Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synth

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Hisymak
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:52 am

Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synth

Post by Hisymak »

Are you a fan of the FM/OPL synthesis and do you like the oldschool sound of the Adlib and Sound Blaster sound cards? Do you use OPL Synth emulation in ZDoom-based Doom ports?
If yes, then I have something of your interest: A highly enhanced GENMIDI lump to improve the sounding of many instruments and to take the best of the FM/OPL synthesis! With this GENMIDI lump you can listen to MIDI music tracks with better quality than the original Doom's GENMIDI lump can offer.
Image

Update from 2017-11-29
After some time, an update is finally here! I edited several more instruments, and most importantly, the drums are finally much better!
I could not resist and took some of the percussion instruments from Csonicgo's DMXOPL project. Percussion is my weak point when it comes to OPL Synth, and even the other sources which I took instrument patches from were not ideal. Csonicgo did really hard work with them, so all thanks go to him!
I also created some demonstration tracks, where I'm going to showcase some of the best instruments featured in my GENMIDI. There are seven new demonstration tracks linked in this post!
After all, here is the list of instruments which were changed since the last release:

Major changes:
- Clavinet
- Reed Organ
- Trumpet
- Baritone Sax (Blind - I had no midi using this instrument to test)
- Guitar Harmonics (Taken from DMXOPL - I really love it!)
- Bowed Glass (Taken from DMXOPL)
- Acoustic and Electric Snare, Open High Hat, most of the Cymbals, Vibraslap (Taken from DMXOPL)

Minor changes:
- Acoustic Grand Piano (release rate adjust)
- Timpani (volume increase)
- Alto Sax (volume increase)
- Piccolo (volume increase)
- Lead 7 (5th sawtooth) (key scale level swap)

From this version, this GENMIDI requires OPL3, because it utilizes the new waveforms - basically the same applies to DMXOPL3. Guitar Harmonics is the only melodic instrument which utilizes a square wave (and generally any OPL3 waveform) and the drums, of course.

Feature list:
- Used Doom2 GENMIDI lump as a base
- More than half of the instruments are modified, either completely or a very minor tweak was made
- The instruments which sounded bad and crappy were totally relplaced to sound better
- Many instruments were highlighted and made louder (if they were too quiet for example)
- Extensive utilization of double-voice feature of GENMIDI (I can afford it as ZDoom supprts emulation of up to 8 OPL chips). Due to this you need to configure emulation of more OPL chips, otherwise many note cutoffs will happen.
- Many instrument patches were taken from other games (mostly "The Fat Man" patches, Duke Nukem 3D, ROTT, Blood). I tried to take the best of them and combine them together in various ways.
- Some instruments, mostly the drums, were taken from DMXOPL project. Credits go to Csonicgo and everybody who participated the project.
- I also made my own unique and interesting modifications and creations
- Requires OPL3 due to usage of the new OPL3 waveforms

Download:
Latest version:
hisymak_genmidi_2017-11-29.zip
(11.76 KiB) Downloaded 607 times
This time I am also including a file with statistics which instruments were edited and which not, with detailed description of the change I made.

How to use:
- Start (G)ZDoom with the wad file
- Go to Options - Sound Options, change Midi Device to OPL Synth Emulation
- Go to Advanced Sound Options and change OPL emulation core to some OPL3 core (I recommend Dosbox OPL3 as this one I used for development). Increase the Number of Emulated OPL Chips to at least 4-6.
- Listen to some MIDI tracks!

Demonstration tracks:

1. Memento Mori 2 MAP03
This track demonstrates the entire philosophy and purpose of my GENMIDI project: Improve instruments which need improvement, and leave unchanged the instruments which are iconic to DMX and Doom MIDIs overally, and sound great on their own. This should retain the original feeling of Doom music.
This track was previously recorded and uploaded on Youtube with the original unchanged GENMIDI, that's why I chose this song for demonstration - you can directly compare with mine and the original version!
From the very beginning you can hear the improved Clavinet. Then after a little while you will hear the Muted Guitar and Distortion guitar at higher pitches. Percussion is significantly improved too. On the other hand, the Overdriven guitar, and Slap Bass 1 and Ride Bell in later parts remained unchanged, as this is the typical Doom sound we all are familiar with.
https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/memento- ... nmidi-demo

Here is the original version of the same song (recorded with unchanged GENMIDI):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgRqwHJG4TQ

