System Shock 1, using BASSMIDI for higher quality music with soundfonts (.sf2)

[6724214496d6bXenoneo]

Trying System Shock 1 for the first time, I was unhappy with the quality of the music which dosbox would allow.
I set out to learn all I could go about improving the midi music in SS1, starting with Munt, researching Timidity++ and Yamaha S-YXG50 SoftSynthesizer, and eventually settling on BASSMIDI.
I offer this info to help anyone who wishes to improve the MIDI music of SS1.

BASSMIDI offers the highest available quality soundfont synthesizer, which allows you to change soundfonts quickly and easily.
These soundfonts can offer anything from perfectly emulated sounds of older soundcards to a more modern collection of sounds.
MIDI simply tells when to play each sound in the music, but the sound it plays can be chosen by you in this way.

In the past, Vista and Windows 7 users usually have had many problems getting sound fonts to work on their PCs.
BASSMIDI works fine on my laptop with Win7 32 bit, using gulikoza dosbox, with a Realtek soundcard, and works with all other OSs as well.
It should work with any method you use to play older games in fact, since it effectively replaces the onboard midi when active.

BASSMIDI INSTALLATION

Here is a step by step guide to installing and using BASSMIDI.
http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/BASSMIDI_Driver_Installation_and_Configuration.htm
The newest versions of BASSMIDI can currently be found here, which as I am writing this is bassmididrv2.02.exe
If a newer version comes out it should be listed here as well.
http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/

DOSBOX CONFIGURATION

Once BASSMIDI is set up you have to configure dosbox to make use of the new sounds.
Simply open dosbox.conf and edit the following lines..
mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=default
midiconfig=0

My default for midi is 0, but you can check which number to put there on your computer by typing this in the dosbox cmd window.
mixer /listmidi

On a side note the only thing I have been able to do to improve the sound effects is to change the sb16 settings in dosbox.conf to oplemu=old
I'm not even sure it improved the sound effects, but it seems like it has slightly.

***Everything below here is optional information***

Sound fonts (.sf2) available to try with the game

The writer of the BASSMIDI installation guide, wrote the soundtrack to EternalDoom.
His soundfont, named WeedsGM3 can be downloaded there.
Many have hailed it as one of the best available soundfonts for older video games such as Doom.
It keeps the retro feel to the music while drastically improving quality.
Here is an example of SS1 running with the WeedsGM3 soundfont.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVoOhT9yHXs
Compare that sound to the original to get an idea of the upgrade in music quality from weedsgm3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blPAm8Z0dHI [dead link]

WeedsGM3. For the sake of simplicity, this is a good sf2 to use to generally make SS1s music sound good overall.
http://www.simpilot.net/~richnagel/#downloads

You can also find a list of other soundfonts on the guide, or search out others on your own.
GM format (general midi) is the type of soundfont which has all the sounds in the correct placement to work on video games.
Although sometimes a soundfont will not specifically say it is a GM sf2, if it is called a collection or a soundbank that usually means the same thing.
Keep in mind that the larger a soundfont is, the more available RAM you will need to run it.
LINKS:
8MBGMSFX.SF2 The main SF2 used for Creative Sound Blaster Live's (emu10k1). I think it's how the SoundBlaster AWE64 Gold sounded.
www.alsa-project.org/~james/sound-fonts/8MBGMSFX.SF2
Personal Copy. Large soundfonts and the Merlin 4mbgm_plus12 which I personally recommend for a smaller sf2 with quality. (11MB)
http://www.personalcopy.com/sfonts.htm
GeneralUser. Designed to work well with practically any kind of music.
http://www.schristiancollins.com/generaluser.php
HammerSound. A very large collection of soundfont 'collections' and samples.
http://www.hammersound.net/
GiantSoundFont. A softer sound overall. Excellent drums soundfont, which can be used alone to combine with other sf2s
http://giantsoundfont.npage.de/ Example with SS1 music: http://www.youtube.com/user/Turrican4E#p/u/34/kTFnXYC2C_A
Crisis 3.0. An absurdly huge soundfont (1.7gb) with the most realistic sound I found. (you need a password from the forums to unzip)
http://www.bismutnetwork.com/10Music/Crisis/Soundfont3.0.php
Crisis also has a ver. 3.51 ZSF edit (upgraded to 3.52 with an exe), as well. (1.1gb) Slightly less reverb and the same jaw dropping quality.
I switch between Crisis 3.52, weedsgm3, and Merlin 4mbgm_plus12 with the Giantsoundfont drumbank, but slowly I am combining them into one on the side.

