[LAU] Sound Chip as a synthesizer on Linux. Thoughts, ideas?

[Rob]

On 07/10/2014 09:59 AM, Fede wrote:
> Do any of you run some old sound blaster/adlib/gravis ultrasound card? I mean the ones with chip synthesizers.

While I think your idea is neat too, as a former Gravis user I hawe to tell
you that it isn't really a synth in the way you're thinking of, but a
sample playback system where you had a utility to load your own sample sets
into the card (and of course they came with their own sets). The GUSPnP,
the last such card I had, was a different beast altogether, but still not a
synth (though it had some rudimentary effects etc. which may have been
implemented in software, I don't remember).

I also think that producing OPL3-quality FM synthesis with the OPL3's
polyphony is trivial for today's CPUs, which is why you don't see those
technologies around much anymore.

But the periodic appearance of hobbyist-level SID-based devices for modern
PCs indicates you're not the only one with this sort of idea.

Rob