Courtesy of the nsm3project team, Ultima Aiera is pleased to present the soundtrack of Ultima 5 as it sounds on a Passport Wavetable MIDI card. Passport Designs, according to Wikipedia, “introduc[ed] the pre-MIDI SoundChaser in 1982. This Apple II-based system included the Mountain Computer Music System, a programmable 8-voice wavetable synthesizer (the first ever commercially available) that fit in two Apple II slots, the Soundchaser 4-octave keyboard, and system software…that emulated a four-track tape recorder.”

Have a listen and decide for yourself, Dragons and Dragonettes, whether the sound would have — in its day — been worth the incredible cost of such a system (personally, I’m inclined to think it might just have been):

[playlist id=2]

Download the tracks:
* Ultima 5 Soundtrack (29.8 MiB, 270 hits)

Now, a few disclaimers.

These MP3 files are originals, and can be downloaded as a single ZIP archive above.

Also, the files range in size from about 450 KB to over 3 MB. As such, they may take a while to load when you attempt to play them. Then again, they might load quite quickly.

Finally, enjoy. Have a listen. Have another. These tracks are a fine example of both Ultima and general computing history; who would have thought that a MIDI card setup dating back to the early 1980s could produce such sound?