AdLib Gold MP3 Demonstration (Dune)

[Cloudschatze]

Here are a few recorded examples of AdLib Gold 1000 output. Enjoy!

The following tunes were recorded from Dune, and make use of the reverb/"surround-sound" add-on module. Three songs are still missing, which I may get around to recording one of these days...

Arrakis
Bagdad
Sietchm
Warsong
Water
Wormintr Hope your speakers can handle the bass, otherwise this isn't going to sound right...



Here are a couple of RL2 demonstration tunes that were included with the AdLib Gold. They're a hybrid mix of FM and PCM, with the OPL-3 playing everything but the sampled percussion. COOL STUFF, MAYNARD.

Building
Cave
Highway2
Industry
Kraken
Lords
Machine
Mirrors
New Era
Ultimate

Nice stuff. It's surprising how "DX7-like" some of the sounds are, and it's a shame that the OPL-3 didn't receive more attention.


Here are floppy-disk images of the software that came with the card:

AdLib Gold Program Disk No. 1 (v1.00)
AdLib Gold Program Disk No. 2 (v1.00)
AdLib Gold Program Disk No. 3 (v1.00)
AdLib Gold Windows 3.1 Mixer and Drivers (v1.01)
Dr. T's Boom Box
AdLib GrooveKey Disk 1
AdLib GrooveKey Disk 2
MCS MusicRack Disk 1
MCS MusicRack Disk 2
AdLib StudioSonic 8
WOWII Gold Demo
Knowledge Adventure Demo


And, here is an updated set of the Windows drivers I found on the web that, curiously enough, include a program called G2S.EXE that "will let you emulate the Sound Blaster product from your Ad Lib Gold 1000." I've not tried it...

AdLib Gold Windows 3.1 Mixer and Drivers (v1.20)

[Rhizome]

Ohhh please record the rest! These sound awesome!

Does the Adlib Gold sound like this in any game that supports the Adlib? If so, any chance Descent could be ripped?

[Lennart]

They sound pretty good, would love to hear more of them!

Oh btw, was the recorded Adlib Gold equipped with the reverb module?

[Kaminari]

I might record the rest, if there's any interest.

By all means, please do.

I've been begging for AdLib Gold support in DOSBox for years, but so far the only response I got from the devs was that neither Dune nor KGB (the two best AdLib Gold soundtracks ever) were worth the effort. Although the ADG is based on the OPL3 (which is emulated in DOSBox), the only card supported is the SB16.

Does the Adlib Gold sound like this in any game that supports the Adlib?

No, the game has to offer explicit support for AdLib Gold.

[Rhizome]

No, the game has to offer explicit support for AdLib Gold.

Darn

[Tom]

Alright...I'm confused.  This was the first time I've ever really heard the Ad Lib Gold.  I was expecting something...different.  I did a lot of composing on my old AdLib and remember contemplating the purchase of the Gold.  I guess I'm glad I didn't spend the bucks; to me, the Gold sounds like a glorified AdLib card playing in stereo instead of mono.  Other than that, I don't notice any improvement in sound quality; it sounds like all my old AdLib recordings.  Wasn't it supposed to offer better instrument sounds?

[NewRisingSUn]

The Adlib Gold has an OPL-3 chip, which was noteworthy because at the time all other sound cards only had OPL-2, including the first Sound Blaster Pro. After the release of the Adlib Gold, the Sound Blaster Pro 2 was released, which also had the OPL-3.

Also, a "surround sound module" was available only for the Adlib Gold that adds reverb and stereo enhancement.

Dune supports the OPL-3 in "Adlib Gold" mode as well as the surround sound module. Theoretically, since SBPros and SB16 also have the OPL3, Dune should work with those as well using the "Adlib Gold" selection; it doesn't because

1) the INSTALL program looks for an Adlib Gold itself, not for an OPL-3.
2) more importantly, the music playback driver sends data to the Surround Sound Module, which is not only not supported by SBPro/SB16, they're actually confused by this data and produce incorrect sounds. RDOSPlay has the same problem.

1) can easily be solved by choosing manual installation and pressing "F" (force) when the INSTALL program complains;
2) can only be solved with a patched music driver, which I can post if anybody cares.

With the patch, it sounds just like Cloudschatze's recordings, minus the Stereo and Reverb enhancements, of course.

