Adlib Tracker II - the official website

Yes, you're right that XG is a wavetable synth. However, this particular card has both the XG and the original FM - not the XG mimicking the FM. Thinking about FM, there are a limited number of waveforms stored in the chip, each represented with I think 8 bits of resolution. The OPL has to generate them and then "mux" them according to the parameters it's given, and then convert this binary data to controlled voltage. Therefore, it must be possible to exactly reproduce the Adlib FM synthesis with any soundcard at all - not just those containing the OPL chip or chipset. Since you were talking about creating a knowledge-base or some sort of Wiki with performance reports of different setups, I had an idea that might help. Users could share unprocessed, uncompressed WAVs of the captured output of their soundcards, using a specific tracked file that ships with AT2. This would be a definitive test of whether there is a genuine OPL3 chipset or whether there is some emulation going on.

Sorry about that Nutter - I've now increased the length of message from 1000 -> 2000 characters. Interesting info though. :) Also, it's true that Wavetable (such as Yamahas XG, Rolands GS and Emu's Soundfont) has its qualities, but I still think FM-synthesis has a charm of it own. Hmm, it's a little like comparing apples and oranges I guess - and I like to mix fruit. ;)

.. talking too much again - post got cut short. Anyway, I've forgotten what else I wrote, but it could have been important. But, yeah, I can run some tools I have that will let me search the card for any old bank of MIDI sounds, but until I do so I can't say one way or the other, although I think it's definitely possible that the old sounds are in there. This will take some work but if you want I can investigate whether the code to generate FM GM-MIDI instruments is there. The many DS-XG sounds (fully configurable with the right tools) are much better than the old FM imitation of instruments - I remember from when I had my old Soundblaster and listened to MIDI files I downloaded.

Hi Moogle. The proprietary drivers package I installed a few days ago appears to have set up a little utility under Control Panel, called Yamaha DS-XG control. The "Multimedia" standard little media setup program only has one option for MIDI, which is sent to it by this new DS-XG control (hereinafter referred to as the gizmo). The DS-XG control shows that the FM synthesizer is at 388h, which you'll note is unusual. This is because 330h is taken up by MPU-401 (i.e. MIDI), and the FM synth is extra, on top of what the card usually does its MIDI with (i.e. its internal Yamaha XG synth). Windows 98 runs on top of DOS. The gizmo shows that the FM synth and MIDI assignments referred to above come under "DOS-BOX". Therefore I would guess that changing the MIDI assignment to 388h would be possible, although undesirable. Yamaha DS-XG is in fact an amazing synth, and its many sounds are configured very easily using specially-designed tools like XG-Edit. I'm using the XG for MIDI on a daily basis

Nutter, with this PCI card, can you actually select the card's FM synthesizer to play MIDIs on the Control Panal?

BTW, I've got AT2 working under Win98SE at the moment, with the Yamaha YMF724. My laptop (Cirrus card - 100% SB-compatible but with a different FM synthesis engine) runs AT2 under FreeDOS.

Merry Xmas guys and have a great new year.
Essentric - yes I know what you mean about the Ensoniq's OPL emulation - it really is unlistenable when you play DOS games. I have a desktop PC with a built-in Ensoniq sound chip. It's on this PC that I've installed the new Yamaha PCI card.

Encore: great job with this software, and cool music too! My own tracked music kinda sucks. I got my working drivers from:
http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/lsi/us/support/downloads.html
Details about YMF724 from:
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa/ftp/manuals/yamaha/ymf724.pdf
(It says that the PCI audio block is separate from the "Legacy Audio" block inside the main chip, and the Legacy Audio block contains an OPL3 block addressable at 0x0388h by default, and that it's "Genuine OPL3" but only "emulated SBPro", referring to the specific DSP functions that SBPro could do).

Great you got it working, :) I just simply had really bad experiences with the PCI cards I had. the Ensoniq ES1370 I had, had mindblowing Wavetable quality, puts the AWE to shame in comparison, but it emulated the OPL... very poorly, so bad that it was unlistenable even when you played DOS games.

