Yamaha Waveforce 192XG's FM Synth

[jharris01]

Not too long ago I discovered an interesting perk with this PCI based soundcard. When you run Windows XP for the first time after physically installing the card then the OS automatically installs a FM driver as the default midi device. This could prove useful to those interested in having FM synth under modern Windows. Here are some samples:


http://www.mediafire.com/file/xzjjwnaoqyd/waveforce.fm.mode.compare.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/m1wyymzmrdi/waveforce.fm.mode.camelot.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/qzuawhigj1l/waveforce.fm.mode.kq4.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zmq01mnof4t/waveforce.fm.mode.larry3.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mq1yymznubw/waveforce.fm.mode.pq2.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/qyzjjn21tnc/waveforce.fm.mode.qfg1.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/y0tmmzwq3y1/waveforce.fm.mode.silpheed.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/eid2tymem0d/waveforce.fm.mode.sq3.mp3
http://www.mediafire.com/file/t5nqdhg122m/waveforce.fm.mode.willyb.mp3


The photo below shows what Control Panel reports for midi devices. I am guessing since Yamaha sold their sound chips to 3rd parties, then Windows uses a generic driver for them. It would be interesting to learn what other sound cards can do the same.

Control Panel reporting an FM driver
for the waveforce.
(Click for bigger size)

The only downside I found is that as soon as you install Waveforce's XP drivers, the FM option is replaced by wavetable synth. Would have been nice to be able to keep the FM playback as an option.

[Rhizome]

Unfortunately, support for this card was removed with XP x64 and Vista.

[jharris01]

It's an old card.

[Ari]

I never particularly liked the WF192XG. It was pretty mediocre in almost every respect. It had only a 2MB ROM, which was better than the S-YXG50, but not as good as the SW60XG or the DB50XG, and the FM synthesis isn't quite as good as the AdLib's.
It did come with a cool collection of 100 classical MIDIs though...

[Great Hierophant]

I never particularly liked the WF192XG. It was pretty mediocre in almost every respect. It had only a 2MB ROM, which was better than the S-YXG50, but not as good as the SW60XG or the DB50XG, and the FM synthesis isn't quite as good as the AdLib's.
It did come with a cool collection of 100 classical MIDIs though...

The XG could not equal the other, more capable cards, but it was cheaper, easier to find and did the job for most things.

The FM synthesis should be the same as in any Adlib or Sound Blaster, the card is from Yamaha and it uses a genuine OPL3 100% compatible core. 

What I would like is to find a program that lets DOS games and DOSBox access it in XP.  Porttalk will not work, presumably because it is a PCI card and not an ISA card. 

[jharris01]

I was very specific the Waveforce's FM was an unintended side effect of Windows XP installing a generic Yamaha driver.

The XG could not equal the other, more capable cards, but it was cheaper, easier to find and did the job for most things.

I don't agree with you that the card was less capable. It certainly wasn't cheap eather. It went for about $130 at the time. For a gamer card it was fine (at least for me). Wavetable sounded better than the PCI Sound Blasters at the time. You may be right about it's OPL compatible core. I can say from experience that it had excellent DOS support for a PCI card.

I guess having actual experience with this sound card has given me a better (though biased) impression. So what other more capable cards do you know can do MIDI FM under XP?

@Ari: Yes it came with a bunch of classical midis. I forgot about those. I always wondered if those were tweaked to sound best on Yamaha hardware.

[Great Hierophant]

I was very specific the Waveforce's FM was an unintended side effect of Windows XP installing a generic Yamaha driver.

The XG could not equal the other, more capable cards, but it was cheaper, easier to find and did the job for most things.

I don't agree with you that the card was less capable. It certainly wasn't cheap eather. It went for about $130 at the time. For a gamer card it was fine (at least for me). Wavetable sounded better than the PCI Sound Blasters at the time. You may be right about it's OPL compatible core. I can say from experience that it had excellent DOS support for a PCI card.

I guess having actual experience with this sound card has given me a better (though biased) impression. So what other more capable cards do you know can do MIDI FM under XP?

I don't know of any other card that can can do good FM midi under XP.  This feature is actually useful if you want to play vintage Adlib and Sound Blaster midis. 

For a card that was released in 1998, its progressive features left a little to be desired.  No quad speaker support, no support for EAX or A3D (but it did support DirectSound 3D and Sensura Surround sound). 

[jharris01]

I don't know of any other card that can can do good FM midi under XP. 

If you don't know then I'll assume this is a very capable card.

For a card that was released in 1998, its progressive features left a little to be desired.  No quad speaker support, no support for EAX or A3D (but it did support DirectSound 3D and Sensura Surround sound). 

But it does supports A3D... and Creative Lab's EAX was starting out as well around that time. Many other sound cards of the time did not support it as well. Similarly most of today's modern non sound blaster sound cards don't support the latest EAX.

[Cloudschatze]

The only downside I found is that as soon as you install Waveforce's XP drivers, the FM option is replaced by wavetable synth. Would have been nice to be able to keep the FM playback as an option.

Just for grins, try the dsxgxp.exe installation located here:
http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/lsi/download/index.html

[jharris01]

Thanks! but that's the one I used.

[Ari]

@Ari: Yes it came with a bunch of classical midis. I forgot about those. I always wondered if those were tweaked to sound best on Yamaha hardware.

It seems so, Lots of XG instruments. Although, it runs well with my Roland SC-88ST too.