Ok I have tested, so far (sorry for a long post):
1) Game crash: I have installed Coolsoft but I also remembered there was a hidden commandline parameter in the game that can enable/disable directsound (still not sure which is the default one and what does the parameter, but I think the parameter disables directsound) and this actually affects things for Coolsoft:
- Bassmidi + normal launch or with parameter = crash (there is actually another parameter that disables midi, in this case the game starts with no midi at all)
- Microsoft GS + normal launch or with parameter = works
- Coolsoft + normal launch = the game and midi works but there is no sound; but in windowed mode, the moment I open the Coolsoft mixer the sound is back. If the mixer loses the focus, sound is lost again; the midi always works
- Coolsoft + parameter = works
Well, the game is old and designed for Windows 95 while I have windows 7 so strange behaviors have to be expected, but it's nonetheless interesting how things changes between devices...
2) Mod. wheel: this is also strange: I get the same results between Bassmidi and CoolSoft, and I figured out the results changes based on the soundfont used. If I change sf2, I get the mod. wheel on both programs, which seems to make sense since GS doesn't use that sf2. But it is still strange as I remember the mod wheel, with that same soundfont, was working in my Windows XP and the SB Live 5.1 card. Since I still have that setup I went trying and the mod. wheel worked fine with the soundcard, while Bassmidi 1.0 behave like the Windows 7 setup depending on the soundfont
(On a side note for some reason in XP the latest Bassmidi version crashed but not even Coolsoft or Wingroove worked, maybe the antivirus messed up something although I uninstalled it and now when I try to install the latest Bassmidi it asks me to close lot of Windows processes which is impossible. I dunno if the registry can be tweaked to fix this but I don't need it anymore for now)
Conclusion: I don't know why the modulation wheel doesn't work with virtual softwares with certain soundfounts
3) Pitch bend: same issues in all devices, GS included. If you are curious enough this is the midi which actually have pitch bend effects but they sound wrong no matter what. This does NOT happen:
- in Windows XP or earlier, at least with the soundcards that supported soundfonts
- if the midi is uploaded in solmire.com
- with Syfonone and Synthfont programs
Beats me what's going on