Better Music for GM ScummVM (and DOSBox) games

[cwadge]

FatBoy v0.789 is now available for download.

Nothing big, just a few very minor adjustments to attenuation.
Doom 2, Endgame

You know the drill.

[vanfanel]

@cwadge:

I was shocked by how GREAT UHD3 soundfont sounds on the Raspberry Pi using Scummvm and its Fluidsynth support. And being so light, its just perfect for the little computer. Thanks!!

However, I have noticed some strange sounds, like in the Space Quest IV (PC) intro music. Almost at the end of the credits, there is a strange and very ear-piercing "clank clankaclankaclanka" sound, like a wrong instrument or something.
Could that be fixed somehow?

[cwadge]

@cwadge:

I was shocked by how GREAT UHD3 soundfont sounds on the Raspberry Pi using Scummvm and its Fluidsynth support. And being so light, its just perfect for the little computer. Thanks!!

Glad you've found it useful.

However, I have noticed some strange sounds, like in the Space Quest IV (PC) intro music. Almost at the end of the credits, there is a strange and very ear-piercing "clank clankaclankaclanka" sound, like a wrong instrument or something.
Could that be fixed somehow?

I'm not sure, I believe Space Quest IV was one of the games that was composed primarily for MT-32. ScummVM can mostly convert MT-32 to GM for compatibility reasons, but not entirely. Thus most of SQ4 will probably sound better with a modern synth, but some of it may sound horrible. This is especially true of Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis (Indy4). It's amazing up until a certain part of the game where the composer used MT-32 custom patches, then it's a mess. Not much I can do about that; either a game is GM compatible or it isn't. For such games, I'd recommend trying the "MT-32 Emulator" built into recent versions of ScummVM (aka MUNT).

If you send me a recording of the dissonant sounds in question, I'm willing to take a look. UHD hasn't really been updated in around a decade, FatBoy is my current project. But if there's an obvious bug with the old UHD, I'd be glad to take a crack at it.

[MusicallyInspired]

The CD talkie version of Space Quest IV (the one included with all currently available purchasable collections) has an officially tweaked GM-geared soundtrack. The original floppy text version does not, however. So it should be GM compatible. However, the GM translation that Sierra did isn't the best and half the instruments and percussion are missing. Still, I don't think any clanking sounds are an intended effect when playing with its GM driver in DOS.

[vanfanel]

@cwadge

Here is a record of the precise moment when the clinking sounds come into play:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oec3gu3m5m1a5 ... errors.wav

I have tried the talkie CD version, and it bugs exactly the same on the same point. Strange, as its supposed to be fully GM compatible as @MusicallyInspired pointed out.

[MusicallyInspired]

Sounds like that's supposed to be the timpani instrument playing there but it's playing a marimba or vibraphone or something instead.

[vanfanel]

Sounds like that's supposed to be the timpani instrument playing there but it's playing a marimba or vibraphone or something instead.

Thats my guess, too. Do you think its a problem with the font, then?

Also, is it possible to have General MIDI + Adlib fx like the canteen noises on the intro?
For example, thats possible on Monkey Island (VGA, EGA) where you can have GM + Adlib fx. But on SQ4 it does not seem to work.

[Raziel]

@vanfanel

Your soundfile is obviously superior to everything else i've heard so far.
It even beats my YamahaMU90 (by more than a thousand miles)...judging from the youtube videos...man, the intro of Laura Bow sounds like it's played by an orchestra, absolutely grand.

Unfortunately i won't be able to use it with ScummVM, at least not on my platform (no soundfile supporting program here, timidity++ not available and probably not enough cpu power either way).
edit: Also no fluidsynth

So, would it be possible to create a (GUS)patch set out of your amazing soundfont, so i could at least use it with the normal timidity?

Thanks a lot, kudos and praise to your work and please keep on.

btw, if you haven't already uploaded it, i'd love to hear what the intro of Space Quest III sounds with FatBoy

[vanfanel]

@vanfanel

Your soundfile is obviously superior to everything else i've heard so far.
It even beats my YamahaMU90 (by more than a thousand miles)...judging from the youtube videos...man, the intro of Laura Bow sounds like it's played by an orchestra, absolutely grand.

