TheUltimateDoomer666

The IBM floppy releases are DOS-only. Also, some CD releases of The Ultimate DOOM/DOOM II are DOS-only, and some standalone releases of DOOM II, as well as the DOOM - Collector's Edition compilation by Activision, are Windows-only. All Final DOOM PC releases, and some Ultimate DOOM/DOOM II releases (including The Depths of DOOM Trilogy), contain both DOS and Windows versions. Macintosh versions of The Ultimate DOOM/DOOM II had both floppy and CD releases. The Macintosh version of Final DOOM, as with the PC version, was CD-only. There was also a RiscPC version of The Depths of DOOM Trilogy, which contained both CDs and orange floppy disks.

Yes, this is a good idea, especially since some MIDIs may continue to be tweaked until the project is near release. With the ".MID the way id did" project for example, Bucket made some last-minute changes to their MIDIs that didn't end up in the initial /idgames or YouTube uploads.

Note that some of the MIDIs in the WAD(s) may still need to be replaced with the most recent versions. For example, the E2M2 in the ultimidi WAD is an older revision (it will probably be easier to compile the latest versions of everyone's MIDIs into the WADs all at once when the project is finished). I noticed a looping issue with this track in-game. The first time the track plays, there is a choir-type instrument (FX 7 [echoes]) present throughout most of the track. After the track loops, the Echo instrument disappears. Tested in GZDoom with Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. As for my MIDIs, while I am still open to feedback for all of them, my E2M2 submission is the one that I've been making the most edits to. Specifically, I'm having trouble getting the transitions at measures 28 and 52 to sound good. My most recent update to the MIDI is in the midis folder in the ZIP.

I listened to all the tracks. While writing over 10 MIDIs in just a few days is impressive, I think some quality has unfortunately been sacrificed. Here is some feedback: The tracks are kind of bare-bones; there are often very few instruments playing. You can improve the MIDIs in this regard by adding additional instrument layers. You can also try individually panning the notes in chords like Bobby Prince did. For example, you could have a rhythm guitar playing 3-note power chords where each note of the chord has its own panning (low notes center, middle notes right, and high notes left). The notes feel "random". The tracks don't seem to have cohesive themes or melodies, and notes frequently go off-key and clash with each other. I think it would be beneficial to study how keys and chords work in music, as this can help you to learn how to write catchy melodies and chord progressions.

CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth makes the volume jumps rather extreme. The effect is much more subtle with Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. If the MIDI is intended to be balanced solely for the MS Synth, then you probably don't need to edit the MIDI.

I don't know if it's intentional, but some of the guitar and bass notes (some Gs and A#s) in the riff at 1:17 and again at 2:44 are duplicated; this results in sudden jumps in volume in certain players/synths. If the intent was to emphasize those notes, then increasing the notes' velocities is a simpler way to do that.

I listened to my MIDIs with this SoundFont. It sounds pretty good, aside from some very minor issues. For example, the Overdriven Guitar fades out over time, which I don't think is the instrument's intended behavior (slightly noticeable on the long guitar notes in my E2M2 MIDI). The final lead guitar note in that MIDI is intended to fade out regardless; I programmed it that way. I also tried the recent SC-55 SoundFont created from a ROM dump, but that one is still a work-in-progress and has more noticeable issues. For example, FX 7's (echoes) notes are not mapped correctly, so the Echoes line at 2:02 in E2M2 gets messed up. Lastly, and this is just personal preference, but I prefer the MS Synth's Echoes over the other SC-55 synths' versions. In MS Synth, the Echoes are a synthy choir aah sound with a sharp attack and quick decay (like a pluck) and a lot of built-in reverb. VSC-MP1's Echoes are similar, although they lack the pluck-like attack (the notes stay at full volume throughout) and the reverb can get a bit muddy. Those versions of the Echoes are very different from the "original" SC-55 ones, which sound more like singing aliens. If real Sound Canvas recordings do get made, then I think it would be best to do them with an SC-88 in SC-55 mode. Although I have tweaked some notes in my tracks in an attempt to reduce dropouts, I don't think I can get the polyphony peaks down to the SC-55's 24 or SC-55mkII's 28 without outright deleting notes.

Is there an official source for this? Impossible Music Wiki says the limit was increased to 64 in Windows XP. I did notice some notes were cutting out in my E3M6 track. Nudging some of the notes slightly forwards/backwards seemed to fix it.

Note that there are some differences between the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth and Roland SC-55 synths, so MIDIs written specifically for MS Synth will not necessarily sound good on a real SC-55. Some more detailed information on how these differences can cause problems with MIDI playback:

Here are others' answers to similar questions: Step-by-step summary: Make a 2-measure (2-bar) melody. Copy-paste the melody. Copy-paste the melody but this time transpose it upwards by 5 semitones. Copy-paste the melody. Copy-paste the melody but this time transpose the first half of it upwards by 7 semitones and the second half of it upwards by 5 semitones. Copy-paste the melody. You should have 12 measures of music. Copy-paste the entire thing so you have 24 measures in total. Copy-paste the first 12 measures over the next 12 measures but this time transpose the new notes upwards by 4 semitones. Do not bother correcting the notes to fit the song's chords. Add drums, bass, and accompaniment instruments. Try inserting breaks every 12 measures. To make a longer song, just keep copy-pasting everything while changing the instruments used for each repeat. Here's a visual example of how one might begin writing a Bobby Prince-style MIDI: Check the Twelve-bar blues Wikipedia article for examples of variations you can use.

