Monkey Island 2 intro MIDI music comparison

Yamaha OPL-3: 00:03
Roland MT-32: 04:10
Roland SC-88: 08:15
Yamaha MU90: 12:20
Korg X5DR: 16:28
Roland SC-7: 20:30
A comparison between the sound qualities of the Yamaha OPL-3 FM synthesizer, the Roland MT-32, the Roland SC-88, the Yamaha MU90, the Korg X5DR, and the Roland SC-7. Scummvm was used for the gameplay video and music playback.
The OPL-3 was an inexpensive (and crude sounding) frequency modulation audio synthesizer included on late eighties and early nineties sound cards, like the Ad-Lib, the Sound Blaster 8 and 16, and the many clones. The rendition in this video is DosBox' emulation of the device, not an actual OPL-3.
The Roland MT-32 made its entry on the computer music scene in the late eighties and was marketed heavily by Sierra Online, developer of the famous Quest-series of adventure games. The MT-32 pre-dates the General MIDI standard, and has a different sound set that doesn't conform to the standard. Thus, game developers had to make special considerations if they were to support both the MT-32 and General MIDI units for their games' soundtracks.
The Roland SC-88 was the top-level item in the Roland Sound Canvas line of MIDI modules. The SC-88 uses Roland's specialized "GS" format when applicable.
The Yamaha MU90 was Yamaha's prosumer competition to the Roland Sound Canvas-line. The MU90 uses Yamaha's proprietary "XG" superset of the General MIDI format, when applicable.
Korg X5DR is a lesser-known unit and fairly rare, but holds up pretty well against the competition.
Roland SC-7 was an entry level General MIDI module by Roland. The current Windows Wavetable default MIDI playback device in Windows uses sounds from the SC-7 sound bank, although at lower quality and in mono. The SC-7 is a bare-bones unit that only contains the base sound set of General MIDI.

[@distortion343]

The Korg Synth sounds very nice, never heard of it. Thank you for your video.

[@EspenMoe357]

Thanks! Yeah, the Korg isn't really very common. But it has a nice characteristic.

[@cerebrotostador]

It’s amazing how you find all this tracks. The usual one is the Roland MT-32. It’s nice to know every experience of Monkey Island was different to somebody else.
I might use one of this rare tracks for an animation tribute to this magnificent game! Thank you for uploading them! You are Legend! 💥

[@EspenMoe357]

Thanks a lot! I have a lot of fun recording these, as they all bring back sweet memories from my childhood / teens.

[@Viblo]

This is awesome. Thanks for putting this together. Very fascinating

[@Doubledumbledoor]

Crazy different. Thanks for uploading!

[@user-uk9er5vw4c]

The Amiga500 vintage sound is still unbeatable

[@Eljulitus]

Nice! Pent arbeid det her.

[@CTFlyer7]

MT-32

[@JoneKone]

So why MT-32 is the very best =D of all of these.. cause it doesn't sound like a damn 80's sleazy ... thing =D

[@csabasanta5696]

Interesting. Is there a General MIDI patch for MI2? My SC-88 sounds nothing like in the video. Neither in normal nor in CM-64 mode...

[@EspenMoe357]

It's been a while since I recorded this, but I probably used SCUMMVM for running the game. It might have some GM translation functionality that's not originally in the game, I'm not sure.

[@csabasanta5696]

@@EspenMoe357 Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try

[@GE2708]

yamaha opl3 still the best

[@autemniaequinoctius2030]

lol

[@CTFlyer7]

From a nostalgic point of view, yes. That's how I experienced it in 1992. But the MT-32 is amazing and better.

[@Enchurito]

I'd rate it from best to worst.
1 mt-32, 2 mu-90, 3 Korg, 4 sc-88, sc-7, 5 Yamaha opl.

[@JoneKone]

agreed

[@puciohenzap891]

SC-88 sounds....wrong?

[@CTFlyer7]

Agreed

[@pedazodeboludo]

How did you output General MIDI for this game? Using ScummVM's MT-32 to GM translation?

[@EspenMoe357]

Actually, I don't remember off-hand. Doesn't SummVM have both MT-32 output and GM output natively?

[@pedazodeboludo]

@@EspenMoe357 Yes I figured it out with ScummVM. It has an internal "translation" and if you select a different MIDI output device, or its built-in "FluidSynth" and select any soundfont you want, MT-32 games sound mostly "correct." I played MI2 with general midi entirely and the results are pretty good, but in a few places you can tell that the instrument selection and volume balance differ somewhat from the "original intention" as played with MT-32 or SoundBlaster. Cheers!

[@EspenMoe357]

@@pedazodeboludo interesting! Except for Munt in Dosbox, I've only used the hardware units. Thanks for your comments!