Miracle Soundfont (now with 55 flavors!)

[Distortion Dog]

After 5 months, I am ready to release the latest iteration of Miracle2 to the public.

This release includes an alternative soundfont: Miracle2C. Its intended to resemble the more traditional SC55/MSGS tones, for whoever is interested! 

 

Videos

Spoiler

 

 

Both contain all the additional SC55 instruments (MT32 bank is yet to come)

Input is greatly appreciated, as always!

 

Download Miracle2

Download Miracle2C

 

Previous Releases

Spoiler

Miracle 2 OG

Miracle 1.2

Miracle 1.1

Miracle 1.0

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Distortion Dog
Update

[Maggle]

I'll give it a spin, and see how it sounds in-game

[ketmar]

just put a link to Miracle as one of recommended soundfonts for k8vavoom it sounds good, and it is small. thank you for your work!

Edited February 5, 2020 by ketmar

[leodoom85]

@Distortion DogHey, I recently made 2 soundfont comparison videos for Doom. And having yet ANOTHER soundfont is nice. Might check this one and do a video with a small amount of soundfonts next time.

Spoiler

Video of one of them in question...

 

 

[Distortion Dog]

@ketmar Oh! Thanks for the mention! I wish you good luck on your project, btw! I've always been interested in Vavoom's light system.

@leodoom85That's cool! I'm sure I could check that out later, been too distracted lately.

 

Also, I've been wanting to do a more general non-Doom MIDI demonstration, so if anyone got a suggestion of what I could use, then please post so. A Doom 2 sampler will be uploaded tomorrow.

[Surface-to-Evil Shotgun]

Dune II has some great MIDI tracks that you could use for demonstration.

[Gez]

Favorite MIDIs of mine include Stones from Ultima VII, Ice Caverns and Scintillus Academy from Ultima Underworld II, the Monkey Island 1/2 intro themes, and yes, everything from Dune II.

 

Also Heretic, Duke Nukem 3D, Descent, Rise of the Triad, etc. I'd strongly suggest getting Jimmy's jukebox because it's a really handy way to test a ton of MIDIs quickly, not just within ZDoom but also from any MIDI player that can open zips (since PK3s are actually ZIPs).

[VGA]

@Distortion Dog

Nice, I will check your soundfont out later on some Doom songs. If you want suggestions on non-Doom songs, one of my favourites is this:

 

 

[Distortion Dog]

Descent is definitely a must, and Dune II is definitely one I should check out. Thanks!

[Benjogami]

Really cool soundfont, thanks for sharing. :)

 

Always fun to try out my favorite midis with a new soundfont, and I'm liking this one a lot more than some of the much heavier (in MBs) soundfonts.

[VGA]

 

Will you make a new video? I recommend this song, too

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by VGA

[VGA]

@Distortion Dog

 

OK, I decided to add your soundfont to my VirtualMIDISynth config and test it for myself, I jumped through Doom E1 and I like the way it sounds. In Doom 2 it makes the title music sound like a Friday the 13th horror movie jingle, it's interesting. But in MAP01 isn't that one bass instrument too loud compared to the drums and melody?

 

 

 

Will you make a video of Doom 2 and some BTSX, Descent and Duke3D midis with your soundfont?

[Distortion Dog]

It is done! I've released 1.1 which is very minimal as far changes goes, there's new Harp samples and a new Detuned EP1 and some volume issues fixed.

As well I've uploaded the Doom 2 sampler which ^{i've been sitting for quite a while "^^} still uses the old release.

 

@VGA

I did check and you were right, the Slap Bass was very loud. It's kind of hard to check decibels with your bare ears!

As for other MIDI soundtracks (and the Assorted Sampler): Duke 3D's is great but it is quite a lengthy soundtrack. BTSX? Well, don't laugh at me but I haven't really touched it, but I have heard that has a wonderful tracklist (apart from the "melodic taiko" thing). Descent, as I've already said, is a must! 

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by Distortion Dog
mention was not inputted properly

[VGA]

Well, Duke3D's Grabbag at least! From BTSX, the MAP01 song, "Entering". Another game to check out is Raptor: Call of Shadows. There must be some signature Heretic, Hexen or Strife songs. Just remembered: HacX has a few great songs (and many garbage ones)

 

I will check the 1.1 release soon :D

[Distortion Dog]

From Heretic I would probably pick MUS_E1M1, MUS_E1M6 or MUS_E1M9, Hexen I'd say Winnowing Hall and Strife I'd pick Tavern, Action and/or Tech.

Raptor is interesting, I guess I could use the Menu and Level 4's themes. I'd just use MAP01 from Hacx. 

I should include Abuse and Demonstar as well, both from Bobby Prince. 

[Gez]

59 minutes ago, VGA said:

Well, Duke3D's Grabbag at least!

