Phantasmagoria PC MS-DOS Sound Canvas Chapter 1
2There are several Phantasmagoria playthroughs on YouTube, NintendoComplete has three (one is of the Saturn version). I am uploading the beginnings of a playthrough to address an issue with videos showing this game relying solely on emulation, namely that there is no good substitute for a 1st (SC-55) and 2nd (SC-55mkII) generation Roland Sound Canvas device. Emulation, soundfonts and modern hardware substitutes just do not sound enough like the original modules. The built-in Windows emulation, the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, is particularly weak sounding and does not support the reverb or chorus units of the Sound Canvas devices. Even Roland's SC-88 began to diverge significantly from the older modules which DOS game composers used.
One of DOSBox's strengths is its ability to output MIDI to any MIDI device that Windows will recognize. The default is the built-in Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth but it can be redirected to an external module. Sound Canvas devices all support MIDI input from an external source, even the SCC-1/1A sound cards. DOSBox can use a good USB to MIDI adapter to communicate with an external module.
Phantasmagoria uses a combination of digitized audio and MIDI audio for its music and it is one of the last Sierra games to rely in part on MIDI. Audio played during the movies and cutscenes are digital recordings, any supported sound card capable of 16-bit audio processing can handle that audio. 8-bit sound cards will have an extra layer of hiss but the audio should be clear enough. The background music played while you are exploring and interacting with the game world is MIDI-based and in this video starts at the six minute mark.
For this partial playthrough's MIDI playback I am using a combination of the Roland UM-1X USB to MIDI adapter and a Roland SC-55ST. The SC-55ST is a second generation Sound Canvas module and as Phantasmagoria was released in mid-1995, I believe that a second generation Sound Canvas device is more appropriate than a first generation Sound Canvas for such a late game. The second generation devices have greater polyphony and more variation tones and drum sets than first generation devices. The SC-55ST's sole external control is a volume knob on the front of the unit and at times I turn the volume down to allow speech to be heard over the music.
Phantasmagoria has seven chapters, but upscaling and uploading the game takes a lot of CPU time and bandwidth, so I may complete the playthrough, but it will be in multiple parts.