2. James Paddock: Fallen Sun
Another great song I really like. This song was previously recorded with the original GENMIDI as well, so you can hear direct comparison here too!
Main instrument changes:
- Cello (at 0:09)
- Reverse Cymbal (at 0:17)
- Nylon Guitar (at 0:36 and 1:21)
- Xylophon (at 0:54)
- Bright Acoustic Piano (at 1:40)
- String Ensemble 1 (through entire song)
https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/james-pa ... nmidi-demo

Here is the original version of the same song (recorded with unchanged GENMIDI) but got some post-processing (bass frequencies, reverbs etc.), that's why it might sound better in some cases:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ6NUmseiLg

3. James Paddock: Ripsaw
One of the recent and awesome songs by Jimmy. Here you can hear for example Rain FX (from beginning) and Bass lead (lead 8).
https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/james-paddock-ripsaw

4. Electric Guitar (clean) demo
The Clean guitar is one of my most favourite instruments I created. This is one of the most significant examples of an instrument, which does not sound like how it's supposed to, but is made to sound originally and nicely. I would call it something like "Sweet Guitar" fot its lovely sound. It can give a completely new feeling to the songs where it is used, like this example:
https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/electric ... nmidi-demo

5. Pizzicato Strings demo
Pizzicato Strings is quite hard to replicate in OPL, but I think I managed it very well with the help of Duke Nukem 3D patch. Here you can hear an example:
https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/pizzicato

6. Waltz of Flowers
This is an example of a classic song. Here you can hear for example French Horn (0:50), Clarinet (0:58), Flute (2:02), Oboe (3:10) etc.
https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/tchaikov ... nmidi-demo

7. Shadow Warrior: Everybody Off!
An example of a song from Shadow Warrior. Here you can hear Koto (beginning), Ocarina (0:23) etc.
https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/shadow-w ... nmidi-demo

Music recorded with older versions of the GENMIDI:
Spoiler:
Examples of edited instruments (full list available within download):
- Distortion Guitar (combinaiton of original Doom2 and the Fat Man patches, improving it significantly)
- String Ensemble 1 (sounds closer to a Violin sound - especially in higher pitches)
- All Toms (taken from ROTT)
- Muted Guitar, Clean Guitar, Nylon Guitar
- Hammond Organ
- Pizzicato Strings
- Bass lead (original was really crappy)
- Soundtrack FX (Using fine tuning and Chorus effect pretty well)
- Choir Aahs
- Many others...
Last edited by Hisymak on Sat Dec 02, 2017 11:40 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Csonicgo
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Location: Leeds

Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Csonicgo »

Spoiler:
Glad to see someone else take a crack at this. Some pointers:

Paul Radek had a lot of instruments, notably percussion ones, that he did not finish, and attempted to mute, due to either giving up on them or thinking no one would use them. Vibra Slap is one of those. If you want to get some more work in on this, start with those.

Some patches, like Synth String 2, are an octave higher than they should be, which I assume was in error. Heretic Music uses a lot of patches with this problem, which is baffling since you would think someone would have heard this during development.

Be careful with release values in patches. I learned this the hard way, and made crash cymbals that sounded like bells because I never thought to check that. the IWAD MUS files don't have a problem with this, but some custom midis might.

When you use double voice, remember this can mean double volume depending on what the values are. Another mistake I made when I re-designed the piano patches - they were twice as loud!

Good work so far!
Hisymak
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:52 am

Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Hisymak »

Csonicgo wrote:
Spoiler:
Hehe, I noticed just after I posted my project on ZDoom forums. Probably good I didn't know that earlier, so I could work on this totally independently.
Csonicgo wrote:Paul Radek had a lot of instruments, notably percussion ones, that he did not finish, and attempted to mute, due to either giving up on them or thinking no one would use them. Vibra Slap is one of those. If you want to get some more work in on this, start with those.
Ok, seems it could be like that. Maybe you could give me list of instruments that you think need improvement (important: with numbers/indexes, as the instrument names may vary along multiple sources) and I could try.
Csonicgo wrote:Some patches, like Synth String 2, are an octave higher than they should be, which I assume was in error. Heretic Music uses a lot of patches with this problem, which is baffling since you would think someone would have heard this during development.
I personally think it was rather an intention. I actually love the sound of Synth Strings, and this actually makes Heretic soundtrack so distinctive and memorable. So I left Synth Strings like this, while I could see you fixed the pitch, which sounds closer to how really it should, but I don't like it that much. OPL Synth is also about experimenting, creativity and creating some unusual and interesting sounds.
Csonicgo wrote:When you use double voice, remember this can mean double volume depending on what the values are. Another mistake I made when I re-designed the piano patches - they were twice as loud!
I'm pretty well aware of that and sometimes I double the same voice just for the purpose of increasing the volume. If the instrument is too loud after putting two voices together, I solve this by setting higher key scale level of carrier.
I noticed (after opening your GENMIDI im ny editor) that when you use double voice, you almost always use fine tuning. This creates pretty nice chorus effect which I used as well, but only on few instruments. I see you're more experienced in this, I was mostly combining existing patches from various sources.
Csonicgo wrote:Good work so far!
Thanks! I'm looking forward for competition. Feel free to take any instrument from my GENMIDI, if you feel like doing that.
The instruments I created I'm most proud of (and are most satisfying for me to hear) are:
Hammond Organ
Soundtrack FX
Echo FX
Electric Guitar (Clean)
String Ensemble 1
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Csonicgo
Posts: 1193
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Location: Leeds

Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Csonicgo »

Okay this is a good thing. I'm fully supportive of a "more conservative" DMX patch set. Since my patch set is designed for many things besides Doom, Some may be put off by that, and I think this would be a great alternative if the player wants a more retro sounding experience.

That means I can focus on voice balance and timbre for gameplay mods that use modern midi compositions instead of just Doom/Raven/Strife music.
Spoiler:
But enough about *my* crap, I'll be watching this and see if I can be inspired a bit. I do like your Tubular Bells patch a lot. That was the most impressive one I heard out of all of them just because of how close it is to the real thing.
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Csonicgo
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Location: Leeds

Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Csonicgo »

OH and I almost forgot, if you need any help on instruments, let me know which ones and I'll give you a hand. I promise they'll be unique and not just copying from my patches (that would be weird). I'll get you the index of the VibraSlap and the rest of the percussion Paul Radek "muted" when I get around to that tomorrow.
Hisymak
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:52 am

Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Hisymak »

I've done some more work on my GENMIDI since I released it, and made change to a few more instruments, most importantly Koto. I'm really satisfied with its sound now. You can try for example with Shadow Warrior music, as it uses Koto everywhere. Here you can download it:
hisymak_genmidi_2017-08-06.wad
(11.66 KiB) Downloaded 298 times
Thanks for your comments, Csonicgo.
Actually I didn't make this for the vanilla IWAD Doom music specifically, but rather for the custom music tracks used in magawads, mappacks and midi packs, and even non-Doom music, like you. At first I got the idea when I was playing Plutonia with Plutonia midi pack, since I liked the midis in it, but some of the instruments sounded pretty off with OPL, and I wanted to do something with this. And then it ended up with a full project like this.
You say my GENMIDI is "more conservative" and that's right. I do really like sound of some instruments Paul Radek created - Atmosphere FX, Synth Strings and some others turned out pretty well, and I bet they could be even put on a professional keyboard or synthesizer. My goal is not to make it sound exactly like real instruments or some existing patch set of Roland, but create some interesting and creative sounds which are pleasant to hear. As I already said, I think I did it well for several cases.
I did the most chagnes for the melodic instruments and didn't touch percussion instruments that much. The reason is simple - I'm not really familiar with percussion (I don't even know how some instruments look or sound like in reality) and they're much much harder to edit, and I'm not really experienced with that. And on the other hand, I can say I quite like how the original DMX percussion instruments sound like, so I didn't try to change them that much either. Just these which were important and sounded really crappy (like Accoustic Snare) I changed. So percussion is something I'd appreciate some help with. I don't really mind if I take the instruments from your DMXOPL project, if you're okay with that as well.
And thanks for your feedback on my instruments, like the Tubular Bells. You can thank The Fat Man for that, since I copied his patch and put it together with the original Doom patch and aligned the envelope a bit. I created many other instruments in similar way. Are there any other instruments you like?
And what do you think about my experimental music video with a fairy-tale song (the third example in Demonstration section), did you listen to that?
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Csonicgo
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Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Csonicgo »

That's how the SB16 stock patches should have sounded like. Nice work.
Hisymak
Posts: 73
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:52 am

Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Hisymak »

Hey! An update is finally here! Many improvements, especially the drums, and lot of demonstration tracks!

I edited the first post. Go check what is new in this release!

Quick download link: download/file.php?id=30903

Quick demonstration example (Memento Mori MAP03: Give In With Pleasure by Mark Klem): https://soundcloud.com/hisymak/memento- ... nmidi-demo
Find much more stuff in the first post!
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Armaetus
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Re: Hisymak's GENMIDI: An enhanced GENMIDI lump for OPL Synt

Post by Armaetus »

Nice to see this is over here too.
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