Re: CRAP Poll: My Mouse Is...

On Tue, 04 Jun 2024 23:33:55 +0300, Anssi Saari
<anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:
>

On Sun, 02 Jun 2024 21:32:22 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

Question: What's the best MIDI SoftSynth to use?

>
I couldn't answer that any more.

>
I have a vague memory Microsoft added a softsynth to Windows at some
point? That's probably not the best though.

They did. It allowed the importing of custom patches and could be
quite good; however, the default soundfont was passable at best. The
soundtrack for the original "Hitman: Codename 47" used the Windows
softsynth (using custom patches) and was quite an impressive bit of
composing (you can hear some of it in the background here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A4bzLA1JmQ). However, getting to that
point apparently took a lot more work than most developers were
interested in doing, especially when it was easier just to ship the
game with CD-Audio or digitized background music.

For the ordinary end-user, the built-in softsynth (which, as far as
I'm aware, still exists on modern windows, even if its harder to
access these days) was average. It was certainly better than the harsh
FM synthesis of the Soundblasters, but far inferior to the Yamahas and
Rolands (and probably even the Ensoniqs and Creative) synths
available.