It sounded close to these recordings, at any rate: I tried the GeneralUser GS font just now with a MuseScore 2 and VirtualMIDISynth, but I'm not sure if I had set it up right. SC VA is definitely better overall compared to that one. The combination doesn't sound bad, though.Īs for other soundfonts, I've only really used Patch93's before as I'm new to this. It most likely does use some SC-88 instruments, yes. For those that have SC-55, I think instruments such as cymbals have a clearer, more resonant quality than the original hardware did it's particularly noticeable in Facing the Spider and Stalker.Įdit: One more track, Medical from System Shock, but recorded using extracted files: I have recorded several more tracks, this time directly in the games. The inclusion of SC-88 mode may also be of use to people who play Japanese games with MIDI music, as I think it was used by developers over there to some extent even though CD music was taking over by then. I have tested the SC VA with games like Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, and HeXen and the results are quite excellent, though not exactly the same as actual SC-55 recordings.
There is no clear way to manipulate the order of MIDI devices from Windows 8 forwards, though, so the matter becomes a little more complicated on those systems.Ī detailed explanation of how to set these up is presented in this video: The easiest way to set it up seems to be to use loopMIDI ( ) to create a virtual MIDI device in Windows and to link it to SAVIHost ( ), in which the SC VA can be embedded. This virtual synthesizer can be embedded in a host application and used as the main or additional MIDI device in Windows, thus also in DOSBox. There is also a trial version on the web site. Vocaroo uses pretty heavy compression, here are higher-quality samples (I added more reverb than the tracks normally use): As such, aside of getting some version of SC-55, this is the best way to play MIDI music in most games released from the early to mid 90s, as Roland's hardware was often what contemporary composers used or aimed at supporting. The compatibility maps do not produce results that match each original hardware exactly, but they are of very high quality and are better-balanced than any amateur soundfonts out there.
In December of 2015 Roland released a software MIDI synthesizer that is equivalent to Sound Canvas 8820, which in turn includes compatibility modes for SC-55, 88, and 88 Pro. I haven't found any mention of this in other threads, so here I go. At the risk of being branded an advertising plant, I thought I could start a thread about this piece of software as it should be of interest to quite a few people here.