Favorite MIDI instrument?

[TheCaneOfTheTophat]

To the sequencers and listeners of the Doom community's MIDI music, what is your favorite instrument?
Yes, I know that all instruments sound different depending on the soundfont/card/module, etc. Let's assume we're talking about the sounds from good ol' gm.dls by default and other soundfonts/cards/modules can be mentioned.

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

For the Sound Canvas sounds I'm going to say Distortion Guitar. It's certainly not realistic (most General MIDI guitar sounds aren't), but I've grown fond of it because of its use in game soundtracks such as DOOM's. It's oddly charming how a GM sound bank tries to replicate a complex string instrument, but just ends up sounding like a cheap keyboard. In regard to the original DOOM's OPL instruments, I think the Overdriven Guitar sounds better than the Distortion Guitar.

[heliumlamb]

cuíca

[Plerb]

With the Sound Canvas Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth soundfont, most of them, but Distortion Guitar, Rock Organ, Warm Pad and Brightness are some of my favorites.

Edited May 15 by Plerb
i thought sound canvas and microsoft gs wavetable synth were the same when I posted this but i think there's some differences

[RataUnderground]

Tubular bells.

[solidago]

The Rain/Ice Rain effect patch is actually pretty versatile and sounds great.

[Herr Dethnout]

On MSGS (Aka GM.dls) was Inst. 35 (Picked Bass, who for some reason uses samples from the SC-88 instead of SC-55), but nowdays is Inst. 38 (Slap Bass 2).

 

On Yamaha S-YXG50 (My main midi module) is the Standard Drum Kit Electric Snare. It sounds absolute kick ass, and has that punchy sound needed for rock/metal, and pretty versatile for almost any genre.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Herr Dethnout

[OceanMadman]

I love most of the ones called "Pad" and "Fx", they are great for creating atmospheric music. People, use them more please.

 

Even the weirder ones like the Bird tweet or the Seashore can be useful for composing mysterious stuff.

[Herr Dethnout]

10 minutes ago, OceanMadman said:

I love most of the ones called "Pad" and "Fx", they are great for creating atmospheric music. People, use them more please.

 

Even the weirder ones like the Bird tweet or the Seashore can be useful for composing mysterious stuff.

Funny, because I use Inst. 127 (Applause) to emulate "Noise" sound, and 97 (Sweep Pad) for ambiental sounds in one song I'm making heh

[OceanMadman]

50 minutes ago, Herr Dethnout said:

Funny, because I use Inst. 127 (Applause) to emulate "Noise" sound, and 97 (Sweep Pad) for ambiental sounds in one song I'm making heh

Oh yeah, the applause is pretty cool for that kind of stuff too

[Jimmy]

Y'know what? FX 6 Goblin is slept on.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Jimmy

[TheCaneOfTheTophat]

1 minute ago, Jimmy said:

Y'know what? FX 6 Goblin is slept on.

That instrument is really quiet for some reason. You did use it to good effect in "Run 'em, Gun 'em, Kill 'em", though. That's the only MIDI I know of that uses it :P

 

58 minutes ago, Herr Dethnout said:

Funny, because I use Inst. 127 (Applause) to emulate "Noise" sound, and 97 (Sweep Pad) for ambiental sounds in one song I'm making heh

Most instruments after 80 are slept on (with the exception of Brightness and the Gunshot). I wanna see some more Charang usage, dammit!

[Herr Dethnout]

33 minutes ago, TheCaneOfTheTophat said:

Most instruments after 80 are slept on (with the exception of Brightness and the Gunshot). I wanna see some more Charang usage, dammit!

Charang is good, but in MSGS sounds more like a Overdriven Guitar with extra steps.

[Astar]

I really like overdrive and distortion guitar on CPS2

[bofu]

Sawtooth. Makes a great lead, arp background, drone, and active bass tone. Apply some modulation to vary it up, and you've got a very versatile voice.

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

For other General MIDI banks, I like how the synth instruments such as SynthStrings 2 sound on the old Ensoniq PCI cards. You can hear the SynthStrings 2 instrument at the end of the DOOM II title music:

 

 

 

[wumbo]

I don't know the name of the instrument, but I'm pretty sure its called the power snare??? I don't know, I call it the cool snare because it sounds SO much cooler than the acoustic snare or the electric one.

[URROVA]

From SC: Square/saw waves, distorted guitar, brightness, tubular bell, maybe the synth bass?

 

2 hours ago, wumbo said:

I don't know the name of the instrument, but I'm pretty sure its called the power snare??? I don't know, I call it the cool snare because it sounds SO much cooler than the acoustic snare or the electric one.

The snare of the power drumkit with a lot of reverb? I think perturbator uses it a lot (if not is a really similar sample). Its very good for heavy beats, but i wold not use it for really fast beats.

[WhateverComic07]

Midi Trumpet.

 

I am in no way biased by the fact that I have played the trumpet for 10 years.

[silentzorah]

Distortion Guitar.

 

I mean... It's like 90% of my discography.

[LightningBoltForever]

Gotta go with Electric Piano 1 - so atmospheric, makes me think of pouring rain on a window

[tornado potato]

Orchestra Hit ftw. And yeah also that "power snare" mentioned by others is very cool too

[Ludi]

Agogo is really cool when used as a main instrument.

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

5 hours ago, wumbo said:

I don't know the name of the instrument, but I'm pretty sure its called the power snare??? I don't know, I call it the cool snare because it sounds SO much cooler than the acoustic snare or the electric one.

It's officially called the "Gated" snare (specifically "Gated SD"), and can also be found in the snare 2 slot in the Electronic drum kit. I also like that the heavy kick drum in the Power Set is called the MONDO Kick. Source: Original SC-55 manual.

Edited August 7, 2023 by TheUltimateDoomer666

[wumbo]

On top of the cool snare, where would doom MIDIs be without the Brightness synth? Such a staple in the regular Microsoft soundfont.

[Mr. Freeze]

Brightness 

[MFG38]

Fourthing(?) Brightness.

 

And Synth Bass 1.

[Panzermann11]

Whatever the electric guitar one is called. It's pretty much the staple of Doom's soundtrack.

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

1 hour ago, Panzermann11 said:

Whatever the electric guitar one is called. It's pretty much the staple of Doom's soundtrack.

There are two. The General MIDI names are Overdriven Guitar and Distortion Guitar (GS calls the former Overdrive Guitar). The Overdriven Guitar is generally used as a lead guitar (e.g., E1M8, E2M9/E3M1, E3M3), while the Distortion Guitar works better as a rhythm guitar (e.g., E2M9/E3M1, E3M3). There are exceptions of course; MAP10/The Demon's Dead uses Distortion Guitar for the melody for example.

 

[DiR]

The weird sounds on the far end of drum patches, like the monkey sounds and wind chime.

 

Do I use them? Rarely. Are they silly? Hell yeah they are.