Really good Apple IIGS sound/music?
limtc
What's your opinion of any good Apple IIGS games/applications that
really show off Apple IIGS stereo sound capability besides demos?
I can think of a few (which I already shown to my kids):
- DiversiTune (everybody favoruites!)
- Music Construction Set (this one seems to gear more towards
classical music)
- Arkanoid II
- Rastan
- Zany Golf
I don't quite like the sound generated from SoundSmith, Music Studio
and MIDISync (based on what I heard so far). NoiseTracker and some MOD
players have excellent sounds.
Any suggestions are welcome. I am trying to find more software to show
my family ever since I can get stereo sound on my GS.
Mitchell Spector
>What's your opinion of any good Apple IIGS games/applications that
>really show off Apple IIGS stereo sound capability besides demos?
I'd have to think about that, there were several...
>I can think of a few (which I already shown to my kids):
>
>- DiversiTune (everybody favoruites!)
>- Music Construction Set (this one seems to gear more towards
>classical music)
>- Arkanoid II
>- Rastan
>- Zany Golf
How about adding:
- The Immortal
- Silpheed
- Spacefox
- Ancient Land of Ys
- Pente
- Winter Games
- World Games
- Rocket Ranger
- Three Stooges
- Skate or Die
- Sierra games (i.e. Police/King/Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry)
- Pangea games with music by Gene Koh (i.e. Senseless Violence 2,
Cosmocade, Xenocide)
>I don't quite like the sound generated from SoundSmith,
Typical Soundsmith songs were 4-voice MODs stripped of their
effects, so I'd agree here. The exception was anything composed
specifically for the IIgs, anything from James Brookes is a perfect
example: Digital Exodus X-Mas Demo '93 (the remixed song taken
from the GSA California Demo), GS<>IRC Demo with his Depeche
Mode songs, a bunch of other games he composed for in the early
to mid 1990's.
Spacefox is another beautiful example of 15-track Soundsmith
music composed specifically for the GS. Or any of the FTA demos
out there. Ninjaforce's Mega Demo is a nice example of playing
MODs with effects inside a GS demo (plus I always liked the tune
in BBS Demo and Dotland!).
>Music Studio
Sounded awful in my opinion. Mind you, someone created a
custom wavebank and did a _really_ cool version of The Police's
"Every Breath You Take" that you'd never guess was coming
from Music Studio. Have that here.
Ah, just thought of Instant Music and Jam Session. These are nice
ones for sound quality, and furthermore they're interactive--sort of music
doddling programs and you don't need any musical skill or background!
I think your kids would like these.
>and MIDISync (based on what I heard so far).
I really was impressed by "ShortDemo.seq", "Midsummer.seq" and
"Capri.seq" from Apple Computer. They really took advantage of what
synthLAB (MIDIsynth) was supposed to be.
Unfortunately too many people used synthLAB to playback GM/GS
MIDI files, and the limited instrument patches and voices didn't cut it.
I converted several dozen of my own sequences and released them,
but done with care so they were far better than the average songs
being released. The best example was when I created my own custom
wavebanks, one with a Grand piano. I seem to remember creating
a Jazz.bank patch too, got some really nice sound out of synthLAB
(I was in the process of posting some samples on YouTube, I can
send you a link).
>NoiseTracker and some MOD players have excellent sounds.
Only decent MOD players were BeatBox and Shellplay (which
was given an NDA interface by Ninjaforce). The others didn't
support all the effects and had issues with sound quality I seem
to remember.
>Any suggestions are welcome. I am trying to find more software to show
>my family ever since I can get stereo sound on my GS.
There are many, many more examples, but this is just off the top
of my head.
Mitchell Spector
Michael Kent
> What's your opinion of any good Apple IIGS games/applications that
> really show off Apple IIGS stereo sound capability besides demos?
For games try Operation Lambda, Cosmocade, and The Immortal (I think The
Immortal has good sound, but it's been years since I've played it. If it
doesn't, it should :) since it's what Will Harvey did as a follow-up to
Zany Golf.)
