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Hacker News Hacker News> What is the sound card the DOOM sound track was composed on? It sounds different on each one. So we wanna know, how was it "meant" to sound like :D
It was a Sound Blaster 1.0, which first came out in 1989. Creative Labs released almost a version of that card each year, but so many people had bought the 1.0 that the bulk of gamers had that model for several years. And the newer Sound Blasters used the same music synthesizer chip (Yamaha OPL 2 -- an FM type synth chip). A big plus of the Sound Blaster was that Sequencer Plus (MIDI sequencing software) supported making my own sound libraries, and I was able to tweak or "invent" sounds within the limitations of the synth chip. Some time later, I "translated" the sequencer files into General MIDI (GM) files, using the sound set of the GM file spec. Generally, they worked ok, but some of the original FM synth sounds could not be emulated.
As sound cards got fancier, they didn't use the OPL2 FM synth chip, but emulated it. What they didn't figure in all this was that you could bastardize the sound of an FM instrument by playing it well out of normal music range, and you'd end up with a usable percussive instrument sound. I had done just that to create my own drum sets for the OPL2. When those sounds were emulated by the fancier sound cards, they actually sounded a musical tone rather than the bastardized sound. So my snare drum would sound like two little tin drums being played (I used two adjacent musical notes as left and right drum sticks.
As for emulation of the OPL2 FM synth chip, I don't think you can get much better than the synth in DOSBOX (http://www.dosbox.com/).
As for the real thing, you will be able to get the sounds as they were "meant" to be on any sound card that has the OPL2 FM synth chip.
I hope this answers your question.
Best regards,
Bobby
One of my favorite videos (and songs) sang by Bobby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w3yoIOK-9U (Eat Your Vegetables)
RIP. You will be missed Bobby.
The sound of Doom was a big part of why it was so immersive, and everyone focuses on the mobs and gunshots (there's some pretty cool positional audio for the time), but the music really played a big part of the whole atmosphere.
Particularly enjoyed his work for Duke Nukem 3D, you could easily tell the difference between the tracks made by Bobby and the ones made by Lee Jackson, Bobby's tracks were a bit darker and more gloomy, adding a lot of atmosphere.
Beautifully written article by the way, as the legend deserves.
RIP (and tear)
Neat that just last month the Library of Congress added the Doom soundtrack to its registry too
https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-in...
Thanks for being a great part of my childhood.
Farewell.
F.
Such a good composer for all of those games I can remember those songs still.
A Visit to id Software (November 1993)