You have so many options, some might not be on your "radar", but these days, we there are tons of options:

- You can buy second hand wavetable boards from Roland, Yamaha, NEC and many others
- Serdaco (Small Belgium company) is selling the newly built DreamBlaster S1 and X1 wavetable boards
- You can use external GM devices. Again from Roland and Yamaha, they seem the most popular
- You can use spare computer or notebook and build a MIDI PC, that runs Munt and BassMIDI. This will let you run any SoundFont you want under real DOS

Yup, lots of options. It largely depends on your budget 😀

As for, what sounds better, only you can decide. Every device will sound different, there is no denying that. The Roland Sound Canvas though is the de-facto standard, so many choose it for that reason.

I think the AWE32 is underrated.

Its true that the AWE32s default soundbank isnt that impressive but with the 2MB "finegm" soundbank you can load in DOS it sounds really good, arguably better than the Dream wavetable chips when playing General MIDI stuff. Many games have music written for the AWE32 and only sounds right with an AWE32/64 like Tyrian.

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=499

The AWE32 is not very good for MT32 emulation though, a Dream wavetable chip usually does a better job in old games as they often come with a fully MT32 compatible sound patch set.

Thanks, Phil. Your AWE64 Gold video taught me how to load soundfonts and use them with DOS games.

I do have an MT-32 for games whose music was composed for it, but to be honest (this may get my Vogons card revoked) I don't use it much because I don't like to keep it set up because all the wires bother me. So I'd probably feel the same way about an external GM unit.

I am very interested in the Dreamblaster units because I'm not interested in paying $300+ for an SCB-55. I'll be thinking seriously about those.

Skyscraper wrote:

I think the AWE32 is underrated. […]
Show full quote

I think the AWE32 is underrated.

Its true that the AWE32s default soundbank isnt that impressive but with the 2MB "finegm" soundbank you can load in DOS it sounds really good, arguably better than the Dream wavetable chips when playing General MIDI stuff. Many games have music written for the AWE32 and only sounds right with an AWE32/64 like Tyrian.

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=499

The AWE32 is not very good for MT32 emulation though, a Dream wavetable chip usually does a better job in old games as they often come with a fully MT32 compatible sound patch set.

I think I used finegm on your recommendation, Skyscraper. I wasn't able to get it to work in DOS, however. I'll have to try again. I didn't know that the Dreamblaster also offers MT-32 compatibility. Makes it more attractive.

boxpressed wrote:

Skyscraper wrote:

I think the AWE32 is underrated. […]
Show full quote

I think the AWE32 is underrated.

Its true that the AWE32s default soundbank isnt that impressive but with the 2MB "finegm" soundbank you can load in DOS it sounds really good, arguably better than the Dream wavetable chips when playing General MIDI stuff. Many games have music written for the AWE32 and only sounds right with an AWE32/64 like Tyrian.

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=499

The AWE32 is not very good for MT32 emulation though, a Dream wavetable chip usually does a better job in old games as they often come with a fully MT32 compatible sound patch set.

I think I used finegm on your recommendation, Skyscraper. I wasn't able to get it to work in DOS, however. I'll have to try again. I didn't know that the Dreamblaster also offers MT-32 compatibility. Makes it more attractive.

I do not know if the Dreamblaster offers MT32 emulation but my DreamWave Wave-Table board does a fine job at it, as do many other Dream based Wave-Table boards. I do not remember what Dream chip my board uses.

I have the box here as Im playing Daggerfall so I will check in a moment.

[edit]

The user manual dosnt mention what Dream chip the board uses but its an "AudioWave DreamWave Daughter Board" that came with my AudoWave Platinum 16 AWS32.

In the game Daggerfall (General MIDI) the Dream synth does a wonderful job. 😀

[/edit]

I like modules and lots of cables. I switch the MPU-401 cable to the PC I am using and I am good to go. With PCBs you need to remove and install from system to system. Using MIFs in all PCs removes that requirement.