For applications, Music Construction Set and Music Studio let you create
and edit songs, and SynthLab lets you create and edit musical instruments.
But those are programs that show what you can *do* with the GS's capability.
They're not all that impressive in the passive sense like a demo.
> I don't quite like the sound generated from SoundSmith, Music Studio
> and MIDISync (based on what I heard so far). NoiseTracker and some MOD
> players have excellent sounds.
I think that's because the MOD format originated on the Amiga which, while
it was inferior to the GS sound-wise, seemed to attract more than its share
of musicians. And as is often the case, in the battle between talent and
hardware, talent won. :)
> Any suggestions are welcome. I am trying to find more software to show
> my family ever since I can get stereo sound on my GS.
Not related to the sound capability of the GS, but have you introduced
your kids to The Tinies or Milestones 2000 yet? While not the most
stunning technically, they're both good, solid games that I think kids
the age of yours would have fun playing.
Mike
Polymorph
limtc wrote:
> Hi,
>
> What's your opinion of any good Apple IIGS games/applications that
> really show off Apple IIGS stereo sound capability besides demos?
>
> I can think of a few (which I already shown to my kids):
>
> - DiversiTune (everybody favoruites!)
> - Music Construction Set (this one seems to gear more towards
> classical music)
> - Arkanoid II
> - Rastan
> - Zany Golf
>
> I don't quite like the sound generated from SoundSmith, Music Studio
> and MIDISync (based on what I heard so far). NoiseTracker and some MOD
> players have excellent sounds.
Axel F and Funky Town sound pretty awesome in Soundsmith, but apart from
those I was a little under whelmed.
I thought my MidiSynth conversions of kids songs (in Dora Colouring)
sounded OK - but I must admit, it was very hard to convert regular Midi
songs into MidiSynth. Many of the conversions I did will never be heard
by any other ears than mine (because most of them fall into the "sounds
dreadful" bucket).
One great example of stereo music can be heard in the karate game called
Sensei. It uses stereo to great effect, particularly in the intro scene
where it plays drums from alternate speakers. This was the game that I
used to test my TDX sound card after building it (mainly because it was
so obvious to determine if the stereo effects were working). Sensei can
be downloaded from:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/ground.icaen.uiowa.edu/apple16/Games/Sensei/sensei.shk
--
Cheers,
Mike
Find my Apple II projects online at:
http://apple2.sytes.net/
"It's my duty; my duty as a complete and utter bastard!" - Rimmer (Red
Dwarf)
--- Synchronet 3.14a-Win32 NewsLink 1.85
A2Central.com - Your total source for Apple II computing.
limtc
On 5月11日, 上午2时11分, Mitchell Spector <mitch...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> - Silpheed
Alex Lee
<poly...@a2central.com.remove-4fd-this> said:
Everyone's
>
quick to bash SoundSmith, aren't they? :-) Sesei's music was created in
SoundSmith. As Mitch pointed out, all the FTA demos were created in
SoundSmith using all 15 channels. It's just a shame most demo tracks
for SoundSmith were MOD conversions with only 4 channels, but I still
think SoundSmith was the best all round player. With Ian Schmidt's
MegaTracker player, it only consumed 1% of the CPU on a stock standard
IIGS for music playback.
--
- Alex
http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/
limtc
limtc
On 5月11日, 上午7时43分, "Polymorph" <polymo...@a2central.com.remove-4fd-
limtc
site, but it is 2 files that ends with .ss1 and .ss2, not a SHK file,
how to use it?
I also found a version of SoundSmith 1.0.1, mine is 0.9.4, what is the
difference?
