness) by setting LOUD waveform (f.ex. square), setting frequency to ZERO (to stuck phase shifting and getting constant DC) and constantly timer-putting digital stream on volume register. It will be 6-bit logarythmic sample :) The more tricky version is to use BD channel in Rythm Mode for sample playback, because that channel is TWICE as louder in hardware :)

My machine is an AMD K6/2 550 with a AWE64 and its a bewdy mate!!! To make a Psy trance Kick drum, just set both operators to sine, AM mode, full volume, no feedback, then pick a high note and set a very fast portamento fall: DOOF!!! there yego!!! Although if there is a sample track I would be making some replicas of Megadrive music, Log the DAC with the YM2612 switched off in Genecyst to get your samples, use wave editing software to cut the samples, then load them into a tracker that has a sample track, then use the OPL in 4op mode, using the remaining 2op channels to emulate the PSG, wouldn it be nice!!!

Ok I will try It. But I think the best way will be sell that 133mhz and buy one 266-300mhz old note - XMAS :)

elan> Maybe you should play a round a bit with option "cpu_saving" under section "TROUBLESHOOTING". But I'm affraid that P133 still won't be enough, let's say, for some macro stuff :(

All Opl2/3 maniacs -> my ICQ: 240-840-99six

Is 133mhz+16mb enought for fast tracking???

Hallo Folks.
I have 133mhz Toshiba under W98. And It is horrible slow. Is there any DOS Toshiba OPL-X driver???
And I need use my USB stick under dos too how could do that???
Or how can I speed Up in *.cfg file in adt2 under w98???
Please Pimp My OPL3 Beats!!!
I can not track till is so slow!!!

Hi everybody! ADT2 it's a really great tracker!! I'm a 8 bit machines fan and I'm making an OPL3 sound card for this computer based on a MSX design. I'd like to program some games for my "future" soundcard usin a "lite" version of your player. My question is: It's posible to "create" a compiled song with a little player that can send "outs" to the sound card reading the compiler data directly (Amstrad CPC, MSX, Speccy runs at 4Mhz! only). It would be great compose song with your tracker and use it out 8 bits productions! MSX for example uses MoonBlaster Tracker for their OPLL and OPL4 sound card (OPL3 compatible :D).

Thanks! And sorry for my english. Good job!

Hello everybody! It's my first post here :) I'm very happy that AdT2 is so popular :)

@Essentric from comment on 10/2/2006

Alrighty, thanks alot for the tips. I'll see if I can get anything good from that... which I probably will. And experimenting away I go!

btw mad props to the authors of this site and the great tracker... keeping the good sounds of FM alive. It's a pity they have for the most part all but destroyed FM in new sound standards... wavetable just sounds like rotting garbage.

Malfunction/Altair discovered some AdT2@Compaq live show action on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLZ8NErLSrY

drx> OMG, that photo makes my heart beat like crazy :) Anyway, I can see it's not the very recent version you are using there, is it? (noticed that the current row in Pattern Order is only highlighted - not with the same color cursor as in Pattern Editor like in new version ;)

sub0> I bought a Thinkpad 760 EL for 50 € recently on eBay. But the install of Win95 is bad, so i have to reinstall before i can tell you if the OPL is good.

Check this out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miserychick/5406610/
Bodenstandig 2000 roX0ring Deitch in New York City, with AdlibTracker of course!

Da!NyL> Great work, bro! Four thumbs up (both hands and legs :)

I released a little A2T-Player (Adlib-Tracker-Tiny-Module; saveable by CTRL-F2 in the Tracker) for Windows&Linux. It doesn't require any OPL3-Chip, as it uses the DosBox/MAME OPL3 core by Jarek Burczynski and subz3ro's A2T replay code. It's still very early in development (NO Fileselector; NO Seeking; NO Playlists) but it plays A2T modules & can record them to .wav. Best used with a norton-commander-clone. Head over to the Links and get it, test it and have fun!

Oh, missed that!

Essentric> Yup, you're right! Plenty of CPU horses are required for DosBox. Only now, with E6600 and CPU cycles set to 30.000 in Dynamic mode is the tracker running smoothly. But it's a non-sense to have Core 2 Duo processor, just to emulate a DOS program, indeed ;)

There is already a player that runs in DOS called AD2Play that comes with the main sequencer, although you would need real hardware. If you are referring to a player that will play the file on any windows computer, is that there first needs to be a good quality synth emulation engine made dedicated to OPL3. the only synth engine that is capable of OPL3 emulation is Dos Box, but you need plenty of CPU juice to run it. Read the FAQ of this site then you will know why.

Why don't you make a player for these things so people can record them, at tape without any trouble?

