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You remind me that I didn't have a sound card at the time and I played all my games (mostly LucasArts) with the PC speaker. For me, the MIDI versions are too bo

You remind me that I didn't have a sound card at the time and I played all my games (mostly LucasArts) with the PC speaker. For me, the MIDI versions are too boring as they lack the "raw electric power" of the speaker that I loved for years.

pixelpoet 1y ago
I can still perfectly hear the twang of the Monkey Island theme song on PC speaker, and vastly prefer it to generic MIDI renditions. My, where did the years go...
- p1mrx 1y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOL4q5tDDQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOL4q5tDDQ
  - pixelpoet 1y ago
    Glorious!!! Even the channel name is too perfect :)
- RajT88 1y ago
  I went through a phase in high school of MIDI arrangements of songs I liked. Including crazy guitar solo music. Good times.
- Agentlien 1y ago
  At first I couldn't understand this sentiment; pc speaker always sounded so abrasive to me. Then I followed the link below and a wave of nostalgia washed over me.
sotix 1y ago
What exactly was the difference between PC speakers and MIDI? Why do we no longer need a MIDI device today to play the “correct” sound?
- badc0ffee 1y ago
  The PC speaker could only play square waves, and had only one voice. There is no "correct" sound for a MIDI file as it's just note and tempo data. But many people probably associate them with the OPL2 synthesizer chip on AdLib and early SoundBlaster cards. [1] Now that we have high fidelity digital sound output on even the cheapest computers/devices, at least 44 kHz, at least two channels, and at least 16 bits per sample, we can emulate (or play a recording of) anything. [1] Personally I remember this midi file sounding different/better. Maybe because I'm remembering using a Sound Blaster AWE64 while playing these things in Windows?
  - brudgers 1y ago
    There is no "correct" sound for a MIDI file In the case of canyon.mid there is because it was composed for a specific midi instrument with a particular set of timbres. Or to put it another way, it’s music and therefore complicated.
    - timewizard 1y ago
      I can play the guitar parts on a banjo but it ain't going to sound right.
      - brudgers 1y ago
        In 1900, QRS began making piano rolls. By 1920, they had invented a machine to capture piano players directly and over the years QRS captured many including Liberace, George Gershwin, and even Roger Miller playing Autumn Leaves. QRS is still in business and some of its product lines use Midi conversions of piano rolls and last month I landed a mixed lot with a bunch of those Midi files on 3.5” floppy disks. I had George Gershwin rocking a Yamaha XG clavichord and Liberace on a Sitar and similar shenanigans.
        timewizard 1y ago
        I didn't say it wouldn't sound good. It wouldn't sound right, as in, not what was intended. In particular, think of how this would play out if you had never heard that song before, would that be what you were after?
dr_kiszonka 1y ago
Well put! You may enjoy chiptunes. Wikipedia has samples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiptune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiptune (see: Contemporary chiptune music)
darkwater 1y ago
I had a completely different experience. The moment we played Monkey Island for the first time after installing our brand new SoundBlaster-compatible cheap soundcard, bought with the money a couple of early teenagers can have, well, it was GLORIOUS. I still remember it vividly 30+ years later.
- nebula8804 1y ago
  For me it was Epic Pinball on a Sound Blaster 16. Playing Duke Nukem 1 was awesome and all(wish I could go back) but when I heard the intro to Epic Pinball come out of these speakers: https://assets.superhivemarket.com/store/product/190602/image/5ac1530fb3d77d497f8c3b8cd72950e8.jpg https://assets.superhivemarket.com/store/product/190602/imag... It was one of those moments where computers blew my 8 year old mind, I was never the same.
- ahartmetz 1y ago
  Same here. The first sound card (also bought with my own scarce money) was a huge improvement. I don't miss the PC speaker one bit. Pinball Dreams (Edit: seems like it was Pinball Fantasies} and a few other games could play somewhat scratchy sounding PCM music on it, that was cool.
whywhywhywhy 1y ago
The midi versions are also pretty boring compared to the Amiga versions of the LucasArts soundtracks to be honest.
bux93 1y ago
If you did have one, it might be in the list of sound fonts on this incredible(!) player: https://chiptune.app/?q=canyon.mid https://chiptune.app/?q=canyon.mid

pixelpoet 1y ago

I can still perfectly hear the twang of the Monkey Island theme song on PC speaker, and vastly prefer it to generic MIDI renditions. My, where did the years go...