On 5月11日, 上午7时43分, "Polymorph" <polymo...@a2central.com.remove-4fd-
this> wrote:
Polymorph
Alex Lee wrote:
> On 2008-05-11 09:43:41 +1000, "Polymorph"
> <poly...@a2central.com.remove-4fd-this> said:
<snip>
>
> Everyone's
>>
> quick to bash SoundSmith, aren't they? :-) Sesei's music was created in
> SoundSmith. As Mitch pointed out, all the FTA demos were created in
> SoundSmith using all 15 channels. It's just a shame most demo tracks for
> SoundSmith were MOD conversions with only 4 channels, but I still think
> SoundSmith was the best all round player. With Ian Schmidt's MegaTracker
> player, it only consumed 1% of the CPU on a stock standard IIGS for
> music playback.
I wasn't trying to bash Soundsmith, I was just saying that I've only
heard two really good Soundsmith songs (from within Soundsmith anyhow).
Mind you, the two songs I mentioned ("Axel F" and "Funky Town") are
*really* good, and certainly would be right up there in my picks as the
best music I've heard from the IIgs.
Its probably like you said, many of the Soundsmith songs are MOD
conversions, and they are definitely not in the same league as "Axel F"
and "Funky Town" - I don't know if these two were MOD conversions or
not, but they sound good to me. :-)
I was not aware that the music in Sensei was created in Soundsmith, but
if it was then it shows that the Soundsmith tool is definitely not the
limiting factor, because the Sensei music is great too.
There is also programming support for Soundsmith, as I've successfully
incorporated Soundsmith songs into Complete Pascal using a custom tool
set that I came across which I think was developed by one of the
talented French IIgs groups (I can't remember which one right now).
limtc
drive any minute)... and found a cool SoundSmith song called
AlphaVille.
Still looking for the Funky Town though.
tonykavadias
> - DiversiTune (everybody favoruites!)
> - Music Construction Set (this one seems to gear more towards
> classical music)
> - Arkanoid II
> - Rastan
> - Zany Golf
You might not want to show your kids this... but I thought the last (3rd)
level of Xenocide was the most original use of the Ensoniq sound system
on the IIGS. The song was composed using samples that, unlike all the
other tracks used in the game, included mutated voices, smooth ambient
synth pads and a dull melody which haunted the listener (adding to the
intensity of the game).
The soundtrack probably suffered from undersampling of the original waveform
samples (there was a tinning of the sound on good quality speakers), but
apart from those flaws, it was the best (and the darkest) soundtracks I
have ever heard coming out of my IIGS's speakers!
Brian Greenstone's games have always had very good musical direction
for as long
as I can remember, and continue to impress [me] even in the Macintosh titles
still available at his Pangea Software site (http://www.pangeasoft.net/).
--tonza
limtc
disk for it... (I have it on my harddisk image).
I have not played The Tinies before - another puzzle game? I just did
a search and found it: http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/thetinies.html
On 5月11日, 上午7时21分, Michael Kent <mich...@syndicomm.remove.this.com>
wrote:
limtc
http://worrydream.com/iigs/ - not sure whether it is a good game or
not.
Cosmocade is fun, but I don't know how to play it now without
joystick. The Immortal is probably too hard to play for kids.
On 5月11日, 上午7时21分, Michael Kent <mich...@syndicomm.remove.this.com>
wrote:
> For games try Operation Lambda, Cosmocade, and The Immortal (I think The
Toinet
> I try to get back some files from my old disks (which might dirty my
> drive any minute)... and found a cool SoundSmith song called
> AlphaVille.
>
> Still looking for the Funky Town though.
antoine
Toinet
> Oh Milestons 2000! That's an amazing game. Need to create a bootable
> disk for it... (I have it on my harddisk image).
>
> I have not played The Tinies before - another puzzle game? I just did
> a search and found it:http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/thetinies.html
The Tinies are mischievous, hairy beings from the planet Sklumph. Cute
but unruly, the Tinies are messy creatures whose highest cultural
achievement is the practical joke. And now a group of the craziest
Tinies have decided to take a trip to Earth. Unless you stop them,
they will turn our planet upside down...
It is a puzzle/arcade game with more than 100 levels in 11 different
worlds. The IIgs version contains 3200 color pictures for every new
world visited.
