How do I know what version is installed in my system? Control panel doesn't show it, the configuration tool don't have any "about" window and the version information in the DLLs is not equal to the version stated in the download link (I've downloaded 3.01 and it shows bass.dll=2.4.9.0, bassmidi.dll=2.4.7.0 and bassmididrv.dll and bassmididrvcfg.exe don't show any version information).

Also, for some strange reason, I've got no sound after updating to 3.0.1. I've made some checks, and it shows:
- Van Basco Karaoke Player 2.53 does detect bassmidi. It only sounds with Microsoft synth.
- DOSBox 0.74 does list bassmidi with mixer /listmidi (id 0). No MIDI sound.
- DXDiag don't show any MIDI synth (should?).
- ScummVM 1.4.0 don't show bassmidi in the MIDI devices list. I know that I should be using MT-32 emulation, or built-in fluidsynth DLLs, or 1.5.0.
- Device Manager don't show any MIDI driver (should?). Also, it doesn't show in "Sound" in Control Panel.

My system is a Windows 7 64 Enterprise, with an Asus Xonar DX sound card. I'm using the SGM 2.01 soundfont (but I've tried with 1MGM and Weeds soundfonts), volume is set up with sinc interpolation (also tested without sinc) and the default MIDI device is bassmidi.

Is there any way to know if soundfont is really loaded? How can I solve this?

NOTE: It seems that every time bassmididrvcfg is opened, volume is zeroed... where is configuration stored?

the amount of stupid in the above post is worth atleast a quadruple facepalm.

Either disable GX mode, or wait for one of us to add a switch to disable floating point output mode.

(PS. Xonar drivers suck.)

@kode54: Thanks, it worked after disabling GX mode.

Squall Leonhart: You've been so helpful that I'm willing to erect a monument for you.

sinc button fixed, was a typo. Redownload and reinstall.

download page always shows the current version of the driver, don't believe the version numbers of BASS/BASSMIDI itself.

doomer wrote:

I am also curious if those recordings had the reverb manually turned up on the actual SC-55 unit since it has been confirmed that some games simply do not transmit the reverb commands.

Actually, the WAD based games do indeed transmit the MIDI reverb controller (MIDI controller #91). But... NONE of those games' music include that controller embeded/sequenced into their "MUS" files.

@All,

BTW, in case y'all didn't know, the later versions of the BASSMIDI Driver (3.x and higher) all have the super low latency that could be seen in version 1.06 of the driver.

In other words, perfect for realtime performance and sequencing 😀

Bah, I misinterpreted the GX mode button. It does seem to interfere with floating point output through DirectSound. I've implemented my own sound output code based on XAudio2. That failing, it will attempt to open DirectSound with floating point, or otherwise fall back on 16 bit integer format.

The update should be available as soon as mudlord pulls the latest source and packages up an installer.

Has anyone tried it with ykhwong's DOSBox?
http://ykhwong.x-y.net/

It just freezes DOSBox when it is the MIDI driver.

Not here, using Windows 7, DOSBox Daum and BASSMIDI Driver up to date as of this posting.

Shoot. Might be time to reformat.

franpa wrote:

I get lots of distortion with some soundfonts rendering any advantages of this product moot.

This is fixed now, there was supposedly multiple versions using different output methods and some just hated Windows XP or whatever I was using at the time.

It's no longer an issue now and is crystal clear audio. I just thought I'd report back even if it has been eons since I last posted here

Do you guys think this would make a big difference with a Realtek ALC888 onboard chip? I just busted out the GZDoom the other day and couldn't help but wonder if my MIDI was up to par.

Yes. ALC888 has no midi synthesis, so it just falls back to Microsoft Synthesizer.

Is BASSMIDI still the preferred method? I'm running Windows 7 64-bit. For GZDoom, I temporarily loaded the SC-55.sf2 with FluidSynth.

edit: I went ahead and setup BASSMIDI and all I gotta say is O-M-G !!

What would be the best MIDI player I can get for playback on Windows 7? Just in case I want to jam out to some MIDI!

simbin wrote:

edit: I went ahead and setup BASSMIDI and all I gotta say is O-M-G !!

