Apparently it's by Crystal and Santa Cruz also has it in the drivers (dumb me)

A video of recordings can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDX87rAfBLg

It sounds very pleasing if I may say so.

The DLS here can probably also be used with Aureal cards and their DLS Wavetable Synth as well. I will try to extract and share the DLS for someone to try.

EDIT: It's the same file as the Terratec, CWCDLS8.CLS so not exactly a DLS.. Maybe someone knows how to convert it to DLS? I'm probably rediscovering the wheel here but it's nice to know these things ship with a decent software wavetable nonetheless 😀

Looks like we're stuck with the file CWCDLS8.CLS... Still no clue for opening the file. I tried in Notepad++, Sublime Text and the similar LaTeX software but unknown decoder and absolutely no hints. Yeah... I am not a programmer by the way.

appiah4 wrote on 2019-11-14, 05:56:

It's the same file as the Terratec, CWCDLS8.CLS so not exactly a DLS.. Maybe someone knows how to convert it to DLS?

The filename suggests it's a DLS file, but its byte distribution graph rather shows that it's encrypted:

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-16, 14:08:

The filename suggests it's a DLS file, but its byte distribution graph rather shows that it's encrypted: […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2019-11-14, 05:56:

It's the same file as the Terratec, CWCDLS8.CLS so not exactly a DLS.. Maybe someone knows how to convert it to DLS?

The filename suggests it's a DLS file, but its byte distribution graph rather shows that it's encrypted:

graph.png

Anyone tried to open it in 7-Zip?

appiah4 wrote on 2024-03-18, 06:59:

Anyone tried to open it in 7-Zip?

It was the first thing I tried, thought it could be compressed, but it didn't open it. Also tried STUNS without success.

The decryption algorithm seems to be located in the cwcwdm.sys driver, in the function where it opens registry key "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\cwcspud\CS461x\Algorithms\WaveTable" and reads "SampleSet" value from there, which contains the path to CWCDLS8.CLS.

Reversing will take some time, but from the first look it seems to be decoding data blocks of size either 20 or 24 bytes long.

Also, the driver doesn't contain any known DLS format-specific magic constants, so the sound bank format is likely custom.

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-18, 19:40:

The decryption algorithm seems to be located in the cwcwdm.sys driver, in the function where it opens registry key "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\cwcspud\CS461x\Algorithms\WaveTable" and reads "SampleSet" value from there, which contains the path to CWCDLS8.CLS.

Reversing will take some time, but from the first look it seems to be decoding data blocks of size either 20 or 24 bytes long.

Also, the driver doesn't contain any known DLS format-specific magic constants, so the sound bank format is likely custom.

So... I was looking at the wrong driver file 😁 First of all, cwcwdm.sys expects unencrypted sound bank file, and it indeed doesn't support DLS. Instead it uses CWCWTSMP.DAT bank file, which has custom headers "CS4610v1.0" and "MSAv1.0". Some structures of this file are in fact XORed, so I thought it might have something to do with the CLS file encryption.

But, looking at the another driver file tbcwdm.sys finally revealed the encryption algorithm! Entire CWCDLS8.CLS file is encrypted with XOR and bit swapping, taking into account previous XOR byte value.

appiah4 wrote on 2019-11-14, 05:56:

It's the same file as the Terratec, CWCDLS8.CLS so not exactly a DLS.. Maybe someone knows how to convert it to DLS?

Let me post the decrypted file, I don't know if there's just one that file, or different drivers may have different versions of the sound bank.

- input file cwcdls8.cls
md5: CBD7790F10A05DCA429CEA8ECA03B4CF
sha1: DEEA7B5BA1AD483B456712A4D24A78C5FE1C6766

- output file cwcdls8.dls (download)
md5: 20D3159968915AB4575CB8DA7A805ADD
sha1: 0802C56A958F6D0FA959C2FB5DA7271A3398A56B

I will post the decoder with source code a bit later when I finish polishing and testing it.

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-18, 23:53:

So... I was looking at the wrong driver file :D First of all, cwcwdm.sys expects unencrypted sound bank file, and it indeed doe […]
Show full quote

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-18, 19:40:

The decryption algorithm seems to be located in the cwcwdm.sys driver, in the function where it opens registry key "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\cwcspud\CS461x\Algorithms\WaveTable" and reads "SampleSet" value from there, which contains the path to CWCDLS8.CLS.

