Cloudschatze wrote:For that matter, has anyone ever compiled a complete list of titles with music/sound-effects natively composed with, or intended for, the GUS? (e.g., Star Control 2, Archon II, several Epic games, etc.)
Well, our latest attempt was this thread.
I don't think there are many commercial games with genuinely better sound/music through GUS. There are the games with tracker music of course, plus those that provide custom MIDI patches, but that's about it. Digital sound effects are in most cases mixed in software, no real advantage for the GUS there.
Actually, this makes me wonder why GUS cards have become so much sought after and expensive. It's not as if everyone is suddenly into old scene demos, or is it?
Scali wrote:I have an AWE32 and rarely used it. Firstly because the sound quality is nothing short of appalling. It sounds incredibly thin compared to a proper soundcard. The high-end isn't exactly crisp either. It's clearly a toy, it sounds like one. The GUS can hold its own against professional synthesizers or sound cards from eg Yamaha or Turtle Beach.
Secondly, most of the software I was interested in, used tracker-based music, which generally only supports the GUS anyway (the AWE32 would just be used as an SB16 clone with CPU-based mixing).
EMU8000 may be good on paper, but I never actually heard anything good come out of the AWE32.
Man, it's like reading a 1995 diskmag all over again, GUS vs AWE flamewars just like in the old days... 🤣
Why not use both? An AWE32 can provide lots of demoscene fun: Several demos support the EMU8K natively (those based on the Indoor Music System, i.e. Cubic Player). Also, hundreds of small OPL2 intros/cracktros and BBS ads can be played with added EMU8K chorus/reverb effects on an AWE, while the FM emulation on a GUS is just horrible.