Nutter: Interesting information you provided, which I think we should preserve as info on this page in some way. By the way, what OS are you in (when running AT2) and could you provide a link to the drivers that made AT2 work for you? I've googled a bit on Yamaha YMF 724 and the result are quite messy and non-informativ imho, so using this place for get-going-with-AT2 would be a good idea. :)

Merry X-mas to all of you. ;)

Essentric I've just got AT2 on the Yamaha YMF 724 PCI card working (v. happy!!), by installing updated drivers from Yamaha's website. It's definitely the proper, non-emulated, genuine OPL3 sound. It sounds different from my laptop with its built-in 100% SB-compatible built-in Cirrus soundcard.

FYI, the YMF 7*4 PCI cards are "in-between" cards specially designed so that they are "LEGACY" devices capable of running programs that were designed for SB16 cards. They do not have emulated Adlib - they have the actual identical circuitry for FM synthesis.

As I said before you've got your facts wrong on this issue, as there are DOZENS of PCI cards (not just Yamaha home brand) with OPL3 embedded in their chipsets, and which are capable of running AT2 whether the Adlib legacy support is found at 220h or 338h. The IRQ number used does not matter. Please stop saying that you need a SB16 to run AT2, or that SBs are the only cards with OPL3, because this is simply not true. Thanks dude.

The PCI bus does not have the same resources as the ISA as far as I know, (I may be wrong) in order to have the ISA resources on a PCI card, it has to have a south bridge built into the card itself, or the resources have to be emulated to be supplied to the embedded OPL3 chip. I have never seen a PCI to ISA converter adapter, I hope there is one by the way. So because of that (i am only guessing here) the routing to the IRQ resources can be a little messier than usual. I am only saying from my understanding from what I have learned doing "computer hardware fundamentals" in university.

.. hit the word limit there. But anyway, yes the program has probably failed to correctly detect the base address of the Adlib support. I'll have to try some more things.

Sorry guys I mean absolutely no disrespect but the facts simply aren't as you stated them. Do I need an actual 16-bit SoundBlaster ISA card to run AT2? The answer is an emphatic "no".

First of all the Yamaha YMF724 has the OPL3 chipset - the actual OPL3 internal synthesizer - inside it. All Yamaha YMF7*4 are "Legacy" cards that have the original OPL3 FM synthesizer (and not a fake emulation by some other manufacturer) included in their chipset. The OPL3 chip itself is not separate, but is 100% included inside the chipset, without alteration, by Yamaha. PCI is a reference only to the bus that plugs in to the motherboard. There are very many PCI cards (not just those made by Yamaha) that contain the complete OPL3 (original) in the chipset, because Yamaha licensed the technology to many other companies.

I have another computer with a modern Ensoniq soundcard built into the motherboard. It runs Adlib Tracker 2, but the sounds are slightly different to how they're meant to be. This i

You need a native ISA standard sound blaster 16 or equivalent that has the OPL3 to run Adlib Tracker. The Operating system has to be one that runs over DOS, such as Windows 98, 95, 3.11, and so on. Windows NT derivatives such as WIN2000, XP, and so on, do not support ISA hardware the same way as native DOS derivatives. The processor has to be a 100MHz x86 Intel compatible or above. If you check that you have everything right according to these specs, then you should not have much trouble running Adlib Tracker. If you have a new windows XP machine that has no ISA ports, forget it, and go to the dump recycling centre or the secondhand store and search for a native ISA capable PC, Prefferably a Socket 7.

Nutter, do you know who made the card? At any rate, that chipset is a PCI card, what just emulates the OPL part, as far as I know. And which OS are you using?

Hi fellas. Just dropped by to ask for some assistance. I've installed a new Yamaha YMF724 (for the OPL chipset) just to do some tracking. But there's a problem. Although the soundcard is correctly installed with the right drivers and it works for all other purposes, Adlib Tracker and other FM trackers including RAD just give me silence when the module is running. There's no sound output at all. I think maybe because the card uses base address 220h? Any ideas how I could fix this? Thanks

We should have an opl3 one hour compo some time, don't you think?

MadBrain: Well I am looking for your www link.

I have a large amount of Opl3 tunes in preparation, with a gazillion 4op voices and macros ("hacks") and good enough composition, including a Duke Nukem 3d cover and some orchestral music among other things. I should be ready to release soon... I dunno how I'll distribute mp3 versions though!

