Why does Adlib music sound bad?

>>3565275
Because it doesn't and you haven't heard enough good music.

LucasArts' games are a good pick for quality Adlib music.

>>3565275
If you don't use an MT-32 synthesizer get the fuck out of my face.

>>3565275
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B28vFRC1Pnk

Does it now?

>>3565349
Also some more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvuCkRvqulA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4hkwh4KMjs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx7EvMCnXu8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb5c145vk8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meGu4RkiWT8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEhbdVYSVMQ

Yes Adlib Tracker is also for DOS. It's all OPL as well.

>>3565318
MT-32 is sample-based MIDI which is totally different from Adlib/Sound Blaster FM synthesis.

Different FM synths had different specs. Different numbers of operators per channel, different numbers of channels, etc.

>>3565392
And it's 100 times better.

>>3565275
2 operator vs 4 operator FM.

>>3565509
This. It doesn't sound bad, but this is why it sounds different.

>>3565275
Musicians who just lazily used MIDI to adlib converters.

The Japanese/Korean stuff tends to sound great, since I suppose they were used to FM. There are some rare perls in the west too.

Keep in mind that, to this day, FM synthesis is barely touched by most electronic musicians, let alone used competently and pushed further.

DX7s were treated as fucking preset machines, man. It's hard to judge hardware that didn't get much work by brilliant people done in and expect a faithful representation of how far it could go.

Yuzo Koshiro was a total blessing to Sega and FM in general.

>>3565709
DX7's were hell to program though.

>>3565275
Because most good American musicians who knew how to handle FM synthesis worked for Williams, Bally and other companies in the pinball/arcade industry. Sierra and the likes did have people who knew how to handle AdLid (but at the same time couldn't handle the FB-01 correctly), but the vast majority of musicians didn't knew how to handle as well as the Euro and Japanese ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVxzVy4i72k

>>3565734
DX-7 were a hell to program because nobody knew how to handle FM synthesis at first, but by the late 80s (read 1987~1989) there were both the computer utilities and the theorical material for musicians to program the DX7 and other FM synth/expanders properly.

>>3565275
>Implying
Duke nukem II OST is groove as fuck.

>>3565796
Actually the instruments used are pretty meh, and the intro tune is kinda bad.