Tempest wrote:

If I really want to play Doom again (and I might) I'll just use regular sound and avoid the general midi setting.

Well doom is a GM game, not an MT32 game, so it wont sound right even if you hook your mt32 up to your awe32.

BloodyCactus wrote:

Tempest wrote:

If I really want to play Doom again (and I might) I'll just use regular sound and avoid the general midi setting.

Well doom is a GM game, not an MT32 game, so it wont sound right even if you hook your mt32 up to your awe32.

I'd use my SB as a standard sound card, no midi stuff. That's how I played it back in the day, so it won't bother me. I'm sure the GM is nice, but given a choice between GM with hanging notes and standard sound, I'll take the standard sound.

Hmm I have to agree with GM and Doom. The General MIDI music is excellent! You can also try the AWE music option, not as nice as General MIDI, but worth checking out.

On the AWE64 at least you won't have any hanging notes.

Since we're on the topic...

With games that support the AWE32\64 natively, is there a way to get the game to use your loaded (in Windows 98) soundfont, rather than the one that is built in? How does it do that anyway if the card's memory is full with a huge 28MB sf2 sound font, and then the game is able to load its built in soundfont without having to wait even a second?

I know that mpu401 emulation can be used, but that doesn't seem totally necessary.

Ozzuneoj wrote:

Since we're on the topic...

With games that support the AWE32\64 natively, is there a way to get the game to use your loaded (in Windows 98) soundfont, rather than the one that is built in?

No. That's what General MIDI option is for 😀

Just load a SoundFont in Windows, set the game to General MIDI and off you go. Provided the game runs from within Windows like Doom.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Ozzuneoj wrote:

Since we're on the topic...

With games that support the AWE32\64 natively, is there a way to get the game to use your loaded (in Windows 98) soundfont, rather than the one that is built in?

No. That's what General MIDI option is for 😀

Just load a SoundFont in Windows, set the game to General MIDI and off you go. Provided the game runs from within Windows like Doom.

I guess its a bit more complicated for my situation. I'm using a Goldfinch AWE Upgrade card along side a CT2940 (midi port set to 300) and a midiman mm401 (set to 330). It just occurred to me that the AWE upgrade will sort of attach itself to an existing Soundblaster's midi port (I assume it is determined by the P3xx portion of Set Blaster) when the emulation mode is enabled in Windows. It would have been more clear to me if I'd had a single card that did this, but it makes sense now.

So, I think I'm pretty close to the "have your cake and eat it too" sound card setup for my DOS\9x system that is meant to cover as large a span of games as possible.

How does this sound:

Sound Blaster CT2940 = Excellent output quality, low noise, great selection of connections, mine has a genuine Yamaha OPL3 and since its an SB16 it is compatible with everything (since SB Pro stereo games without SB16 support do not exist)

AWE32 Upgrade CT1920 with 28MB = allows me to hear built in sound fonts for games that directly support the AWE32, also allows sound fonts up to 28MB to be loaded if I want to hear them

Midiman MM401 + MT-32 (old model) + SC-7 = Intelligent mode support, no drivers needed, MT32 and GM as they were intended to sound... only really missing GS support

So, just to test this out I loaded the Descent setup program in Windows 98SE. Without making any modifications to system settings or leaving the setup program, I can choose OPL3 music at 220, AWE synth using the game's unique built in soundfont at 620, General Midi bliss at 330 thanks to Roland, and my loaded 28MB sound font at GM 300 (in Windows only, with MPU401 emulation enabled).

I think the only thing I'm missing (aside from having 25 different external midi modules) would be the AWE32's reverb effects on the OPL3 since the CT1920 doesn't actually interface with the host Sound Blaster in any way other than through the AUX-IN.

Maybe I can finally stop messing with this system and play some games... hmm... what about that VGA card... 😊