Divergence from the Synth - DOS/Chiptune/More Digital Synth Stuff

As I've noted before I get distracted pretty easily. Whether that's through social media or Youtube or whatever dumb entertainment letting my thoughts escape, a curse, I must push on. While continuing my synth journey today down the Facebook road, something caught my eye.

This Dude Makes Better Music in MS-DOS Than You Do in Ableton

http://thump.vice.com/words/Diode-Milliampere-ms-dos-interview

Now so far in my sound adventures, Ableton is all I know. When I saw this title I thought "of course he does" but had to click to find out more information. The guy talks about how he made all of his sounds from "scratch" using synths. He goes into FM synths and how it's the basis of electronic sound. Most people today just use samples from other things! 

Then he goes into his setup. I realized that this is key in what makes each musician unique. What pedals, software, synths, guitars you use and how you use it can either make ethereal ambience or harsh power-violence. Listing his gear, chips and cards are important pieces to synths. When talking about the Soundblaster-16 soundcard, he explains that even though it's digital it has a very real quality to it.
"When you're tracking with FM, you're more or less sending a crazy math equation at the Digital Analog Converter of the soundcard."
Digital Analog Converter (DAC) converts digital data into analog signal. ADC does the opposite.

Resources:
http://chipmusic.org/
Started following this - http://www.youtube.com/user/ManiacSynth?feature=watch , a ton of synth/chip 80's inspired contemporaries!

Equipment Research:

Yamaha DX7 - FM synth

YMF262/OPL3 chip - Yamaha's 18-channel 2-operator FM synth (18 voices!)

SammichFM / MIDIBOX FM - sequences via MIDI

Adlib Tracker II - Needs DOS and Soundblaster-16 soundcards.

More to cover, but I'm sleepy.