MIDI in DosBox -- SoundMAX? \ VOGONS

MIDI in DosBox -- SoundMAX?

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First post, by quickpost2

Posted on 2005-12-24, 17:12

quickpost2 Offline

Hi guys, stupid here question here:

When I run DOSBox to play old Sierra games, the MIDI music I hear sounds exactly like it would if I were playing with an old machine. Very nice.

When I listen to MIDIs from Sierra games off of Quest Studios, the music sounds much better, probably because it goes through the SoundMAX driver on my computer. The music is the same but the instruments are just way better.

Is it possible in any way to make the MIDI music in DOSBox run through the SoundMAX driver? It would enhance the games somewhat.

I really don't understand how the MIDI emulation works at all, so if what I'm saying makes no sense I'm probably confused.

Thanks in advance!

Reply 1 of 3, by gulikoza

Posted on 2005-12-24, 21:09

gulikoza Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1705
Joined: 2004-06-25, 14:53

You probably set the game to use adlib emulation. Run the setup program from your game and set it to use General Midi. The music should then play through your SoundMAX card.

Reply 2 of 3, by Guest

Posted on 2005-12-26, 12:47

Guest Offline

Not all games supported Roland/MT32/General MIDI. Earlier games only had FM. You can make them sound a bit better by using the Generic reverb if you want.

Reply 3 of 3, by red_avatar

Posted on 2005-12-26, 17:01

red_avatar Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1444
Joined: 2004-04-12, 13:24

Well from what I know recent soundcards have their own MIDI "soundfont" which hosts realistic instruments, which didn't exist on soundblaster cards back in the early 90s.

One thing that really bugged me was how badly MIDI and adlib in general was affected by PCI soundcards. My old SB16 ISA played MIDi correctly, but the SB Live! legacy drivers really raped the music which is when I started giving up on a lot of old games. DOSBOX somehow manages to play back the ORIGINAl way the music is supposed to sound.

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