> Although not perfect, [Sound Canvas VA] is the closest recreation of the original SC-55 in software form as of 2023.
Ah, this submission should have a “(2023)” added to the title. In 2024, Nuked-SC55 (https://github.com/nukeykt/Nuked-SC55) was released, which is a fully accurate software emulation of the SC-55/SC-55mkII (it relies on having the original ROM files).
All I know is I went from a Sound Blaster 16 Pro to an AWE 64 gold, the MIDI quality blew my mind. I believe this is the result of using instrument samples to render the audio instead of pure synthesis.
I also remember that the SB and other audio cards added MIDI lines into the DA-15 joystick port that for some reason resided on sound cards. This let people hook up real synths to render the music and I knew of one musician who did this with a keyboard though I never got to hear it live.
Yep. Count me in as another fan of the AWE64 Gold. The DSP chip they used on that board, version 4.16, also patched the MIDI hanging note bug that was present since the SB16 era. As an aside, I believe the very earliest SB16s didn't have this hanging note bug, but they were incredibly noisy.
> joystick port that for some reason resided on sound cards.
That reason was the limited amount of ISA ports. Early joystick ports were on their own ISA card. Which used a precious slot. For creative labs it was good advertising "see, no extra slot needed"
They link to a cornucopia of samples they made available on archive.org at the bottom of the article (not in-line, where I was looking for them). Doom, which is fairly widely known, starts at #57: https://archive.org/details/DOS-Gaming-General-MIDI-Comparis...
I have played around with a lot of general midi hardware. have a sc55mk2, sc88, sc155, mt32, MU1000, MU15, and the one I want to talk about Alesis Nanosynth. I actually think the Nanosynth is the most interesting and can provide really good results. The others sound a lot alike for the most part, well other than mt32 for the soundtracks designed for it. Also fun is to run midi through multiple devices and pick and choose the channels to create a new mix.
I can't remember if it had General MIDI, but I'll give a nod to the Gravis Ultrasound. I couldn't afford / justify a full one, so I got the ACE version. Of course the use of midi for games was almost gone by then.
Usually the hardware for which the respective music was composed is the most preferable. For example for Ultima VII, that would be a Roland MT-32 (plus a Sound Blaster Pro for speech synthesis). The SC-55 only provides incomplete emulation for MT-32.
> Although not perfect, [Sound Canvas VA] is the closest recreation of the original SC-55 in software form as of 2023.
Ah, this submission should have a “(2023)” added to the title. In 2024, Nuked-SC55 (https://github.com/nukeykt/Nuked-SC55) was released, which is a fully accurate software emulation of the SC-55/SC-55mkII (it relies on having the original ROM files).
There are also two SC-88Pro emulators coming v. soon. There is a MAME driver that will be in the next release https://github.com/mamedev/mame/pull/16080 (you can build it right now of course but I have no idea where you would find the roms) and also this: https://synthanatomy.com/2026/09/the-usual-suspects-88emu-a-...
Did anyone do a comparison like this with DreamBlaster modules?
All I know is I went from a Sound Blaster 16 Pro to an AWE 64 gold, the MIDI quality blew my mind. I believe this is the result of using instrument samples to render the audio instead of pure synthesis.
I also remember that the SB and other audio cards added MIDI lines into the DA-15 joystick port that for some reason resided on sound cards. This let people hook up real synths to render the music and I knew of one musician who did this with a keyboard though I never got to hear it live.
Yep. Count me in as another fan of the AWE64 Gold. The DSP chip they used on that board, version 4.16, also patched the MIDI hanging note bug that was present since the SB16 era. As an aside, I believe the very earliest SB16s didn't have this hanging note bug, but they were incredibly noisy.
> joystick port that for some reason resided on sound cards.
That reason was the limited amount of ISA ports. Early joystick ports were on their own ISA card. Which used a precious slot. For creative labs it was good advertising "see, no extra slot needed"
Some keyboards of the time period even came with a special "general midi mode" specifically for this, i recall the ensoniq TS12 I used at the time did
They link to a cornucopia of samples they made available on archive.org at the bottom of the article (not in-line, where I was looking for them). Doom, which is fairly widely known, starts at #57: https://archive.org/details/DOS-Gaming-General-MIDI-Comparis...
There's an inline link under "Recordings".
I have played around with a lot of general midi hardware. have a sc55mk2, sc88, sc155, mt32, MU1000, MU15, and the one I want to talk about Alesis Nanosynth. I actually think the Nanosynth is the most interesting and can provide really good results. The others sound a lot alike for the most part, well other than mt32 for the soundtracks designed for it. Also fun is to run midi through multiple devices and pick and choose the channels to create a new mix.
I can't remember if it had General MIDI, but I'll give a nod to the Gravis Ultrasound. I couldn't afford / justify a full one, so I got the ACE version. Of course the use of midi for games was almost gone by then.
Usually the hardware for which the respective music was composed is the most preferable. For example for Ultima VII, that would be a Roland MT-32 (plus a Sound Blaster Pro for speech synthesis). The SC-55 only provides incomplete emulation for MT-32.