SS1 Soundfont - custom royalty free dedicated instruments library

[674353719726bDeu sex]

As of June 2022, a more up to date version is available here:
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=12023.0

I decided to create a new thread and keep this one for legacy reasons, in case you'd like to compare the previous versions with the new one, otherwise I absolutely encourage you to get the newer one as it's a really big improvement over the ones in this thread.

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Do you think that System Shock 1 has amazing music composition that is extremely poorly played back by the default Windows MIDI ?

Then this "mod" is for you, it doesn't only provide much better instruments compared to the terribly horrendous default Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, but it combines the best (in my opinion) royalty free instruments you can find on the internet that matches the System Shock feel, and assembles them in only one soundfont file, that has been tuned extensively to parry all the volume and effects alterations of the dynamic music that often caused really weird behaviors with other soundfonts.

The composition itself is fully preserved, instead of trying to alter it, instruments were tuned to behave as correctly as possible.

It comes in 2 different flavors, first the one I personally recommend, the arranged version, where I was inspired by the MAC version and some of Chicajo's remixes to give a more modern and polished feel to the soundtrack by highjacking some instruments and replacing or combining them when I feel it was interesting to do so :

https://mega.nz/#!v9oQlAqL!D1rD0NZYkjwihWOaXhCxXEJCuQNFQJMeK5T_Y4rbF_A
Youtube video for demo purposes :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYEB5Bq7w3o

For a little bit more "purist" approach (the difference isn't that huge though), the faithful version is the one where I prevented myself for changing or combining instruments, and only restrict myself to the ones intended, it is not the one I personnally recommend, especially to newcomers, but it is still a quality sounding one that is here to provide more choice to people if necessary :

https://mega.nz/#!mkAnUITb!mn7ecvSS7Kc7ko0FgPjvGKsi7enUuZzpxlDcqaYD4CU

For those files to work with the game, if you are not already familiar with it, you will need the absolutely amazing "Virtual MIDI Synth" third party software that I can't recommend enough :

https://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

If you want, with this software you can even hot swap between the two versions of System Shock Soundfont to hear the differences and decide which one you prefer.

If you are curious, here are the soundfonts I used to select instruments for the 2 different versions :

-ChoriumRevA
-Crisis General Midi v3.01
-FluidR3_GM
-Giant Soundfont V6.0
-GMRBasico1.1
-MuseScore
-SGM-V2.01
-Timbres Of Heaven GM_GS_XG_SFX V 3.4 Final
-WeedsGM3

(possible new candidates for the 2022 final revision expected soon™: 32MbGMStereo, Musyng, ColomboGMGS2, FatBoy-v0.790, GeneralUser GS v1.471, UHD3)

It is without saying that I address a HUGE thanks to all those soundfonts and the people who worked on them for existing and being free of use for non profitable projects.

If you want to edit the 2 files to do some customs adjustments, you will need a software such as Viena (careful, the one with only one "n") or Polyphone.

Enjoy ! And don't hesistate to share feedback

( bonus round, for people who want to use this soundfont with the Rewired custom fan mission, I made a slightly modified one for that game too: https://mega.nz/#!u4RkDCRD!UR597FEQT80oZxZcMvJ3Iy-XkOePjxyHTXEZIdeUgHE https://youtu.be/VPCFPKH5ZsY )

[67435371975f2RocketMan]

What the heck is that GUI?  Did you re-write the game interface or something?

[6743537197769Kolya]

I thought it was the enhanced edition, but I might be wrong since I never played it.

[674353719788eDeu sex]

Thanks moderators for moving the topic and enabling a real Youtube link with a preview haha !
The GUI is from enhanced yes, but it's nothing special, I just switched colors to green, and removed the display of augmentations in fullscreen mode (you can also do this in the original version)

EDIT: Ah but maybe you meant the menus ? Yes the menus in Enhanced are quite different indeed. And so much better by the way.

[674353719797fRocketMan]

I never played it either.  Some nice improvements but not enough to convince me to switch from the ghetto edition.

[6743537197a6eDeu sex]

well, for the moment the enhanced edition is still plagued by a bug that makes dynamic music play wrong parts sometimes sadly, especially after leaving cyberspace. it will get fixed they said, someday

[6743537197baasgupta]

I've said it before, but very nice work!  =)  These are both awesome! 

[6743537197cffDeu sex]

Thanks ! It's funny because I've listened to the official OST, and it doesn't sound as good in the official OST because the ingame MIDI samples are actually quite different and tuning the instruments for them did some weird volume adjustments when you listen to the official not ingame OST, still listenable of course but different ^^

[6743537197df4Deu sex]

1000 views yaay ! (I'm a child)

Hope Nightdive will release their patch for MIDI soon though, can't do much about that one

[6743537197efeMe]

Good gosh, thanks. I wasn't able to get ChromiumRevA sounding right and it was a nightmare in that one red room in the medical wing. This one makes it less of a coordinated cymbal assault.

[674353719808cDeu sex]

Hey! Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to put some final touches for the arranged version since I now own a pair of high quality headphones. Someone else named Joshua/SystemShocker is also working on his own soundfont project, which I'm very hyped about.

Sadly, Nightdive Studios is lacking manpower to work on the source port, and the MIDI playback bugs have still not been fixed, and new bugs have been introduced for almost exactly a whole year, so right now the source port is sadly not exactly a great experience... I'm still going to focus on sound and instruments quality, in the hopes that someday the issues get fixed, at least my stuff and maybe Joshua's one should be ready first.

[6743537198214Deu sex]

@nintendoeats

if you stumble on this thread at some occasion, well, your project has been a very useful resource and helped me tremendously to work on the next revision which should be available soon™

here is a sneak peak! https://youtu.be/gtXZpklwR4A?t=27334
I just need to redo all the drums and after that we'll have the best of both worlds, not only it sounds better but its even closer to the faithful version so no need to separate things into 2 versions anymore

[674353719839bDeu sex]

Things are shaping crazy good, that new hardware is doing wonders, it gets me super motivated and the progress is insane, I will probably create a new thread once it's finished because honestly it's not just a soundfont anymore at this point but a full on enhancement of the soundtrack (via instruments only of course, still zero midi file changes)

Here is a sneak peak in case you guys are interested, it's very close to final:
https://mega.nz/file/zs4RVaRC#_pcwA3BUxFEfF0-LKv23Xqq9jf-AXnnw8jbR_0415pA
https://mega.nz/file/X1ITnRiB#xiWXmniOi8wJyPxpafz4I_R1IHQgZzZrbihka4B0lyE