Re: Really good Apple IIGS sound/music?

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

Michael Kent <michael@syndicomm.remove.this.com> wrote:

>Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>    Typical Soundsmith songs were 4-voice MODs stripped of their 
>> effects, so I'd agree here. The exception was anything composed
>> specifically for the IIgs, anything from James Brookes is a perfect
>> example: Digital Exodus X-Mas Demo '93
>
>I don't think I've ever seen that one.  Is it on an ftp site somewhere?

Apple II SHK format:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/demos/dexmas.sdk

Emulator 2MG (disk image) format:
http://www.ninjaforce.com/downloads/demoscene/Dexmas.2MG

>>    Unfortunately too many people used synthLAB to playback GM/GS
>> MIDI files, and the limited instrument patches and voices didn't cut it.
>
>Yeah, there is a lot of bad MIDIsynth music out there.  The sequences
>seemed to be fine, but they used instruments that didn't fit the song at
>all.  It ended up sounding like elevator music, if you were lucky.

    I've always been ambivalent about MIDIsynth. My jaw dropped when
I first heard the beta version of synthLAB back in 1990. The synthesis
reminded me of those high end wavetable synthesizer keyboards from 
Korg or Roland. Apple even included some sample songs and instrument 
patches (in version 1.0b2) *not* found on the System 6 version.

    The Apple sample songs were carefully and thoughtfully done, but
I can't say the same of most of the generic sounding songs other people
did with it (mostly converting MIDI to MIDIsynth--it just was not cut out 
as a MIDI player). I ended up hating MIDIsynth at some point, listen to
the GS/OS versions of Bard's Tale, Dragon Wars or even the music
in Wolf 3D...bleah. Hmm, I remember Gene Koh keyed in a remix of
the Test Drive II music in synthLAB, that wasn't too bad actually.

>> I converted several dozen of my own sequences and released them,
>> but done with care so they were far better than the average songs
>> being released. The best example was when I created my own custom
>> wavebanks, one with a Grand piano. I seem to remember creating 
>> a Jazz.bank patch too, got some really nice sound out of synthLAB
>
>Would you happen to remember the names of the songs you released?  I
>certainly wouldn't mind hearing some quality MIDIsynth music.

    I still have all or most of them archived on disk (somewhere) but not 
all in one place. Still, keep in mind what I thought sounded great 12-15
years ago may not be now... :)

    Here's a few random samples I found online:

Custom wavebank with samples (Sockhop.seq is probably the best):
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/ground.icaen.uiowa.edu/apple16/Music/jazzbank.shk

Custom piano wavebank with samples:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/grandpiano.v0.5.shk

Enix's ActRaisers from the Super Nintendo (with custom wavebank):
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/actraisers.seq.shk

Some I did using the existing wavebanks in synthLAB:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/nutcrkr.sl.shk
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/apple2.caltech.edu/music/synthlab/startrek2.seq.shk

I saw plently more from me on those sites, but like I said above, I haven't
heard them in ages.

Mitchell Spector