Roland Rocks Marvelous MIDI in WC2

Everyone knows that Wing Commander put the Creative Labs Sound Blaster on the map with its dazzling sound effects, musical score and speech. It was not uncommon at all in 1991 to invite friends over just to show them the talking Kilrathi in the introduction to Wing Commander 2. WC1&2 sold quite a few Sound Blasters, which became the audio gold standard in the 1990s.

But there was an even better way to listen to the early Wing Commanders! Roland sound cards enabled special effects and soundtracks. You can read up on some of the details here, or you can listen to the sample below. This particular clip demonstrates the difference between the Sound Blaster and the Roland MT-32 MIDI card. The first half is how the game sounds with Creative Labs, and the Roland music kicks in at the 4:26 mark.

If you can't get enough, check out this update for a roundup of WC1 audio with the same Roland MIDI setup going. Thanks to Whistler for finding this one.