Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Hello friends, the Samsung Omniwave is very rare on PC-Soundcards and Wavetable-daughterboards. Thats why I was looking for one for a long time, and I'm quite happy I finally get one for a fair price. Soundwise its quite Interesting, but I guess it is more a collectors Item than a daily driver. There are better alternatives for sure. But I chose this two tracks that sounds quite good for demonstrating purposes.
00:00 Track 1 is from Doom
01:41 is from Theme Hospital, its called "On the mend"
Ernie, PC-SOUND-LEGACY
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Refering the Samsung Datasheet:
The ks0174-1M is a 1M-byte sample ROM for the KS0164 QmniWave. The ROM utilies a word mode 524, 288x16 bit organization (8M-bit). .
It support General MIDI(GM). MT-32, and a large portion of General Sound (GS) sample sets. The ROMs are fabricated using a fully static silicon gate CMOS process technology.
The ROM contains various data for the KS0164 waverable synthesizer. All of the samples were custom created by recording instruments and sounds using a digital audio tape (DAT) recorder. After a ratheer elaborate process of editing, tuning and looping the DAT recordings, A 16 bit uncompressed sample set, specific to the architecture of the KS0164, was created. This set contains 16bit linear (no compression) words sampled at 44.1 Khz, and is slightly larger than the ROM based 2M set that Samsung offers. This set includes the MMA definde General MIDI sample et and a large portion of the General Sound (GS) extensions. Eigh of the nine GS drum sets are included. The excluded ninth drum set is the SFX (sound effects) map. The 2M byte and 1M byte sample sets are derived from the master 16 bit linear set. The 2M set contains mostly 16 bit linear samples, yet some are compressed so that all the samples fit in a single 2M ROM. The 1M set contains u-law compressed samples of the 16 bit linear set. All of the samples in the 1M set are compressed.
The KS0164 Omniwave is a 32 voice, 16-part multi-timbral synthesizer. Compared to the Sound Canvas, the KS0164 increases the number of voices from 24 to 32. The present KS0164 requires external components for reverb and chorus. The KS0174 sample ROM includes all of the 128 General MIDI sounds, the 128 MT-32 sounds, and 8 of the 9 drum maps. A trade off was made to exclede the unpopular SFX (sound effects, such as laughing, thunder, horse-gallop, etc.) drum set in favor of superior sample resolutions of the more popular GM, MT-32, and GS sounds. The GS extensions generally are not used in computer games, but GS is occasionally found in MIDI musical sequences. GM has been the standard for PC based games.
In addition to the wave samples, the ROM contains the patch set requirde for implementing GM, GS, and MT-32. A separate ROM is not require for the patches. Other code is included in the sample ROM for the embedded CPU of the KS0164. No additional memory is required for the processor code.
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Hello friends, the Samsung Omniwave is very rare on PC-Soundcards and Wavetable-daughterboards. Thats why I was looking for one for a long time, and I'm quite happy I finally get one for a fair price. Soundwise its quite Interesting, but I guess it is more a collectors Item than a daily driver. There are better alternatives for sure. But I chose this two tracks that sounds quite good for demonstrating purposes.
00:00 Track 1 is from Doom
01:41 is from Theme Hospital, its called "On the mend"
Ernie, PC-SOUND-LEGACY
====
Refering the Samsung Datasheet:
The ks0174-1M is a 1M-byte sample ROM for the KS0164 QmniWave. The ROM utilies a word mode 524, 288x16 bit organization (8M-bit). .
It support General MIDI(GM). MT-32, and a large portion of General Sound (GS) sample sets. The ROMs are fabricated using a fully static silicon gate CMOS process technology.
The ROM contains various data for the KS0164 waverable synthesizer. All of the samples were custom created by recording instruments and sounds using a digital audio tape (DAT) recorder. After a ratheer elaborate process of editing, tuning and looping the DAT recordings, A 16 bit uncompressed sample set, specific to the architecture of the KS0164, was created. This set contains 16bit linear (no compression) words sampled at 44.1 Khz, and is slightly larger than the ROM based 2M set that Samsung offers. This set includes the MMA definde General MIDI sample et and a large portion of the General Sound (GS) extensions. Eigh of the nine GS drum sets are included. The excluded ninth drum set is the SFX (sound effects) map. The 2M byte and 1M byte sample sets are derived from the master 16 bit linear set. The 2M set contains mostly 16 bit linear samples, yet some are compressed so that all the samples fit in a single 2M ROM. The 1M set contains u-law compressed samples of the 16 bit linear set. All of the samples in the 1M set are compressed.
The KS0164 Omniwave is a 32 voice, 16-part multi-timbral synthesizer. Compared to the Sound Canvas, the KS0164 increases the number of voices from 24 to 32. The present KS0164 requires external components for reverb and chorus. The KS0174 sample ROM includes all of the 128 General MIDI sounds, the 128 MT-32 sounds, and 8 of the 9 drum maps. A trade off was made to exclede the unpopular SFX (sound effects, such as laughing, thunder, horse-gallop, etc.) drum set in favor of superior sample resolutions of the more popular GM, MT-32, and GS sounds. The GS extensions generally are not used in computer games, but GS is occasionally found in MIDI musical sequences. GM has been the standard for PC based games.
In addition to the wave samples, the ROM contains the patch set requirde for implementing GM, GS, and MT-32. A separate ROM is not require for the patches. Other code is included in the sample ROM for the embedded CPU of the KS0164. No additional memory is required for the processor code.
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