TheUltimateDoomer666

That depends on what IRQ, DMA channel, and MIDI port the GUS is using. DOSBox uses these settings: gusrate=44100 gusbase=240 gusirq=5 gusdma=3

This is more Heretic related, but could also apply to Hexen as well: Heretic's soundtrack was composed for a Sound Blaster card, not a Roland Sound Canvas or Ensoniq TS-10 as previously thought. @MusicallyInspired To explain: Some of Heretic's tracks play more notes than what an SC-55 or even an SC-55mkII is capable of playing (E1M4, for example). The SC-55 and SC-55mkII have voices of 24 and 28, respectively, and both modules will suffer from note dropouts in Heretic (in the recordings I have heard, at least). These dropouts were noted by MusicallyInspired, and are noticeable in SC-55 YouTube recordings of the soundtrack. Kevin Schilder kindly shared some information about Heretic's polyphony. Here is my message and his reply: As for the Ensoniq TS-10, that's a professional workstation that was used to create the redbook audio soundtracks for Hexen II and Heretic II. Hexen II, like Hexen: Beyond Heretic, also features a MIDI soundtrack in addition to its redbook soundtrack. However, Hexen II's redbook audio does not use General MIDI-compatible instruments (i.e., the redbook tracks are not mere General MIDI recordings, but rather arrangements with their own dedicated workstation instrumentation). Now the only question left is, exactly which Sound Blaster model did Kevin Schilder use to compose the Heretic soundtrack? Well, I am going to assume it would not have been OPL2 or OPL3, because there was no "standard" set of General MIDI FM instruments for such cards (hence why DOOM, DOOM II, Raptor, etc. come with their own GENMIDI lumps). I also do not think it could have been a later soundfont-compatible Sound Blaster card, as all the Creative soundfonts I have--the standard 2 MB, 3.5MB, 4 MB, 8 MB, and 28 MB ones--have copyright dates starting from 1995. However, there is a card called the Sound Blaster AWE32 which Wikipedia states was introduced in March of 1994. According to the Doom Wiki, Heretic was released on December 23, 1994. The AWE32's General MIDI synthesizer apparently has 32-voice polyphony. Anyone have other ideas on what card Kevin likely had?

Huh, the GZDoom soundfont has some unused samples. I don't know if others care about my soundfont ramblings, but I'll babble about some stuff anyway: Edit: Spoilered all the technical GZDoom soundfont stuff because it's such a minor issue and unlikely to have an effect on MIDI playback in the vast majority of cases.

Guess I'll use the bump to link my soundfonts folder (minus the commercial stuff, of course). This will probably be helpful for some who are looking for some new soundfonts to try. Link to folder: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TbLOvr6GwqrxteWH8RD7Z7Q7t8q-vsIe Here's the readme file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K4zaFi_rYnAE7hEDnaz99MQW3WW1rYXP Now, as for recommendations, I'm just going to say that the vast majority of soundfonts are not going to sound "correct" in old games because the instrument balance is inevitably going to get thrown out of whack. You'd be surprised at the number of soundfonts that make no attempt to sound balanced or even usable for General MIDI playback. Even fewer are able to play some of DOOM's more unusual MIDI sections properly (the "DOOM" voice in the intro of DOOM II Map 5 and the marching sounds in DOOM II Map 31 are two effects that a lot of soundfonts and MIDI synthesizers screw up). Another problem that happens with certain soundfonts is when the Overdriven and Distortion Guitar presets use the same samples, so E1M1 ends up with pretty bad phasing (AWE32's 1 MB GM bank is guilty of this). However, there are a few that stand out for varying reasons: * 1mgm.sf2 - This is an SF2-compatible version of the classic AWE32 1 MB General MIDI synthesizer. * Voice Crystal 4 MB GM v4.1 by Eye & I Productions - This is a commercial soundfont made by the same company that made the original GUS patches. This soundfont is probably the closest to the Roland SC-55 in terms of balance and consistency, and is one of my favorites. However, I cannot share it because this one is a commercial product. * Arachno Soundfont v1.0 by Maxime Abbey - A popular free soundfont optimized for classic DOS games. Not perfectly well-balanced, but the instruments are very "big" and high quality. One of my favorite free soundfonts. * GeneralUser GS by S. Christian Collins - Another popular free soundfont. * sYnerGi GS - A formerly commercial, professional soundfont that has "Totally balanced instruments [so that] the bank will play all standard midi files without any problems with dynamics or otherwise." However, there are playback-breaking flaws (see my _readme.txt linked above). * Utopia Live! 2.0 - Another formerly commercial, professional soundfont. There are 4 versions: Default Stereo Panned Percussion (P), Light Edition (P LE), Pianos Enhanced (P PE), and SteroID Percussion (S). This soundfont "has a unique warm/ambient sound and a huge effort has been made to get it as close as possible to the 'balance' of the Roland SoundCanvas and thus ensure correct MIDI playback with nearly all types of music." I don't really like the electric guitars, though; I think they're too muddy. * SONIVOX 24 MB GS - Formerly commercial. This one would be nice if half the instruments weren't in the wrong octave. * SONIVOX 250 MB GS - Formerly commercial. Used to cost $99.99 at one point. Horrible balance, horrible drums, and horrible velocity layers. * Retro Synth and Industrial Dance by SONIVOX - Formerly commercial. They're supposed to be GM-compatible, but they just make MIDIs sound really, really weird. * Black Tyros GM Edition - Commercial, so I can't share it. Absolutely awful. Numerous issues make this one borderline unusable for MIDI playback.

