Great soundfonts to play DOOM with?

I've tried fluidsynth. it's really cool, also tried snes soundfont, timgm6mb (or whatever its called). Do you guys have any great soundfonts to play doom with?

the merlin symphony soundfont is pretty high quality, although i like the sgm electric guitars better.

WeedsGM4 for Eternal Doom, Scc1t2/Microsoft Synth/SC-55 for everything else.

It's best to use whatever the midi was composed with, especially since midis that aren't aimed at realism sound bad with realistic soundfonts.

However, if you are stuck with using Gravis Ultrasound patches, 8MBGMPAT is your best bet.

I use GeneralUser GS SF2, so far it's the only soundfont I've ever used that doesn't transform certain midis into annoying cacophonies or break certain effects.

I've created this to be able to change soundfont quickly in ZDoom/GZDoom.

eawpats is still my favourite:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/sounds/eawpats

I've sworn up-and-down by 8MBGMSFX.sf2 in the past; no real reason to do otherwise here. Came with a SBLive! from an old computer like 15 years ago, and has served me mighty well ever since.

I use Coolsoft Softsynth 2.x versions with this soundfont:

Patch93's Roland Sound Canvas V2.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tmN1a3cDMg

The video description has the link to the soundfont and SFPack to decompress it.

EDIT: Holy shit, the new version is 125mb decompressed.

Scc1t2.sf2 is what I use for everything now. There are no official download sites and many unofficial ones. I got it here.

If you want creepy sound, I found that an ambience pack (ported from Doom 3) does it well.

I use eawpats, specifically an SF2 version I put together not too long ago. Until that point, it was the original patches. I'm very used to how they sound and like them more than the default Windows synth.

Possible tech-illiterate incoming, but I haven't actually used soundfonts before, to any success at least, and have no idea how they're suppose to operate inside games with midi music. What do I do? I'd really like to hear better, intended music in games like Doom and Duke3D for a change.

I use converted soundfont from Aureal Vortex AU8830 installations on Windows 98 (A converted ARL made into a SF2, ARL being an obfuscated SF2). So it kind of sounds like Doom sounded back when I played it when I was much younger. It does not sound the same however due to sequencer differences but it is rather close.

I miss the way Doom sounded on Doom95 with my sound blaster card on Win98, it wasn't proper but it's better than the OPL playback IMO.

I've been using Chorium for a while now. The instruments are clean, very accurate, and have a certain "fullness" that improves the atmosphere in a gameplay setting and makes for great listening with MIDIs converted to MP3. I have yet to hear a song that doesn't sound great using this font.

Bashe said:

I use eawpats, specifically an SF2 version I put together not too long ago. Until that point, it was the original patches. I'm very used to how they sound and like them more than the default Windows synth.

Could you post it? eawpats sound good but Timidity (included as part of SDL) handles the volumes incorrectly, so a lot of ports play back music with wrong volumes.

Cyanosis said:

Possible tech-illiterate incoming, but I haven't actually used soundfonts before, to any success at least, and have no idea how they're suppose to operate inside games with midi music. What do I do? I'd really like to hear better, intended music in games like Doom and Duke3D for a change.

Install Coolsoft Softsynth, the 2.x versions, not the stables, it sets itself as the default midi device. Then get soundfonts and play around with them.

It also shows an equalizer in the tray when it is being used.

There are many soundfonts and synths I've used with DOOM... Some of them include Arachno, EYE & I 4 MB (commercial), SONiVOX 24 MB (formerly commercial, now abandonware), EAWPATS, sYnerGi 44 MB (formerly commercial), Utopia Live! 2.0 (formerly commercial), Yamaha S-YXG50 VST soft synth, Casio SW-10 (only runs on Windows 9x), and Windows OPL3 Synthesizer emulator.

Currently I use the overpriced Sound Canvas VA in SC-55 mode, which is far more accurate than Virtual Sound Canvas or MS Synth. SCVA actually natively emulates an SC-8820, so its SC-55 mode is not completely identical to native SC-55 (the Strings are different, for example).

Muting the music and putting on something proper in Spotify while playing. Life's to short to listen to midi tracks. :)

plums said:

Could you post it? eawpats sound good but Timidity (included as part of SDL) handles the volumes incorrectly, so a lot of ports play back music with wrong volumes.

Here's it is. It's not objectively exactly identical to the original patches, but I did what i could to get them to sound pretty similar, minus a few tweaks and whatnot here and there with sustain, decay, and release times that I felt were out of whack.

Much appreciated, thanks.

dugan said:

Scc1t2.sf2 is what I use for everything now. There are no official download sites and many unofficial ones. I got it here.

IMO that sounds flat and terrible. It is a waste to use this for Doom/Heretic/Hexen/Doom 64/PSX Doom gameplay when you can easily have a fuller sound.

Maybe I'm used to the SC-55 soundfont by Patch93 for the last couple of years, heh. Come to think of it, many people choose a soundfont for nostalgia's sake, not for deep bass.

Wow, i actually liked these :)

i just use the Microsoft synth, because in the end, it's what gives me the least headaches when playing Doom, and it's what usually ends up sounding the best all around. i'd kill for a soundfont of what our old Windows 98 PC had, though.

Danfun64 said:

WeedsGM4 for Eternal Doom, Scc1t2/Microsoft Synth/SC-55 for everything else.

It's best to use whatever the midi was composed with, especially since midis that aren't aimed at realism sound bad with realistic soundfonts.

This. I've had soundfonts that sounded great with a few tracks, but completely ruined others.

Cyanosis said:

Possible tech-illiterate incoming, but I haven't actually used soundfonts before, to any success at least, and have no idea how they're suppose to operate inside games with midi music. What do I do? I'd really like to hear better, intended music in games like Doom and Duke3D for a change.

My suggestion: download BASSMIDI and at least one of the soundfonts mentioned on here (well, the ones in SF2 format, anyway). BASSMIDI is a fairly accurate software-based MIDI synth, giving you two devices (and thus sets of soundfonts) to have Windows play MIDIs through.

Once it's installed, you just add all the soundfonts you want to play through a given device (although note that ones loaded later override ones loaded earlier, should they define the same instrument - so, for most of the soundfonts listed in this thread, this would really only be one at a time), save the changes, make sure Windows is using BASSMIDI as its MIDI device (there's a way to do that directly through BASSMIDI itself, should be straightforward), and enjoy.

VGA said:

I use Coolsoft Softsynth 2.x versions with this soundfont:
Patch93's Roland Sound Canvas V2.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tmN1a3cDMg
The video description has the link to the soundfont and SFPack to decompress it.
EDIT: Holy shit, the new version is 125mb decompressed.

On the one hand, it's nice that Patch93 got one more release out before (I presume) calling it a day. On the other hand, sfpack, ugh.

Urban Space Cowboy said:

On the one hand, it's nice that Patch93 got one more release out before (I presume) calling it a day. On the other hand, sfpack, ugh.

Mirror with the unpacked sf2, compressed in a 7z archive:
http://1drv.ms/1T6l0SF

For those that don't know that is a huge soundfont emulating the SC-55, the objectively authentic Doom music sound.

VGA said:

Install Coolsoft Softsynth, the 2.x versions

I can vouch for this. Out of all the softsynths I've used, VirtualMIDISynth is the only one that hasn't proven to be a pain in the ass to setup/get things to recognize it. Coincidentally, it's also built upon BASSMIDI anyways.

VGA said:

Patch93's Roland Sound Canvas V2.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tmN1a3cDMg

I dunno if its just me but that soundfont seems to be broken with e1m4 and map01 in TNT midis