Xmas release would be cool, no? :)

2Essentric : I am bussy too. I have exams... But I will have Xmas Holidays soon...

Okay I have linked to this webpage, as best as I could to show people what software is making the OPL3 Churn out these chunky beats. I hope that the Adlib scene grows. OPL3 ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!! as for Elan, I will Email you, I have just been busy.

Essentric -> e-mail is OK!!!

I use ICQ to chat with family and friends when I am on college ...
BTW my email is YMF262atGMAILdotCOM I start with Opl this year but I have 13years FastTracker,ScreamTracker ... experience so I hope I will learn quickly :).

Or use atari130xeATgmailDOTcom I like Pokey too.

Oh yeah, And I will link to this webpage when I work out how to do so so I can credit everyone who is involved in creating the ADT2 program. :) I did credit in the blog but I feel that it is a little sloppy. :( Anyway, good luck to all, got to go.

Erm, I am sorry, I do not use ICQ on account that the security threat is high on that program, and if I stuff up my dads computer (which is this one) he will not be happy. You can contact me in my hotmail account: essentric84@hotmail.com or you can find my new account on Myspace.com And search for Essentric. I am not that hot Asian chick though who also calls herself essentric. You will see my "Alien Worlds" CD cover as my profile photo, I am registered as a musician so you can download my MP3"s tunes which are composed on the OPL3(I am an OPL musician :). When I get the ancient Pentium 133 laptop up and running I will see about running ICQ. I am completely sorry otherwise I would have no problems with authorising you in ICQ.

Essentric please authorize me on ICQ: two40-840-99six
After Xmas I will have my webpage with some my tunes...
Matej "elan"

Hello test, haya goin mate? been testing a few things lately? :D

This is an automatic test. :)

I do not have a problem running ADT2 in pure DOS, anyone else?

Regarding the messageboard, I've added a simple filter that will hopefully sort the crap out.

Regarding Digi on Adlib: even if it's working, it still would be 6bit logarithmical. And we only got ONE timer to use, which would run at a very high (>8khz) sample rate. Too much for Windows'9x. AND we still have all other AdlibTracker tasks running with this one timer: Macros & Playing for example. Well. Fixing the last point shouldn't be that difficult. But a high timer rate would really make ADT2 DOS-ONLY. (As if that would be a problem =)

I found this one : http://www.pascalorama.info/article.php?news=30&cat=22
But I have not test it.

Yeah, I got that program, PSG2MOD. I have made some tunes with it. PSG2MOD was what got me interested in Trackers. Yes it is for the PSG sound chip only, and it is fairly limited, where you cant do portamento shift programming, I think? I would have to look at the program again, but I remember that I could not do certain effects like I heard the Master System do. The program can also write tunes for systems as far back as the Colecovision, a very early hardware ancestor to the Master System. The company funnily enough was also manufacturing Cabbage patch kids at the time, and was making more money from them, and despite that, Colecovision went bust from the videogame console market crash in the early 1980s, and ATARI almost went down with them.

There is PSG2MOD but it is for Mastersystem soundchip I think...

I tried to find a tracker for the megadrive, there aint one around available on the internet, but I bet Sega is still clutching their tracker with their own claws. Its either Sega releases it or someone will reverse engineer the console and write one. also remember that the Sega has not got the most impressive signal to noise ratio, I dont know anything about the Atari JIL though, as I was more or a Megadrive nerd back then, than anything else.

Well imagine that, 18 channels plus 10 Megadrive channels including the PSG, bigger polyphony than before not to mention the independent operator frequency offset of one of the ym2612 channels (Ideal for percussion channel). If it does happen, then this will be the biggest FM development project ever! To interface with the megadrive, you would need to develop a ROM cartridge with a serial or parallel interface to connect with the PC, Software written to enable sound hardware access from the PC, this will be a big project within itself. Anybody up to the task?? ;) Then the client program for the Megadrive could have Sample banks for the megadrive to push through its DAC channel at command, along with Instrument tables.

