[Richard Smol]

On Feb 28, 6:29 am, "Radium" wrote:
On Feb 27, 9:13 pm, "Mark Jerde" wrote:

I would appreciate a *short* summary of the problem(s) you're trying to
solve. I don't understand your point(s) from a quick look-see at your post.

The problem is that Creative Music Synth [220] is my favorite
soundcard MIDI synth because of its audio quality.

The CMS220 uses a Yamaha YMF262 chip, just as the Sound Blaster Pro I
once used. A lot of people actually love the sound of those old FM
chips since they sound oddly warm. I myself actually recorded some
stuff off my old SoundBlaster just because of the sound of that one
chip. It's just to say that I follow you so far.

My PC is the only
PC that contains SB16 ISA -- which contains CMS220 chip. Currently, my
CMS220 works fine, however, due to the laws of physics, its circuits
are eventually going to breakdown in my lifetime. I don't want that.
If my CMS220 loses its circuits due to old age, I want a replacement
or repair. But no one will do that. No one will repair the CMS220 or
replace it with an exact replica. Instead -- being the sadistic turds
they are -- they will tell me to get a new sound card. Today's sound
cards contain soundfonts, softsynths, emulations, or sample playback
MIDI synths -- all of which I truly hate. So if my ISA soundcard
breaks, I am screwed. I hate this situation.

If you are really smitten with the sound of the YMF262, you might try
to make a hardware unit that uses this chip. For instance, this one:

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_fm.html

I am afraid though that you will have to assemble it yourself. I
didn't find any ready-built ones anyway. There are also other cards
that use the same chip, like the AdLib, so you might like to check
those out.

In addition, I would like an upgrade of my existing CMS220. The
upgrade should be based on the signals that are phased differently in
my current CMS220.
I try playing Creative Music Synth [220], through my so called
'karaoke voice canceller' -- which inverts the phase of one stereo
channel [right or left] and then combines it the other channel --
which results in anything identical in both the left and right
channels being removed. I get a mono of what was different in the left
and right channels.

When I play Creative Music Synth [220] audio through the voice-
canceller, it sounds more treble, sharper, brighter, warmer, and
crisper than when I don't use the voice canceller. I like such
qualities.

So why don't you keep on using that same effect then? It's no use to
change the basic chip to accomodate your wishes. It's like adding a
distortion or a phaser to a Gibson Les Paul guitar, where you could
simply add those effects yourself. Also, those chips are OLD... they
are likely not manufactured anymore.

So, my MIDI synth dream would be a mono, 64-bit-resolution, 2.88-Ghz-
sample-rate, version of Creative Music Synth [220] based on the
signals that were phased differently in the original CMS220.

And here is where I totally don't get you anymore. The CMS220 has its
parrticular sound qualities just *because* of the severe limitations
of its sound chip. Upgrading its resolution and sample rate would
actually totally ruin the original characteristics. In short: you'd
get more or less the same thing as you can buy already (although
without that unrealistically high sample rate).

CMS220 is
a stereo FM synth who left and right signals are phased differently,
this is why I get a different sound when I play throught voice-
canceller. The signals of CMS220 that have the same phase for both L
and R have a more cheesy sine-wave quality which I don't care for. The
signals in CMS220 that are phased differently in L and R tend to
resemble a fresher sawtooth-wave quality which I like. That is why I
want my version of CMS220 to be based on the sounds that were phased
differently in the original CMS220. I want my version to be monoaural
because I want all speakers to give out the same signal.

Well, I gave you a site where schematics to make your own YMF262-based
synthesizer. You could enhance it with anything else you might desire,
so why don't you go for it?

RS