Reversing will take some time, but from the first look it seems to be decoding data blocks of size either 20 or 24 bytes long.

Also, the driver doesn't contain any known DLS format-specific magic constants, so the sound bank format is likely custom.

So... I was looking at the wrong driver file 😁 First of all, cwcwdm.sys expects unencrypted sound bank file, and it indeed doesn't support DLS. Instead it uses CWCWTSMP.DAT bank file, which has custom headers "CS4610v1.0" and "MSAv1.0". Some structures of this file are in fact XORed, so I thought it might have something to do with the CLS file encryption.

But, looking at the another driver file tbcwdm.sys finally revealed the encryption algorithm! Entire CWCDLS8.CLS file is encrypted with XOR and bit swapping, taking into account previous XOR byte value.

appiah4 wrote on 2019-11-14, 05:56:

It's the same file as the Terratec, CWCDLS8.CLS so not exactly a DLS.. Maybe someone knows how to convert it to DLS?

Let me post the decrypted file, I don't know if there's just one that file, or different drivers may have different versions of the sound bank.

- input file cwcdls8.cls
md5: CBD7790F10A05DCA429CEA8ECA03B4CF
sha1: DEEA7B5BA1AD483B456712A4D24A78C5FE1C6766

- output file cwcdls8.dls (download)
md5: 20D3159968915AB4575CB8DA7A805ADD
sha1: 0802C56A958F6D0FA959C2FB5DA7271A3398A56B

I will post the decoder with source code a bit later when I finish polishing and testing it.

Oh wow, great news. Now we need to load that dls onto a softsynth and see if it works 😁

appiah4 wrote on 2024-03-19, 07:50:

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-18, 23:53:

So... I was looking at the wrong driver file :D First of all, cwcwdm.sys expects unencrypted sound bank file, and it indeed doe […]
Show full quote

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-18, 19:40:

The decryption algorithm seems to be located in the cwcwdm.sys driver, in the function where it opens registry key "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\cwcspud\CS461x\Algorithms\WaveTable" and reads "SampleSet" value from there, which contains the path to CWCDLS8.CLS.

Reversing will take some time, but from the first look it seems to be decoding data blocks of size either 20 or 24 bytes long.

Also, the driver doesn't contain any known DLS format-specific magic constants, so the sound bank format is likely custom.

So... I was looking at the wrong driver file 😁 First of all, cwcwdm.sys expects unencrypted sound bank file, and it indeed doesn't support DLS. Instead it uses CWCWTSMP.DAT bank file, which has custom headers "CS4610v1.0" and "MSAv1.0". Some structures of this file are in fact XORed, so I thought it might have something to do with the CLS file encryption.

But, looking at the another driver file tbcwdm.sys finally revealed the encryption algorithm! Entire CWCDLS8.CLS file is encrypted with XOR and bit swapping, taking into account previous XOR byte value.

appiah4 wrote on 2019-11-14, 05:56:

It's the same file as the Terratec, CWCDLS8.CLS so not exactly a DLS.. Maybe someone knows how to convert it to DLS?

Let me post the decrypted file, I don't know if there's just one that file, or different drivers may have different versions of the sound bank.

- input file cwcdls8.cls
md5: CBD7790F10A05DCA429CEA8ECA03B4CF
sha1: DEEA7B5BA1AD483B456712A4D24A78C5FE1C6766

- output file cwcdls8.dls (download)
md5: 20D3159968915AB4575CB8DA7A805ADD
sha1: 0802C56A958F6D0FA959C2FB5DA7271A3398A56B

I will post the decoder with source code a bit later when I finish polishing and testing it.

Oh wow, great news. Now we need to load that dls onto a softsynth and see if it works 😁

I've published repository on GitHub:
https://github.com/binarymaster/cwcdls8-decrypt

You can also try it directly in your browser: https://jsfiddle.net/r0az7vhe/

Tried the resulting DLS sound bank in the Winamp / Nullsoft MIDI Player, doesn't sound as good as in the YouTube video that was published here. If you have a better suggestion for the software wavetable MIDI synthesizer with DLS support, let me know. 😀

FluidSynth has limited DLS support, but I have no experience using DLS with it. Unfortunately, outside of audio composition programs that can load DLS files - I'm not sure there are any left at this point, because the format disappeared from the market in the 2010's - I'm not sure there's anything beyond the Microsoft Wavetable Synthesizer, which requires all sorts of tomfoolery to use additional DLS files with. Back in the day, there were a few soundcards that used DLS-backed soft-synths and could take encrypted/unencrypted DLS packs beyond whatever one shipped with the card, but those are long gone.

