I have no experience with soundfont merging, but I can highly recommend Patch93's SC-55 soundfont. It sounds the closest to the real thing to me. Here's a sample.

You will also need SF Pack to convert it to .sf2 format.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-06-19, 14:35:

I have no experience with soundfont merging, but I can highly recommend Patch93's SC-55 soundfont. It sounds the closest to the real thing to me. Here's a sample.

You will also need SF Pack to convert it to .sf2 format.

That is one I found in the past, but never tried because of the stupid sfpack format. There is only the windows binary to convert it, and trying to start SFPACK.EXE in Wine, just throws a page fault.

_Rob wrote on 2020-06-19, 15:29:

That is one I found in the past, but never tried because of the stupid sfpack format. There is only the windows binary to convert it, and trying to start SFPACK.EXE in Wine, just throws a page fault.

I think I once managed to unpack it in VirtualBox running WinXP+SP3.

I always keep one of those handy since I'm mostly running CentOS on my main rig nowadays.

Managed to get it converted and noticed quite a few issues during the dune 2 intro, where the sounds are just wrong compared to a SC-88Pro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiaoxTph0QU&t=349s

-The part with the two harvesters, where one gets picked up and the other settles down
-The part with the armies arriving, when the transport craft lands
-The part with rocket launchers (sounds like a telephone sound instead of the woosh)

_Rob wrote on 2020-06-19, 16:29:

Managed to get it converted and noticed quite a few issues during the dune 2 intro, where the sounds are just wrong compared to a SC-88Pro

From what I understand, the SC-88 doesn't quite sound the same as a SC-55. It does have a SC-55 mode, but even so, some minor differences remain.

Granted, it could very well be that the differences in your example come from the soundfont, as the author states that he couldn't perfectly implement all the instruments. But to be sure, you should compare apples to apples i.e. soundfont vs. real SC-55. Like this:

Doom E1M1 with Patch93's SC-55 soundfont

vs.

Doom E1M1 on a real SC-55

The differences may be more pronounced in other games, but in Doom and Duke3D, Patch93's soundfont sounds reasonably close to the real thing to me.

Also tried this SSC1 (Should be SSC-I...) soundfont from here: http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=500

-The part with the two harvesters, where one gets picked up and the other settles down - sound missing
-The part with the armies arriving, when the transport craft lands - not perfect, but better than Patch 93's SC-55 soundfont.
-The part with rocket launchers - sounds a little more like rockets

If anyone wants to try Patch93's SC-55 soundfont and not having to worry about converting it to sf2, you can now get it from here: https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/1228

Tried Emporor Grieferus's SC-55 soundfont (Roland SC-55 v3.7.sf2), available here: https://archive.org/details/SC55EmperorGrieferus

As already warned on the download link, it seems fine for General Midi, but lacks the GS extensions. So the sound effects in the intro of Dune II are all wrong.

Comparing real Roland SC-55 to SC-88Pro
SC-55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK5TwFaKA2M
SC-88Pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiaoxTph0QU&t=349s

- Westwood splash screen, the sound is sustained longer on the SC-88pro
- Generally the sounds seem a bit "richer" on the SC-88pro

All in all, minimal differences. All the sound effects used in the intro are present on both, and seem pretty similar.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-06-19, 16:44:

_Rob wrote on 2020-06-19, 16:29:

Managed to get it converted and noticed quite a few issues during the dune 2 intro, where the sounds are just wrong compared to a SC-88Pro

From what I understand, the SC-88 doesn't quite sound the same as a SC-55. It does have a SC-55 mode, but even so, some minor differences remain.

Granted, it could very well be that the differences in your example come from the soundfont, as the author states that he couldn't perfectly implement all the instruments. But to be sure, you should compare apples to apples i.e. soundfont vs. real SC-55.

Th problem is Patch93's SC-55 soundfont contains only the so called capital tones (meaning no variation tones, only bank 0 is implemented). So it's not GS compatible at all, it can only be used by titles using only GM instruments.
You could try my Reality GMGS falcomod (version 1.2) soundfont that does not try to mimic Sound Canvas but contains GS compatible variation banks:
http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#midiplayer

Falcosoft wrote on 2020-06-21, 08:56:

Th problem is Patch93's SC-55 soundfont contains only the so called capital tones (meaning no variation tones, only bank 0 is implemented). So it's not GS compatible at all, it can only be used by titles using only GM instruments.
You could try my Reality GMGS falcomod (version 1.2) soundfont that does not try to mimic Sound Canvas but contains GS compatible variation banks:
http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#midiplayer

Thanks for the pointer! Not bad, most of it sounds pretty good actually. This is probably the best soundfont for GS games I have come across so far.

The only thing that really stood out was the rocket launchers, where instead of a "woosh" it sounded more like an animal barking.

Falcosoft wrote on 2020-06-21, 08:56:

Th problem is Patch93's SC-55 soundfont contains only the so called capital tones (meaning no variation tones, only bank 0 is implemented). So it's not GS compatible at all, it can only be used by titles using only GM instruments.

Thanks for the clarification!

Am I correct in assuming that if you run setup.exe of a game and choose "Roland Sound Canvas" as a music device, the game will try to use GS. But if you choose "General MIDI" instead, the game will only use GM. Or is there some other factor that needs to be taken into account?

