Hello Vogons,

I have been lurking on this site for a while but I decided to introduce myself and contribute to the forum. I have recently been getting back into DOS and retro gaming for sentimental reasons. This is especially because of my love for the music in these games. I have fond memories of the Sound Blasters, and switching out soundfonts on my AWE64. Many times I would play through DOS games just to hear it with different fonts loaded. I dreamt of owning the Rolands. I have found that many people on this forum share some of the same sentiments. It is exciting to me that people still have a passion for these sounds as well.

I am still in the process of find and putting together a good vintage DOS machine with a real sound blaster. I also have lost my AWE64 with an 8MB expansion card during a moving process a couple years back. But I have been able to find a few authentic Roland to use in my collection. I currently have a MT32 (first generation), an SoundCanvas SC-155, and a SoundCanvas SC-880. I also own the SoundCanvas VA for both VST and iPad for convenience and comparison.

I have been very excited to see Dreamblaster producing new wavetable synths that are suitable for DOS gaming. Not only is it cool to see something new, but the designs very nicely favor modern day gaming. I went ahead and purchased the X2 and the S2 with a non-assembled Chill Connection board to add to the collection. Assembling the Chill board was a very fun DIY project, and I was up for the project. I also noticed that there are few samples of the S2 and X2 out there, especially in comparison to other options out there. Since I also help manage a multi-production studio, I thought it would be fun to record side by side comparisons of midi files from each of the devices I currently own.

If you would like to listen to these recordings, check out my soundcloud page at
https://soundcloud.com/heros-inn

I am working on ways to refine my process of recording. It is very time consuming to organize and edit all of these recordings, so I am going to be very selective with my next set of recordings. Right now I am recording devices in groups of 3 and 4 at a time. I am trying to find mdi files that have not been demonstrated yet anywhere else, while also adding some variety with other certain general midi files not related to DOS. Because many of the recordings are comparisons, I want to demonstrate flexibility and versatility with them all. Currently I am demonstrating these devices...

DreamBlaster S2 through Chill Kit
DreamBlaster X2 with Standard soundbank
DreamBlaster X2 with GUD .07 (will update to newest for next recordings)
Roland SoundCanvas SC-155
Roland SoundCanvas SC-880
Roland SoundCanvas VA

I am very open to making a list from recommendations. If there are any midi files you would like to hear recorded, please let me know. My next idea to is to record full length Sierra soundtracks. Probably starting with Gabriel Knight, Quest for Glory, Space Quest, etc. I also plan on venturing in to the MT32 compatible midis as well. I will be using the MT32 with MUNT, and using any device that is capable of MT-32 compatibility mapping.

I will have to cycle many tracks through as I keep updated the lists on soundcloud because of storage restrictions. Archived tracks will be probably eventually be uploaded to youtube. I also have some plans to do some videos, retro gaming podcasts, etc as time allows. The soundcloud will also be receiving better graphics once I am able to put together a theme. Since I have started with this recording project, I have become quite close and friendly with Serge at Dreamblaster. I plan on keeping my line of Dreamblasters current, and also provide and help with reviewing their newest releases. For the next upload of recordings, I will have demos of the X3M recording through its own USB cable.

Stay posted...