[HondaSiR]

To my ears the Adlib Gold in its native mode isn't really great sounding. Yep it is superior to an ordinary Adlib card, but only marginally...even with full stereo and reverb support. It still sounds pure FM. I guess I've been spoiled with Roland sounds already.

But it is nice to know that it can be emulated through a SB16 through patches. But without stereo and reverb enhancements (which are key traits that made the Gold better than its predecessor) would it be worth it? Even the MT-32 itself sounds way better with reverb than without it when playing MIDI IMO.

[BlueMax]

I remember the Adlib soundtrack to this game very, very well.  I can hear the significant improvement, although the biggest difference comes from the add-on reverb module!

Daaaang!  Hey - was that my card I sold you? 

[Kaminari]

2) can only be solved with a patched music driver, which I can post if anybody cares.

I'd love to give it a try. Would it work with KGB as well?

[NewRisingSUn]

I'd love to give it a try.

Replace the existing file in the game directory with this one. Don't forget to select Adlib Gold in the INSTALL program.

Would it work with KGB as well?

KGB, at least my copy, doesn't even have a seperate Adlib Gold driver or seperate data files for Adlib gold, only ".sqx" and ".m32", unlike Dune, which had ".adl", ".m32" and ".agd". Does KGB really sound different on the Gold compared to normal Adlib/SoundBlaster?

[Cloudschatze]

Oh btw, was the recorded Adlib Gold equipped with the reverb module?

Yes.

Dune supports the OPL-3 in "Adlib Gold" mode as well as the surround sound module.

It also seems to be doing quite a bit of mixer manipulation. The Gold's mixer has four "Output Mode" settings: Linear, Pseudo, Mono, and Spatial (these are separate from the "Surround-sound" module). In addition to modifying the bass and treble, Dune is switching the card into "Pseudo" output-mode, which, according to the manual, is a "stereo effect that can be applied when the source is mono." I would think that "Spatial" would be more appropriate, given it's recommended application to stereo sources, but anyway...

Daaaang! Hey - was that my card I sold you?

It's the same surround-sound module, but attached to a different AdLib Gold card.



I'll try and record more of the Dune soundtrack later. In the meantime, check out the demonstration recordings I've added to the parent post.

[Rhizome]

Oh wow, got to add some of these to my MP3 player 

[jbltecnicspro]

These sounds are pretty neat.  Some tunes, like Kraken are catchy - though I've only listened to two of the tunes because I need to be going to bed here for finals tomorrow.  Adlib Gold has a nice sound characteristic that is very reminiscent of the Sega Genesis (obviously, because the two chips are OPL3)... I wonder - did Adlib Gold use the same chip as the Sega Genesis - the YM2612? 

[BlueMax]

The best part about highway2 is that it's an improved version of highways from the original Adlib! 

And yes, it's very nearly like the Genesis, because it's using FM for music, but one channel for a single digital instrument at the same time (for fancy drums, etc.)  Sonic used that for timpani a lot. 

[NewRisingSUn]

In addition to modifying the bass and treble

Indeed. During initialization, it sets the treble to +3 dB, and bass to +15 dB. Yikes. I have updated the patched driver to "translate" these writes into the appropriate register writes on the SB16. The SBPro doesn't have a software treble/bass control, therefore, these writes won't do anything.

As for the stereo and reverb effects, these obviously can't be translated to the SBPro/SB16. The AWE32/64 can apply effects and spatialization to the FM output, but neither the Adlib Gold's NOR the AWE32/64 effects chips are well-documented. Hmph. I guess it's not worth the effort anyway.

(obviously, because the two chips are OPL3)

No. The Genesis is not an OPL3, it's an OPN2 (YM2612, as you wrote). The Adlib Gold uses the YMF262, aka OPL3, just like the SBPro 2 and SB16.

[BlueMax]

That's true.  Genesis didn't have OPL3's number of FM channels, only six-ish IIRC.  It did a lot for what it was capable of - the designers really used it!  Why couldn't Adlibbers have done the same? 

[Ari]

Very cool!
Are the drums in these themes original Adlib Gold drums? They sound much better than the ones I'm used to hearing...

[BlueMax]

The dums in those examples are samples, using the PCM channel.  So it's a mix of FM and some PCM samples for harder-to-synth stuff like drums, timpani, etc.

[TuomasT]

For comparison, MT-32 rendering of those Dune pieces:

Arrakis (MT-32)

Ornithopter (MT-32)

Much less 'synthy'-sound. Far better leading instruments, but someone might prefer adlib gold.