clueless1 wrote:

Hey, specifically, I'm planning this for a Realms of Arkania: Star Trail. It's a rare game that supports all three, and a game […]
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Hey, specifically, I'm planning this for a Realms of Arkania: Star Trail. It's a rare game that supports all three, and a game whose music I really like. I'm planning on recording this comparison for either Youtube, Soundcloud, or both. Where I'd like your suggestions is:
-should I have each song a separate file?
-should I combine 3 versions of same song in one file?
-combine multiple songs and versions into one file with a tracklist with time stamps?

Some other format?

I'm not a big Youtuber, so my experience is limited. This is not going to be something I do regularly, and it's not a complete OST for the game, just a few favorite songs.

Dune 2 also supports all 3, but I must admit that the GM track really feels like an afterthought compared to the awesome FM and MT-32 tracks.
Space Quest V, The 7th Guest, Under a Killing Mood and Prince of Persia 2 also supports all 3 come to think of it.

My preference goes for YouTube, combining multiple songs and versions into one file with a tracklist with time stamps.

Yeap I go the Youtube route as well. That way you can have a static image from the game shown while each section of music plays. Use text overlays to show which version is playing in the YT video along with the timestamps in the video description of course.

tpowell.ca wrote:

Dune 2 also supports all 3, but I must admit that the GM track really feels like an afterthought compared to the awesome FM and […]
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clueless1 wrote:

Hey, specifically, I'm planning this for a Realms of Arkania: Star Trail. It's a rare game that supports all three, and a game […]
Show full quote

Hey, specifically, I'm planning this for a Realms of Arkania: Star Trail. It's a rare game that supports all three, and a game whose music I really like. I'm planning on recording this comparison for either Youtube, Soundcloud, or both. Where I'd like your suggestions is:
-should I have each song a separate file?
-should I combine 3 versions of same song in one file?
-combine multiple songs and versions into one file with a tracklist with time stamps?

Some other format?

I'm not a big Youtuber, so my experience is limited. This is not going to be something I do regularly, and it's not a complete OST for the game, just a few favorite songs.

Dune 2 also supports all 3, but I must admit that the GM track really feels like an afterthought compared to the awesome FM and MT-32 tracks.
Space Quest V, The 7th Guest, Under a Killing Mood and Prince of Persia 2 also supports all 3 come to think of it.

My preference goes for YouTube, combining multiple songs and versions into one file with a tracklist with time stamps.

Nice! I guess "rare" was too strong a word. A better word would've been "uncommon" for games to support all three formats. Thanks for the list of other games that support all three. And for the formatting suggestions to you and CrossBow777.

By no means was I trying to correct you. I agree. They are rare. 😀
If anything, you reminded me of that fact.

I just wonder how many of these games have soundtracks that actually sound good in more than one format.

tpowell.ca wrote:

By no means was I trying to correct you. I agree. They are rare. 😀
If anything, you reminded me of that fact.

I just wonder how many of these games have soundtracks that actually sound good in more than one format.

Subjectively, Star Trail sounds pretty good in FM (Yamaha OPL3 from an Audician 32), really good on MT-32 and outstanding on GM, using a DreamBlaster X2. Got some test recording done. I'm going to be recording directly from gameplay on my Pentium MS-DOS PC. A little tricky because I can't hear the audio because it's going directly from line out on the Audician 32 to line in on my modern PC and captured through Audacity. So I'm using a stopwatch to script what I do in the game to capture the songs I want to for the correct times. 😀

In the Sound menu in Control Panel in Windows 10 (if that's what you're using), there is an option to pipe the line-in to the line-out of that machine. I just don't know if it's supported while recording.

tpowell.ca wrote:

In the Sound menu in Control Panel in Windows 10 (if that's what you're using), there is an option to pipe the line-in to the line-out of that machine. I just don't know if it's supported while recording.

If you talk about this feature it's implemented as a loopback recording, so it may interfere with normal recording (and always has a noticeable latency):

So instead of using this 'Listen to this device' feature that you can reach through the Recording Devices section, you should simply enable the 'Line-in' as a playing source that can be reached through the 'Playback -> Speakers -> Levels' section. All modern versions of Windows support it even on crappy Realtek/VIA integrated audio but usually requires the vendor driver instead of the general HD audio one. It works regardless recording is active or not:

Falcosoft wrote:

So instead of using this 'Listen to this device' feature that you can reach through the Recording Devices section, you should simply enable the 'Line-in' as a playing source that can be reached through the 'Playback -> Speakers -> Levels' section. All modern versions of Windows support it even on crappy Realtek/VIA integrated audio but usually requires the vendor driver instead of the general HD audio one.

