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which sound card setting to use (Roland MT32 or GS or SB16)?

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First post, by dta

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I'm trying out the old Might & Magic series games (specifically MM3, MM4 & MM5). Also tryiing out Ultima series and Ultima Underworld series games on DOSBox v0.65 (currently I'm testing with ykhwong's version as it displays more info on the DOSBox title bar)

I notice the sound installation options for the M&M include Sound Blaster Pro/16, Roland LAPC/MT-32 and Roland/GS.

The SBPro/16 midi/music will sound ok. I tried out the Roland/MT-32 option just to hear how it sounds. The music now sounds a bit different. Then I also tried the game to select Roland/GS and this time the music sounds different than the MT-32 too.

Which music option is supposed to sound better (or has better emulation)? It seems that MT-32, some music or sounds do not exactly sound as "correct". The GS seems to sound better, still not as "correct-sounding" as SB music, but at least closer to what the music is supposed to sound. (The SBPro sounds the "correct" way as the game was designed to sound, but of course the music doesn't sound as nice as GS). Is my observation right? The GS is supposed to be the best sounding (unless you have a *real* MT-32 sound card hooked up)

In Ultima series (specifically Underworlds 1 & 2), there's no option to output sound in Roland/GS. It only has Roland MT-32. And same observation, while the music seems to sound nicer, it doesn't seem to sound exactly "correct".

* clarification of what I meant by "sounding correct" -- it seems that when selected the MT-32 (and the GS to a lesser extent), some parts of the music seem to be sounded by the wrong choice of music instrument?

~~~~~

Also, I haven't tried downloading older shareware games that natively supports AWE32. I recall some old Epic shareware games I tried natively support AWE32 and they sound a LOT better than just SB16. Is there some way for DOSBox sounds as nice (or nearly) as on an AWE32? (I have an SB AWE64 and used to play those old DOS games which sound quite good on the AWE64 when using the native AWE32 sound option)

(Can't recall those old games that natively support AWE32, but maybe Raptor:Call of the Shadows is one, and maybe Doom, Heretic, Rise of the Triad?)

Reply 1 of 6, by Dominus

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I don't quite get it. Selecting Roland/MT-32 or similar without the appropiate hardware connewcted to the Computer will not sound correctly. Even if you have a special built of Dosbox with the MT-32 emu and the ROM it supposedly doesn't yet sound 100% the same. Without having the hardware or the ROM music will play through your system's midi player when you select Roland/MT-32 and this is never going to be correct.

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
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DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 2 of 6, by dta

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(note that all I'm mentioning is runing under the DOSBox 0.65 revision as modified by ykhwong)

Ok... no wonder the sounds (some sound effects) sound a bit "weird" when selecting MT-32, although the music might have played better than when I just select the Sound Blaster...) How about the GS? Is there not some way of mapping the General MIDI in WinXP's sound to the DOSBox' Roland GS support (is the GS emulated under DOSBox)?

Reply 3 of 6, by Dominus

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I *think* that if you choose an MT32 and you don'T actually have one, it is routed through your default windows midi player. Just beware that it will sound like crap compared to a real MT-32.

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 4 of 6, by ShinSan

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For the might and magic games, I found Sound Blaster 16 to be the best. It doesn't have to do with the music as much as it has to do with sound effects. The music was better set to General MIDI but I couldn't stand my attacks sounding like telephone rings and other awkward effects. It looks like those were designed for the actual Roland Sound Canvas.

That's where the the Sound Blaster effects were better since OPL chips were pretty standardized. If you have an MT-32 module, it'll probably sound better on that, otherwise, just try it out. Some PCI Sound Blasters (the actual card, not the one DOSBOX emulates) have GS soundfonts. It's been a while since I bought a card from Creative due to hearing about their drivers, so I can't say anything about any cards beyond the AWE-32.

For a few of the games (Might and Magic 3 especially), you'll need to disable the mixer in the DOSBOX configuration, otherwise the sound will be really soft.

Reply 5 of 6, by dta

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I'm using a SoundBlaster Audigy 1 and have the 4MB GM-GS-MT SoundFonts loaded on the MIDI banks, but still it sounds like the "telephone rings" and other awkward sounds if I select the Roland sound card.

I guess I'll just stick to SB Pro/16 for music and sound effects.

Reply 6 of 6, by trebor

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Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> left click on 'Sounds and Audio Devices' -> Under the 'Sound and Audio Devices Properties' Window that appears click the 'Audio' tab.

Under 'MIDI music playback' section try the different selections there. The Default device selection I have (Audigy Gamer) includes:

SB Audigy Sw Synth [DCE0]
SB Audigy Synth A [DCE0]
SB Audigy Synth B [DCE0]
SB Audigy MIDI IO [DCE0]
Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth

I believe the default is either Synth A or Synth B. Nonetheless, I choose SB Audigy Sw Synth [DCE0], as it mimics perfectly what I "use to hear".

-Trebor

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