It is (c) 1992 Atreid Concept / Kalisto. A French company started by
Nicolas Gaume. He was called the French Bill Gates. You can find his
life on linkedin.com.
Olivier and I released the IIgs version as a freeware in 1993.
antoine
a2av...@gmail.com
a2av...@gmail.com
> "The Secret of Monkey Island" demo.
I've added the audio from this as well as a couple other things.
California Games IIgs and a two minute session of Arkanoid II.
The Secret of Monkey Island is a demo from the period when Sierra
(Sierra On-Line) made the announcement of discontinuing their Apple II
development. The demo was mostly coded by DadoPado of FTA fame and
consists of three sections. The boot sequence, TSOMI title screen and
opening music which is the part I like the most, then there's some
typical demo greets and text on the screen, thats what the second part
of the music is from. The third sequence is a mock interview between
them and Ken Williams of Sierra. Basically slamming Sierra for dumping
the Apple II development when it's what helped start them.
limtc
natively on Scummvm:
...unless the GS version is way superior of course (but typically this
is not the case for most multi platform games).
Michael Kent
> I have not played The Tinies before - another puzzle game? I just did
> a search and found it: http://www.brutal-deluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/thetinies.html
It's a puzzle game (which the GS seems to excel at), but one with decent
graphics and a lot of interesting levels. There's also a Tinies Construct-
ion Kit for creating new levels.
I think your kids will like it. I do.
Mike
Michael Kent
> The Tinies are mischievous, hairy beings from the planet Sklumph.
> Olivier and I released the IIgs version as a freeware in 1993.
Great game! Thanks for all your effort in bringing it to the IIgs.
Mike
Michael Kent
> Mmm... never heard of Operation Lambda. Just do a search and found it:
> http://worrydream.com/iigs/ - not sure whether it is a good game or
> not.
Operation Lambda is a IIgs game by Brett Victor. You can download it
and his other programs from his personal website.
It is without a doubt the best puzzle game for the IIgs since Dueltris.
Excellent graphics, awesome soundtrack, great gameplay. It didn't see a
wide circulation when it was released, so many people have probably not
played it.
The backstory behind the game is that you must rescue hostages from a
space station. Each room in the space station contains one or more hostages
and a bomb. You must rescue the hostages before time runs out, or the bomb
goes off.
Problem is, there are a number of lasers in each room that will fry your
sorry butt if you cross their path. To rescue the hostages you must move
mirrors in front of the lasers to direct their engery away without frying
yourself or the hostages.
So each room is essentially a logic puzzle, but it is a very entertaining
challenge. Very well done. I highly recommend the game.
Mike
Mitchell Spector
>On May 11, 6:57 pm, a2avia...@gmail.com wrote:
>> "The Secret of Monkey Island" demo.
>
>I've added the audio from this as well as a couple other things.
>
>The Secret of Monkey Island is a demo from the period when Sierra
>(Sierra On-Line) made the announcement of discontinuing their Apple II
>development. The demo was mostly coded by DadoPado of FTA fame and
>consists of three sections. The boot sequence, TSOMI title screen and
>opening music which is the part I like the most, then there's some
>typical demo greets and text on the screen, thats what the second part
>of the music is from. The third sequence is a mock interview between
>them and Ken Williams of Sierra. Basically slamming Sierra for dumping
>the Apple II development when it's what helped start them.
Is this demo available for download somewhere? Or if not, can
someone out there pass on a copy to me?
I thought I saw all the major demos released for the IIgs, this is
one that I must have somehow missed out on (I didn't even see it
mentioned on Ninjaforce's site where they reviewed all the demos
released for the GS).
Mitchell Spector
Polymorph
Mitchell Spector wrote:
> a2av...@gmail.com wrote:
<snip>
>
> Is this demo available for download somewhere? Or if not, can
> someone out there pass on a copy to me?