Windows XP does indeed come with the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth (I used to use Windows XP). Scc1t2.sf2 actually has several conversion issues (e.g., 63 samples in the SoundFont are unused). RLNDGM.sf2 is supposedly a cleaned up version.

Both DOOM II and The Ultimate DOOM were distributed in retail by GT Interactive Software, which later became Atari, Inc.

If possible, I would like to claim E2M2: Containment Area and E3M8: Dis as my last slots (I'll leave the high priority slots to others as I already claimed 4 slots earlier in the project). I'm still working on E4M8; I'll try to finish it as soon as possible and post it on or before May 4th. I already have ideas for E2M2 (something electronic and moody) and E3M8 (something heavy and aggressive with perhaps some synthy stuff), so writing them should not take as long.

@Traveler of the Bizarre The output resolutions of the major SC-55 devices are as follows: SC-55: 16-bit, 32,000 Hz SC-55mkII: 18-bit, 32,000 Hz SC-55ST: 16-bit, 32,000 Hz SCC-1: 16-bit, 44,100 Hz Notice how the sound card version of the SC-55, the SCC-1, actually has a higher output frequency than the module versions. As far as I know, there are no SoundFonts that use samples ripped directly from the SCC-1's ROM, so the latter two SoundFonts you mention have likely "made up" 44,100 Hz samples via manual recording from an SC-55 module (which results in a waste of space as the source is only 32,000 Hz). All these bit depth and sample rate differences mean there is no one way to make an "accurate" SC-55 SoundFont. This post says that Bobby Prince used an SC-55mkI (not mkII) to write the DOOM soundtrack. In that case, an SC-55 SoundFont for DOOM should ideally be replicating the 16-bit, 32,000 Hz quality of the original SC-55. However, such a SoundFont would theoretically be inferior to one based on the SC-55mkII, or one based on the SCC-1. So, when making an SC-55 SoundFont, do you go for authenticity (for use with DOOM and other games) or higher quality (for general usage)? Because SoundFonts are simply collections of samples that require an external MIDI synthesizer (e.g., CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth). The SC-55 on the other hand is a collection of samples (the ROM) and synthesizer (the actual hardware). So not only do you need to extract the module's samples, you also need to emulate the way the synthesizer itself works. On top of that, the SoundFont format itself has limitations that make it impossible to store some of the SC-55's sample data. For example, the SoundFont format does not have enough envelope periods. There is more detailed information here and here. The SoundFont format is kind of outdated in that regard, and although it is a popular format, its limitations and missing features are one reason why SoundFonts are inferior to hardware MIDI synthesizers.

I would like to claim E3M6: Mt. Erebus and E4M8: Unto the Cruel.

So basically the new MIDI must only use instruments that are used in the MIDI it is replacing? What do you mean by using the same drums? All MIDIs in DOOM use the Standard Kit (i.e., GS/XG kits are not used), which should be counted as a single (multi-piece) instrument.

Note that the mail-order release went through several revisions. Here is a video someone made:

I think allowing 2 weeks to show a track (either complete or WIP) and then another 2 weeks (or more if needed) if the track is WIP is fine. Since this seems to be going slowly, I would like to claim D_INTER (Intermission).

Oddly that particular MIDI crashes my sequencer.

Doomkid did say that remixes could be accepted in addition to original tracks. Note that MAP07's new track is also a partial remix of the level's stock track.

With the exception of certain countries outside of the US, such as Australia which got a retail big box release for the registered (3-episode) version of the game.

Some of the notes are layered/duplicated. For example, there are notes on channel 2 of "track 3 boss.mid" that overlap in both pitch and duration. This has the effect of causing the volume of the channel to go up and down (duplicated notes increase the volume of the channel), at least in the sequencer I use.

Here are 5 MIDIs that I previously posted on this forum. However, these were written in 2014 and I have improved since then, so these may feel rather simple. And below are links to some of my other music in MP3 format that I have previously posted online. Although these are not pure MIDI, I often write songs in MIDI before rewriting them in a DAW or tracker (note that these MP3s are not free to use).

I would like to claim the E1M8 slot.

I think DOOM's OPL instruments are above average in quality when compared to other games' OPL instruments. Games that used the Miles Sound System for example just used a more generic-sounding stock OPL bank. And in games with music that was made specifically for OPL, such as Duke Nukem II, Bio Menace, and Blake Stone, the drums are extremely weak.