There are other soundfonts such as Utopia Live! 2.0, Silverspring 1.5, FluidR3, Airfont, Arachno, etc on the web.
If you're good at searching, you'll find them around.
Also, if there was a soundcard in the past that played midis and had a unique sound, there is a soundfont out there that will recreate it for you.

Stacking soundfonts in BASSMIDI / Combining soundfonts / Adding samples to a soundfont

It is also possible to combine and alter samples from many soundfonts to make your own Sf2, to sound how you would prefer for each particular game.

Stacking soundfonts in BASSMIDI:
In the BassMIDI "configure driver" options window, the lowest .sf2 on the list that you load in, overwrites everything above it.
If an incomplete .sf2 is at the bottom, like a guitar set only, BassMIDI will look to the next sf2 up on the list to fill in all the rest of the sounds.
In this way, you can essentially create your own soundfont, simply by how you order the .sf2s on the list.
This only works with drumkits and individual samples which keep them in the sample slot they were in originally.
Individual samples on the web usually will only overwrite the first sample on the list, because they did not keep the sample slot information.
Because of this, stacking is not usually a practical way to make your own soundfont.

Combining Soundfonts:
To use any sound from any individual sample or a sample inside another soundfont you need an audio editing program.
The program is called 'Viena', which is confusing because there is another audio edit program called 'Vienna' which only supports some sound cards. (extra N)
Viena is a free standalone program which allows you to open up to 4 .sf2 files, play each sample on an included keyboard to test the sound, and has the ability to replace specific samples within a soundfont and save them as a seperate sf2 file.

description: (second topic)
http://www.synthfont.com/
download: Viena (V0.910)
http://www.synthfont.com/Downloads.html

For example, the electric guitar from a battle in medical, seems very ancient and out of place with the rest of the music in many soundfonts.
I found an overdrive guitar sample (029) which sounded more natural and lower volume, and replaced the one in the soundfont I was using.
Use XMPlay to listen to the music of the game with a soundfont, find what sound it was you want to replace in Viena, bring in the replacement sample you like better, and r-click the sample number to overwrite that sample in the original sf2.
It's surprisingly simple.   
Once you save as... to make a new sf2 you're ready to test the songs out again or just go play the game.

Conclusion

You may prefer a soundfont which makes the game sound exactly as it did when you first played it, or you may want to have the music sound more modern.
Whatever you prefer, you should be able to find a soundfont(s) to suit your needs and not be stuck with the only music options dosbox offers alone.
I am not expert when it comes to all this, I simply sought out information on improving the sound quality, and this is the conclusion I arrived at which suits me best.

If you have any questions or information that might be relevant to this, please let me know.
I'd also be curious as to which soundfont you ended up using.

[6724214496fcaKolya]

Interesting, thanks for posting this. I've moved this thread to the System Shock board and will link it from a few places.

[6724214497269Xenoneo]

Cool, let me know where you link it if you don't mind, so I can learn and help there as well.

A small update..
I obviously don't have a soundblaster card, which is required for some software such as Vienna, in order to create your own .sf2 files by combining samples from other soundfonts into one.
On my search in trying to find out how to combine soundfonts however, I found out something I had missed before about BassMIDI.

In the BassMIDI "configure driver" options window, the lowest .sf2 on the list that you load in, overwrites everything above it.
What I didn't realize was that if it is an incomplete .sf2, like a guitar set only, BassMIDI will look to the next sf2 up on the list to fill in all the rest of the sounds.
In this way, you can essentially create your own soundfont, simply by how you order the .sf2s on the list.

My first test of this worked somewhat when I put a guitar sf2 at the bottom of the list and WeedsGM3 directly above it.
Unfortunately the guitar only overwrote the first sound samples, which were piano, so the effect wasn't perfect.
Perhaps I need to place individual samples in the order that I can see in XMplay or maybe that sf2 just wasn't suited for what I was trying to accomplish.

Now that I have an idea on how to add in specific sounds, I'll be searching out good individual sound fonts, while keeping a base soundfont at the top.
It's pretty fun to experiment with.

