Midi Issue

After a reinstall of my OS, my Midi playback sounds horrible.
My Midi playback device is set to the generic MS wave synth setting.

Before the reinstall I was able to have the MIDI playback actually sound somewhat like real music. By changing the playback device.

I had to install some software synth software to make this work, but I am not sure what it was.

Anyone aware of what kinda of software I can install for a Realtech AC'97 soundcard to make the midi sound less crappy?

Thanks!

It shouldn't sound any different than it did before if the sound card is exactly the same. Begin by defining "crappy" and revealing which source port you're playing Doom with (if any) It could be a setting there, not necessarily something wrong with the computer's audio in general.

AC97 cards usually include a wavetable softsynth in their drivers. Find appropriate sound card drivers for your motherboard's make and model.

I am using Doomsday 2.09 and by crappy I mean it sounds like 8 bit nintendo music, opposed to instrumental sounding music. (I hear a beep, instead of a piano)

I have installed the latest version of the realtek Ac97 driver as well.

I will have to look in the garage and see if I have an old Sound Blaster 16 card to try.

Either I am going crazy or I forgot about about swapping hardware at some point, because it has been almost 2 years since I reinstalled my OS last.

Thanks for the replies.

Bloodshedder said:

AC97 cards usually include a wavetable softsynth in their drivers. Find appropriate sound card drivers for your motherboard's make and model.

Sadly, more recently made ones don't :-(

I recall my Compaq Presario 910EA laptop actually came with AC'97 SoundMax Cadenza drivers that had their own softsynth (not that it sounded any better than MS's, just different), but none of the AC'97s I have on other mobos did.

Well, on the bright side since everything today is done with soft- something, you can install anything to your liking ranging from Timidity, Moog emulators, OPL emulators etc.

Clawt said:

I am using Doomsday 2.09 and by crappy I mean it sounds like 8 bit nintendo music, opposed to instrumental sounding music. (I hear a beep, instead of a piano)

That description sounds more like OPL emulation than MS Wavetable to me.

Clawt said:

I am using Doomsday 2.09 and by crappy I mean it sounds like 8 bit nintendo music, opposed to instrumental sounding music. (I hear a beep, instead of a piano)

You wouldn't happen to be using something like this, are you?

Either that, or you're using a sound card with a real OPL but used as a MIDI device under Windows: those have a horrible set of timbres for some reason, and the E1M1 guitar sounds more like a detuned synth banjo.

What sound card do you have and what MIDI device is your default? This is a known issue if you're using Yamaha Waveforce, ISA SoundBlasters or any other sound card that exposes a "Yamaha FM synth" to the system.

Maes said:

You wouldn't happen to be using something like this, are you?

Either that, or you're using a sound card with a real OPL but used as a MIDI device under Windows: those have a horrible set of timbres for some reason, and the E1M1 guitar sounds more like a detuned synth banjo.

What sound card do you have and what MIDI device is your default? This is a known issue if you're using Yamaha Waveforce, ISA SoundBlasters or any other sound card that exposes a "Yamaha FM synth" to the system.

This is just a basic old AC97 Onboard chip.

I tried a different Port (Zdoomgl)and the audio has improved on all fronts. the sound effects are better and the Midi sound pretty nice. Having played the same level in both ports it sounds like somthing is wrong with Doomsday.( or just my sound card in general)

ZDoomGL is not maintained anymore and shouldn't be used unless maybe you want to play the original release of ZanZan. I'd recommend using GZDoom from http://svn.drdteam.org/ instead (you can keep ZDoomGL to finish any ongoing game because saves aren't compatible, though).

Clawt said:

I tried a different Port (Zdoomgl)and the audio has improved on all fronts. the sound effects are better and the Midi sound pretty nice.

Then probably some issue with Doomsday, although I don't know the specifics of its sound system. However OPL emulators set at any sampling rate different than 49152 Hz sound horrible, and for mathematically valid reasons too.

Gez said:

ZDoomGL is not maintained anymore and shouldn't be used unless maybe you want to play the original release of ZanZan. I'd recommend using GZDoom from http://svn.drdteam.org/ instead (you can keep ZDoomGL to finish any ongoing game because saves aren't compatible, though).

Fantastic, using GZDoom has fixed all problems I have been having. The music sound great using FMOD mode with my current set up.

Thanks all for the great help.