I like learning about this topic and still
associate synth with video game music & sounds.
I had a Soundblaster Live! for original EQ.
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From what I've been reading, the game was designed for/on AWE32 with synthusr.sf2 soundfont.
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The music for EQ started coming together as early as 1995 and was composed with the AWE32 soundcard in mind. By the late 90s most games moved away from MIDI soundtracks but EQ still supported ONLY the AWE32 and Sound Blaster Live! cards for hardware sound. From what I can tell, this is because the game client loaded a special EQ soundfont into the card which loaded instruments and drums unique to the game in addition to calling upon instruments native to the cards EMU8000 midi synth chip.
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I picked up the MIDI file archive from the EverQuest MIDI project and fired up the main theme and it pretty much choked my equipment. The composer (Jay Barbeau) really did compose in a late era of MIDI as it uses a solid 16 channels and knocks down the polyphony door. I am fairly certain you would cripple a Yamaha DB50XG if you tried to play back some of this music on it. As I understand it, that DB50XG has 32 voice polyphony. Watching the MIDI playback voice count in MIDI Player with playing "Norrath Beckons," it looks like it is averaging 25-30, has some areas that clear 40, and tops out at around 70 (!)
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