Euphonium: Sound Blaster Pro Edition

A resourcepack that transforms Euphonium's ambient sounds into an authentic MS-DOS Sound Blaster experience.

Back to the Past: Why This Exists

Modern audio is too clean! This pack downgrades Euphonium's sounds to 8-bit, 22.05 kHz with analog imperfections, mimicking the gritty, warm noise of a 1992 Sound Blaster Pro. Perfect for retro-styled modpacks or DOS gaming nostalgia.

Technical Features

22.05 kHz Sample Rate

• Matches Sound Blaster Pro's hardware limits for games (half the 44.1 kHz CD standard)
• Reduces high-frequency aliasing like the original DAC's analog low-pass filter

8-Bit Depth and Triangular Dithering

• SB Pro used 8-bit DACs for digital audio (e.g., VOC files)
• Dithering: TPDF (triangular probability density function) with Shibata noise shaping mimics the card's analog noise floor, avoiding "digital grit" while preserving dynamics

Brown Noise Layer

• Adds subtle -50dB brown noise hiss to emulate:
• SB Pro's analog output stage
• CRT monitor interference (iconic for DOS gaming)

Low-Pass Filter @ 7500 Hz

• Replicates Sound Blaster's physical output filter that rolled off frequencies above approximately 7.5 kHz

Overdrive and Gain Reduction

• Overdrive 2: Light distortion from SB Pro's op-amp circuits
• Gain -1: Prevents clipping after dithering/noise injection

Authenticity Characteristics

• Tested against recordings from Duke Nukem 3D (SB Pro) and SB emulation in DOSBox-Staging
• The chain (sox effects + noise shaping) mirrors how games like Doom mixed PCM audio

Compatibility

• Designed for Euphonium 1.0.3+1.20 (other versions untested!)

Tools and Inspiration

• Tools: sox for DSP, find/bash for batch processing
• Inspiration: VOGONS community, SBEMU, and real SB16 hardware tests

"It's not a bug — it's a feature (from 1992)."