Pretty much like you said. You can also look at the age of the game. Games such as Wing Commander or Space Quest III only support the MT-32, but newer games such as Strike Commander or Space Quest IV support both.

A few games specificity mention the Sound Canvas, but most games just refer to as General MIDI, some just as MPU401. For any of these options you can use the SC-88, however I encourage to test out various Sound Fonts also, it's quite fun but varies from game to game.

Does an SC-88 do GM with the same quality as an AWE64's default soundfont, or any better?
Oh and actually- for games with direct AWE32 support. Is that any better than the other options? I suppose I can just simply test but mreh why not ask the veterans.

A real SC88 (which I own) sounds quite a bit better than an AWE64. I recorded some samples a while ago and posted them on my web site:
http://www.zerker.ca/misc/synth/

Now that I have an AWE64, I'm planning to re-record some of the samples on that to get some contrast. Expect an update sometime tomorrow 😉

SRQ wrote:

Does an SC-88 do GM with the same quality as an AWE64's default soundfont, or any better?
Oh and actually- for games with direct AWE32 support. Is that any better than the other options? I suppose I can just simply test but mreh why not ask the veterans.

Almost no games had music for the AWE. Games that let you select "AWE32" in the settings do so simply because it needs a special driver. The AWE cards are not MPU401 compatible. The "AWE32" option does NOT mean the music is made for the AWE32. It's still made for the SC-55, but the AWE32 option just uses a different driver to send the MIDI data to the card.

Most games used the SC-55 as the reference. As a result, the SC-55 sounds best with the majority of games, where "best" in this context means "as the composer intended."

I don't know if there's a list of games somewhere that used the AWE32 as the reference card (meaning the music was composed on an AWE.) I would be surprised if that list contained more than 2 or 3 games.

So for best results, if you have an SC-88, put it in SC-55 mode.

I find the AWE32 samples to be more percussive than the Roland samples, somewhat closer to a Yamaha module.

zerker wrote:

A real SC88 (which I own) sounds quite a bit better than an AWE64. I recorded some samples a while ago and posted them on my web site:
http://www.zerker.ca/misc/synth/

Now that I have an AWE64, I'm planning to re-record some of the samples on that to get some contrast. Expect an update sometime tomorrow 😉

Thanks for posting those samples. I enjoyed hearing them (especially MT-32). 😀

It would be neat to get side-by-side samples of games that support both MT-32 and General MIDI. 😉

I aim to please. I finished updating the sample site with AWE64 samples (both FM and Wavetable Synth). Per your request, I also recorded a few MT32 vs SC55 comparisons (spoiler: The MT32 often wins out 😀 ). The link is the same as above.

zerker wrote:

I aim to please. I finished updating the sample site with AWE64 samples (both FM and Wavetable Synth). Per your request, I also recorded a few MT32 vs SC55 comparisons (spoiler: The MT32 often wins out 😀 ). The link is the same as above.

Thank you!

I agree with you about the MT-32. The one sample that I prefer SC55 is Sam and Max. It seems the MT-32's advantages are in wind instruments while the SC55 does a better job with horns and piano. They are about equal in bass and percussion. My subjective opinion. 😀

What I found most useful was the CQM recordings, as it helps me to hear the difference between it and OPL3. Much of the CQM samples on YouTube are not from game music, so it's hard to tell the difference. I now appreciate genuine OPL more.

That would be because Sam & Max is composed for General Midi 😀.

RE: CQM, I decided I only wanted to get one physical soundcard for this machine, so I had to make some tradeoffs. Looking through the Creative Cards, having no hanging midi bug was higher priority for me with my external modules than genuine OPL. And since I "only" have the two external modules to share between my retro and non-retro machines (DosBox/ZDoom/ScummVM etc), it's nice to have reasonable wavetable synth onboard too.

On topic: Some good soundfonts for an AWE64? Specifically for Doom and Dark Forces, although if anyone has any suggestions by all means.
Dark Forces intro is actually what I use to judge sound quality.

zerker wrote:

That would be because Sam & Max is composed for General Midi 😀.

RE: CQM, I decided I only wanted to get one physical soundcard for this machine, so I had to make some tradeoffs. Looking through the Creative Cards, having no hanging midi bug was higher priority for me with my external modules than genuine OPL. And since I "only" have the two external modules to share between my retro and non-retro machines (DosBox/ZDoom/ScummVM etc), it's nice to have reasonable wavetable synth onboard too.

I think that is a good tradeoff to make. I'd rather have CQM than MIDI hanging notes any day. 😀 Although in my case, I don't need to make that compromise. Waiting for my Audician 32 Plus to arrive so I can move to it from SB16 Vibra CT2800. Using a DreamBlaster S1. Your setup is more complicated than mine, so your choice makes perfect sense.