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-19, 16:30:

I've published repository on GitHub: https://github.com/binarymaster/cwcdls8-decrypt […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2024-03-19, 07:50:

binarymaster wrote on 2024-03-18, 23:53:

So... I was looking at the wrong driver file :D First of all, cwcwdm.sys expects unencrypted sound bank file, and it indeed doe […]
Show full quote

So... I was looking at the wrong driver file 😁 First of all, cwcwdm.sys expects unencrypted sound bank file, and it indeed doesn't support DLS. Instead it uses CWCWTSMP.DAT bank file, which has custom headers "CS4610v1.0" and "MSAv1.0". Some structures of this file are in fact XORed, so I thought it might have something to do with the CLS file encryption.

But, looking at the another driver file tbcwdm.sys finally revealed the encryption algorithm! Entire CWCDLS8.CLS file is encrypted with XOR and bit swapping, taking into account previous XOR byte value.

Let me post the decrypted file, I don't know if there's just one that file, or different drivers may have different versions of the sound bank.

- input file cwcdls8.cls
md5: CBD7790F10A05DCA429CEA8ECA03B4CF
sha1: DEEA7B5BA1AD483B456712A4D24A78C5FE1C6766

- output file cwcdls8.dls (download)
md5: 20D3159968915AB4575CB8DA7A805ADD
sha1: 0802C56A958F6D0FA959C2FB5DA7271A3398A56B

I will post the decoder with source code a bit later when I finish polishing and testing it.

Oh wow, great news. Now we need to load that dls onto a softsynth and see if it works 😁

I've published repository on GitHub:
https://github.com/binarymaster/cwcdls8-decrypt

You can also try it directly in your browser: https://jsfiddle.net/r0az7vhe/

Tried the resulting DLS sound bank in the Winamp / Nullsoft MIDI Player, doesn't sound as good as in the YouTube video that was published here. If you have a better suggestion for the software wavetable MIDI synthesizer with DLS support, let me know. 😀

Thank you for the github repository!

Aureal Vortex 2 (Monster Sound MX300) cards come with a DLS Softsynth off the top of my head.. I don't know a nonproprietary softsynth that uses DLS though. Paging @Falcosoft as the local softsynth guru 😁

apparently there's a sony dls softsynth which is bundled with a number of daws, such as acid pro.

There might be a stand alone version somewhere?

No, there's no stand-alone version that I can find evidence of and it's apparently a Sony licensed GS-compliant DLS synth software-tied to their Acid DAW software offerings, though the stuff I found says it's with the older versions and may not be with the latest version.

*Edit: removed broken link, valid link (30 days) in my post below.

This is awesome! Here is the DLS converted to SF2 with Awave Studio (no tweaks or changes made, straight conversion):

Link seems to be broken 😔

Weird but here is another: https://easyupload.io/evrwbh

Seems it needs some restructuring.

RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2024-04-29, 22:17:

No, there's no stand-alone version that I can find evidence of and it's apparently a Sony licensed GS-compliant DLS synth software-tied to their Acid DAW software offerings, though the stuff I found says it's with the older versions and may not be with the latest version.

it sems to be a weird mix. it's mostly sc-55mkII, and has a few added mt-32 samples that aren't in GM on normal GS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1ctUlhcmjg

zaphod77 wrote on 2024-08-02, 22:42:

RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2024-04-29, 22:17:

No, there's no stand-alone version that I can find evidence of and it's apparently a Sony licensed GS-compliant DLS synth software-tied to their Acid DAW software offerings, though the stuff I found says it's with the older versions and may not be with the latest version.

it sems to be a weird mix. it's mostly sc-55mkII, and has a few added mt-32 samples that aren't in GM on normal GS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1ctUlhcmjg

I wonder how it compares with the GM.DLS file that Microsoft uses. One of the more peculiar things about the Microsoft Software Synth is that it's really not GS-compliant at all, though I can't tell if that's because of the DLS file or a deficiency in the actual software synth itself, which makes it unable to handle GS data. Apple's Quicktime, which also used licensed GS soundset, apparently didn't have that problem, though I can't find any actual hard data on what it used or what is in the GM.DLS file that Microsoft used, just sort of vague statements about one thing or another.

There is a registry hack for the microsoft softsynth that enables GS things, at least under XP but I remember no details.