>
<snip>
Mitchell,
You can find the image here:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple.cabi.net/Demos/MonkeyIslandDemo.sdk
Hope this helps!
Polymorph
Thye Chean,
Check your email. I just sent you a disk image containing "Funky Town". :)
Mitchell Spector
>Mitchell Spector wrote:
>>
>> Is this demo available for download somewhere? Or if not, can
>> someone out there pass on a copy to me?
>Mitchell,
>
>You can find the image here:
>http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple.cabi.net/Demos/MonkeyIslandDemo.sdk
Got it, thanks! Had a quick look at it, but apparently there is
*second* disk to this demo. Do you have disk 2, I don't see it
on the site.
Interesting, it's written by the Italian group I.Ci.A. That reminds
me, I have another one of their demos called "IFFing Volume 2" that
has another nice example of above average IIgs music! I got it off a
local BBS 18 years ago and haven't seen it anywhere else. I can
upload a copy if anyone wants to have a look, although it doesn't
run on the ROM 3. I wonder if there were any other demos from
I.Ci.A out there (maybe an IFFing Vol 1?).
Mitchell Spector
Jeff Blakeney
On Fri, 16 May 2008 05:17:31 -0400, Mitchell Spector wrote:
> Interesting, it's written by the Italian group I.Ci.A. That reminds
> me, I have another one of their demos called "IFFing Volume 2" that
> has another nice example of above average IIgs music! I got it off a
> local BBS 18 years ago and haven't seen it anywhere else. I can
> upload a copy if anyone wants to have a look, although it doesn't
> run on the ROM 3. I wonder if there were any other demos from
> I.Ci.A out there (maybe an IFFing Vol 1?).
Count me in for wanting to see it. I hadn't heard of the Monkey Island
Demo before either so I've grabbed a copy.
That group and those demos are not listed at NinjaForce's "IIGS Demo
Scene reviewed" site at:
http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/special_demoscene.html
Maybe someone needs to make a more complete list of IIgs demos.
Michael Kent
> You can find the image here:
> http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple.cabi.net/Demos/MonkeyIslandDemo.sdk
run. I take it the demo does not work on a ROM 03?
Mike
Michael Kent Apple II Forever!
St. Peters, MO
a2av...@gmail.com
l11-this> wrote:
> To: Polymorph
> > You can find the image here:
>
> Thanks for the link. I can extract the disk from the archive OK, but it won't
> run. I take it the demo does not work on a ROM 03?
It works just fine on a ROM 3.
It does not boot. you need to do '-RUN.ME' from ProDOS BASIC.
Mitchell Spector
<jeff.b...@a2central.com.remove-1078-this> wrote:
> To: Mitchell Spector
>On Fri, 16 May 2008 05:17:31 -0400, Mitchell Spector wrote:
>
>> Interesting, it's written by the Italian group I.Ci.A. That reminds
>> me, I have another one of their demos called "IFFing Volume 2" that
>> has another nice example of above average IIgs music! I got it off a
>> local BBS 18 years ago and haven't seen it anywhere else. I can
>> upload a copy if anyone wants to have a look, although it doesn't
>> run on the ROM 3. I wonder if there were any other demos from
>> I.Ci.A out there (maybe an IFFing Vol 1?).
>
>Count me in for wanting to see it. I hadn't heard of the Monkey Island
>Demo before either so I've grabbed a copy.
I just created a 2MG disk-image so I could have a look at it in
an emulator (again, because of the ROM 3 incompatibility). You're
welcome to it, but is there an active Apple II FTP site to upload
software like this so it's not eventually lost?
>That group and those demos are not listed at NinjaForce's "IIGS Demo
>Scene reviewed" site at:
>
> http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/special_demoscene.html
There are others missing as well, probably because they were
done by lesser known groups or didn't qualify as true demos. For
example, I don't see IBM Killers demo, Bullwinkle's LastRites '93
demo, all those menu-based ACS mini demos or Tim Meekin's
Software Experience demos. It'd be neat to have someone
create a website (a la Gaming Fairway) of IIgs demos.