Also, Stalker and Aliens, Say Your Prayers.

[Senor500]

This is certainly the most interesting soundfont I got now, I wanted to start something for a while and I figured I'd use this one first, a youtube channel where I just put MIDIs through soundfonts!

Spoiler

 

It's really good! Impressive for the small size indeed!

And yeah, I'll do the whole soundtrack, but it's almost 2 AM so I should sleep now!

Edited May 3, 2020 by Senor500

[Distortion Dog]

^{So it's finally here, performing for you}

Miracle 1.2 is here now! This update is around 7.12MB, which is quite bigger that the last.

 

• Re-recorded Piano samples
• Changed Piano 2 (Bright Piano) and Piano 3 (El. Grand) to be brighter
• The brass instruments got a revamp, Trombone and Tubas in specific
• Added more Samples to French Horn so it sounded better on lower notes 
• New Slap Bass 2
• The Synth String sample has been replaced with a more crispy one
• Synth Brass 1 has higher brightness now
• Added a new Power Snare and Room Tom sample

 

A sampler is up there in the Videos section now, along with a new download link. Cheers!

[Doomkid]

I love this soundfont, glad to see (hear) an update!

Edited May 11, 2020 by Doomkid

[Distortion Dog]

A quick update/fix, I noticed that the Soundtrack instrument was tuned incorrectly, so Ive dealt with that and the synth tom.

 

In other words, Ive also made a few other soundfonts, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to hear them or so.

[VGA]

14 minutes ago, Distortion Dog said:

A quick update/fix, I noticed that the Soundtrack instrument was tuned incorrectly, so Ive dealt with that and the synth tom.

 

In other words, Ive also made a few other soundfonts, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to hear them or so.

Sure, what kinds of soundfonts?

[Distortion Dog]

10 hours ago, VGA said:

Sure, what kinds of soundfonts?

Well, I have a couple of ones that mimic some old hardware, mostly tuned up versions of pre-existing soundfonts (i.e. SCC1t2) and a way smaller soundfont that sounds ok.

[VGA]

Well, if Doom songs sound fine, I'm interested :D

[NightFright]

I found this soundfont by pure coincidence and must say for it's one of the best I have tried, even more so considering its small filesize. Whatever you throw at it, may it be Descent, Doom, Duke3D or ROTT, sounds great with it. A MIRACLE indeed! 

 

Some small nitpicks:
- Voice Oohs in Doom II's D_DOOM don't really spell out "Doom" when played, which kinda was the original intention of the song.

- Gunshots used in D_EVIL (Doom II as well) could sound more like footsteps (imitating soldiers marching).

 

Other than that, the whole soundfont is beautifully balanced, instruments (even drums) sound great and MIDIs don't lose their classic sound which you may already know and like from other soundfonts you used before.

 

Any details about what was the general idea behind the creation of this and which sources you chose for the instruments?

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by NightFright

[Distortion Dog]

Oh hey, I've haven't been here in a while. Let's fix that.

 

On 5/20/2021 at 4:24 AM, NightFright said:

- Voice Oohs in Doom II's D_DOOM don't really spell out "Doom" when played, which kinda was the original intention of the song.

That is true, I may have set the dulcimer a bit too low on the decay? 

 

On 5/20/2021 at 4:24 AM, NightFright said:

- Gunshots used in D_EVIL (Doom II as well) could sound more like footsteps (imitating soldiers marching).

Yeah, the sample is kinda shite and perhaps I could replace it for something else. I've heard some soundfont use the doom shotgun sound, which I find very distracting because of association. I do have a suitable substitute though.

 

On 5/20/2021 at 4:24 AM, NightFright said:

Any details about what was the general idea behind the creation of this and which sources you chose for the instruments?

Well, my mentality is that I feel like a lot of GM/GS soundfonts out there are either too big for no reason or too loud/badly for their own good. Despite that, MIRACLE did not start as a quality soundfont ̣- I originally started with the EMU APS 1mb (aka the AWE32/64 ROM soundbank) and kind of tried to keep it small and reliable, however at some point I found that task to be ridiculous since I was scoping for the full 88pro preset list. And thats kind of where were at right now.

 

A lot of the instruments come from SCVA in 8820 mode (the panflute, bottle, and space voice/solo vox/brightness sounds are my favorites!) but a lot of them are from Creative's soundfonts (some were handpicked for filesize management), and there are some fun examples too (eg. the timpani comes from this Aureal GM bank, plenty of snare and bass drums come from Shan's GM, just shortened and compressed a bit). A lot of the synth presets can vary from Roland-esque (most leads), to more liberal takes on the pads (the Fantasia preset is inspired by the copycat from the Proteus/1, while the Bowed Glass is a mix between a Yamaha and a SB Live)

But generally? I feel like it's that I've been using the Roland GMGS dls file (the one that comes with every installation of Windows since 98) for volume balancing, perhaps others might have done it as well, but a lot of the time it sounds like people just balance it at their own accord (Timbres of Heaven, Arachno, GeneralUser, Omega, just to name a few). The best way to approach design of a soundfont/soundbank is that a lot of MIDIs will be made for whatever people have on their computers. At some point that was the OPL2 or clones of it, but nowadays it's most likely to be the MS softsynth.

