Better sound for Descent 1 and 2!

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Sun May 13, 2007 3:20 pm

Hi all!

I developed a soundfont which gives you back the original soundtrack of Descent 1 and 2. It is called 8MBGM ENHANCED. If you have a Creative Soundblaster card that is compatible with soundfonts (e.g. Live!, Audigy and X-Fi series), you can load it instead of the default soundfont. You can find a precise instruction on the soundfont page of my website:

http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/ ... glish.html

Any comments are welcome!

KoolBear · Post by **KoolBear** » Sun May 13, 2007 6:42 pm

holbred,

This a wonderful I would like to mirror it on koolbear.com/Descent if you don't mind.

Regards,
KB

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Sun May 13, 2007 7:02 pm

Of course you can mirror it.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:08 am

The soundfont is unavailable.

Aus-RED-5 · Post by **Aus-RED-5** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:18 am

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:04 am

Sorry that for some of you the download was unavailable.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Tue May 15, 2007 1:09 pm

holbred wrote:Sorry that for some of you the download was unavailable. I chose a new location which (hopefully) give you better access to the 8mbgm_enhanced10.rar:

http://www.mediafire.com/?conmv1vweyi

The quickkey you provided for file download was invalid. This is usually caused because the file is no longer stored on Mediafire. This occurs when the file is removed by the originating user or Mediafire.

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Tue May 15, 2007 2:36 pm

Wait for my new version 1.1. It will have a lot of improvements like stronger basses and some better instruments.

Sniper · Post by **Sniper** » Tue May 15, 2007 2:39 pm

When I download the file from that latest link, it says it's damaged.

zico · Post by **zico** » Tue May 15, 2007 2:53 pm

That is probably because Lycos HATES if ppl provide downloads on their webspace... (at least this was the case when I had an account there)

@holbred
If you want, you can offer this file to me (mail, KALI or something) and I mirror it on the DXX site.

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:14 pm

@zico

Thanks, but the file is to big for e-mail (~31 MB). I tried to e-mail it to Diedel, but it didn't work. I'm going to upload it at a free webspace provider and post the link on this side. Then you can download it and mirror it on your DXX site.

KoolBear · Post by **KoolBear** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:58 pm

I will provide you with a way to upload to koolbear.com holbred

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Tue May 15, 2007 5:07 pm

@KoolBear

Thanks.

KoolBear · Post by **KoolBear** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:11 pm

I have your first page semi working. there's a link at the top of that page.

I will continue to work on the mirrored pages so everything works (eventually) But the link is at the top of this page...
http://www.koolbear.com/Descent/communi ... dfonts.htm

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:35 pm

I'll make sure to get this up on PD, as well, the next time I get around to uploading files.

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Wed May 16, 2007 2:10 pm

It's done!

After hours of hard work, I finished version 1.1 of my soundfont. It has improved basses and a lot of new instruments. Check the changelog for details. While I fixed the major bugs of Merlin's 8mbgm_plus13.sf2 in version 1.0, I did some fine tuning this time. I can say that this is the ULTIMATE soundfont for Descent!

You can get midi files of Descent from the following websites:

http://www.planetdescent.com/site/files ... /music.asp
http://www.planetdescent.com/site/files ... /music.asp

Compare the standard soundfont with my 8MBGM ENHANCED v1.1, and you will be convinced that there is no other soundfont that can compete with it.

@KoolBear and Top Gun

Please upload the new version 1.1. Thanks!

KoolBear · Post by **KoolBear** » Wed May 16, 2007 3:41 pm

Link on Soundfont page(s) updated

Mirrored Page(s)
HERE

Direct Download link...
CLICK HERE

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Fri May 18, 2007 5:53 am

The sound font v1.1 is also available on my Descent site. See the downloads area for a link.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Fri May 18, 2007 9:17 am

holbred wrote:this is the ULTIMATE soundfont for Descent!

Rumours will have it that Holger is about to do something right now only Germans can

: Go beyond the ultimate.

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:32 am

Version 1.2 has been finished. It should be the final one. This version contains some last improvements to the sound of Descent 1 and 2. Listen, for example, to the bottomless bass of the Melodic Tom in descent.mid (Descent 1).

The major changes, however, have been made to the sound of Monkey Island 1 and 2. It sounds considerably better than before.

Comments?

@KoolBear and Diedel
It would be nice, if you could upload the new file. Thanks.

KoolBear · Post by **KoolBear** » Mon May 21, 2007 10:22 am

Link on Soundfont page(s) updated to 1.2

Mirrored Page(s)
HERE

Direct Download link...
CLICK HERE

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Mon May 21, 2007 4:13 pm

holbred wrote:Version ... has been finished. It should be the final one.

This is something I have been thinking very often when releasing a new D2X-XL version ...

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Tue May 22, 2007 7:57 am

Important addendum: With older Sound Blaster cards (e.g. PCI512, SBLive!, Audigy), you do not load soundfonts with soundfont bank manager, but with AudioHQ software.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:12 am

While I don't have compatible hardware, I congratulate you on your hard work.