I'd like to see some external clients for next generation Adlib Tracker II :) Consoles or/and computers with special cartridge + USB cable, playing as external soundcards :) Just imagine requester "Sega Megadrive external client detected, Atari JIL external client detected. Search again/Continue?" ;D

How about make Megadrive MidiBox or Megadrive Tracker /Megadrive+Flashcartrige+Tracker like LSDJ/.
Or MDTracker / for PC / + Liveact sequencer for MD???

http://www.ic2005.com/html/2005/show-47.htm

I got it mixed up on the Sega MS PSG, Dislexic me, PWM not as loud, but better sounding, Volume logging created "beat frequency" harmonics with the oscillator note frequency and the sample rate, not to mention, not least, the 4 bit resolution limit, but it was louder. interesting stuff your showing me:) anyway got to sleep:)

Please read very interesting article about PWM sample playing on 8580 SID :) I dunno If FM square modulated will be louder than normal volume register writing:

http://www.ffd2.com/fridge/chacking/c=hacking20.txt

The Sega Master system has a Z80 as the main processor, and besides being crippled over not having enough decent software writers, it was not a bad console. It was more powerful than the NES, (the Master system had true X and Y scrolling platforms 32 colours, while the NES (with a custom 6502 processor) only had Native horizontal scrolling as far as I know, and 16 colours) The Master system had a YM2413 (Japanese version) so had better sound, and the Megadrive is only a Master system... Supercharged with the 68K, More VRam, and the YM2413 replaced with the YM2612. The master system played samples by either Volume register writing, or the more louder and crummier PWM on the TI76489 PSG.

I like the 68K Processor and dreamed of making a computer out of one, the Megadrive is my favourite console of all time :). The playback quality of the drums on Sonic3 sounded like 22.050Khz. I guess it is actually a good thing having a DAC with no automated hardware control, because it gives me an idea that when the channel is in that state, you can completely control of the PB rate on a sample sample from software control to bend the sound of a symphony crash, or make a few tom tom drums out of one. You have my vote on the Volume register writing on the OPL. My main motivation is to make dancefloor techno tunes so would demand high quality sample PB which is when the SB16 DAC channel comes in. Having LoFi crusty 6 bit samples can add a bit of character to a mix though :)

Yeah - but 8-bit Z80 is just a toy in comparison to 32-bit MC68000 :) I'm into Altera EPM1270 CPLD now, but it's anothr story :)

Yo Malfunction! Don't forget that the MegaDrive had an additional Z80 processor which could be used to drive the YM2612 so that the M68k didn't have to do it -> more effects (Samples) without any 68000-CPU usage. So how about a little AVR-RISC @ 20Mhz on your Soundcard? Or better yet: the holy grail: the eZ80.

I have an idea to make external USB soundcard with some original sound chips :) I'm thinking about YMF278 (OPL4) chip with ROM and SRAM and maybe additional YM2612 or YMF288. It should work on any modern computer. I'll try with YM2612 at first because it's cheap to get it out from old MegaDrive I :)

YM2612 chip in Sega MegaDrive has simply NO support for PCM playback except 8-bit register where you can write sample data. In that mode channel 6th is disabled except stereo settings. No timming, no DMA, no frequency settings - nothing. Just like writing to COVOX :) You have to make all sample replaying by software, so sample rate may be as high (or low) as you program that on MC68000 CPU. But I assume that upper limit is about YM2612-chip writing latency :)
Here is nice info:
http://www.smspower.org/maxim/docs/ym2612/index.html

I now understand now about the Macro limits, so it has to be either an embedded file, or a logged file. I became aware that the OPL was capable of PCM playback when I looked at this device: www.ucapps.de/midibox_fm.html
The feature (although software implemented) was used to achieve more complex modulation characteristics.

Yep I did hear 1khz samples when I did some experimentation with some software LoFi distortion simulators. you would really need at least 2Khz sample rate to achieve barely intelligible speech playback, 6 Khz will be okay, though to have some useful sound quality you would need about 8K. The megadrive has much higher quality sample rate capabilities than 8K but it is definitely not 44K, Maybe 11.025, I cant remember exactly, but it rings a bell. Although that games console distorted the playback terribly with a 50Hz vibrato, which is maybe the FM/PCM Timer programming artefacts. Do you know the sample rate capabilities of the OPL3