 

As for now, I do feel like I should say that I have dropped my goal of making it 88pro compatible (because 1. it's a lot of work, 2. people who want to hear 88pro MIDIs probably already have SCVA or an 88pro/8850/8820 of their own), and I've been doing a lot of soundfonts on the meantime. Yeah, I'll eventually will drop those some day. I do also plan to make little variations of them to accomodate for the MS softsynth's lack of non-chromatic percussions and instruments. Perhaps also make a GM2-compatible version. In the meantime however, I need to re-setup my workflow, as about a month ago I lost a lot of stuff because of a Windows Update. Safe to say, it's been tough, but I'm better off with Ubuntu and Wine.

And, maybe I could do a tutorial on how to make (or tweak) a soundfont, perhaps.

 

[NightFright]

Very interesting! I share your idea that soundfonts should stay small. There are so many large SF2s out there which sound a lot worse than some alternatives in the range up to 32 MB. 

 

You can screw up a soundfont in three ways basically: Instruments (obviously), volume balancing and size (at least for me that's a factor, too). Some SF2s sound good with regular music, but not orchestral soundtracks like e.g. Dark Forces or Tie Fighter. It's tough to cover everything equally without any game sounding shitty at least to some degree.

 

A positive example is Bill90's Masquerade55 which manages to sound a lot like the SC-55, applies the proper Doom-specific effects in D_DOOM or D_EVIL and doesn't make any instrument sound too loud or faint. It also works with Descent, Duke3D and ROTT, which is an important factor for gaming. And all that with 17 MB filesize. Personally, I don't need music to be 100% faithful to the SC-55 sound, but similar enough to not alter the character of the tracks. For external (non-gaming) usage, requirements may be higher, but otherwise you can take a few liberties if it sounds right and good. 

 

I will keep checking out various game MIDIs with your soundfont to see if I find any other potential for improvement. In general however I have to say it's already really good. If you want to improve the Choir Aahs further as well btw, those from Chorium Rev A are remarkable. A good test for those is Doom's D_E1M8 and also STALK-04.mid from Dark Forces. For the Voice Oohs in D_DOOM, you can use Masquerade55 as an orientation, the effect is quite good there. A reference for the gunshot/footstep effect in D_EVIL could be Creative's 8MBGM or Bredel's 8MBGM-Enhanced.

Edited June 2, 2021 by NightFright

[Distortion Dog]

8 hours ago, NightFright said:

A positive example is Bill90's Masquerade55 which manages to sound a lot like the SC-55, applies the proper Doom-specific effects in D_DOOM or D_EVIL and doesn't make any instrument sound too loud or faint. It also works with Descent, Duke3D and ROTT, which is an important factor for gaming. And all that with 17 MB filesize.

I've definitively tinkered with masquerade55 a lot, I actually tried to make something similar with jst Scc1t2.sf2 as a basis. It's a little wonky though.

 

9 hours ago, NightFright said:

If you want to improve the Choir Aahs further as well btw, those from Chorium Rev A are remarkable. 

I like the mixing, but i feel like they're a bit too much for the soundfont. It takes about 2 MBs of space on its' own, partly because of the high samplerate, but also because they're stereo, so they have two samples per range. The long release is cool though.

 

10 hours ago, NightFright said:

For the Voice Oohs in D_DOOM, you can use Masquerade55 as an orientation, the effect is quite good there. A reference for the gunshot/footstep effect in D_EVIL could be Creative's 8MBGM or Bredel's 8MBGM-Enhanced.

I'm definitively gonna check that out :D I'll edit this post with the tests later

[NightFright]

Yeah, 2MB for just one instrument is a bit much, especially considering the current size of your soundfont. Explains why it sounds so good, though. But well, the sample you used isn't bad, either, there are a lot that are worse out there.

Edited June 2, 2021 by NightFright

[Distortion Dog]

Hey, just a little quick question: does any of you turn on chorus on Fluidsynth? I bet you don't, it sounds awful. But a lot of my instruments use chorus, the synth brasses specifically, and it sounds fine in BASSMIDI.

[NightFright]

Chorus and reverb make sense with SC-55-like soundfonts to get closer to the original sound. Patch55 recommended turning it on for his own sf2 in GZDoom. I am actually using these settings and they work fine also with Masquerade55.

Edited June 19, 2021 by NightFright