p1mrx 1y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOL4q5tDDQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOL4q5tDDQ
- pixelpoet 1y ago
  Glorious!!! Even the channel name is too perfect :)
RajT88 1y ago
I went through a phase in high school of MIDI arrangements of songs I liked. Including crazy guitar solo music. Good times.
Agentlien 1y ago
At first I couldn't understand this sentiment; pc speaker always sounded so abrasive to me. Then I followed the link below and a wave of nostalgia washed over me.

sotix 1y ago

What exactly was the difference between PC speakers and MIDI? Why do we no longer need a MIDI device today to play the “correct” sound?

badc0ffee 1y ago
The PC speaker could only play square waves, and had only one voice. There is no "correct" sound for a MIDI file as it's just note and tempo data. But many people probably associate them with the OPL2 synthesizer chip on AdLib and early SoundBlaster cards. [1] Now that we have high fidelity digital sound output on even the cheapest computers/devices, at least 44 kHz, at least two channels, and at least 16 bits per sample, we can emulate (or play a recording of) anything. [1] Personally I remember this midi file sounding different/better. Maybe because I'm remembering using a Sound Blaster AWE64 while playing these things in Windows?
- brudgers 1y ago
  There is no "correct" sound for a MIDI file In the case of canyon.mid there is because it was composed for a specific midi instrument with a particular set of timbres. Or to put it another way, it’s music and therefore complicated.
  - timewizard 1y ago
    I can play the guitar parts on a banjo but it ain't going to sound right.
    - brudgers 1y ago
      In 1900, QRS began making piano rolls. By 1920, they had invented a machine to capture piano players directly and over the years QRS captured many including Liberace, George Gershwin, and even Roger Miller playing Autumn Leaves. QRS is still in business and some of its product lines use Midi conversions of piano rolls and last month I landed a mixed lot with a bunch of those Midi files on 3.5” floppy disks. I had George Gershwin rocking a Yamaha XG clavichord and Liberace on a Sitar and similar shenanigans.
      - timewizard 1y ago
        I didn't say it wouldn't sound good. It wouldn't sound right, as in, not what was intended. In particular, think of how this would play out if you had never heard that song before, would that be what you were after?

dr_kiszonka 1y ago

Well put! You may enjoy chiptunes. Wikipedia has samples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiptune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiptune (see: Contemporary chiptune music)

darkwater 1y ago

I had a completely different experience. The moment we played Monkey Island for the first time after installing our brand new SoundBlaster-compatible cheap soundcard, bought with the money a couple of early teenagers can have, well, it was GLORIOUS. I still remember it vividly 30+ years later.

nebula8804 1y ago
For me it was Epic Pinball on a Sound Blaster 16. Playing Duke Nukem 1 was awesome and all(wish I could go back) but when I heard the intro to Epic Pinball come out of these speakers: https://assets.superhivemarket.com/store/product/190602/image/5ac1530fb3d77d497f8c3b8cd72950e8.jpg https://assets.superhivemarket.com/store/product/190602/imag... It was one of those moments where computers blew my 8 year old mind, I was never the same.
ahartmetz 1y ago
Same here. The first sound card (also bought with my own scarce money) was a huge improvement. I don't miss the PC speaker one bit. Pinball Dreams (Edit: seems like it was Pinball Fantasies} and a few other games could play somewhat scratchy sounding PCM music on it, that was cool.

whywhywhywhy 1y ago

The midi versions are also pretty boring compared to the Amiga versions of the LucasArts soundtracks to be honest.

bux93 1y ago

If you did have one, it might be in the list of sound fonts on this incredible(!) player: https://chiptune.app/?q=canyon.mid https://chiptune.app/?q=canyon.mid