Also, I just noticed that Dune 2 only offers Sound Canvas but not General MIDI in its setup. While Doom, for example, offers both.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-06-21, 11:02:

Thanks for the clarification! […]
Show full quote

Falcosoft wrote on 2020-06-21, 08:56:

Th problem is Patch93's SC-55 soundfont contains only the so called capital tones (meaning no variation tones, only bank 0 is implemented). So it's not GS compatible at all, it can only be used by titles using only GM instruments.

Thanks for the clarification!

Am I correct in assuming that if you run setup.exe of a game and choose "Roland Sound Canvas" as a music device, the game will try to use GS. But if you choose "General MIDI" instead, the game will only use GM. Or is there some other factor that needs to be taken into account?

Also, I just noticed that Dune 2 only offers Sound Canvas but not General MIDI in its setup. While Doom, for example, offers both.

Dune 2 does not have a General MIDI option. You can select either MT-32 or Sound Canvas for MIDI options. And Sound Canvas means it will use GS.

It all depends on the game, generally speaking for games is this era, if it supports MT-32 it will also have General MIDI. Dune 2 is a bit strange in this regard, where it has Sound Canvas instead, which means something like a Roland SC-55, SC-88 or SCC-I.

_Rob wrote on 2020-06-21, 13:45:

Dune 2 does not have a General MIDI option. You can select either MT-32 or Sound Canvas for MIDI options. And Sound Canvas means it will use GS.

Yeah, I didn't play Dune2 much back in the day so I never noticed the lack of General MIDI until now. If selecting Sound Canvas in setup expects GS, then anything that's not GS compatible will of course produce suboptimal results.

That said, I just loaded up CT4MGM.SF2 tried Dune2 with that and the intro sounded much nicer than with Patch93's. For reference, this the default sound font which Creative shipped on the Audigy2 ZS install CD. It's doesn't try to imitate a SC-55, but it does seem to support GS. If you want to try it, you can find that soundfont on the driver CD under \Audio\Common\SFBank\CT4MGM.SF2. It's only 4MB in size though, so I gather Falcosoft's soundfont will still be better.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-06-21, 11:02:

Thanks for the clarification! […]
Show full quote

Falcosoft wrote on 2020-06-21, 08:56:

Th problem is Patch93's SC-55 soundfont contains only the so called capital tones (meaning no variation tones, only bank 0 is implemented). So it's not GS compatible at all, it can only be used by titles using only GM instruments.

Thanks for the clarification!

Am I correct in assuming that if you run setup.exe of a game and choose "Roland Sound Canvas" as a music device, the game will try to use GS. But if you choose "General MIDI" instead, the game will only use GM. Or is there some other factor that needs to be taken into account?

Also, I just noticed that Dune 2 only offers Sound Canvas but not General MIDI in its setup. While Doom, for example, offers both.

Dune 2 is special in the sense that it supports Sound Canvas not only as a music device but also as an effect device. For 99% of games even if they list Sound Canvas as possible music device usually it simply means GM. Even in case of Dune 2 if you select Sound Canvas as music device a GM only soundfont produce satisfactory result. The problem is when you select SC as an effect device and your soundfont is only GM compatible (so it misses special effects such as Machine Gun, Explosion, Door etc). If you select SC as effect device the game sends special GS effects to Channel 16. If you select Sound Blaster for effect it uses digital samples instead. (It's a little bit confusing that digital samples is a 3rd category in setup and refers mainly to digitally sampled speech.)

Falcosoft wrote on 2020-06-21, 15:59:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-06-21, 11:02:

Thanks for the clarification! […]
Show full quote

Falcosoft wrote on 2020-06-21, 08:56:

Th problem is Patch93's SC-55 soundfont contains only the so called capital tones (meaning no variation tones, only bank 0 is implemented). So it's not GS compatible at all, it can only be used by titles using only GM instruments.

Thanks for the clarification!

Am I correct in assuming that if you run setup.exe of a game and choose "Roland Sound Canvas" as a music device, the game will try to use GS. But if you choose "General MIDI" instead, the game will only use GM. Or is there some other factor that needs to be taken into account?

Also, I just noticed that Dune 2 only offers Sound Canvas but not General MIDI in its setup. While Doom, for example, offers both.

Dune 2 is special in the sense that it supports Sound Canvas not only as a music device but also as an effect device. For 99% of games even if they list Sound Canvas as possible music device usually it simply means GM. Even in case of Dune 2 if you select Sound Canvas as music device a GM only soundfont produce satisfactory result. The problem is when you select SC as an effect device and your soundfont is only GM compatible (so it misses special effects such as Machine Gun, Explosion, Door etc). If you select SC as effect device the game sends special GS effects to Channel 16. If you select Sound Blaster for effect it uses digital samples instead. (It's a little bit confusing that digital samples is a 3rd category in setup and refers mainly to digitally sampled speech.)

That actually depends on the version of Dune 2, or the setup.exe version it seems. The version I had originally was more limited in options, but after installing a newer setup.exe I can now select all 3 individual. Meaning I now also get speech in combination with either Sound Canvas or MT-32.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Dune_II:_Th … ng_of_a_Dynasty

Anyway I have merged FluidR3_GM + FluidR3_GS to FluidR3_GM_GS.SF2. You can download it here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aDjSB … bL9?usp=sharing

Falcosoft wrote on 2020-06-21, 20:37:

Anyway I have merged FluidR3_GM + FluidR3_GS to FluidR3_GM_GS.SF2. You can download it here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aDjSB … bL9?usp=sharing

Thanks! I just gave it a try, and it worked perfectly. All the GS sound effects in Dune 2 worked great.