Interesting. I know that Yamaha FM chips are widely used in old arcade machines as well - any info on those? Some cross-correlation of chip names with OPL2/3/4 model names may be meaningful as well.

MAME has who uses what for what it emulates. If you check the links, vorc.org does chip name to #.

Here's an almost IMFC/FB-01 emulation.

VOPM, a VST plugin, which emulates the YM2151, which is a YM2164 minus multi-timbre(multiple instruments/patches at once so it will definitely sound poorer unless the song is rather simple, which isn't so uncommon.) It has a GM preset which I believe it loads by default but you can manually load it in case otherwise.

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/VOPM017_WIN/VOPM/VOPM.html

Here's a free VST host to run the free VST plugin:

http://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm
http://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm

And you need a free virtual MIDI device to redirect DOSBOX output to the VST host running VOPM.

http://www.nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html

There's a couple others but this is the only one I could get to work on 64bit windows. I'd prefer HUBI'S MIDI LOOPBACK if I could get it to work since it gives eight virtual loopback devices instead of a measly one so I could chain the freeverb VST onto the backend of VOPM, but in the meantime I'll live with loopbe.

Copy savihost.exe to the vopm dir and rename it to vopm.exe, then run it. Select loopbe as the midi playback device in windows sound and audio devices control panel, and in vsthost/savihost, loopbe as the midi input device and your audio card as the wave output port. Vsthost probably works but I haven't gotten it going yet, so I'm guessing I'm missing a step with it. Run DOSBOX as normal with a game configured for MIDI.

There's a commercial app, FM7/8, that emulates a DX21, which uses the YM2164, keyboard version of the FB-01 module/IMFC sound card, but if I were going to spend money, I'd get an FB-01 off ebay for $20.

Found this: http://home.cogeco.ca/~smccabe17/ which is another vst but not precompiled, just source, of a Korg DS8 but just drums. DS8 is also a YM2164 synth.

ih8registrations wrote:

Here's an almost IMFC/FB-01 emulation. […]
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Here's an almost IMFC/FB-01 emulation.

VOPM, a VST plugin, which emulates the YM2151, which is a YM2164 minus multi-timbre(multiple instruments/patches at once so it will definitely sound poorer unless the song is rather simple, which isn't soo uncommon.) It has a GM preset which I believe it loads by default but you can manually load it in case otherwise.

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/VOPM017_WIN/VOPM/VOPM.html

Here's a free VST host to run the free VST plugin:

http://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm
http://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm

And you need a free virtual MIDI device to redirect DOSBOX output to the VST host running VOPM.

http://www.nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html

There's a couple others but this is the only one I could get to work on 64bit windows. I'd prefer HUBI'S MIDI LOOPBACK if I could get it to work since it gives eight virtual loopback devices instead of a measly one so I could chain the freeverb VST onto the backend of VOPM, but in the meantime I'll live with loopbe.

Select loopbe as the midi playback device in the control panel,
and in vsthost/savihost(I've been using savi,) loopbe as the midi input device and your audio card as the wave output port. Copy savihost.exe to the vopm dir and rename it to vopm.exe. Vsthost probably works but I haven't gotten it going yet, so I'm guessing I'm missing a step with it.

There's a commercial app, FM7/8, that emulates a DX21, which uses the YM2164, keyboard version of the FB-01 module/IMFC sound card, but if I were going to spend money, I'd get an FB-01 off ebay for $20.

Found this: http://home.cogeco.ca/~smccabe17/ which is another vst but not precompiled, just source, of a Korg DS8 or just DS8 drums, don't know for sure. DS8 is also a YM2164 synth.

Quite interesting, however DOSBox does not emulate the IMFC and as far as the FB-01 is can only be used with generic midi applications. I await the day you can use an FB-01 with Sierra's SCI games.

However? That DOSBox doesn't emulate the IMFC is a known quantity, hence this thread. So far as I can tell, the only difference between the IMFC and FB-01 is external module vs internal ISA card, but functionally the same. They look to be General MIDI devices or able to be set with a GM patch set like the YM2151 so the FB-01 can be used as such if the SCI game has the option or similar, the music just won't be tuned or customized for the FB-01.

Redirecting the IMFC ports to MIDI, with possibly a little bit of reformatting or deconstructing of what's passed aka partial emulation, with a FB-01 or YM2164 softsynth hooked up should result in IMFC emulation with playback via IMFC drivers/selecting IMFC in the game.

