Uploaded May 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Various so-called SC-55 soundfonts are compared with the real SC-55, and the Virtual Sound Canvas.
The real SC-55 recordings are by MusicallyInspired, and are from sc55 dot duke4 dot net. To make the soundfont comparisons "fair", I simply recorded with PistonSoft Direct MIDI to MP3 converter, using the same settings for every recording: Reverb 0% (although the soundfonts have some built-in reverb), Level 100%. For the VSC, the Reverb was set to Hall2.
These SC-55 soundfonts were found at various places online...the authors of many of them are unknown. The SC-55 soundfonts are modified gm.dls (very low quality SC-55 samples), with many different instrument samples added to make it sound much closer to a real SC-55. The SC-55 soundfonts also use some samples that are similar to, but not from, an SC-55. There is no complete high quality SC-55 soundfont unfortunately; they are missing samples such as all the extra GS sounds.
Anyway, some of these soundfonts sound better than others...it also depends on the instruments. The 25 MB one and the one by Patch93 seem to be the best, but these still actually use a mixture of SC-55 samples and samples from other synths. The 16 MB one and the one by DJ Tony appear to be the least accurate. The 54 MB one is also good but some instruments can be very loud.
DOOM E1M1 comparison
0:09 - real SC-55
0:36 - 10 MB soundfont v1.1 by DJ Tony
1:03 - 16 MB soundfont
1:31 - 25 MB soundfont
2:00 - 54 MB soundfont (Warning: Extremely loud distorted drums!)
2:28 - 61 MB soundfont by Patch93
2:57 - VSC
DOOM E2M2 comparison
3:29 - real SC-55
4:03 - 10 MB soundfont v1.1 by DJ Tony
4:35 - 16 MB soundfont
5:09 - 25 MB soundfont
5:42 - 54 MB soundfont
6:17 - 61 MB soundfont by Patch93
6:50 - VSC
Various so-called SC-55 soundfonts are compared with the real SC-55, and the Virtual Sound Canvas.
The real SC-55 recordings are by MusicallyInspired, and are from sc55 dot duke4 dot net. To make the soundfont comparisons "fair", I simply recorded with PistonSoft Direct MIDI to MP3 converter, using the same settings for every recording: Reverb 0% (although the soundfonts have some built-in reverb), Level 100%. For the VSC, the Reverb was set to Hall2.
These SC-55 soundfonts were found at various places online...the authors of many of them are unknown. The SC-55 soundfonts are modified gm.dls (very low quality SC-55 samples), with many different instrument samples added to make it sound much closer to a real SC-55. The SC-55 soundfonts also use some samples that are similar to, but not from, an SC-55. There is no complete high quality SC-55 soundfont unfortunately; they are missing samples such as all the extra GS sounds.
Anyway, some of these soundfonts sound better than others...it also depends on the instruments. The 25 MB one and the one by Patch93 seem to be the best, but these still actually use a mixture of SC-55 samples and samples from other synths. The 16 MB one and the one by DJ Tony appear to be the least accurate. The 54 MB one is also good but some instruments can be very loud.
DOOM E1M1 comparison
0:09 - real SC-55
0:36 - 10 MB soundfont v1.1 by DJ Tony
1:03 - 16 MB soundfont
1:31 - 25 MB soundfont
2:00 - 54 MB soundfont (Warning: Extremely loud distorted drums!)
2:28 - 61 MB soundfont by Patch93
2:57 - VSC
DOOM E2M2 comparison
3:29 - real SC-55
4:03 - 10 MB soundfont v1.1 by DJ Tony
4:35 - 16 MB soundfont
5:09 - 25 MB soundfont
5:42 - 54 MB soundfont
6:17 - 61 MB soundfont by Patch93
6:50 - VSC