~Edited as I learned more~

[672421449739aKolya]

I just meant linking it from within this site (eg from the SSP troubleshooting section), so people can find it more easily. Possibly the first post could act as a step-by-step guide on how to get the best out of System Shock's sound.

[672421449786cXenoneo]

Alright, I'll edit the first post as I learn more into a step by step FAQ.

I opened a real can of worms by delving into this subject.
Trying to find relevant information has been extremely frustrating at times.
Most of the information I found was involved with musicians talking about samples for their keyboards, which usually revolved around soundbanks, some of which sold for $500-$1000.
When I got onto the subject of creating my own soundfont by combining samples from other sf2s, the subject matter got even more convoluted.
Software used for it was usually exclusive to soundblaster type soundcards, cost money to use, involved the wrong file extension, was made from other sound file types, or was only good for playing music.

Moments ago, I finally stumbled across what I was looking for.
The program is called 'Viena', which is confusing because there is another audio edit program called 'Vienna' which only supports some sound cards. (extra N)
Viena is a free standalone program which allows you to open up to 4 .sf2 files, play each sample on an included keyboard to test the sound, and has the ability to replace specific samples within a soundfont and save them as a seperate sf2 file.

description: (second topic)
http://www.synthfont.com/
download: Viena (V0.910)
http://www.synthfont.com/Downloads.html

PSA: careful about plagiarism
Now if there's one thing I learned while researching redundant information while trying to learn how to make a new soundfont, it is this...
Do not openly distribute soundfonts which you made by simply combining other soundfonts and call it your own, unless you want to be known world wide as a thief.
Making a soundfont from scratch is extremely complicated and a labor of love which can be grueling.
The makers of these soundfonts do not take kindly to plagiarism, so if you do share combined soundfonts cite every single original soundfont.
Not including soundfonts which cost money goes without saying.
Linking to free soundfont websites or describing how you made a good one is the better way to go about it.

Anyways,  now that I have all the information I was looking for I'll start working on the original post.
Everything is much simpler now that I have cut the fat out of how to do this.
I'll probably take out most of the journey storytelling and separate it into sections like: installing bassmidi and making dosbox work with it, downloading soundfonts, and combining soundfonts.
Once I dig through all these bookmarks I made, I'll start on it.

[672421449796bKolya]

Sounds good to me.

[6724214497a6eXenoneo]

Alright, the first post has been edited up for easier reading.
Let me know what you think. 

[6724214497bd4Kolya]

- Those long lines of minuses don't look so good on a 1024px width monitor.
- There's a broken link to http://www.synthfont.com/Downloads.html.
- Could be shorter.
Otherwise it's good.

[6724214497d1aXenoneo]

I removed the lines and changed titles to centered orange.
Fixed the broken link.
The finding other soundfonts to use, and combining soundfont sections are optional information.
They contain info not found together in a single place elsewhere on the web.
Not sure how I would make it shorter. 
I hope it at least looks nicer on your screen.

[6724214497e0dKolya]

Good work, thank you Xenoneo.

[6724214497f7fXenoneo]

I'm glad I could contribute some information to help people out. 

It's going to take me a while to make myself stop playing with soundfonts and midis.
This rabbit hole goes deep and there's some crazy stuff in here.
Some of the musicians I listen to used midi sequencing to make their songs, so now I've fallen even deeper as I learn how to do that. 
If I had never tried to make SS1's music sound better, I'd have never learned about all this stuff.

Now how to I get out of here...~ooo a shiny! *runs off distracted*

[672421449807aooze]

Wow, thank you very much Xenoneo! This improves my SS1 experience a lot. And it was really easy to set up.

[672421449817cXenoneo]

I'm glad it helped you out, ooze. 

[67242144982b0r0b0_j0]

Hi, I am having trouble getting BASSMIDI to work properly. I have followed all steps of installation, but my audio sounds exactly the same (definitely not as good as that video up there). I'm playing the SSP version of SS1 and I have windows XP. Any ideas? I'm sure I'm not giving you much to work with, so let me know what other info you'd need to know. Thanks!

[67242144984b3Tarvis]

Hello there, I would like to point out (as the creator of the video above) that I recorded the audio from Foobar2000 using the Bassmidi plugin there, not the game itself. I have a feeling that Foobar2000 makes it sound better than it will in the game, because even my game doesn't sound quite that good. Still a huge step up from Windows' General MIDI though.

