A Tale of Zeliard, and the OPL2's Rhythm Sounds

[Cloudschatze]

As if the Tandy/PCjr and MT-32 soundtracks weren't fantastic enough, I took the opportunity to play around with Zeliard the other day, using the lowly OPL2, and...

It's good. Really good.

Unlike a lot of the flat-sounding FM soundtracks out there, Zeliard makes use of "artificial reverb," not unlike those great-sounding Vibrants tunes.

"Yeah, I already knew that," you're saying.

But, I noticed something else: Zeliard's FM soundtrack uses the OPL2's rhythm sounds.

Just for grins, I fired up DOSBox, and, sure enough, the OPL emulation doesn't produce these sounds (correctly, anyhow). I'm not a huge DOSBox user, but I wonder, has anyone else has noticed this? How many other games might be affected...?

[Alistair]

Rhythm sounds = drumkit?

What's the difference between OPL2 and 3 drums/rhythm, anyway? I'm not interested in Sierra scores with Adlib, but some Apogee games (for instance) that are actually FM designed might be interesting (although I think those are OPL3).

- Alistair

[Ari]

Zeliard has a brilliant FM soundtrack - maybe even better than the MT-32 soundtrack in some respects. I've been hoping someone with a real Adlib would take the time to record it.

I second Alistair's question - OPL2 Rhythm sounds?

[BlueMax]

I'm thinking....   um.... don't all FM soundtracks that have drums use "drums"??   Or are you referring to 9-channel vs. 6-channel + 5 drum modes?

[Great Hierophant]

I believe that Cloud is referring to the mode whereby instead of the OPL2 having 9-pairs of FM oscillators, it uses 6-pairs for FM oscillation and 3-pairs for 5 rhythm sounds.  The 5 rhythm/percussion sounds try to emulate a Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Hi Hat, Tom Tom and Cymbal.  I guess I shouldn't throw out all my true OPL2 cards just yet.  

You know, I think what this topic really needs, are ....... SAMPLES!

[Cloudschatze]

I'm not interested in Sierra scores with Adlib...

Then you should totally be intererested in Zeliard's OPL soundtrack, since Sierra didn't have anything to do with it...

I believe that Cloud is referring to the mode whereby instead of the OPL2 having 9-pairs of FM oscillators, it uses 6-pairs for FM oscillation and 3-pairs for 5 rhythm sounds.  The 5 rhythm/percussion sounds try to emulate a Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Hi Hat, Tom Tom and Cymbal.

Exactly.

I guess I shouldn't throw out all my true OPL2 cards just yet.

Just keep an OPL3 around...

You know, I think what this topic really needs, are ....... SAMPLES!

Zeliard, Introduction and Credits - OPL2 (Ad Lib)
Pay attention to those drums, especially the cymbal/hi-hat...

Zeliard, Introduction and Credits - OPL2 (DOSBox 0.72)
cycles=3000
(mixer)rate=44100
oplmode=opl2
oplrate=44100 (Why on earth is DOSBox's default oplrate 22050...?)

[Cloudschatze]

Here's something interesting:

http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1987/zeli1.html

The mp3 that plays when the page loads has been recorded from a PC-8801 with a SoundBoard II. According to an obscure Kohina post, this board contains a YM2608 (OPNA).

So, the "Produced by Game Arts" speech... CSM or ADPCM? I can't find a datasheet for the YM2608 to tell whether it actually has it, but my money's on CSM...

[NewRisingSUn]

DosBox' FM emulation is known to be very deficient. I could post far more egregious examples than that. Sadly, the FM emulation is reused from MAME, and no one in the DosBox team can do anything about it, and when it comes to dealing with anyone from the MAME team, dealing with government tax inspectors will result in a more pleasant experience.

The mp3 that plays when the page loads has been recorded from a PC-8801 with a SoundBoard II.

So it really sounds that bad? I thought it was just bad emulation... well, that's certainly not ADPCM, but more what I would imagine CSM to sound like.

[Great Hierophant]

DosBox' FM emulation is known to be very deficient. I could post far more egregious examples than that. Sadly, the FM emulation is reused from MAME, and no one in the DosBox team can do anything about it, and when it comes to dealing with anyone from the MAME team, dealing with government tax inspectors will result in a more pleasant experience.

Is there better a emulation available?  Other than Arcade games and DOS games (gamers of either tend not to be an incredibly discriminating audience when it comes to audio), can you point to existing code and say it is better across the board?  Even if you could, the DOSBox maintainers will complain:

1.  Too performance intensive
2.  Small benefit
3.  Untested code
4.  Lack of portability

[apeman]

DosBox' FM emulation is known to be very deficient. I could post far more egregious examples than that. Sadly, the FM emulation is reused from MAME, and no one in the DosBox team can do anything about it, and when it comes to dealing with anyone from the MAME team, dealing with government tax inspectors will result in a more pleasant experience.

That's not really a fair statement. DOSBox uses an older version of MAME's FM emulation code, which has since been significantly improved... however, the MAME license is not completely compatible with the GPL, and its author, Jarek Burczynski, won't dual license it. So it's a licensing issue, not because MAMEdev want to work for the IRS.

[NewRisingSUn]

I'm talking about the Burczynski core.

[Ari]

Zeliard, Introduction and Credits - OPL2 (AdLib)
Pay attention to those drums, especially the cymbal/hi-hat...

Zeliard, Introduction and Credits - OPL2 (DOSBox)
cycles=3000
(mixer)rate=44100
oplmode=opl2
oplrate=44100 (Why on earth is DOSBox's default oplrate 22050...?)

I can hear a difference, but I can't quite put my finger on it...