Come to think about it, if you look at a Kick drum sample on a graph, you can observe that there is a sinewave component that falls rapidly in frequency as it fades after the hairy bit at the start which represents the percussive component. Oh and thanks for your input, Vyruss. :) I was just suggesting a few things that may help you with your drums. If you like Trance music, try composing Trance, as the genre thrives on FM synthesis. Speaking of Trance, I have to finnish my piece and post it. See you later and good luck :)

Well I have mastered how to make powerful sounding kickdrums so I have different ideas for the sample channel, so has Encore, and a few other artists. There are of course different types of percussion that cannot be reproduced on the OPL. The secret behind making a perfect kick drum is the portamento fall, make a quick percussive timbre with a sinewave hangover, then try different portamento fall speeds in the tracker pattern order untill you achieve the fat bassy kick sound. Have a listen to Encore's "FM house" and look at how he programmed the kick. Once you got it, it is easy. Use the similar concept for snare, mix a falling portamento sinewave with another channel making a percussive hiss. I havent got the hihats quite right but they are close, for hihat, well a lot of experimentation is involved but it can be rewarding. To get the most out of the OPL, DO NOT be conservative, try every setting you can imagine.

Reading through these posts, I am happy to see I am not the only one to consider the ideal of adding at least one channel for samples. 4-op FM is a great way to get things done, however a drum just doesn't sound quite so robust as a sampled version of a drum does.

Personally in my spare time I create OPL3-style versions of old videogame and arcade songs as a sort of hobby. Just the thought of how these would sound with drum samples makes me feel all tingly inside. Regardless of that, I just like to say that you've got quite a nifty little tool made up here. It's the only thing I can stand to even look at anymore as the effects are very easily memorized and the tracker layout is just smoooooooth.

The Ensoniq ES1370, better known as the Creative Soundblaster PCI-64 since Creative bought out Ensoniq Technology to join the PCI card market. It emulates the OPL3 but, it sounds really weird, it sounds as if the FM emulation is done by wavetable samples of FM synthesis, making the BGM sound absolutely out of whack in the first person shooter DOOM, hard to explain what it sounds like but terrible enough for me to turn the BGM off. That drove me to install the Vibra16 as the legacy DOS audio card.

Wavetable sucks unless it is the CASIO SK1 playing your flatulance, growls and grunts melodically but thats another matter :D
Man, it is nice to know that there is a PCI card with the chip encorporating the holy grail method of modern electronic synthesis :) I actually managed to have two soundcards running in my computer at some stage, One ISA , and one PCI card to get the best of both worlds of genuine SB16 standard and the high data traffic capabilities of PCI bus audio. All you need to do is disable SB emulation on the PCI card to free resources for the true SB card, then connect the PCI card into the "Line in" of the ISA, then the output of the ISA card is your final output. It allows more sound polyphony in windows too :)

It works! I'm running AT2 in Win XP with my PCI YMF724F-V card. Just had to free up the 388 port with UserPort. :D

Just wondering...is there any chance at all of a windows port of this program that takes the opl3 emulation from DOS box for it's sound output while retaining all of the features already available in the DOS version? I think it would be a great alternative version...Hell, I'd do it myself, but it's hard enough for me to use programs, much less MAKE them. :) Just an idea, though, which I'm sure has been brought up before...if it has, feel free to verbally punch me in the face.

I did some discussion with Encore about the implementation of a sample channel, and came to the conclusion that it will really spiff things up, giving Adlib Tracker an increased chance to reach mainstream and make the OPL more famous. The scenario of making small A2M files would still be around to fit in with Malfunction Altair's rules, it will just give artists an added option to add sample based SFX or percussion for even more interesting sounds that cannot be created by FM synthesis. If I was a coder I would help add the function, But I dont :( Everyone, what do you think about a sample channel added to FM?

drx: OMG, I thought I won't see you again *grin* Welcome to our community here!
Speaking of the Thinkpad notebook-- are they still available in the second-hand shops with PC equipment in Germany? How much does it currently cost? I thought of buying one specially for AdT2 purpose ;)

Just some new info, seems like the Yamaha YMF72x line of sound cards are PCI and actually have real OPL3. Just bought myself an YMF724F-V off ebay(0.88$) to check if this is correct.

I use an IBM Thinkpad 760 XL and the built-in OPL3 sounds awesome! No wonder these computers costed a fortune in 1996. It is a very robust and heavy Laptop that runs Win98 SE and also is great for live AdlibTracker concerts.

TiZZ: This is no silly question, you can bet! :) It's been considered many times... either by me, or other people involved in this "project". I can say you only one thing for now- that there is some progress currently going on in this topic... we'll see what we can do (resp. what Da!NyL can do with the OPL3emu portion to Pascal :)

This may be a silly question but have you considered doing a win32 console
version of Adlibtracker (using the opl3 emulation from DOSbox???)

Hi Found this site finally, I have just installed the AWE64 card, and found that it is just a Vibra 16C (My previous card) with a wavetable extension. I have noticed that there are indeed two different versions of the OPL3. The older version seems to require more latency, and tends to have artefacts on lower frequencies, making the bass sound a little sharper on Subz3ros cover "WHats love." The AWE 64 and of course the Vibra seems to have a faster (no latency needed), cleaner OPL3.

