AVM Summit

[Erasmus]

Does anyone know of any games which specifically take advantage of the AVM Summit?

The Summit is a really interesting external MIDI device that hooks up to the game port and was designed to enhance the MIDI sound of games. It has a phenomenal Kurzweil ROM containing the K2000 patchset as well as the Orchestral expansion ROM for the K2vx, totaling 12mb (compressed onto 6mb physical ROM). The orchestral sounds in my opinion out shine even the JV2080 with orchestral expansion board. I bought it when I was a music student because I LOVED the K2VX orchestral sounds and couldn't afford to buy that keyboard. As I had a DB50XG already, I never really used it for games. Unfortunately it's miles away in a box (hopefully safe) in my parents shed. But finding this forum made me think about it and I wanted to know if anyone else was familiar with it. I did a search on these forums (and google) and didn't turn up very much about it. I think it was released in 1997 or thereabouts.

[Ari]

I've never heard of it, or of any game supporting it specifically.
When the GM era began, most games supported either any General MIDI capable card or specifically the Sound Canvas (no specific model).
Since you say this device came out circa 1997, when MIDI soundtracks in games was beginning to decline and digital audio music was becoming the norm, I sincerely doubt the Summit had any games specifically designed for it.

I'd love to hear some samples, if you're up for it. 

[Erasmus]

I've love to make an ogg from it... but I'm about 6,000 miles away from where it is at the moment. It's funny, I've had my old 486 with tons of old junk in a big box untouched for years. Now that I've moved out of the country, I get nostalgic and think about playing old games.

I bought the Summit mainly for the outstanding Kurzweil samples . Because I had the DB50XG and Sound Canvas, I never tried gaming with the Summit. You might be correct about it being intended only for General MIDI. It was definitely marketed to gamers and perhaps the extra samples were a bonus or simply consequence of the synth chip they used.

It is a small external black box with a game port and MIDI in/out. The power comes through the game port and I intended to make a separate power supply for it but never got round to it. I think I bought it in 1998/99 for around $20 from eBay after much searching for it (I think it was hard to come by even new). I can't even find a photo of the  AVM Summit with google.

[Erasmus]

Ok, here is as close as I can come. This link has demos of the Kurzweil K2 series Orchestral ROM BLOC:
http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/downloads.html?Id=1706

Listen to the HJCLASCL.mp3 to get an idea. This is the exact Orchestral ROM in the Summit, though it's synthesis engine lacked some of the effects of the K2VX, it was REALLY close to the K2VX at the university, close enough that I could work at home then run my pieces in the Music lab on the K2VX.

The Summit had an additional 8mb general MIDI rom bloc. As I rarely used it for general midi, I can't really comment much. But I do remember comparing it to my Sound Canvas and thinking the summit was better (at leas on the few general midi files I tried). But weather it was better in games I doubt, as many game MIDI scores were written using and optimized for a Roland Sound Canvas. Though I might not the best judge of the Sound canvas, with my ear, the Yamaha DB50XG spent more time attached to my Santa Cruz for games.