tepples wrote:
If someone creates, say, a trumpet patch that "really shines", then couldn't that patch be pasted into the trumpet slot of a General MIDI-ordered patch set?
Good question, depends. From the Vogons thread "What did OPL2 cards use before General MIDI?"
5u3 wrote:
The AdLib card came with the Visual Composer program which used instrument definition files called Instrument Banks (links go to the nicely written Videogame Music Preservation Foundation Wiki).
These instrument banks can be found with quite a few games, but of course most of them used other formats like those mentioned above or defined their own instruments by programming the OPL directly. The latter method can produce the most amazing results, but it's not exactly trivial.
http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=35843
So I would think it's possible but more of a game by game patching process for the DOS and early Win games. The early FM support was kind of tacked on to game soundtracks that were targeted for the Roland midi systems. So it seems like 'good enough' was the norm regarding FM.
As of Win 3.1, games started using the generic FM driver/patch banks supplied by MS (which wasn't that good to begin with), but it was up to the developer's choice, so still not a standard format.
Changing the midi sound set wasn't a user option till SoundFont samples came along (which was really the end of the GM standard for games). This enabled games to use midi but load their own samples as needed. Gone were the limits of the instrument sets; and this spawned a community of SF designers that's still somewhat active, with SF soft synths and such.
Now a days, there is at least a few people working on FM GM banks (somewhere on Vogons) but not sure if they are aimed at replacing in-game music or more for general use. Most retro gamers want the sound track 'original', warts and all, so there would be some resistance to
better sound.
Really, GM is a limiting factor, 128 predefined Instruments; whether they're good or bad, only 128. Where as composing directly for the FM synth allows far greater expression and control.
Wow this is really OT, sorry,
Yogi