Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth vs. Roland Sound Canvas

>>4132524
I agree, listening to some midis with the newer soundfonts they just dont have the same punch. I remember duke nukem 3d sounding wimpy as fuck in the one configuration.

>>4132524
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvEEWeGyQU
Others just cannot compare

File: cosmologyofkyoto-11.jpg (104KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]

104KB, 640x480px

>>4132524

MIDI may have had a standardized format, but almost nothing was standard about the implementation. I grew up with a Pro Audio Spectrum for some time, which was OPL2. A little later we got an AWE32 card, which had wavetable sound support. DOS and windows games of the era were synonymous with those pieces of hardware for me. The GS wavetable synth just sounds "off" compared to what I grew up listening to.


The point is that because the hardware was so varied, there's no real "right" way to listen to these songs. I think it's kind of neat going back and having them play through large soundfonts and hearing the difference. I'm sure that the composers of the time would have opted for the most realistic sounding instruments if they would have had the ability to use them.

>>4132641
>I'm sure that the composers of the time would have opted for the most realistic sounding instruments if they would have had the ability to use them.
Disagree. You can have a whole set of realistic sounding instruments but if they don't sound right together it sounds terrible.. They'd likely go for the most harmonizing soundset that's as realistic as possible.

>>4132524
>Why do people shit on the former, despite the fact that it's essentially a software version of the latter (albeit with missing effects)?
Because it was lazy, done in a hurry, and cost cutting was likely involved

what they pushed out could have been better but again the reasons above, what's done is done

>>4132641
>Vic20
>C64 sounded great
>386SX speaker
>386dx40 speaker
>Pentium 166 Finally opl3 sb16 clone.
It hurt to have shit sound for so long.

I really appreciated the rare games that made a good job of pc speaker.

File: vsc88h.gif (10KB, 466x117px) Image search: [Google]

10KB, 466x117px

>>4133015
More like Roland gimped it so it wouldn't compete with their virtual sound canvas softsynth line.

>>4133183
VSC sucked almost as badly as the MSGS synth.

>>4133183
Even then VSC was nothing more than MSGS with Effects and SC88 instruments. And it was the best way to get something SC88 sounding on a pre-WinVista PC without having to shell out for an expensive Sound Canvas until the Sound Canvas VA came out a couple of years ago.

>>4132524
It can be glitchy

>>4135263
The new Sound Canvas VA is pretty good, though. Although it's really overpriced considering it's a direct port of the much cheaper iOS Sound Canvas.

>>4132524
Play System Shock with Microsoft GS. Some songs shit all over themselves violently, namely the Reactor theme. You're better off with MIDI/FM through soundblaster emulation.

>>4132524
It also has a pretty gross and telltale choir samples.

File: muh singapoor.png (7KB, 431x374px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 431x374px

>>4132524
>(albeit with missing effects)?
Reverb makes all the difference. I prefer mixing custom soundfonts in BASSMidi anyway.

>>4132524
the emulation was done in the 90's and it really fucking shows with how compressed all the samples sound