Two Issues about the AWE32

[NewRisingSUn]

There.

Unzip into the hard disk's XWINGCD directory, execute ROLPATCH.BAT and follow its commandments diligently and obediently. Worry not that SetMuse's TestMIDI doth not sound right; it doth not matter.

You will find however that XWINGCD's iMuse is a lot clumsier at allocating voices than the floppy version's, especially when using only one LA module. And of course, this patch disables General MIDI support permanently, being a little hackish in nature.

[Locutus]

Hey, thanks. The patch works fine. Nice work!

[Cloudschatze]

I would need a card that has both a real OPL3 and an intelligent-mode-compatible MPU-401, or failing that, one that at least returns ACK on all MPU-401 commands.

Something piqued my interest today.

With the AWE32, I checked to see what byte is returned when sending MPU commands other than Enter UART Mode or Reset. The Data port consistently read FE (ACK), no matter what I sent. I had the same results using an old CT1740 SB16 as well.

Is the ACK actually being returned for the commands I've sent, or is it just there "static," as a result of the last command that it did acknowledge?

If it is acknowledging all commands, why do the SCI0 games fail?

[NewRisingSUn]

Is the ACK actually being returned for the commands I've sent, or is it just there "static," as a result of the last command that it did acknowledge?

The latter. It's only a "new" ACK byte if bit 7 (bit value 0x80) of i/o address 0x331 is clear.

[Laust]

NRS, any similar patches needed or available for the Tie Fighter CD edition?

[NewRisingSUn]

No. What would you want to patch there?

[Laust]

"Keep in mind that without an award-winning patch of mine, X-Wing CD will play back the General MIDI data translated to MT-32 instead of the actual MT-32 data."

I was just wondering if the same applied to the Tie Fighter floppy vs CD version...

[NewRisingSUn]

No, TIE Fighter was always composed for General MIDI.

[NewRisingSUn]

As a pleasant surprise, it also did not exhibit the nasty, high-pitched, metallic "aliasing" that the CQM-based AWE64 cards produce during FM playback (that I've tested) .

Here is an example of what I'm referring to, recorded from an AWE64:
http://www.reama.com/elw/pied3.wav

In case anyone cares (and I know nobody actually does), here's the same passage from a real OPL3. The high-pitched squeak is also there if you listen closely, but it's integrated in the overall sound and doesn't stick out like sore thumb the way it does with CQM.

[Cloudschatze]

In case anyone cares (and I know nobody actually does), here's the same passage from a real OPL3. The high-pitched squeak is also there if you listen closely, but it's integrated in the overall sound and doesn't stick out like sore thumb the way it does with CQM.

Infinitely more tolerable.

[5u3]

In case anyone cares (and I know nobody actually does), here's the same passage from a real OPL3. The high-pitched squeak is also there if you listen closely, but it's integrated in the overall sound and doesn't stick out like sore thumb the way it does with CQM.

Hmm, I noticed something when I did a frequency spectrum plot on those sample recordings:

Here is Cloudschatze's recording from CQM:


And here is NewRisingSUn's recording from OPL3:


The marked peak above 10 kHz are the "high pitched noises". The funny thing is, they are present in both recordings, but on CQM they occur around 12.4 kHz (and are easily detectable), while on the real OPL3 they occur at about 16.5 kHz, on the brink of the spectrum an adult human is supposed to hear.

I cannot hear the OPL3 noises on my speakers, because they are far too cheap and nasty to reproduce sounds that high, but I can make them out with my headphones when I turn the volume up a bit.

[Cloudschatze]

The following three diagrams from the CT-1920 Advanced Wavetable Upgrade manual reinforce the fact that some models of the CT-192x line did have analog RCA Audio and digital S/PDIF connectors implemented.

Micron OEM...



Notice the missing 512K RAM?