I learned a lot about video games hanging out with my buddy Leigh. He had the AWE32 sound card that was SO much nicer than SB16. He bought the Thrustmaster T1 wheel, and we played the FIRST Need for Speed game, SE... with the wheel which was AWESOME. And he bought a CD Burner LONG before they were reliable and common place, so we burnt more coaster than good discs. ;)

But I distinctly remember the Lucasarts music was AMAZING with the AWE32. Maybe the MIDI sound I see folks posting about here is the same or better, but I remember back in the day, the AWE32 sound card was the shiznet. ;)

Looking forward to breaking out the Logitech F310 I bought per recommendations here, X-Wing for DOS for that "original" experience, and seeing how it goes. :)

afaik the best soundblaster dosbox can emulate is the soundblaster 16

http://www.gog.com/forum/star_wars_xwing_special_edition/get_dramatically_better_midi_music

The EMU8000 that defines the AWE32/64 and those Goldfinch upgrade boards for SB16s has yet to be emulated in DOSBox.

However, most games didn't really utilize its reverb/chorus effects and just treated it much like a General MIDI "wavetable" (actually sample-based) synth in practice, despite not actually using the MIDI interface internally for reasons only known to Creative.

Eradicator and Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri are the only two games I can even think of at the moment with custom AWE SoundFonts as opposed to just using the ROM samples, and Eradicator actually uses it for sound effects with reverb/chorus (sorta like a proto-EAX), not enhanced music like Terra Nova.

Makes me wonder if you can accomplish the same thing by loading the relevant SoundFont banks in a software MIDI device like the ones mentioned in that thread and setting up DOSBox and the game to use said device.

1) Download de original AWE32 soundfont file here:

http://www.maz-sound.com/archives/aweromgm.rar

2) Download VirtualMIDISynth here:

http://coolsoft.altervista.org/download/CoolSoft_VirtualMIDISynth_1.17.1.exe

and install it.

3) Decompress aweromgm.rar, inside is AweROMGM.sf2

4) Configure VirtualMIDISynth,
in Soundfonts/Soundfont chains add and select de file AweROMGM.sf2
in OPTIONS/Output audio device select your soundcard
click OK.

Run the setup of doom2 in DOSBOX and go choose Music Sound Card and select General Midi. save and launch doom2.

This work for me, the original AWE32 sound of Doom2 music.

+1 for VirtualMIDISynth. Once you've tried the AWE32 soundfont, there are a ton of other really good modern soundfonts you can try with your old DOS games. are [url=http://www.synthfont.com/SoundFonts/FluidR3_GM.sfArk]freeware, some are paid - I finally bit the bullet and bought the Jazman Pro GM 24 soundfont and have never regretted it. There's a number of youtube videos you can listen to that compare video game music with different soundfonts - most commonly Doom I think, so you can hear what you'd be getting before purchasing. Definitely fun stuff.

It'S a good start, but some games like Croc also upload custom soundfonts to the AWE memory for background noises, they don't do that to VirtualMidiSynth (great tool btw). I sure hope the emulation will come at some point.

Very interesting thanks!
You talk about Doom 2 but did you try this with Tie Fighter? I did have the AWE32 in the 90s and its sound definitely better that the one I hear with dosbox for Tie Fighter

I remember one game that was incredibly different to play with AWE32 music : Hi-Octane
That change in music quality really changed all the gameplay it was really transporting xD.
They later released a playstation version cheating with CD prerecorded music.

I know that AWE32 was expensive at the time and needed more work to give everything but those who tryed got it really nice (and much more efficient than MT32 or other solutions that were bulkier or more expensive)

It should get some attention i think (from the emulation POV :) )

I'd love to hear those games sound right again xD

here is a big solution for all, is in spanish but have a very good version dosbox. i tested and it works, also have option for external emulations like munt mt-32 and virtualmidisinth (for general midi). but inside dosbox is capable to emulate Gus, roland, etc..

w ww .cuevadeclasicos .org /comunidad/discovirtual/dosbox-svn-ultrasound-roland.233/

You can use GUS with the regular DOSBox release, and outputing to any MIDI device like the ones created by Munt and VirtualMIDISynth is also supported in the regular DOSBox release.

Does that SVN you mention support AWE32, like the OP was asking?