Hah, vogons is quick to be cataloged on google; this thread is the first hit searching for "Sierra SCI fb-01 yamaha":)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=fir … +yamaha&spell=1

From the same search, SCI MIDI drivers:
http://sierra.voyd.net/
http://www.rarefied.org/sci/drivers.html
http://www.queststudios.com/quest/Utilities.html

FB01KING.ZIP is a TSR, with the source, that "converts" an IMFC to an FB-01. http://cd.textfiles.com/swextrav1993/disk4/pcspkr/

Damn, dead links; a guy had desoldered and dumped his FB-01 ROM, posting it along with some pictures, of the guts of the FB-01 I would gather. A needed ingredient for emulation. Unsurpisingly, like the IMFC, the FB-01's controller is a z80.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:4S4V_Rie … .html+fb-01+z80

FB-01 service manual that has schematics, diagram, and a parts list. Yes, IMFC has the same guts as the FB-01.
http://www.loscha.com/ybb/index.html

And courtesy of Cloudschatze, IMFC and FB01 SCI drivers, among many others!

Attached is a self extracting com file repackaged as a rar file of source code for programming the fb01 and imfc! Found at http://cd.textfiles.com/pslmonthly25/words/dos/mus_midi/ mfc.com

Combined with the open source sci drivers, new FB-01 and IMFC open SCI drivers could be made.

I still wonder if the IMFC had an expanded patch set, as there's quite a few references to it having 300+ built in. The FB-01 has 240 + 96 user; that's 336 total, but to say 300+ "built in" implies to me preset instruments in ROM. Don't you still have an IMFC Great Hierophant? How many non programmed instruments does yours have? 240 or more?

Old review says it's 336 total like the FB-01: http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:FreNWdTG … lient=firefox-a

another review: http://www.jstor.org/pss/3398095

and again, 336 total:
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:y2FXGfrt … lient=firefox-a

from sierra help files:
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:GNKkvN92 … lient=firefox-a

I think that's conclusive enough that the IMFC is the same as the FB-01, 240 + 96 user.

Of course, I'd forgotten we had this discussion before:)

Sierra's SCI0 and certain SCI1 games support the IMFC/FB-01 natively supported these devices, not as generic Midi devices. Since the IMFC is so rare, I would suggest concentrating on getting an external FB-01 (which is not so rare) to work with DOSBox. As far as I know, DOSBox will still not work properly with Sierra's MPU-401 FB-01 driver.

Great Hierophant wrote:

As far as I know, DOSBox will still not work properly with Sierra's MPU-401 FB-01 driver.

I'm not familiar with how DOSBox handles MIDI, but for anyone curious about what Great Hierophant is referring to, take a look at the attached SysEx "dumps" from Quest for Glory I. The first was sent using an actual MPU-401, and the second, with DOSBox, through an M-Audio MIDISport Uno. The discrepancy in filesizes alone ought to suggest that something is wrong.

Can you find Waldo?

Is that in intelligent or uart mode in DOSBOX? And can you post the output from the mode you haven't already posted? And you need to run it on the same MPU.

All of Sierra's SCI0 MIDI drivers (MPU-based) leave the MPU-401 in intelligent mode. I'm not skilled enough to modify the drivers to do otherwise, so what you see is what you get. 😀

Likewise, I also had DOSBox configured for intelligent mode. Here is the output when DOSBox is configured for UART mode:

Run QFG through DOSBOX and from the host system through the same MPU; There can be MPU implementation differences.

ih8registrations wrote:

Run QFG through DOSBOX, and from the host system through the same MPU.

I'm not sure that I can do that.

To clarify, the first result came from a 486 PC, with an MPU-401 (LAPC-I) MIDI interface. The second result came from a laptop with DOSBox installed, using a USB MIDI interface.

I haven't anything faster than a P5-166Mhz (Windows 95) with which to test another MPU-401 setup. I've not tried, but will DOSBox even run on that? 😵

I ran DOSBox on a P166 laptop in MS-DOS so it should work.

Never personally tried DOSBox on Windows 95 but I know it works on Windows 98.

Well, I gave it a go. No joy.

There ought to be a few other folks who can try the same thing; there's no need to actually own an FB-01 to do this.

That said, I'd expect similar results. This doesn't appear to be an issue with the MIDI interface used with DOSBox, otherwise, wouldn't MT-32 SysEx data be likewise corrupted? (I've had no such problems.)

It looks like DOSBox is choking on single SysEx strings larger than 1024 bytes. The FB-01 SysEx is broken into two, 6222 byte strings, thereby exceeding the limit. (Apparently, Yamaha didn't implement the same 256 byte SysEx string restriction that Roland did...)

It seems like this ought to be a known limitation. Does this 1024 byte value correspond to the size of a MIDI output buffer in DOSBox?