Euphonium: Sound Blaster Pro Edition

A resourcepack that transforms Euphonium’s ambient sounds into authentic MS-DOS Sound Blaster experiences.

🔉 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 Deep Dive

22.05 kHz Sample Rate

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

8-Bit Depth + TPDF Dithering

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

Low-Pass Filter @ 7500 Hz

• Replicates the Sound Blaster’s physical output filter, which rolled off frequencies above ~7.5 kHz.

Overdrive + Gain Reduction

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

📼 Authenticity Notes

• Tested against recordings from Duke Nukem 3D (SB Pro) and DOSBox-Staging’s SB emulation.
• 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!).

🖇️ Credits

• 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 (of 1992)."