boxpressed wrote:

I know that games like Descent offer a "Sound Canvas" option, but I was always under the impression that selecting it gave you the same music as "General MIDI," even if you had an SC-55.

In every instance I've come across where both "General MIDI" and "Sound Canvas" options are present, the MIDI playback has been exactly the same.

Is it really pumping out Roland GS music?

Yes and no. It also depends on your definition of "GS music."

The following Descent tracks are straight-up General MIDI:

• briefing.mid
• credits.mid
• game04.mid
• game05.mid
• game06.mid
• game07.mid
• game09.mid
• game10.mid
• game15.mid
• game16.mid
• game17.mid
• game19.mid
• game20.mid

While the following Descent tracks utilize GS features:

• descent.mid (PC26: TR-808 Set, CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• endgame.mid (CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• endlevel.mid (CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game01.mid (PC26: TR-808 Set)
• game02.mid (PC26: TR-808 Set, CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game03.mid (PC26: TR-808 Set, CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game08.mid (PC25: Electronic Set, CC5: Portamento Time, CC65: Portamento Ctrl., CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game11.mid (CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game12.mid (PC25: TR-808 Set)
• game13.mid (PC25: Electronic Set)
• game14.mid (CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game18.mid (PC26: TR-808 Set, CC5: Portamento Time, CC65: Portamento Ctrl., CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game21.mid (PC26: TR-808 Set, CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)
• game22.mid (PC17: Power Set, CC91: Reverb Depth, CC93: Chorus Depth)

Of the latter, only "game08.mid" and "game18.mid" contain what I would consider to be "GS-specific" features/controls in their use of portamento, given that the extra drumkits and effect CCs are implemented in several "non-GS" devices, including Roland's SC-7, RAP-10, and SCB-7.

Descent's "GM-only" tracks are problematic in that several of them lack an explicit Program Change message for the drum channel, and all of them lack control-change resets - the notable consequence being that they simply inherit the drumset and effect controller settings from the last track to have set them (which can hardly be imagined as the composer's intent). Fortunately, "briefing.mid" includes the "Standard" drumset selection, and generally precedes every affected track, while Tikalat's fix addresses the remainder of the issues (or should - I haven't tried it).

I prefer the Yamaha TG300 (GM-B mode) for playing Descent as of late, which I don't believe ever gets mentioned. Oh, well... 😉

♫ GAME02 Yamaha TG300
♫ GAME08 Yamaha TG300
♫ GAME13 Yamaha TG300
♫ GAME18 Yamaha TG300
♫ GAME22 Yamaha TG300

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

MusicallyInspired wrote:

Have to echo Descent. Some tracks are hit and miss, but a few of them are spectacular pieces of Sound Canvas MIDI engineering. Brilliant stuff.

Descent intro sounds better with Yamaha XG IMO.

That I will concede. But Mission 2 for instance sounds great on Sound Canvas.

boxpressed wrote:

Just want to clarify something. When we say "Sound Canvas" games, are we talking about games that offer a specific "Sound Canvas" option for music or a regular "General MIDI" option?

I know that games like Descent offer a "Sound Canvas" option, but I was always under the impression that selecting it gave you the same music as "General MIDI," even if you had an SC-55. Is it really pumping out Roland GS music?

As Cloudhschatze said, it depends. For Sierra games, for instance, the option was always General MIDI but each score was composed with the Sound Canvas. And while Mark Seibert reportedly wouldn't allow use of the extra banks of the Sound Canvas, the MIDI resources did (I think) have calls to Sound Canvas effects controllers like reverb and chorus.

By "Sound Canvas games" I mean any and all games composed with a Sound Canvas in mind, and I'm under the impression that the vast majority of GM titles would apply. I wouldn't be interested in games composed with MT-32 in mind that happen to have an SC-compatible mapping mode, or games composed for other chiptunes or trackers that got translated to GM (unless the translation was unusually good and really put the original to shame, Lemmings 95 comes to mind).

If a game has an option for "General Midi" but also has a specific option for "Sound Canvas", If one is running the Sound Canvas VA, what is the best choice for music playback? Is the Sound Canvas option likely to provide something that "General Midi" doesn't? In this case the game I am specifically considering is Ultima 8.

Try both and choose the one you like best.

Paralel wrote on 2024-01-24, 20:37:

If a game has an option for "General Midi" but also has a specific option for "Sound Canvas", If one is running the Sound Canvas VA, what is the best choice for music playback? Is the Sound Canvas option likely to provide something that "General Midi" doesn't? In this case the game I am specifically considering is Ultima 8.

If a GS compatible device is used, some games have slightly enhanced music when Sound Canvas is selected instead of General MIDI. For example, in Duke3D you can hear some extra drum beats during the intro song.

There's more info in this thread: Doom: General MIDI VS Sound Canvas

I have an SC-88vl, to try it with these games, do I have to put it in SC-55 mode?

You can use it either in SC-88 or 55 mode. 55 mode will be recommended in most cases but you may prefer 88 mode.

During my re-visits to old games with Sound Canvas hardware, I've found the following :

• Wing Commander Privateer (some songs use custom patches from the SFX table)
• Transport Tycoon (seems to sound great on various synthesizer/sample-based techs)

And by some tweaks:

• Ultima Underworld I && II (only with MT-32 emulation enabled)
• Ultima VI (only with MT-32 emulation enabled or MIDI.DAT replaced with a Sound Canvas optimized one)