I've looked at the 1st 2 pages of this forum & haven't seen much on what the best sound system is for the Descent Series. I have not bought/downloaded the games yet, but plan on it within the next day or two. When I do, what sound & music system should I use for the series? Thanks!
BTW - I have Windows XP Home edition on a Dell Dimension 4600 in case this is needed & relevant info.

Well the default uses MIDI...so it's whatever you happen to have on your system.

If you use a source port like DXX-Rebirth (There's another one...D2X-XL, but I honestly don't know much about it) then there are several AddOn music packs you can download, that are recordings of the MIDI music, on high-quality soundboards.

Thanks A Future Pilot. When I finally download the games (today or tomorrow), I'll re-post on this topic if something does not seem right. BTW - I see a lot of posts referring to DXX-Rebirth and D2X-XL. I am unfamiliar with these.... are they mods? I'll have to do a Google or Bing search & see what I think. What is your experience with those?

Well they are source ports. In short:

They both have ported Descent 1 and 2 to modern systems. DXX-Rebirth focuses on authentic gameplay, fixing bugs in the original code, and updating the graphics by filtering and adding transparency effects and such.

D2X-XL, I honestly don't have nearly as much experience with, as I never got it working on my computer, but it's idea is to stretch the engine to its limits, by adding tons of graphical enhacements, and extra gameplay elements.

D2X-XL does work with Descent 1, but it's mainly geared toward Descent 2, while Rebirth has two separate executables for D1 and D2.

That's basically the two in short...google them both and try them both out...then choose one or just use both depending on your mood :)

So, all the sounds are there & work properly. YAY! However, I'm having small video problems with Descent 3. I've attached a couple photos to show what I'm talking about

3rdly (Maybe I'm jumping the gun here & just need to look for the answer that may already be here in the forums) - How can I have my Logitech Dual Action Game Pad to work on All 3 descent games?

FYI - I am running on Windows XP Home edition. I have tried using Open GL (Intel 865G) for video & got a black screen doing so. i don't know how to turn on/off VSynch. I don't know where that can be found.

Sadly I don't know much about D3 (I mean I've played it through a couple times, and done some multiplayer, but I never liked it as much as 1 or 2) so I can't help you.

Sorry :/

You can also use the Mac soundtrack with D1X Rebirth, it includes pretty good info within the options menu on how to set that up, and that rendition of the soundtrack is fantastic, though it's of course missing a lot of the tracks from the MIDI versions.

If you play with MIDI though, the sound system could make a lot of difference. :) I'd guess the original music was written for the Roland MT-32 sound card, but I'm sure you could get some really interesting results if you connect a polyphonic hardware synthesizer or keyboard through USB or MIDI and set up Windows to output MIDI commands through the MIDI out (I think the Roland (U)220 is supposed to be rather close to the original MT-32). Since most MIDI capable hardware follow the standardized instrument/preset orders drums and instruments should map to their corresponding sounds on the unit you connect. :)

u need NGlide it will help with the graphics by emualting the 3Dfx Voodoo Glide wrapper whitch was the best graphics engine for the game (I use it and have had no problems so far

Just a tip on MIDI: the default MIDI synth may be Windows' software synthesizer. (Less likely on XP, all but guaranteed on Vista and Win7 without Vista MIDI Fix.)

Obviously, if you have a sound card with half-decent MIDI capabilities (SoundFonts, even!), then you want to make sure that it's handling any and all MIDI playback.

Descent's (1 and 2) MIDI is composed for "General MIDI" synths. So it should sound "right" on software SoundFonts (SB Live, Audigy and X-Fi have native support, or you can use BASSMIDI with any sound card, with a good SoundFound like Chorium 32MB). It will also sound "right" on synth modules like Roland Sound Canvas SC-55 or SC-88.

Which synth makes it sound "best" though, is down to personal preference. ;)

Descent 2 also has a redbook audio soundtrack, which is sadly missing some tracks in the GOG release, but that's another story!