Any way to grab and listen to music/background music from DOS games?

[NeoVenom]

Lately, I've been trying to listen to music from certain DOS games, such as Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry, Monkey Island, etc... but I noticed that the ones I find on the internet are midi versions. Is it impossible to listen to non midi music from a DOS game? Thanks for reading!

[FFStudios]

pretty certain that the only difference is that those midi files were being played through a PC piezo buzzer type thing whereas you are now listening to them through a full midi sampler. i could be wrong but it's an idea

[NeoVenom]

Ah ok. I thought they were different files. I didn't know both were midi files.

[Ze_ro]

Sierra and LucasArts (and many other PC devs) did all their music specifically for MIDI sythesizers, and often the Roland MT-32 specifically. If you didn't have a synthesizer (they were quite expensive at the time), the game downgraded the music in order to fit whatever hardware you have... If you played Monkey Island with a SoundBlaster card, you might be surprised to know that the "real" music was actually much higher quality!

The MT-32 (and compatible models like the CM-32L, LAPC-I, etc) was special, in that it allowed you to upload custom samples. This feature was NOT duplicated in later MIDI synths, so those MIDI files you have are probably NOT the "real" music these games used, as they wouldn't include the custom effects. Also, the various MIDI synth makers would later settle on a standard called "General MIDI" (GM for short), which had different instrument arrangements from the MT-32.... so games meant for an MT-32 didn't sound "right" on a General MIDI synth, and games meant for a General MIDI synth didn't sound "right" on an MT-32 (you can load a GM sample set into the MT-32, but it doesn't have enough voices to actually perform as a true GM synth).

If you really want to capture the "real" music from these games, you'd probably have to buy an MT-32 and record the output. Note that there are even some incompatibilities between different versions of the MT-32, so it's really tricky to find the exact hardware that some games require. If you want to get into the really nerdy and quirky bits of this nonsense, I recommend watching this video. It's three and a half hours long, but it explains ALL the issues involved. (tl;dw version: no single sythesizer does EVERYTHING right, so if you absolutely have to have the best of all worlds, you pretty much need 3 or more synthsizers... if you're not that hardcore and just want one synth, then it depends on what games are your favourite).

All of this shit is a lot of work to set up, and a lot of time/money to acquire... you're probably best off just looking for MP3's that someone else has already recorded. I think all of this music is available on YouTube, though splicing out the audio is another trick entirely.

--Zero

[Gameguy]

It depends which versions of the games you mean, the ones you listed also have CD-ROM versions and these usually use enhanced CD quality audio. Several of those CD-ROMs can be played in regular CD players, starting from track 2.

[NeoVenom]

Ah, very interesting. I've heard and seen comparisons between when playing DOS games through a standard Soundblaster versus the Roland MT-32 version. Idk, call me weird but I like some of the sounds of certain games, even if the weren't played through a Roland MT-32. Like for example, I really like this version of Day of the Tentacle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HaYZsc66Bk. This video blew my mind in the difference though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZXVqrSo7AA. Thanks for the replies, by the way!