PeterLI wrote:

I like modules and lots of cables. I switch the MPU-401 cable to the PC I am using and I am good to go. With PCBs you need to remove and install from system to system. Using MIFs in all PCs removes that requirement.

This daughter board will hardly fit on any other card so it stays on the AudioWave Platinum 16, I do move the whole sound card from system to system though. 😀

Here is an old picture I posted in another thread 2 years ago, it hides all its secrets though.

That is why I gave up on DBs.

Just tried renaming finegm.sbk to synthgm.sbk and using AWEUTIL /em:gm to load it in DOS. GM music didn't work with Duke 3D or Descent 2 in DOS. Works when launching from Windows, however.

boxpressed wrote:

Just tried renaming finegm.sbk to synthgm.sbk and using AWEUTIL /em:gm to load it in DOS. GM music didn't work with Duke 3D or Descent 2 in DOS. Works when launching from Windows, however.

It dosnt work with all games as I understand it but it does work when playing MIDI files with gsplay for example, and it works in some games.

When it comes to games in pure DOS I usually use the OPL or AWE EMU8000 when games are written for it. For some General MIDI games like Daggerfall I use the AudoWave Platinum 16 with the DreamWave synth. Most DOS games work perfectly fine in Windows 9x though and there I often use the AWE32 with the 2MB sound font. I know you can load larger sound fonts in Windows but I like the 2MB one and up until recently I only had 2MB memory on my AWE32.

edit lots of typos

boxpressed wrote:

Since acquiring both the CT2760 and CT3900 models of the AWE32, as well as 32MB of external memory for each, I've been really pleased with its General Midi performance with a nice, large soundfont such as Chorium Rev. A. In order to run DOS games with this GM setup, I need to launch the games from Windows, which has worked just fine for games such as Doom 1/2, Duke 3D, Descent 1/2, ROTT, and Tyrian 2K.

Good GM daughtercards are expensive and hard-to-find. Also, isn't there some kind of bug when using a GM daughtercard with these AWE32 models (if so, I also have a Vortex 2 in the system to use)?

My question is whether a GM daughtercard would be overkill. I guess a lot would depend on whether there are DOS games with great GM music that do not work properly when launched from Windows with my AWE32. Or if certain daughtercards are just plain better than any GM soundfont that I can put on the AWE32's 28MB. Thanks for any advice.

It depends on how much polyphony you want on your sound card. By adding another MIDI daughterboard to your AWE32, you can increase the maximum polyphony to 64. However, this is practically irrelevant for games.

As Skyskraper has pointed out, the default 1 MB ROM of General MIDI samples on the AWE32/SB32/AWE64 isn't that great (the trumpets are simply horrible).
For that reason, adding a MIDI daughterboard with a better (and larger) sample set, will lead to a much better listening experience - just be aware that many AWE32's suffer from the so called MIDI hanging note bug (hence, the "benefit" of having a separate MIDI sound device in your PC or an external MIDI module).
Curious, why do you say that the AWE32's MT-32 emulation isn't very good? Did you load AWEUTIL with the /EM:MT32 parameter before playing your MT-32 game? Bear in mind, the AWE32 (like many other "MT-32 emulated" sound cards), do not support sysex messages and, games that utilses this will not sound correct.

The "Finegm" soundbank is one of the better general midi soundfonts in the Soundfont version 1 format (*.sbk).
However, any soundfonts that you load in DOS (provided you load it correctly) will only work with Real Mode DOS games.
Protected mode DOS games (games that usually load via DOS/4GW) must either support the AWE32 natively, in which case it will just use the standard General MIDI sample set or, you will have to fall back on FM synthesis or, run your games out of Windows DOS prompt.

boxpressed, in order to be able to load a "custom" soundfont (like "finegm") in DOS you have to:

•have a soundfont in the *.sbk (version 1) format and
•must rename the soundfont to synthgm.sbk and place it in the same folder (directory) as where your other soundfonts are located (in DOS it's normally C:\SB16\SFBANK)

You then launch Aweutil with the /EM:GM parameter, after which it should load your "custom" soundfont.