How can it be 1/4 scale if it's only 19" tall?

It seems that no one has yet recorded an SC-55 music pack for Hexen. "Hexen" is however listed in the upcoming music packs on MusicallyInspired's website, so I assume recordings will be made at some point. Anyway, I think it is already known that Hexen's CD soundtrack does not contain all of the tracks (21 CD tracks vs 35 used of 37 MIDI tracks), but there are a number of oddities that make me wonder how such an SC-55 pack would be recorded for the most accuracy. Basically, I have been listening to Hexen's CD soundtrack and comparing it with the MIDI soundtrack played with Sound Canvas VA in SC-55 mode. So, below are some observations: * Roland SC-88 and later models (including SCVA, which emulates an SC-8820) have an SC-55 mode. However, the SC-55 mode in these later models does not sound exactly like the original SC-55; certain instruments such as the choir and strings sound different, as described below: - Native SC-55 has a cheesy, obviously fake choir sound, that sort of goes "awwh". Virtual Sound Canvas and Microsoft GS Wavetable synth, both of which contain very low quality versions of SC-55 samples, have a similar choir sound. The "awwh" choir is the one that is heard in the CD tracks. - The SC-55 mode of the SC-88 and later has a more realistic, human-like choir sound, particularly when playing lower notes. - The Swamp track is good for comparing the choir. In the CD recording, the choir is the unconvincing "awwh" (though it does sound kind of creepy, I guess). When the MIDI is played with VSCA in SC-55 mode, the low choir notes are male "ahhhs" (realistic, but they lack the "ghostliness" of the native SC-55 choir). This suggests that some original SC-55 model, and not an SC-88 or later, was used for the CD tracks' recordings. I do not know if an SC-55 is the synth that Kevin Schilder actually used while writing the MIDIs. * There are several differences between the CD's recordings and the game's actual MIDIs. While the SC-8820/SCVA's SC-55 mode is not 100% identical to native SC-55, the differences are clearly in the music tracks themselves: - In the intro theme's MIDI ("Hexen"), there is a soft choir lead--too quiet, as I can barely hear it. In the intro theme's CD track on the other hand, the choir is very loud--too loud in my opinion, as it overwhelms the other instruments. - Bones' MIDI key is different from the CD track's. - Orb's drums in the CD track are panned towards the left. The MIDI track's drums play centered. - The left and right channels in the CD tracks seem to be reversed. I'm not sure if the game's MIDIs or CD tracks are the "intended" sound of the music, or if Kevin Schilder simply re-balanced the MIDIs for the purpose of recording them.

Still composes MIDI music in 2018. Well, cheap as it may sound, I think the Sound Canvas series has a good variety of instruments. The recently released Russian Tyrus also has some relatively high-quality instruments.

The DOOM textures were likely placeholders that were not originally intended to end up in the final game, as the GAMEMAPS files for the version that contains them are dated a month before the Missions' official release date. In addition, the later version (which lacks the DOOM textures) also has a few other minor changes, some of which are obviously cosmetic map-related fixes. Interestingly, it is only the Activision/XPLOSIV release of Wolf3D that contains the Mission 3 version with DOOM textures. It seems they erroneously included earlier, pre-release Mission 3 files on the disc. The Spear of Destiny Super CD Pack, released way before the Activision/XPLOSIV compilation, correctly contains the final version of Mission 3.

Because you're a furry and you might disturb innocent passers-by. Why does this thread exist?

This is very sad news. I remember enjoying Dr. Sleep's maps on the Master Levels disc many years ago. R.I.P.

"Shadow Warrior 3D" was the game's working title.

Another short, loud Carpenter Brut-ish...thing (the previously posted one being "Quad Arena").

Blood...even though I've only played the shareware version (complete physical copies are a pain to find. Yes, I know GOG and Steam exist).

Plutonia Map 12: Speed. The track is way too short and repetitive, and gets annoying when used in any level that lasts more than a few seconds.

This is a budget retail release from a range that I like to refer to as the "FormGen jewel case series". I wrote more information about that here. These jewel cases were standalone re-releases, i.e. they did not come in big boxes. There are also two other CD releases of Spear of Destiny: There's one in a regular big box that contains only the base game (the disc is in a paper sleeve in the box, according to the OGDB site), and one in a two-piece box that contains the base game plus both accessory missions (the Super CD Pack).