It's really just a matter of taste. Yamaha has way stronger drums for the most part, so it may fit some tracks more than others...

For me, Duke3D only sounds 100% right on Roland 😀

Some games sound better with the Roland, some games sound better on Yamaha, some on MT-32, some on GUS, some on AWE, some on AdLib... And that's not even to speak to personal preference.

It varies hugely from game to game, and from person to person.

Sorry that was a bit of a non-answer, but it's true!

Ermm...what music files were teseted with? Games music or other MIDI files?

Games using MIDI generally sound good with Roland, since most games following the advent of GM standard generally have full support for Sound Canvas. Most games were written using Roland Modules.

Games supporting Yamaha XG standards are far less in number, but some music pieces do sound better with Yamaha, maybe due to certain pronounced certain instrument expressions, mostly due to the percussion sets.

On the other hand, wouldn't it be odd if a game's MIDI was written with the help of a Yamaha module, but the sound setup doesn't have an option to support it? (Which means most of the games.)

Some will swear by Yamaha's music when it comes to playing General MIDI files. MIDI files written with GS implementation in mind, will generally sound better with a Sound Canvas.

Unfortunately, as the MT-32 predates GM, I'm only able to listen to game tracks which utilize it directly. I haven't done much testing with it but Monkey Island sounds great with the MT-32. 😀

d1stortion wrote:

For me, Duke3D only sounds 100% right on Roland 😀

are you sure? 😉

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MpnZlOJIqw

robertmo wrote:

d1stortion wrote:

For me, Duke3D only sounds 100% right on Roland 😀

are you sure? 😉

What are you trying to say with that? Actually the AWE sounds really good here (which is a pretty rare sight when taking things like Doom into account where it totally blows), Yamaha too, but only Roland has that "original" feel to it in this game.

When I connect the my Roland SC-55 MKII to the AV receiver with surrounded speakers (around the room), and while playing DOOM and Heretic, the whole environment becomes studio-like, with life-like cymbals and drums, etc. It looks as though I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. 😉

Now if this was a professional musicians forum somebody would explain to you how these old romplers are outdated junk, but fortunately it's not 🤣

I had both and I must admit, at least in Duke3D I liked yamaha more. As a rule of thumb, if the game music is 'rock-style' or something dynamic with lots of drums and similar - it may sound better on yamaha. Everything else (like soft background music of RPG games, or Settlers and virtually all MT32 variants) may sound better on Roland.

Then again - it may not: in the end, its up to you! 😎

d1stortion compare my enclosed file on xg (actually xg100 if you can) and sc 😀

I already did that many more times than I like to acknowledge 😉 the Yamaha drums in this track are simply too dominant for my taste and frankly this soundtrack was composed for the SC-55...

btw, slightly off topic, but PS and especially Saturn Duke3D music is totally underrated 😀

Not entirely related to the SC-55 and GM music but the Yamaha XG cards have a GS-compatible mode and a way to 'emulate' a Roland MT32. You can enable it by sending the GS System On sysex command, then changing the bank to MSB=7F, LSB=00, then disabling bank select on all channels. Now really this doesn't sound like an MT-32 at all, but I can't say it sounds bad either. At least it enables you to play a few games with GS music with only a DB60XG.

Maybe you've all heard this already but I'll post it again anyway:
https://soundcloud.com/oplawaai3/monkey1-intro-db60xg
https://soundcloud.com/oplawaai3/lotus-the-ul … imate-challenge

Hmmm IMO that Monkey Island on the Yamaha sounds weird...

For me, I had a Sound Canvas in the 90s, so only a Roland gives me that nostalgic feeling. Everything else simply sounds a bit "off".

The best way to play Monkey Island on a Yamaha daughterboard is to use Scummvm . It sounds great that way. If you play it on DOS, it sounds weird, indeed.

I think you can waste your life on these comparisons, but I agree that some things sound better on yamaha and some on roland. 😁

Kahenraz wrote:

I also bought a SC-7 just for kicks. It's almost comical to listen to after hearing what a real synth should sound like.

Never really understood whether an sc7/scb7/scd10 should sound different from an sc55/scd15/scc1 for games as I saw somewhere that games would not have used the extra sounds/tones available on the 55 anyway. 😕

Doom on the MT32 makes a refreshing change 😉