Additionally, I don't use BASSMIDI because of the game's tendency to pause the entire game to load music. I use Timidity because I can get around that using MIDI Yoke to send data to Timidity instead of having DOSBOX use it directly. I wish I could do this with BASSMIDI because it sounds better, is more reliable and is much less resource intensive than Timidity, but alas BASSMIDI has no "MIDI In" option that would make it compatible with MIDI Yoke.

But, I still reccommend trying BASSMIDI first. Maybe it will work without pausing the game for you.

If you want a guide for  Timidity in case it does the above, I followed this thread:
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/thread/51868/

[67242144985c0Liam]

It appears the link to the installation and usage guide for BASSMIDI is not working, oh dear

[67242144986dbKolya]

Thanks Liam. I replaced it for a working link to what looks like the original version of that guide by mudlord.
Maybe Xenoneo can confirm this a some point.

[6724214498aeaLiam]

Thanks Liam. I replaced it for a working link to what looks like the original version of that guide by mudlord.
Maybe Xenoneo can confirm this a some point.

And thank you too, I was hoping that I could use BASSMIDI with System Shock but was dissopointed to find out it wasn't working.  But I guess I can now

[6724214498bfbJoin ussss!]

Damn I take back what I said about SS1 music, it's awesome!

[6724214498fdfThe Brain]

Updated link for installation and usage guide: http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/BASSMIDI_Driver_Installation_and_Configuration.htm

And link for BASSMIDI website : http://www.mudlord.info/bassmididrv/

[6724214499280FfFCMAD]

Hi.

You should know when using BASSMIDI, System shock 1 is not optimized for General MIDI. So there is no real use of using a GM- Synth because the Music sounds completely wrong. The only Synth i know which works relatively good with SS1 are Roland Sound Canvas compatibles. The Intro Music with a Roland SD-20 or Microsoft Synth is relatively compareable to the PCM-version in the Intro-Movie. But even then, its sounds completely off in the menu and later game. Some MIDIs from SS1 sounds relatively good with any GM-Synth like my MU2000, but most of them are completely wrong. (The Cyberspace-BGM sounds cool with my MU2000, buts its related the drum kit which fits perfectly)

The reason is, that SS1 is optimized for OPL-synthesis. Even if you use GM in the setup of SS1, it still uses MIDI Files with a OPL-synth in mind. (FM-Synth with GM "compatible soundpatch") If you have got a MIDI-Synth with a display it can be seen that its not done for GM: Only 7 Channels (if i remember channel 9 to 16) and arkward instrument usage.

If you want the optimum sound, try a Roland SC-55 (Wich seems to be halfway Ok) or use a good OPL 2 or OPL 3 synth. There are differences, using a creative card will make things worse. With my Terratec EWS 64 and its much better OPL, the game FM-synth BGM sounds acceptable. An original Adlib or Adlib Gold should do the trick, too.

If using BASSMIDI, there should be a special Soundfont only created for SS1 to get the music right.

Keep this in mind. Looking Glass/ Origin games of these times only had FM-Synths in mind, as i know.

[672421449939aTarvis]

I disagree. Otherwise why would the game have distinctly separate MIDI files for GM? Go check the SOUND folder and you'll see a different folder called GENMIDI.

[6724214499507FfFCMAD]

Yepp, these are GM and MT32 !compatible! MIDI-Files. Barely made runable for "not GM" MT32 and the Roland SC55 GS Synths. As i said above, there are only MIDI-Files created with FM-Synthesis in mind. The whole soundtrack is made for OPL-Synths. The GM-Folder contains sligthly modified MIDI-Files wich will use and modify instruments from MT-32 or Roland SC GS, but virtually they stay the same. 7 Channel only and arkward instrument usage. As i said above, they will only sound halfway good if a Roland Synth with GS-Support is used. On a real 100% GM-Synth it !will! sound like crap, because its not really GM.

[672421449965aFfFCMAD]

To add, a higher polyphony than 32 is bad, because these MIDI files relay on the problem of outrunning voices while playing for correct playback. The synth has to be set to monophonic for all sounds except the drumkit because the MIDI files are really crappy done. If the synth does not kill notes off, the notes will play the whole time. An OPL synth will work fine with that, a MT-32 and so on too. But 64 polyphony or higher >> forget it.