Although I do experience that the newer OPL3 still has a tencency to make clicking noises, which in most cases can be resolved by carefully adjusting the attack and release settings. depending on the desired timbre setting the sustain EG type to on, and adding the note release commands somewhere before the next note further reduces the chance of getting those annoying clicks.

Listening to the song while tweaking the timbre to fit in tends to bring out great results on the final piece, which is the sa

Hey guys, could someone do me a quick favor? I need someone to listen to anyone of my songs and tell me if the notes written are actually the notes played. The reason I am asking this is because in every song I composed with AT2, it seemed that every note I wrote was a half step lower than concert pitch (so if I wanted to hear a C natural, I'd have to write a C# instead). I am just wondering what you guys are hearing because the demo song on the downloads page sounds like it is up a half step than what I am hearing when played through AT2. Thanks!

Brendan

I tryed that BRMTracker.Nice one.But it sounds not so nice as original OPL2/3 but it is nice idea...

Any sites/mailinglists/whatever you guys go to to share OPLx songs etc? I can't seem to find any that are alive...

Hmm, just quickchecked the FM emulation in BeroMiniTracker... from rough "hearing", it sounds like
Ken Silverman's OPL emulator is used (imho) :) Well, a better choice would be Tatsuyuki Satoh's emulator,
which is (again, imho) far better, instead.

Just for your interest, the developer of Berotracker has a program called BeroMiniTracker which is a tracker that emulates the opl2/opl3 chip. I don't know how well it emulates the opl as I haven't compared them as yet. You can import .hsc files.
The link is :
http://bero.0ok.de/blog/index.php

I've found another solution to the awful noise from the cards.

Changing the settings in your BIOS for 8 bit recovery time to "8" and 16 bit recovery time to "4" made my SB16 SCSI and AWE32 work properly with not only this program but also the music in Populous plays properly.

I theorize that (Not tried this for sure) it's only the 16 BIT setting that needs adjusting. You have NA (or 0) 1, 2, 3, and 4.
You may want to experiment with both 8 and 16 bit.

Some BIOS' don't have these options.

Also, some systems may have jumpers or dip switches or BIOS settings the control BUS speeds. Before changing these (consult your documentation PLEASE), try the afforementioned Recovery time settings.

If they still don't work, then look into the BUS speed settings. SOme cards will not work properly if the bus speed is too high.

It´s working!!! Altering the OPL latency to "1" solved it. Sounds super kewl!!! I must have an older chip in the card then? Is there any remarkable differences in the sound compared to an OPL 3, as in the AT-sound?

Thanks again, gotta get down to some serious tracking now..

Hi everyone, thanks for quick response, I´m running it under win 98. Hve to look at those settings in bios as well. Coluld be a bad driver? Although Ft 2 works... I have to get At II working.

Pauli: A silly yet still indication question-- are you running the tracker under DOS (w/ EMM386, ... ?) or under Windows (95/95/ME/XP/Vista, ... ?) environment? ;)

Pauli: Hmm, sounds strange. My other SB16 - a CT2290 - works fine in AT II, and from what I can see, there's not much difference in the specs. Check out the info on this page.

http://www.hiemalis.org/~keiji/PC/sb/CT2260/

You can alter the OPL latency by editing adtrack2.ini. Other areas I would check are BIOS settings (if any) regarding ISA, the SET BLASTER-parameters and the other settings in adtrack2.ini. Or, if you've played anything by HYDRA, that's probably how they're supposed to sound.. :D Keep us informed on your progress!

Hello purists, found a computer with an ISA slot and installed a SB16 CT2230 card in it. it has an OPL chip just that looks just like the one in the close up photo in the front page of this site, tested it with Ft2 and it is working fine. When I run AT II and play some modules that come with the program I hear the weirdest distorted noise ever heard so far. Does that particular card not work with AT II? I´ve got another SB16 CT2770 value, which so far doesn´t work at all. Wondering if it´s the crappy computer (pII 350 Mhz, 64 ram) that causes the problems? How do you alter OPL latency? Could that be it?

As I recall, the ct4740 does _not_ work with adlib tracker. Right now I don't remember why, I belive that particular model is missing an opl-chip (it uses wavetable for midi sound), I think I have a ct4740 lying around somewhere but I'm too tired (and a bit too drunk) to go fetch it right now just to check it out.

Of course, you could always use a emulator of some sort to get the sound of a virtual opl-chip through the pcm-channel of your ct4740. I had success running the latest version of adlib tracker using dosbox and linux for x86, though it sounds rather crappy.

since keycommands and abilitys of adlibtracker are in my mind its really a fun.
is there a community for exchanging and discussing adlibtracker stuff?

And how about the CT4740 (Sound Blaster 16 PCI), does that work with adlib tracker?

There are some AWE64D's here:
http://www.codemicro.com/store/check_price.php?partid=1449176