Out of curiosity, what are your preferred soundfonts for Doom?

[Senor500]

On 4/2/2020 at 3:40 AM, KickAss said:

Hallo,

Virtualmidisynth with TimGM6mb.sf2, Arachno SoundFont - Version 1.0.sf2 or FluidR3_GM.sf2 with this SFX package works and sounds realy well. Still haven't tried the "pissweaks-drum-improvement" ;-).

MfG

So thanks to all the mentions virtualmidisynth got I installed it and made DOSBox use it too, goddamn, it's wonderful, thank you all for this, now I'm much more willing to use DOSBox for some games even.

[DwarfCleric]

On 3/31/2020 at 8:19 AM, Hisymak said:

I'm actually all-life big fan of the Adlib/Sound Blaster FM synthesis, so I use OPL Synth Emulation

 

That's the thing, if it's the REAL Adlib thing (and not emulation) then I have to agree that it sounds amazing (for some games)

This soundtrack below from Ravenloft Stone Prophet sounds better in Adlib than it sounds in Midi, but when I play the game in Dosbox I can't achieve that same sound, there's some more "bass" and "thickness" to the original Adlib sound that I can't get in Dosbox. Do you recommend any tricks to getting closer to that real hardware Adlib sound?

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

But when it's the OPL Emulation it sounds totally borked like this one below:

 

Spoiler

 

 

Other outstanding Adlib soundtracks that I have heard:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

This last one is not Adlib, I think it's MIDI but sounds so amazing

 

 

 

 

[DwarfCleric]

double post, is there a Remove button??

Edited April 12, 2020 by DwarfCleric

[xttl]

Does using a real 1990s hardware GM synth box count? What about the official softsynths like Roland Sound Canvas VA or Yamaha S-YXG50 VSTis? Not strictly soundfonts, but seems someone also mentioned just using "OPL synth" too...

[VGA]

32 minutes ago, xttl said:

Does using a real 1990s hardware GM synth box count?

What does this look like and how does it work? How do you connect to it?

[Senor500]

48 minutes ago, xttl said:

Does using a real 1990s hardware GM synth box count? What about the official softsynths like Roland Sound Canvas VA or Yamaha S-YXG50 VSTis? Not strictly soundfonts, but seems someone also mentioned just using "OPL synth" too...

I'd love to see your box too!

[xttl]

2 hours ago, VGA said:

What does this look like and how does it work? How do you connect to it? 

 

It works like this: send MIDI messages in to one connector, get analog audio out from another connector (or pair of connectors).

 

These boxes (or more properly: synth modules) always have a MIDI input connector (among other things) in the back. It's a large 5-pin DIN connector which works as a serial port. A computer (or a MIDI keyboard or a sequencer box) can send MIDI messages via the connector to control the synth and play music. On old PCs, most of the common 1990s soundcards had (partial) Roland MPU-401 compatibility which can be used for this purpose with a passive adapter cable (the joystick port on these soundcards also has pins for MIDI I/O), or you could have bought a genuine Roland MPU-401 MIDI interface card (or a clone of it such as MusicQuest PC MIDI). On modern PCs, you can use a professional sound card or external audio interface which has MIDI I/O, or just buy a relatively cheap USB MIDI interface. (but the absolute cheapest ones can have timing issues and drop messages so they're not good even for just casually listening)

 

2 hours ago, Senor500 said:

I'd love to see your box too!

Too lazy to really use these most of the time nowadays since the official softsynth clones now sound about the same (I bought these a long time ago when Roland only had Virtual SoundCanvas out which sucked and the SF2 imitations also sounded terrible), and the SC-88Pro needs repair. (probably capacitors need to be checked, it works but there's a terrible constant loud hum audible in the background). Here's one pic of each attached anyway, powered off and not connected to anywhere.

 

 

 

^{Also used to own a Yamaha MU-80, but I sold it to a friend when I needed money a few years back. Have sometimes considered selling these too since it's not like I ever even compose anything on them... and even MUNT doesn't suck anymore (MT-32 stuff was another reason for me to buy the CM-500 years back)}

Edited April 13, 2020 by xttl

[VGA]

Nice, so you are mostly using those two software synthesizers you mentioned? Are they commercial products that you can set to replace the native Windows MIDI device?

 

What is their advantage over VirtualMIDISynth + whichever free or commercial sf2 soundfont you prefer?

[xttl]

2 hours ago, VGA said:

Nice, so you are mostly using those two software synthesizers you mentioned? Are they commercial products that you can set to replace the native Windows MIDI device? 

 

What is their advantage over VirtualMIDISynth + whichever free or commercial sf2 soundfont you prefer?

 

Yeah, Yamaha S-YXG50 and Roland Sound Canvas VA are both commercial proprietary software that you're supposed to buy a license for, unfortunately. That said, S-YXG50 hasn't been sold in ages and nobody seems to really care about the cracked VSTi version that's floating around, it's distributed quite openly on a certain person's blog with their real name visible. SC-VA on the other hand is a product that's relatively new and still sold (both standalone and via Roland Cloud subscription). A free trial is available but it's very time limited, and the unlocked version is certainly a bit expensive if you only intend to use it for listening and not for actual work. :( The cool thing about it is it can emulate four generations of Sound Canvases: 55mkII, 88, 88 Pro and 8820. (the music for some later DOS era games was very likely composed on a 88 or 88 Pro originally, not a 55)

 

Both are VSTis (Steinberg VST instrument plugins) and do not install into Windows as a MIDI device, but can be used like such by installing a MIDI loopback driver (loopMIDI is pretty good and free) and running them inside a light standalone VST host application (SAVIHost is also good and free) which is set to receive MIDI input from the loopback device. CoolSoft MIDIMapper can be used to change the OS level default MIDI output device (since MS has dropped their own MIDI mapper configurator) for applications that don't have their own output device selector.

