First post, by Ozzuneoj
- Rank
- l33t
I don't know much about the inner workings of PC MIDI playback, so let me explain the question a bit more.
Lets say I have a game with GM compatible MIDI music, and lets say I'm using a sound card with built in GM-compatible hardware wavetable synthesis (one that requires no drivers or sound fonts to be loaded). In normal circumstances should there be any (ANY!) difference in playback between these four scenarios when playing a specific MIDI track from that game:
1. Playing that MIDI track natively in the game, in pure DOS.
2. Playing that MIDI track natively in the game in Windows 9x, in a DOS box.
3. Playing that MIDI file in windows mediaplayer in Windows 9x.
4. Playing that MIDI track in a DOS MIDI music player in pure DOS.
Basically, I'm wondering if any of these things actually change the MIDI output in any way. I know that DOS games generally have some form of "drivers" built into them for different sound devices. If there is more than one driver\option that successfully plays GM compatible music through the MPU-401 port, should all of these sound exactly the same on a GM compatible wavetable-synth equipped sound card? Should Windows drivers or MIDI playback software have any effect on the output? Any likelihood of introducing bugs or variation to the playback at all? On that same note, if a card is known to have problems with MIDI playback, is it even remotely possible to fix them with a software solution (like a modded MPU-401 interface driver in Windows, or something like SoftMPU)?
Going a bit further with this... it is my understanding that software (game drivers, whatever it is in Windows) can adapt GM-focused MIDI files so that they can be played by FM (OPl2, OPl3) devices. Does the driver\software that is adapting them change how they sound? For example, if I play back a standard GM-focused MIDI file with a DOS MIDI music player on an OPl3 chip is it going to sound the same as it would in Windows Media Player? Would that same MIDI file likely sound different if it were played back natively in a game if the OPL3 driver was selected?
I've been building a collection of sound cards and I'm starting to wonder how software interacts with them.
Thanks for any input. 😀
Now for some blitting from the back buffer.