However, as stated before, this only works on Real Mode games but, does provide a more pleasant listening experience for supported General MIDI games (in this case, you select General MIDI in the game's setup menu - not AWE32).
EDIT: Missed your last post.
When you do launch a Protected Mode game out of Windows DOS prompt (after loading your custom soundfont) be sure to always select General MIDI in the game's setup menu and not AWE32 (otherwise, it won't play back your custom soundfount).

jesolo wrote:

Curious, why do you say that the AWE32's MT-32 emulation isn't very good? Did you load AWEUTIL with the /EM:MT32 parameter befo […]
Show full quote

Curious, why do you say that the AWE32's MT-32 emulation isn't very good? Did you load AWEUTIL with the /EM:MT32 parameter before playing your MT-32 game? Bear in mind, the AWE32 (like many other "MT-32 emulated" sound cards), do not support sysex messages and, games that utilses this will not sound correct.

The "Finegm" soundbank is one of the better general midi soundfonts in the Soundfont version 1 format (*.sbk).
However, any soundfonts that you load in DOS (provided you load it correctly) will only work with Real Mode DOS games.
Protected mode DOS games must either support the AWE32 natively, in which case it will just use the standard General MIDI sample set or, you will have to fall back on FM synthesis or, run your games out of Windows DOS prompt.

That makes it perfectly clear, I wasnt totally sure why it worked in some games and not others. 😀

When it comes to the MT-32 emulation I think some instruments sounds "wrong" with the AWE32 and MT32 emulation activated. My DreamWave board with the MT32 patch set loaded actually sounds very much like the real thing to my ears at least. Its possible though that I have tried games which used sysex messages with the AWE32 and that is the reason they sounded wrong while perhaps the games I tried with the Dream board diddnt use these messages. Im not really hardcore when it comes to 386 era DOS games so I mostly test those I got for next to nothing from GOG.

jesolo wrote:

...
It depends on how much polyphony you want on your sound card. By adding another MIDI daughterboard to your AWE32, you can increase the maximum polyphony to 64. However, this is practically irrelevant for games.
...

Can the AWE32 and DB MIDI play simultaneoulsy?

Even if they did, taking two devices with 32-voice polyphony each, doesn't double the polyphony to 64-voices when playing a MIDI track. This is because both devices will drop notes when a MIDI track approaching 64-voices is playing, due to each device not being capable of playing more than 32-voices individually. Although, this shouldn't matter much for games.

Skyscraper wrote:

When it comes to the MT-32 emulation I think some instruments sounds "wrong" with the AWE32 and MT32 emulation activated. My DreamWave board with the MT32 patch set loaded actually sounds very much like the real thing to my ears at least.

True, the AWE32's default instrument sample set is not the best. However, via soundfonts, this can dramatically change.
I suppose you can load a "custom" MT-32 soundfont (similar to "finegm" but, just with an MT-32 patch map) via DOS but, I haven't come across one yet to try it out.
If you want play games that supports an MT-32, then rather get the real thing (if you are able to obtain one).
Games written for the MT-32 only sounds (in my opinion) very good on a real MT-32.

j^aws wrote:

Can the AWE32 and DB MIDI play simultaneoulsy?
Even if they did, taking two devices with 32-voice polyphony each, doesn't double the polyphony to 64-voices when playing a MIDI track. This is because both devices will drop notes when a MIDI track approaching 64-voices is playing, due to each device not being capable of playing more than 32-voices individually. Although, this shouldn't matter much for games.