 

edit: well, it seems there's a driver ("VST MIDI Driver") for Windows which can make a VSTi directly appear as a MIDI device, but the link I've found for downloading it is broken.

 

Actually, S-YXG50 was once also sold (and distributed for free with the PC version of Final Fantasy VII! what a gift for people stuck with crappy FM-only soundcards like me*, and it actually sounded better than at least Creative's wavetable cards too) in a variant which runs as a MIDI device driver, but the last driver version ever released only works in 32-bit Windows XP and nothing newer (even earlier versions only work in Win9x). The VSTi is thus the only version which works on modern systems. It's nice enough to even run under Wine in Linux (as is SC-VA, at least with a few modifications) which is where I spend most of my time nowadays.

 

fun fact: The newer Win2k/XP compatible WDM driver version also used to be available for free from Windows Update with some kind of a trick I don't remember anymore (might have been just a direct link to a .cab file on Microsoft's server somewhere which was circulating on the web). It worked and didn't have any trial limitations at all, absolutely no need for reverse engineering and cracks, but probably still not totally legit to use unless you were in the intended audience for that driver update. (I guess it was meant for users of certain soundcards or integrated soundchips whose manufacturer had made some kind of a deal with Yamaha?)

 

As for the last question, I would need to compare the current SF2s available to S-YXG50 / SC-VA to say anything... I've not tried any SF2s for many years now, but I've been meaning to... I remember someone here on these forums recommending them to me (they said that only real nitpickers need the real synths nowadays ;) and I decided I'd try them but then just kind of forgot about it. 

 

^{* I bought this game when it was new, so in that way maybe I could even say that I'm sort of licensed to use the cracked VSTi, though of course it's not strictly true ;) A moral right at least? Also, the game actually came with S-YXG70, not S-YXG50, but 70 was just 20 and 50 combined into one package, the 20 was a lighter softsynth with lesser CPU and memory requirements.}

Edited April 13, 2020 by xttl

[VGA]

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on soundfonts compared to the commercial softsynths and the real synths.

[Senor500]

2 minutes ago, VGA said:

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on soundfonts compared to the commercial softsynths and the real synths.

Second this, I don't know anybody who can actually compare them firsthand.

[Gez]

4 hours ago, xttl said:

fun fact: The newer Win2k/XP compatible WDM driver version also used to be available for free from Windows Update with some kind of a trick I don't remember anymore (might have been just a direct link to a .cab file on Microsoft's server somewhere which was circulating on the web). It worked and didn't have any trial limitations at all, absolutely no need for reverse engineering and cracks, but probably still not totally legit to use unless you were in the intended audience for that driver update. (I guess it was meant for users of certain soundcards or integrated soundchips whose manufacturer had made some kind of a deal with Yamaha?)

I figure that means Yamaha stopped caring about it a long while ago; which is why the VSTi version is the only one usable now (outside of Wine and running XP in a VM).

Edited April 13, 2020 by Gez

[dei_eldren]

(Bumping this to avoid starting new thread...)

 

Today i learned changing the soundfont on prboom+, and immediately tried on it Korg AG-10 (which device i had making music in the 90s, and was able to find it's sf2 a while ago), which to my ears was very very good.

 

Am also gonna try some of the ones mentioned in this thread, especially Doomkid has made quite a list!

Edited January 24, 2021 by dei_eldren

[Orchid87]

After years of searching for the ideal SC-55 soundfont, I've went back to good ol' cheesy Microsoft GS software synth, because this is how I played Doom when I upgraded to a Win 98 rig back in the day. It was a major improvement over adlib music. Honestly, I'm starting to really appreciate this synth despite all the hate.

[Marvv7]

I'm using the SC-55 soundfont by Patch 93, sounds pretty great to my ears.

[Doomkid]

Glad you bumped this, got some easy links for DLing hundreds of soundfonts and a sampler video to see how most of them sound:

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EI2R4QMsJI5Vzemps8wz3rq97YKxja5l
 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1492myFXb_4aG1HsQ4aNA4DcL2SUNVvYL
 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TbLOvr6GwqrxteWH8RD7Z7Q7t8q-vsIe

 

 

[dei_eldren]

13 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Glad you bumped this, got some easy links for DLing hundreds of soundfonts and a sampler video to see how most of them sound:

 

Damn, another great resource you've made!  The video with samples, too - listening to it right now.  Love that riff haha.  Good stuff, Doomkid..

[Rei is now real]

timidity.cfg, mainly cause it sounds like the Gravis Ultrasound soundfont, and I like Gravis Ultrasound (also because the BFG edition used this for the midis, and I have fond memories of the BFG edition so)

[Andromeda]

TimGM6mb.sf2

[Dubbag]

SGM-V2.01