Playing MIDIs with Win98's original SB16 OPL3 sound card

On 02/23/2013 09:30 AM, wrote:
Voyetra
AudioStation to mess with MIDIs.



According to this
http://download.cnet.com/AudioStatio...-10070509.html

It will run in XP

so there should be no need for you to install Win98 in a virtual machine


--
https://www.createspace.com/3707686

On Feb 24, 7:56*pm, 98 Guy wrote:
Look at these:

http://woolyss.com/chipmusic/chipmus...-3_FM_128M.zip

http://www.pokipoki.org/dsa/index.php?EMU%20de%20MIDI

http://milkpot.sakura.ne.jp/fmmidi/

http://www.pokipoki.org/dsa/index.php?EMU%20de%20MIDI

http://soundshock.se/phpBB2/index.php

Thanks a lot 98 guy! That OPL3 soundfont isn't it but it's close
enough. It felt really weird hearing the pieces again after 15 years.
Now if there were only such thing as mindfonts...

I'll still be on the lookout for a more genuine synthesis, I'll ask
those guys at soundshock later.

Thanks again.

In message
,
writes:
On Feb 24, 3:13*pm, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:
What is this "Squarewave instrument"?

Lead 1 (Square)

Is it just a squarewave?

Yes. There are stylized versions but they sound nothing like the
bull**** by the MS GS synth.

I'm very surprised if something is being presented as a squarewave but
isn't, as it must be the simplest of all sounds!

When you write a MIDI file, you have no control over what it is played
on - the player can even switch the instruments around if he/she wants
to. If you really want to fix how it sounds, you shouldn't release it as
a MIDI, but as a WAV (or, these days, MP3, AAC, or some other recording
format).

I knew jack **** about any of that in first grade when I began messing
with digital music. But even now, I'm not gonna convert 800 MIDIs to
MP3s especially since the process is not automated and the process
time would be the length of all the MIDIs combined since the only way
to convert is to intercept sound going out of the sound card. But I've

I'll be surprised if there is no MIDI-to-WAV converter out there. Hang
on: googling the phrase comes up with about 411,000 hits:

http://download.cnet.com/MIDI-To-WAV...-10833627.html
says it uses SoundFonts by default making it quicker than "the other
method"; http://www.hamienet.com/midi2mp3 is an online one; and so on.
Some are commercial, and some of the links just tell you how to do what
you know already, but I am sure some are free.

largely given up music altogether so it's not that important. I'm
impressed at how long the MS GS MIDI device has survived, though. It
came with my latest i7 PC even.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Look out for #1. Don't step in #2 either.

On Feb 26, 12:26*am, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:
In message
,

writes:
On Feb 24, 3:13*pm, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:
What is this "Squarewave instrument"?

Lead 1 (Square)

Is it just a squarewave?

Yes. There are stylized versions but they sound nothing like the
bull**** by the MS GS synth.

I'm very surprised if something is being presented as a squarewave but
isn't, as it must be the simplest of all sounds!

The very earliest synths did it correctly but time went on and they
thought they'd be cute by stylizing it into something more complex
until it resembled less and less what it's supposed to. I guess they
wanted it to sound less like a cellphone beep as it would sound by
itself. Even the OPL3's synth of Squarewaves look more like rounded
rectangle waves when viewed in an editor, yet the strike of the notes
are more sharp. And just as I vaguely remembered, the FX4 (Atmosphere)
instrument sounds closer to a squarewave than Lead 1 (Square) which
sound something in between a sine and square.

Professional soundcards (non-onboard) like the later generations of
Soundblaster have much smoother and realistic instruments including
for Squarewave. I noticed OPL3 has no synth for half the guitars and
its synth for Sawwaves sucks as bad as MS GS wavetable.

I'll be surprised if there is no MIDI-to-WAV converter out there. Hang
on: googling the phrase comes up with about 411,000 hits:

http://download.cnet.com/MIDI-To-WAV...-10833627.html
says it uses SoundFonts by default making it quicker than "the other
method";http://www.hamienet.com/midi2mp3is an online one; and so on.
Some are commercial, and some of the links just tell you how to do what
you know already, but I am sure some are free.

Lol! Hamienet. The site I uploaded some of my stuff on back in the
day. I wonder if they're still up there.
And there's an intelligent method to quickly convert MIDIs?
Interesting. I've really gotten behind the tech. Gotta catch up.

In message
,
writes:
[]
The very earliest synths did it correctly but time went on and they
thought they'd be cute by stylizing it into something more complex
until it resembled less and less what it's supposed to. I guess they
wanted it to sound less like a cellphone beep as it would sound by
itself. Even the OPL3's synth of Squarewaves look more like rounded
rectangle waves when viewed in an editor, yet the strike of the notes

It's just that I find it difficult to imagine anyone actually
_synthesizing_ a square wave.
[]
Soundblaster have much smoother and realistic instruments including
for Squarewave. I noticed OPL3 has no synth for half the guitars and
its synth for Sawwaves sucks as bad as MS GS wavetable.

