What games do you hear the Roland Sound Canvas samples in?

[Xane_MM]

Basically, as the title says, if you know any games that use (or sound like they might use) those stupid Roland Sound Canvas samples that can be found on any Windows computer, please post the games and where they can be heard/which song.

I made a video some time ago here about 4 or so of the games I'm about to mention.

Yes, I know this list's messy; I might clean it up later.
Format: Game name - Songs (Instruments/Details). I will sort this by instrument for sake of reading. (Bolded are what times I'm pretty sure of the samples, Italics are when it's just speculation)

IN VIDEO
Super Mario World - Here We Go! (Steel Drum)
Super Mario 64 - *Revealed Secret/Solved Puzzle* (Music Box)
Hamsterz Life - All songs (Every sample except for one that replaces vibes)
Super Smash Bros. Melee - Many songs / Rest Area (Many songs use Drums: Chinese Cymbal / Rest Area uses SFX: Bird Tweet)
(any mentioned in the list above will not be repeated in other categories)

MUSIC BOX
Animal Crossing: Wild World - Unknown; a K.K. song

DRUMS
Mario Kart 64 (and course remakes) - Most songs (Tambourine)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Tambourine)
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - Joy of Fall (Tambourine)
Harvest Moon DS - Joy of Fall (Joy of Fall uses Tambourine)
Doom (SNES) - The Imp's Song (Claves)

A LOT OF SAMPLES
Super Princess Peach - All songs (For example, Ladida Plains uses Drum: Mute Cuica)

UNKNOWN
Harvest Moon DS - Unknown event (Mixture of Synth Vox / Unknown pad)

[Gez]

There's no such thing as "General MIDI samples".

General MIDI is a standard which defines which instruments go where; but it doesn't say anything about how they should actually sound. The standard doesn't come with samples. Various implementations of it may come with their own samples, but that's not necessary.

[Xane_MM]

Should I mention the Roland Sound Canvas soundfont instead of General MIDI You're right.

[Maes]

If the games in question use MIDI devices DIRECTLY and do not play their music, as some form of pre-recorded mixdown (e.g. CD-Audio tracks, compressed music such as MP3/OGG etc.) or at least as a tracked/module music format which allows defining their own samples, then this question makes no sense.

I suppose most modern consoles running the games you mentioned use the prerecorded method with compressed music tracks or some form of tracked music (maybe even a "MIDI with samples"). If so, it boils down to what the composer used for the final mixdowns. If they used Roland Sound Canvas soundfonts, then that's what they will sound like. If the hardware/platform uses some sort of MIDI emulation and that MIDI emulation also uses Roland Sound Canvas soundfonts, then that's what it will sound like.

[fraggle]

Gez is right, but I think it's pretty clear what you're actually trying to say. I think it makes a big difference: I recently did some work overhauling Freedoom's GENMIDI lump, and while it's better now, it still isn't anywhere near as good a patch set as Doom's is. Play a WAD with OPL emulation under the original WADs and under Freedoom and you can see the difference a good set of instruments makes.

[Maes]

It goes without saying that Doom's use of the 2-operator AdLib/OPL2 chip was way, way above average. Interestingly, the only benefits of using an OPL3 chip with Doom were stereo sound and room for more double-voice instruments, but not 4-op instruments.

[Xane_MM]

What I'm mainly talking about is when a game's composer chooses to use the Roland Sound Canvas' samples:

Maes said:

...If so, it boils down to what the composer used for the final mixdowns. If they used Roland Sound Canvas soundfonts, then that's what they will sound like.

That's what I mean. I just find them out of place and "ruining" the song unless the game uses MIDI (like Doom, since its music is MUS/MIDI), but you're right; it is the composer. I'm not sure why they'd choose those samples though. Also, the txt file that came with GM.dls says it's licensed. Do you think they actually pay to use it? @fraggle I'll have to check that out.

[Remilia Scarlet]

I don't find anything wrong with it. If a sample works within a mix, use it. That's true for any music, not just games. You don't have to use one instrument for the entire song, either.

I've definitely used sounds from the General MIDI bank on my Roland JV-1010 and it didn't subtract from the final song.

Xane123 said:

Also, the txt file that came with GM.dls says it's licensed. Do you think they actually pay to use it?

The GM.dls is not the only source for Sound Canvas samples, you know... they might have had a real Sound Canvas, a SoundFont with samples in it (I have one I use with FluidSynth from time to time), a Kontakt bank, or even raw samples. Like I have WAV files of a few SCC-1 drums sounds.

[Scripten]

I don't really see the point in getting all up in arms about this. The samples sound just fine with the songs they're used for, so I don't see them as a "ruining" factor.

Really, it's not much different from hearing stock sounds that Doom uses in popular media. Doctor Who, Modern Marvels, and tons of smaller low-budget stuff all use the same sound libraries. I find it funny more than anything.

[kristus]

I wonder if it is that avatar which is making the user create threads about arbitrary reasons to get upset about trivial crap.

[Dragonsbrethren]

kristus said:

I wonder if it is that avatar which is making the user create threads about arbitrary reasons to get upset about trivial crap.

You've picked up on that too?

[Maes]

UP NEXT: annoying DOS games that used the default VGA palette (at least this one would be legitimate....it sucked).

or, alternatively:

UP NEXT: CGA Palette: was cyan/magenta or red/green more fugly?

[Xane_MM]

Membrain said:

...Really, it's not much different from hearing stock sounds that Doom uses in popular media. Doctor Who, Modern Marvels, and tons of smaller low-budget stuff all use the same sound libraries. I find it funny more than anything.

Good point about stock stuff. It is the same. I sometimes wonder if what I'm hearing in games is stock, but sometimes, that's obvious, like you said with Doom.

kristus said:

I wonder if it is that avatar which is making the user create threads about arbitrary reasons to get upset about trivial crap.

I don't think it's the green cacodemon, but you ever know; I just don't really like when the default soundfont on Windows is heard in video games that aren't just using normal MIDI and could've used different samples.

Maes said:

UP NEXT: annoying DOS games that used the default VGA palette

< random >This reminds me of MegaZeux where many games made with it don't change the default palette. < /random>

[DoomUK]

kristus said:

I wonder if it is that avatar which is making the user create threads about arbitrary reasons to get upset about trivial crap.

I think you're onto something here. The green cacodemon is some sort of a curse.