The Lion · Post by **The Lion** » Wed May 23, 2007 11:47 am

This SBLive! here works perfectly with asfxload and without AudioHQ.

Also, if your hardware really can't do MIDI, there's always software synthesizers such as Timidity.

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:12 pm

The Lion wrote:Also, if your hardware really can't do MIDI, there's always software synthesizers such as Timidity.

However, these software synthesizers do not work in games. They can only play midi files with a particular soundfont.

heftig · Post by **heftig** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:53 pm

You can use a loopback driver like MIDI Yoke or LoopBe1 to connect the TiMidity++ Synth Server to a game.

Set the game to send MIDI events to the loopback device, and have TiMidity read from it.

On a side note, my favorite player for MIDI files is XMPlay with its MIDI plugin (a SoundFont softsynth).

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Sun May 27, 2007 1:07 pm

Version 1.3 of my soundfont has just been finished.

Again, a lot of improvements have been made, like more precise basses and better instruments. This one is a MUST HAVE for the real sound enthusiast!

@KoolBear and Diedel
Please upload the new file. Thanks.

KoolBear · Post by **KoolBear** » Mon May 28, 2007 11:55 pm

Link on Soundfont page(s) updated to 1.3

Mirrored Page(s)
HERE

Direct Download link...
CLICK HERE

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue May 29, 2007 12:52 am

Has anyone sent this to PD?

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:32 am

MD-2389 wrote:While I don't have compatible hardware, I congratulate you on your hard work.

You are missing something then. Holger has done some awesome work. The midis sound tangibly better now.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Wed May 30, 2007 9:13 am

Diedel wrote:
MD-2389 wrote:While I don't have compatible hardware, I congratulate you on your hard work.
You are missing something then. Holger has done some awesome work. The midis sound tangibly better now.

Oh I don't doubt it at all. I'm definitely in the market for better audio (*grumbles at nVidia for canning SoundStorm*). I'm just not out to buy something that I'm going to hate later (like something from Creative). Right now I'm stuck using Realtek crap (ALC850 incase you're curious) until I find something decent that meets my requirements (must have optical out, so I can run 5.1 to my surround sound, and be able to use digital and analog audio at the same time.)

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:10 am

DCrazy wrote:Has anyone sent this to PD?

I've been following along, and I'll get it submitted when I do my next round of file updates. (Provided I can figure out what file section it should be listed under, that is...)

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:18 am

Then maybe its time for a new section.

goznik · Post by **goznik** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:54 am

MD-2389 wrote:
Diedel wrote:
MD-2389 wrote:While I don't have compatible hardware, I congratulate you on your hard work.
You are missing something then. Holger has done some awesome work. The midis sound tangibly better now.
Oh I don't doubt it at all. I'm definitely in the market for better audio (*grumbles at nVidia for canning SoundStorm*). I'm just not out to buy something that I'm going to hate later (like something from Creative). Right now I'm stuck using Realtek crap (ALC850 incase you're curious) until I find something decent that meets my requirements (must have optical out, so I can run 5.1 to my surround sound, and be able to use digital and analog audio at the same time.)

Can someone make mp3s of the D1 midis?

holbred · Post by **holbred** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:06 am

It is possible to make MP3 files of a particular midi file with a software tool like SynthFont. You load a soundfont in SynthFont and get the result. However, the outcome is very poor.

Therefore, I don't recommend judging my soundfont on the basis of poor mp3 files.

heftig · Post by **heftig** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:51 am

holbred wrote:It is possible to make MP3 files of a particular midi file with a software tool like SynthFont. You load a soundfont in SynthFont and get the result. However, the outcome is very poor.

I compared the output of the X-Fi hardware synth with the output of the XMPlay softsynth, and there isn't much difference (XMPlay is a bit clearer IMO).

I've uploaded an MP3 of Game22.mid created with XMPlay + xmp-midi + 8mbgm_enhanced13 + LAME:
http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f= ... d809250fcf

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:28 pm

I'm afraid Vlindicator beat you to that by about a year or two. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that they aren't up on PD. They're 256kbps CBR, and just the D1 tracks alone rack up a whopping 159MB. I'd have to dig out the CD to tell you how big the D2 tracks are, but theres only four or five of those compared to the 25 tracks for D1 (22 for the levels, the other three are the credits, menu, and end theme.). I believe he recorded the songs directly from an old Sound Blaster 16.

At any rate, before this goes too far off-topic I'd like to congratulate you again on your hard work holbreg.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:27 am

MD, if you have any way of uploading those, I could get them on PD. I wasn't even aware that they existed until right now.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:46 am

I have found a good shareware midi -> mp3 converter on the inet doing lightning fast silent conversions. You can even batch them. The trial version is limited to 5 songs per batch and a 30 day evaluation period. It's called 'Direct MIDI to MP3 Converter' and seems to be lame based. Works very well. You can even specify the MIDI soundfont you want to use (e.g. Holger's).

The rar'd D1 mp3 music is about 120 MB.

Better sound for Descent 1 and 2!

Better sound for Descent 1 and 2!

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