I just can't think of a squarewave as an _instrument_. It's just - a
squarewave.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"... four Oscars, and two further nominations ... On these criteria, he's
Britain's most successful film director." Powell or Pressburger? no; Richard
Attenborough? no; Nick Park!

On Feb 26, 4:00*pm, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:
In message
,zarlox writes:

[]

The very earliest synths did it correctly but time went on and they
thought they'd be cute by stylizing it into something more complex
until it resembled less and less what it's supposed to. I guess they
wanted it to sound less like a cellphone beep as it would sound by
itself. Even the OPL3's synth of Squarewaves look more like rounded
rectangle waves when viewed in an editor, yet the strike of the notes

It's just that I find it difficult to imagine anyone actually
_synthesizing_ a square wave.
[]

Soundblaster have much smoother and realistic instruments including
for Squarewave. I noticed OPL3 has no synth for half the guitars and
its synth for Sawwaves sucks as bad as MS GS wavetable.

I just can't think of a squarewave as an _instrument_. It's just - a
squarewave.

Obviously you've never listened to JMJ, Complex Numbers or played any
8-bit consoles that use Square, Saw and Triangle waves exclusively
with much of the music being pleasant on the ears.
Complex Numbers song with extensive use of Squarewave:
http://mp3.music.lib.ru/mp3/c/comple...-2029_ad-2.mp3

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message
,
writes:
[]
The very earliest synths did it correctly but time went on and they
thought they'd be cute by stylizing it into something more complex
until it resembled less and less what it's supposed to. I guess they
wanted it to sound less like a cellphone beep as it would sound by
itself. Even the OPL3's synth of Squarewaves look more like rounded
rectangle waves when viewed in an editor, yet the strike of the notes

It's just that I find it difficult to imagine anyone actually
_synthesizing_ a square wave.
[]
Soundblaster have much smoother and realistic instruments including
for Squarewave. I noticed OPL3 has no synth for half the guitars and
its synth for Sawwaves sucks as bad as MS GS wavetable.

I just can't think of a squarewave as an _instrument_. It's just - a
squarewave.

Agreed.
How could a square wave be an instrument? Ditto for a pure sinewave, for
that matter.

On Feb 27, 12:12*am, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:



In message
,
writes:
[]
The very earliest synths did it correctly but time went on and they
thought they'd be cute by stylizing it into something more complex
until it resembled less and less what it's supposed to. I guess they
wanted it to sound less like a cellphone beep as it would sound by
itself. Even the OPL3's synth of Squarewaves look more like rounded
rectangle waves when viewed in an editor, yet the strike of the notes

It's just that I find it difficult to imagine anyone actually
_synthesizing_ a square wave.
[]
Soundblaster have much smoother and realistic instruments including
for Squarewave. I noticed OPL3 has no synth for half the guitars and
its synth for Sawwaves sucks as bad as MS GS wavetable.

I just can't think of a squarewave as an _instrument_. It's just - a
squarewave.

Agreed.
How could a square wave be an instrument? * Ditto for a pure sinewave, for
that matter.

Ask Jean Michel Jarre, he's probably the first to make use of it in
music and gain international commendation.

In message
,
writes:
On Feb 27, 12:12*am, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
[]
I just can't think of a squarewave as an _instrument_. It's just - a
squarewave.

Agreed.
How could a square wave be an instrument? * Ditto for a pure sinewave, for
that matter.

I'm glad someone agrees with me, and sees what I'm getting at.

Ask Jean Michel Jarre, he's probably the first to make use of it in
music and gain international commendation.

I doubt he was the first, actually (I think Rolf Harris might have beat
him by a decade or so); but whether he did or didn't, it's not an
instrument, it's a waveform.

It's like saying red is art. Red is a colour. It can be _used_ in art.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"So, I take it you've ... been with a man before?" "I'm a virgin. I'm just not
very good at it." Topper Harley & Ramada Thompson (Charlie Sheen & Valeria
Golino), in "Hot Shots!" (1991).

On Feb 27, 4:12*pm, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:
In message
,

writes:
On Feb 27, 12:12 am, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
[]
I just can't think of a squarewave as an _instrument_. It's just - a
squarewave.

Agreed.
How could a square wave be an instrument? Ditto for a pure sinewave, for
that matter.

I'm glad someone agrees with me, and sees what I'm getting at.



Ask Jean Michel Jarre, he's probably the first to make use of it in
music and gain international commendation.

I doubt he was the first, actually (I think Rolf Harris might have beat
him by a decade or so); but whether he did or didn't, it's not an
instrument, it's a waveform.

It's like saying red is art. Red is a colour. It can be _used_ in art.

It's equipped into many guitars and keyboards who may or may not
reproduce it perfectly.
We obviously disagree on the definition of an instrument but in this
digital age, many have ceased to be in the physical form we're used
to. As squarewaves are a distinct sound which can be used as legit
musical notes, I think it qualifies as an instrument.