Unfortunately i won't be able to use it with ScummVM, at least not on my platform (no soundfile supporting program here, timidity++ not available and probably not enough cpu power either way).
edit: Also no fluidsynth

So, would it be possible to create a (GUS)patch set out of your amazing soundfont, so i could at least use it with the normal timidity?

Thanks a lot, kudos and praise to your work and please keep on.

btw, if you haven't already uploaded it, i'd love to hear what the intro of Space Quest III sounds with FatBoy

These amazing fonts (both FatBoy and the small but GREAT UHD3) are by cwadge, not me. I am just reporting an issue I found with the SQ IV intro (and the lack of some FX like alien sounds in the canteen when Genera Midi is used with hybrid AdLib option active).

[Raziel]

@cwadge
@vanfanel

Ah, sorry, mixed you up then.

My kudos still stands.
Amazing work, amazing output

[Raziel]

Not really on topic, but something I'm wondering about for some time and it kind of fits the thread.

Is there a MIDI sound module available that allows uploading .sf files for it's audio output beside it's default sound patch base?
And probably even the possibility to switch between those by any means of commands?

I'm thinking about uploading and using fatboy.sf for scummvm and the default sound base for everything else.

My problem is that software based solutions (timidity[++], fluidsynth etc.) are either too old, too CPU hungry or simply not available to actually work on my platform.
A Hardware solution would be ideal, midi sound modules work. I had a mt-32 and using a yamaha mu90 right now, but it can't compete with fatboy.

Thank you for any hints

and kudos once again to charge for fatboy

[cwadge]

FatBoy v0.790 is now available for download.

Finally, finally got around to replacing the concert flute. This one is milder, easier to pitch tune, and should work better in a wider variety of situations: RPGMaker "Slow" theme #1

I've done a few solid hours of testing on this release, but please let me know if you run into anything weird.

[cwadge]

The CD talkie version of Space Quest IV (the one included with all currently available purchasable collections) has an officially tweaked GM-geared soundtrack. The original floppy text version does not, however. So it should be GM compatible. However, the GM translation that Sierra did isn't the best and half the instruments and percussion are missing. Still, I don't think any clanking sounds are an intended effect when playing with its GM driver in DOS.

Unfortunately it seems that SQ4 has a, shall we say, less than thorough conversion from MT-32 to GM rather than a proper rearrangement. There are errors in the (scripted?) MIDI translation that lead to oddities like that. I'd stand by what I said earlier: you're probably much better off with MUNT for that title (and some notable others, e.g. Indy IV - Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis) unless you really, really hate the sound of the MT-32. In that case there's not much I can do; I can either "fix" SQ4 and Indy4 while breaking every other MIDI, or recommend using MUNT for the original MT-32 soundtrack.

[cwadge]

Not really on topic, but something I'm wondering about for some time and it kind of fits the thread.

Is there a MIDI sound module available that allows uploading .sf files for it's audio output beside it's default sound patch base?
And probably even the possibility to switch between those by any means of commands?

I'm thinking about uploading and using fatboy.sf for scummvm and the default sound base for everything else.

My problem is that software based solutions (timidity[++], fluidsynth etc.) are either too old, too CPU hungry or simply not available to actually work on my platform.
A Hardware solution would be ideal, midi sound modules work. I had a mt-32 and using a yamaha mu90 right now, but it can't compete with fatboy.

Thank you for any hints

and kudos once again to charge for fatboy

A friend and I had kicked around the idea of building a Raspberry Pi based solution that runs both the latest FluidSynth + FatBoy and MUNT as daemons. Setup a button/switch to the GPIO to toggle which receives the MIDI input, maybe even an MT-32 style LCD and a 3D printed case to look like an old-school desktop MIDI module. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to pursue this at all, but it might be a fun weekend DIY project for somebody. Something like this.

Even with a very low-end Pi though, you could probably cobble together a rudimentary setup that just takes a simple MIDI input and pipes it through FluidSynth on a socket. The simplest solution from there would be to mix back in the analog audio output back into your system, just like we used to do with the stand-alone desktop MIDI modules back in the day. Probably wouldn't be too much of a challenge.

[MusicallyInspired]

That's a freaking cool idea!