Having another look all these years later, I just noticed this is
actually called "G-Iffing Volume 2". It's a musical 256 color slide
slow with some scrolling text taking shots at the Amiga mainly.
Nothing very exciting, but it does have the same nice stereo
panning effects and ear filling music as Monkey Island.
Mitchell Spector
Mitchell Spector
a2av...@gmail.com
I think that was just yet another stab at the point of the 'demo'.
Never existed.
Jeff Blakeney
On Sat, 17 May 2008 18:08:09 -0400, Mitchell Spector wrote:
> I just created a 2MG disk-image so I could have a look at it in
> an emulator (again, because of the ROM 3 incompatibility). You're
> welcome to it, but is there an active Apple II FTP site to upload
> software like this so it's not eventually lost?
I'd like to take a look so if you could e-mail it to me that would be
great.
As to FTP sites, the GNO Apple II Archive (previously know as Trenco) is
still around and I believe still accepts uploads. The only catch is you
need to get an account to upload. Apparently you need an account to
download from the web interface too but I always use anonymous FTP to
download from there.
A2Central has an FTP site as well but there isn't much there at present.
Other than those, I'm not sure where it would be appropriate to upload
IIgs demos.
>>That group and those demos are not listed at NinjaForce's "IIGS Demo
>>Scene reviewed" site at:
>>
>> http://www.ninjaforce.com/html/special_demoscene.html
>
> There are others missing as well, probably because they were
> done by lesser known groups or didn't qualify as true demos. For
> example, I don't see IBM Killers demo, Bullwinkle's LastRites '93
> demo, all those menu-based ACS mini demos or Tim Meekin's
> Software Experience demos. It'd be neat to have someone
> create a website (a la Gaming Fairway) of IIgs demos.
I'm pretty sure I've seen the IBM Killers and Bullwinkle demos and I've
seen at least one ACS demo but which one, I'm not sure. I don't think
I've heard of the Software Experience demos.
If I had some web space, I'd probably put up some Apple IIgs related web
pages. I still have a page mostly done of all the Marinetti related
applications. I have posted it as a text file here in the past. From
time to time I've been looking at it to update it with the proper links
and such. I've even started converting all the information into an XML
file so that I can write a program to generate the HTML for me and that
way I'll only ever have to update the XML file in the future.
I could probably do something like this for other types of archives as
well. The one thing I really miss about the GEnie archive is the short
and long descriptions you could get for the files as well as being able
to do keyword searches.
> Having another look all these years later, I just noticed this is
> actually called "G-Iffing Volume 2". It's a musical 256 color slide
> slow with some scrolling text taking shots at the Amiga mainly.
> Nothing very exciting, but it does have the same nice stereo
> panning effects and ear filling music as Monkey Island.
I didn't have a stereo card for my IIgs for a very long time. I think I
finally got one in 1998 or so, so running these types of demos now I get
to experience something new. :-)
I really need to go through all my old archives and see what I've got.
Heck, I need to go through my Time In A Bottle CDs to check out things
that I didn't want to pay to download from GEnie. I'm sure I've missed
out on some gems.
Michael Kent
> It works just fine on a ROM 3.
>
> It does not boot. you need to do '-RUN.ME' from ProDOS BASIC.
Oh, I did. Did it the first thing. The only thing that happens is I
get a blank text screen and then....nothing happens.
Mike
Michael Kent
> Typical Soundsmith songs were 4-voice MODs stripped of their
> effects, so I'd agree here. The exception was anything composed
> specifically for the IIgs, anything from James Brookes is a perfect
> example: Digital Exodus X-Mas Demo '93
I don't think I've ever seen that one. Is it on an ftp site somewhere?
> Unfortunately too many people used synthLAB to playback GM/GS
> MIDI files, and the limited instrument patches and voices didn't cut it.