According to the attached FAQ (section A, points 18 & 19), yes. It can play back both the internal sample set and a MIDI daughteboard's samples simultaneously (the AWE64 does a similar thing, via WavEffects/Waveguide synthesis).
However, for me, this is purely theoretical since I've never tried it and probably never will (since I only use the sound card for DOS gaming purposes).

jesolo wrote:

True, the AWE32's default instrument sample set is not the best. However, via soundfonts, this can dramatically change. I suppo […]
Show full quote

Skyscraper wrote:

When it comes to the MT-32 emulation I think some instruments sounds "wrong" with the AWE32 and MT32 emulation activated. My DreamWave board with the MT32 patch set loaded actually sounds very much like the real thing to my ears at least.

True, the AWE32's default instrument sample set is not the best. However, via soundfonts, this can dramatically change.
I suppose you can load a "custom" MT-32 soundfont (like "finegm") via DOS but, I haven't come across one yet to try it out.
If you want play games that supports an MT-32, then rather get the real thing (if you are able to obtain one).
Games written for the MT-32 only sounds (in my opinion) very good on a real MT-32.

My DreamWave board dosnt really load another patch set, it loads a MIDI file that reorganizes the instruments to emulate the MT32 using its normal instruments and perhaps a few custum ones but it works pretty good. The AWE32 probably does the same thing as the MT32 emulation sound font is very tiny but large enough to include a few instruments

Skyscraper wrote:

My DreamWave board dosnt really load another patch set, it loads a MIDI file that reorganizes the instruments to emulate the MT32 using its normal instruments and perhaps a few custum ones but it works pretty good. The AWE32 probably does the same thing as the MT32 emulation sound font is very tiny.

That is correct, the AWE range of sound cards does exactly that but, since the samples are "crappy" it doesn't sound that good.
If you can load a custom soundfont (with an MT-32 patch map), then you will get better sounds.
However, there are some "characteristics" of the MT-32 that just makes it unique in its own right.

jesolo wrote:

j^aws wrote:

Can the AWE32 and DB MIDI play simultaneoulsy?
Even if they did, taking two devices with 32-voice polyphony each, doesn't double the polyphony to 64-voices when playing a MIDI track. This is because both devices will drop notes when a MIDI track approaching 64-voices is playing, due to each device not being capable of playing more than 32-voices individually. Although, this shouldn't matter much for games.

According to the attached FAQ (section A, points 18 & 19), yes. It can play back both the internal sample set and a MIDI daughteboard's samples simultaneously (the AWE64 does a similar thing, via WavEffects/Waveguide synthesis).
However, for me, this is purely theoretical since I've never tried it and probably never will (since I only use the sound card for DOS gaming purposes).

From link:

18. Is there a WaveBlaster upgrade option on the SB AWE32?

Yes. Each SB AWE32 features a WaveBlaster connector.

19. What is the benefit of adding a WaveBlaster to the SB AWE32?

The WaveBlaster connector was included on the SB AWE32 to provide users
an alternative wave-sample synthesis method other than the EMU8000 on
the SB AWE32. By incorporating a WaveBlaster onto the SB AWE32, the total
polyphony of this combination will be increased to 64, the total number
of timbres expanded to 32, and you will have access to a secondary
palette of sampled sounds.

I've seen this marketing speak in other literature - they just add up the 2 numbers and call it 64 polyphony. IIRC, there was a command switch to choose either MIDI playback source, EMU8K or DB/ external, so they don't play simultaneously. They seem to use the word "combination" just to add the numbers up. This isn't how the AWE64 gets it 64-voice polyphony, IIRC, a combination of hardware EMU8K (32) + software (32).

I can take two random external synths with 32 polys each and say I have 64 polys - they are not going to play a 64 poly track without dropping notes. The synths need something call MIDI Overflow via SysEx to achieve something like this, i.e. the dropped notes get passed to the second synth, in order to maintain a total of 64 polys.

You can also consider a Roland SC-7, its a GM Modul.

You can even use it on Windows 3.x -> Windows 10/MacOS Classic/Linux (midi serial module) with a Serialcable and Roland Serial Driver and SoftMPU, or on MPU Interface.