Physikant wrote on 2022-05-17, 07:53:

Does a list exist, what DOS game was inteded to be played with which device, or if this is not known, what device is widely accepted as the optimal solution for the particular game?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MT-32-c … _computer_games - look at "original synth" column (dunno how correct this list though)

Sadly, this is only for games with MT-32 support, and most of them dont have an entry in the synth-column 🙁
But a really good start!

There's also the minor snag that some games don't seem to have "optimal" sound solutions in the quality sense.

For example, The Lost Vikings is perhaps recommended with a fully programmable MT-32 for sound effects (and SC-55 in MT-32 emulation mode sounds pretty bad). But its MT-32 music doesn't strike me as "really" good. (Maybe it's because I'm used to the regular SC-55 sound.)

Probably a better example is Day of the Tentacle, where your choice of MT-32 or SC-55 is *highly* subjective -- I think the composer made the effort to make them both sound good. (At least to me -- I actually switch back and forth just for the experience.)

Attached is my incomplete list of my dos games where I list the sound options (as well as multiplayer options and year released)
vogons doesn't allow csv file type so have renamed to .txt if you rename it back to csv excel will open it again.

The Crusader series are an interesting example: GUS output is mono even though the game uses tracker music and takes advantage of the hardware mixer. The "optimal" sound cards are the Ensoniq Soundscape and SB16 because it does support 16-bit mixing and has stereo separation for the music. Any other sound card that is compatible with these games will get poor music quality.

Another one could be Zone 66 where it has a different music for the GUS as it doesn't have a FM synth and has to be installed separately for the shareware version.

But it still holds that every composer had certain hardware in mind and if you want to listen to the game music as it was intended, you should use this hardware.
For example Dune 2. While you can argue it sounds best on the SC-55 (and Frank Klepacki used this device for the recording on his homepage), Frank told me that the music was composed on an Adlib-Card and then translated. So the original way of listening to Dune 2 is the OPL2/3, and not the SC-55.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-05-17, 12:53:

The Crusader series are an interesting example: GUS output is mono even though the game uses tracker music and takes advantage of the hardware mixer. The "optimal" sound cards are the Ensoniq Soundscape and SB16 because it does support 16-bit mixing and has stereo separation for the music. Any other sound card that is compatible with these games will get poor music quality.

The music was extremely haunting on real hardware, I think.
And the SoundScape digital audio was really good. It's a shame it's not really emulated these days.
Unless we consider emulation within emulation.
The AudioPCI drivers do provide some sort emulation on themselves.
The real SoundScape 2000 was an ISA card, if memory serves.
I like to think that the SoundScape is a bit like the PAS16.

Re: Games that sound best with GUS?

Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-05-17, 12:53:

Another one could be Zone 66 where it has a different music for the GUS as it doesn't have a FM synth and has to be installed separately for the shareware version.

Zone 66 had some badass soundtrack! 😁

I also think I remember that on some Sierra games digital effects sounded more clear when using WSS driver. I might be wrong but I think I remember this was in qfg4cd version the case. Speech was much clearer than with SB. certainly a driver thing for sure.
It might also be that you reached the same (better?) quality selecting pas16 which also some Sierra games offered but which I couldn’t test.

Again: I slightly think to remember. 😀