Yeah, there is a lot of bad MIDIsynth music out there. The sequences
seemed to be fine, but they used instruments that didn't fit the song at
all. It ended up sounding like elevator music, if you were lucky.
> I converted several dozen of my own sequences and released them,
> but done with care so they were far better than the average songs
> being released. The best example was when I created my own custom
> wavebanks, one with a Grand piano. I seem to remember creating
> a Jazz.bank patch too, got some really nice sound out of synthLAB
Would you happen to remember the names of the songs you released? I
certainly wouldn't mind hearing some quality MIDIsynth music.
Mike
Michael Kent
> Interesting, it's written by the Italian group I.Ci.A. That reminds
> me, I have another one of their demos called "IFFing Volume 2" that
> has another nice example of above average IIgs music! I got it off a
> local BBS 18 years ago and haven't seen it anywhere else. I can
> upload a copy if anyone wants to have a look, although it doesn't
> run on the ROM 3. I wonder if there were any other demos from
> I.Ci.A out there (maybe an IFFing Vol 1?).
I'd like to see it (or at least snag it until I get my ROM 01 set up
again). Perhaps Bill Garber would let us use a few hundred K of his
server?
Mike
Mitchell Spector
>Mitchell Spector <mitc...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Typical Soundsmith songs were 4-voice MODs stripped of their
>> effects, so I'd agree here. The exception was anything composed
>> specifically for the IIgs, anything from James Brookes is a perfect
>> example: Digital Exodus X-Mas Demo '93
>
>I don't think I've ever seen that one. Is it on an ftp site somewhere?
Apple II SHK format:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/demos/dexmas.sdk
Emulator 2MG (disk image) format:
http://www.ninjaforce.com/downloads/demoscene/Dexmas.2MG
>> Unfortunately too many people used synthLAB to playback GM/GS
>> MIDI files, and the limited instrument patches and voices didn't cut it.
>
>Yeah, there is a lot of bad MIDIsynth music out there. The sequences
>seemed to be fine, but they used instruments that didn't fit the song at
>all. It ended up sounding like elevator music, if you were lucky.
I've always been ambivalent about MIDIsynth. My jaw dropped when
I first heard the beta version of synthLAB back in 1990. The synthesis
reminded me of those high end wavetable synthesizer keyboards from
Korg or Roland. Apple even included some sample songs and instrument
patches (in version 1.0b2) *not* found on the System 6 version.
The Apple sample songs were carefully and thoughtfully done, but
I can't say the same of most of the generic sounding songs other people
did with it (mostly converting MIDI to MIDIsynth--it just was not cut out
as a MIDI player). I ended up hating MIDIsynth at some point, listen to
the GS/OS versions of Bard's Tale, Dragon Wars or even the music
in Wolf 3D...bleah. Hmm, I remember Gene Koh keyed in a remix of
the Test Drive II music in synthLAB, that wasn't too bad actually.
>> I converted several dozen of my own sequences and released them,
>> but done with care so they were far better than the average songs
>> being released. The best example was when I created my own custom
>> wavebanks, one with a Grand piano. I seem to remember creating
>> a Jazz.bank patch too, got some really nice sound out of synthLAB
>
>Would you happen to remember the names of the songs you released? I
>certainly wouldn't mind hearing some quality MIDIsynth music.
I still have all or most of them archived on disk (somewhere) but not
all in one place. Still, keep in mind what I thought sounded great 12-15
years ago may not be now... :)
Here's a few random samples I found online:
Custom wavebank with samples (Sockhop.seq is probably the best):
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/ground.icaen.uiowa.edu/apple16/Music/jazzbank.shk
Custom piano wavebank with samples:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/grandpiano.v0.5.shk
Enix's ActRaisers from the Super Nintendo (with custom wavebank):
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/actraisers.seq.shk
Some I did using the existing wavebanks in synthLAB:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/nutcrkr.sl.shk
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/startrek2.seq.shk
I saw plently more from me on those sites, but like I said above, I haven't
heard them in ages.
Mitchell Spector