I've always said, it's as close to an SBLive/AWE32/Audigy with SoundFonts as you'll get 😀

[shameless plug]

Check out my own custom Soundont -> http://www.richnagel.net/#soundfonts / http://www.simpilot.net/~richnagel/#soundfonts 😀

When I play Dune 2 intro (setup to Sound Canvas, no Sound Blaster) sound effects are not properly being played no matter what soundfont i choose.
I have tried all from here http://kode54.net/bassmididrv/BASSMIDI_Driver … nfiguration.htm
and some others.
"GM only" sound fonts are useless here of course. But I wonder why GS sound fonts don't sound properly. Some just have poor/short sound effects while others have some sound effects very silent or even muted. Is that a problem of BASSMIDI or of soundfonts?
Everything sounds properly with Roland Sound Canvas VST.

robertmo wrote:

When I play Dune 2 intro (setup to Sound Canvas, no Sound Blaster) sound effects are not properly being played no matter what soundfont i choose. "GM only" sound fonts are useless here of course. But I wonder why GS sound fonts don't sound properly. Some just have poor/short sound effects while others have some sound effects very silent or even muted. Is that a problem of BASSMIDI or of soundfonts? Everything sounds properly with Roland Sound Canvas VST.

Simply put, the available GS compatible SoundFonts don't have all of the necessary instruments/samples to play all of the true GS sound effects. I don't think that I've ever found a GS SoundFont that had them all.

Even the bog-standard WinDoZe software synthesizer (that uses the "GM.dls" sound bank... and although the filename is "GM", it *supposedly* includes a complete GS compatible instrument/sample mapping) doesn't have all of them.

P.S. If you're running the VST version of the Roland Virtual SoundCanvas (and I'm assuming, the standalone driver version as well), click the "Help" button in the main interface (that will load an HTML in your web browser, "Help\Index_Ew.htm").

Then click on the "Instrument List" link ("Help\Tone_E.htm"), and then the "GS Instrument List" link ("Help\Gstn.htm")...

...that's a complete list of all of the GS compatible instruments/samples and mapping.

If you have some sort of SoundFont creation/editing utility (such as Vienna Studo, or "Viena" Studio), you can open your SoundFont of choice, and see what mappings that it includes... I'm quite sure that you'll see a LOT that are missing (re: the HTML help mentioned above).

P.P.S. One thing (altough rather a PITA):

You could use DOSBox's built-in MIDI capture feature, run the Dune II intro, and then load the resulting MIDI file into a MIDI sequencer.

You could then browser through the MIDI events and see exactly what presets that the game is calling when the MIDI "sound effects" are being played.

Like this, one could remap one of the available GS SoundFonts to include all of the instrument presets that the SoundFont is missing, but like I said... a PITA.

I already know all that.

Dune 2 intro uses following sound effects:

bank 1
127 machine gun

bank 3
122 wind
124 door slam

bank 4
124 scratch
125 car crash

bank 5
122 bubble
124 wind chime

bank 7
125 jetplane

I only tried soundfonts that have all above effects with following results:

[SF2] Eternal Hydrogen II - 3MGMGS.sf2
frozen/stuck/looped? wind
too silent harvester1

GeneralUser GS SoftSynth v1.44.sf2
wrong rocket
too silent wind
btw there is a bug in this sf i had to fix:
Bank 4 Scratch should be ID 124 not 123

[SF2] GM SoundFonts [shared by ZSF] - Sound Canvas 1.0.sf2
poor rocket start
too silent harvester1

a340.sf2
poor rocket start
too silent harvester1

Roland SC-55 v1.1.sf2
poor rocket start
too silent harvester1

Emuaps.sf2
poor rocket start

FluidR3 GS.SF2
poor harvester stop, poor glasshit, poor many other

ChoriumRevA.SF2
too silent jet landing

GS sound set (16 bit).SF2
too silent harvester1 & harvester2

In all above cases when I say "too silent" it is almost always not heard at all.

I will just mention other soundfonts I checked to be complete:

Following soundfonts don't have above sfx at all as they are GM only so they just play wrong effects from bank 0 instead:
Gravis_Ultrasound_Classic_PachSet_v1.6.sf2
1mgm.sf2
OPL-3 FM 128M.sf2
Arachno SoundFont - Version 1.0.sf2
AweROMGM.sf2
Emuaps8.sf2
WeedsGM3.sf2

Following soundfonts have some but not all sfx used by dune2 intro so missing ones are played from bank 0:
[SF2] GM SoundFonts [shared by ZSF] - Titanic 200 GS 1.2.sf2
SGM-V2.01.sf2