Sweet...thanks man. Works perfectly!

Here's a preview if anyone's interested. Travel music in GM via DreamBlaster X2. Using the GUD 1.04 soundbank.

edit: added Roland MT-32 and Yamaha OPL3 FM version.

clueless1 wrote:

Here's a preview if anyone's interested. Travel music in GM via DreamBlaster X2. Using the GUD 1.04 soundbank.

Nice !

dreamblaster wrote:

clueless1 wrote:

Here's a preview if anyone's interested. Travel music in GM via DreamBlaster X2. Using the GUD 1.04 soundbank.

Nice !

Thanks! I added the MT-32 and FM versions of the same song to the post above. Sorry for the occasional pop or crackle in the audio, I did this super quick. Not sure if my volumes need to be brought down a little or if it's crappy wire or what.

This has turned into a much bigger project than I originally intended. 😊

I've recorded FM, MT-32, and GM tracks from the following games so far:
1942: The Pacific Air War
Betrayal at Krondor
Heroes of Might and Magic II
Pacific Strike
Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
Strike Commander
edit: Under a Killing Moon, Tie Fighter

These are the games I own that support all three music formats. Now that I've got the individual tracks (anywhere from 1-3 from each game), I've got to work on combining them into a long track for upload to YT. I'll probably also do Soundcloud. If anyone wants to hear any particular track, let me know and I'll upload it here as an mp3 attachment.

Was just noticing that the original X-Com supports all three as well and there are pretty decent differences between the MT-32 and General Midi versions.

CrossBow777 wrote:

Was just noticing that the original X-Com supports all three as well and there are pretty decent differences between the MT-32 and General Midi versions.

I think I've got the original CD of that, and now that I think about it I believe I remember that being the case. I'll dig it up, thanks 😀

edit: found it! Unfortunately, it only supports Adlib/Soundblaster and Roland LAPC-1 for music. No GM. And it' pretty challenging to get going too, not only does it play off of the CD, but it requires word lookup from manual (which I have, thankfully).

edit: went through some more old game CDs I kept from back in the day and had a couple of near hits. Witchaven has an option for MT-32 in the sound setup, but the MT-32 does not do anything when I set it up. I think there' s no sound driver despite the entry in the sound setup. And US Navy Fighters does support all 3, but weirdly, the MT-32 sounds cacophanous in MT-32 format, and actually sounds better if I set it to General MIDI and let it pipe through the MT-32. If I set it to MPU401 GM, my DreamBlaster X2 does not play anything. OPL3 FM plays normal music. 🤷

edit: I'll be adding Dune II in the next day or two.

The release of X-Com that was available for free a while ago (I think on Steam) was patched to support FM, LA, and GM. Earlier versions didn't have GM support.

This is correct and that is the version I have since it does list all three along with quite a few other options in the setup and they do sound different. The LAPC-I driver should sound fine on the older MT-32 because near as I can tell, it isn't using any customer sound patches as it loads up immediately upon starting the game.

I'm having trouble with the MT-32 playback of Dune II. It sounds horrible, not at all like it should. Notes on top of notes getting stuck open. I did disable L1 to slow the system down to 386 speeds and that had no effect. If I can't get it working, I'll have to leave this one out. Any ideas? Any known incompatibilities with the MT-32 old or certain MPU-401 interface cards? I'm using the Midiman on port 330.

tpowell.ca wrote:

By no means was I trying to correct you. I agree. They are rare. 😀
If anything, you reminded me of that fact.

I just wonder how many of these games have soundtracks that actually sound good in more than one format.

I'm going through my library and finding more that support all three. 😀

So far, I've come across:
Transport Tycoon
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
Lands of Lore
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Return to Zork

Currently testing these that I suspect might support all three:
Albion-nope! (MT-32 is listed as an option but does not play any music when selected)
Sim City 2000-yes!
Star Trek 25th Anniversary-nope! (no GM)
Star Trek Judgment Rites-yes!
Space Quest 4-6-yes to SQ5, not testing the other two
Quest for Glory series-not tested yet, thanks for the tip gdjacobs
Pirates Gold-nope! (no GM)

QFG3 supports both. I'm not sure if 4 supports MT-32.