Obsolete: Enhanced ScummVM MIDI music on Windows

[LogicDeLuxe]

@LogicDeLuxe: Am I right then, that it only makes sense with these two games (or any other without custom instrument mappings) and produces inferior MIDI sound on others?

I don't know all the games, and neither did I analyze those I have.
Games which definitely won't work with the MT-32 sound bank would be all iMuse MIDI games and all Sierra games using MT-32 (not limited to ScummVM).

If so, why doesn't ScummVM automatically disable the MT-32 on other games if specified in conjunction with GS? I doubt most poeple will know which games actually has custom instrument mappings and which hasn't...

Good point. Why don't you file a feature request, then?
On the other hand, why would someone even consider using both options simultaneously without reading the readme and thus knowing what it actually does? It's not exactly obvious.

[JohnnyWalker2001]

It does seem like this section of ScummVM could do with a bit of revamping... It's not obvious in the menus and it's not really all that obvious once you've read the manual :-/

Maybe we could combine our collective knowledge/ignorance into something useful to people?

[Timar]

Well, there's at least an ambiguity in the manuel that did mislead me (and certainly other people too). The manual says that you will get superior sound on at least two games (Loom and MI), but it ommits to say that you will actually get inferior sound on most other. The manual should be adjusted at least - though a "clever" handling of these options in ScummVM (by only using the MT-32 mode on games without custom mapping) would the more convenient solution IMHO.

Btw, I found a great comparison of different synths. You can download examples of a piece from Larry 3 played on the MT-32, different SC versions and both Roland and Yamaha softsynths:

http://www.queststudios.com/digital/com ... e2005.html

[Kaminari]

Remember that Larry 3 is an MT-32 game and doesn't have native GM support. The GM/GS/XG versions available at Quest Studios are not simple bank remappings but hand-tweaked arranges.

[_Marty_]

I had a problem, i cant load soundfonts any size. My System has 8GB ram It workd only in PR32/PR16 and DFD (Direct From Disk). I found now a SFz.dll
http://web.archive.org/web/200612060402 ... /freeware/ there is a SFZ.dll from 2006. It worked now, i can load soundfonts.

[raina]

I had a problem, i cant load soundfonts any size. My System has 8GB ram It workd only in PR32/PR16 and DFD (Direct From Disk). I found now a SFz.dll
http://web.archive.org/web/200612060402 ... /freeware/ there is a SFZ.dll from 2006. It worked now, i can load soundfonts.

That's weird. I've only ever had 2GB RAM at the most and I only remember seeing that "Have you considered adding more memory to this poor box?" message when I had removed a faulty 1GB module.

[djvj]

Since scummvm supports soundfonts in windows, is this all still necessary? I am only asking because I have mt-32 emulation working great with soundfonts and wasn't sure if this would make it even better.

[raina]

I am aware that there have been new developments on the music front on Windows since the writing of this guide. In fact I was unable to follow it myself because the Windows default MIDI device changer apps I tried seemed ineffective on Windows 7.

The time has probably passed this article, if SoundFonts indeed work out-of-the-box nowadays. I can't say for sure as I've not played many ScummVM games recently. Nor do I have the power to make this non-sticky.

But let me ask this: MT-32 AND SoundFonts? Is this for games without General MIDI suport? Sounds like it should be better than the MT-32 emulation, while not aiming for accuracy.

[djvj]

I'm sorry, I thought I needed both mt-32 and the soundfont to get this to work. I removed the soundfont and I still have the mt-32 emulation. Now I need to figure out how to get the soundfont working to do a comparison to see which sounds better.

[ezekiel000]

AFAIK soundfonts in ScummVM are used with fluidsynth.

[djvj]

Yep, you are right. As you were posting that I set everything to fuildsynth and it required a soundfont file. It seems to be a middle ground for midi quality. MT-32 has a lot more body to the instruments, while the soundfont has somewhat less.

Does anyone have a list of what games sound better using mt-32 vs fluidsynth vs windows midi?

[eriktorbjorn]

AFAIK soundfonts in ScummVM are used with fluidsynth.

And by the "CoreAudio" MIDI driver. I think; it's for OS X, so I've never tried it.

[ezekiel000]

Does Timidity also use the soundfont option?

[eriktorbjorn]

Does Timidity also use the soundfont option?

ScummVM doesn't tell it to, but apparently you can configure TiMidity itself to use a soundfont since it "uses Gravis Ultrasound compatible patch files and/or SoundFonts as the voice data". I've never gotten the TiMidity music driver to work anywhere near acceptable on my Linux box, though. Using TiMidity through ALSA worked a lot better last time I tried it.

[dowoshek]

I use 1.2.1 release and there's built-in fluidsynth option to use with soundfont.
Let me ask if it's still sensible to do things like it's described in the first post of this topic or maybe we can get same results by using the built-in fluidsynth with chosen soundfont?

I've already tried a combination of Timidity or the built-in fluisynth with few soundfonts (SGM, Chorium, Airfont and few more) and the best sound I get with fluidsynth+Airfont. And now i wonder if it's worth to try the solution from this topic.