patricklibuda: Can you still download these drivers from somewhere legally if you do not have the card?
Cheers
Patrick
Cyphox: found this thread on vogons a while ago, there you'll find a fully upgraded ultrasound-folder for dosbox (dont overlook the mediafire-link right at the top, the textcolors are some kind of confusing!!) and on the second or third page theres a patch for some looping instrumens.
im using it for tie fighter 1995 cd, work perfectly.
http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16974 and for everything else, theres this site www.gravisultrasound.com
Hi,
Thanks to everyone for the input :-). Have since then got myself hardware versions of both the MT-32 (first generation - the one that works best with old Sierra adventures (SQ3, KQ4 (one of my first computer games at the time), et al.) and Wing Commander 1 & 2) and the SC-55.
Hardware Roland (SC(B)-7 and SC-55) still sounds most convincing to my ears (together with Terratec's Maestro 32/96 - however the latter unfortunately is ISA-only... - I would love to still use it - however, ISA to USB adapters unfortunately cost a fortune and apparently you do not have any guarantee that they actually work with sound cards) - according to my experience over the years, under DOS for some funny reason, the Maestro 32/96 would sound best with HMI engine games while the Roland daughter board (in my case the SCB-7 (Roland Sound Canvas General Midi daughter board on my Maestro 32/96. or to be more exact as a second (330h and 340h) wavetable daughter board (before that the SB16 but the Maestro 32/96 was better despite only having SBPro compatibility on the digital side) would sound better with Miles sound engine games - I never found out why, it was just something I discovered over time...
(One good sequence to see if the digital stuff of a sound card is good is the intro sequence of 'Day of the Tentacle'. At some point, the girl, Laverne, says ' And I have got an anatomy final tomorrow' - on a good card the 'f' in final sounds like an f - one a card not quite so good it would, however, sound more like vinyl. O.K., these days this no longer is a problem but at the time the game came out there were a number of sound cards where the digital stuff in particular had lots of room for improvement indeed. (I ahudder when I think of an Aztech card I once had...))
(So far, the best SC-55-like sound font I have managed to find was this one: "Patch93's Roland SC-55 soundfont v1.9" (cf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u78KNVbJsiU)
There also are games where I quite like Fluid R 3 (e.g. Day of the Tentacle) - however, apart from the fact that it does not come anywhere near the punch of the Roland SC(B)-7 / 55 never mind the Terratec Maestro 32/96, there are games (e.g. Battle Isle 2 ;-)) where the music played through this particular wave table sample set (Fluid R3) quite simply drives you barking (!!!) mad (quite literally giving you a headache...). In that case, the aforementioned SC-55 sample set is much more recommended ;-).
However, apart from the SC-55-like sound font mentioned above I am still looking for a sound font that a) sounds good with stuff optimised for SC-55 stuff while b) at the same time also having a sufficient amount of punch/bass, like the Maestro 32/96.
However - so far no sound fond, apart from the Patch93 one mentioned above, has come anywhere near the punch that particularly the Maestro 32/96 would deliver, especially with HMI games.
Cheers
Patrick