10-15-2019, 08:26 AM
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Banned
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Bristlebane <Reckless Fury>
Posts: 1,811
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hmm
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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 do enjoy MIDI quite a bit. The small bit of music that I heard was... actually quite amazing, really. I would have to wonder whether or not Everquest could be considered the pinnacle of MIDI music in PC gaming. It certainly hit very late to be a game that used MIDI.
I picked up the MIDI file archive and fired up the main theme (Intro) and it pretty much choked my equipment. The composer 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 while playing "Norrath Beckons," it looks like it is averaging 25-30, has some areas that clear 40, and tops out at around 70.
What does the box/manual say for recommended sound? Do you have it? Where did you read that the game was designed for the AWE32? Is there an official interview that mentions it, or is it speculation on a forum? Based on my short experience with Everquest MIDI, the AWE32 most likely couldn't deliver what was asked of it.
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