Re: Any game that supported Roland SC / general sound?

Posted on 2024-04-08, 13:37

by

by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Microprose's Transport Tycoon (floppy release) has a music board option for "Roland Sound Canvas" but would need to extract the music data to check GS use as the game won't launch if SC selected.

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Re: Any game that supported Roland SC / general sound?

Posted on 2024-04-07, 10:13

by

by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have not yet technically confirmed this but when I was working on rendering the Wing Commander: Privateer (floppy release) General MIDI XMIs on a Roland SCC-1 card, "Refinery" (BASETUNE.GEN/10.XMI) seems to use the GS variation tone "Bubble" -> https://youtu.be/OzsHMybDAS0?si=pd4e2Zm9XRpuVXEo&t= …

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Re: DOS MIDI player o game with support of port 380?

Posted on 2024-02-08, 13:51

by

by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Regarding DOS MIDI players, Mark A. Fontana's MFPLAY (GSPLAY previously) version 1.2 has ; MPU401 PORT ADDRESS ; For MPU_ADDR, specify the port address (in hex) of your Roland MPU401 ; compatible MIDI interface. (Only UART-mode compatibility is required.) ; For MPU_IRQ, specify the IRQ level of the …

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Re: Roland SC-55 instruments sound different on different sound cards

Posted on 2024-02-07, 19:24

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Sorry, I understood that AWE64, ES1869F and SC-55 MIDI synthesis was compared here. If only an instrument is different/missing, how about a variation tone is requested and the "missing" device does not support capital-tone fallback? Do the built-in demo songs (Leya's Song) sound OK without any MIDI …

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Re: Roland SC-55 instruments sound different on different sound cards

Posted on 2024-02-06, 15:42

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Sorry, not sure about the question here but to generalize, I would say that MIDI music (the MIDI data saying to the device which type of instrument to play) specifically sounds different on each sound card (as each MIDI device has their own MIDI synth tech to produce the sound).

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Re: What are the best Sound Canvas games?

Posted on 2024-02-05, 18:18

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by TamaMan

in Milliways

in Milliways

During my re-visits to old games with Sound Canvas hardware, I've found the following : Wing Commander Privateer (some songs use custom patches from the SFX table) Transport Tycoon (seems to sound great on various synthesizer/sample-based techs) And by some tweaks: Ultima Underworld I && II (only …

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Re: Roland scc-1 dos software

Posted on 2024-01-28, 16:29

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The B-version most likely included a separate disk with Band-in-a-Box and Ballade GS for DOS.

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Re: Any list of CGA, MDA, EGA cards with composite video on pin 7?

Posted on 2024-01-20, 17:15

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

My question is because I have read in some places about this, that some cards put the composite video signal on that connector pin. Knowing that, what they are, expands for those interested the number of cards that can be used with this signal. Due to the difficulty of obtaining a CGA/EGA monitor I …

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Re: Any list of CGA, MDA, EGA cards with composite video on pin 7?

Posted on 2024-01-19, 20:08

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

The ATI Graphics Solution REV 3 a.k.a. Commodore PC 10 Advanced Graphics Adapter Card can provide composite both on the header and the DE-9 port. A DE-9-to-RCA adapter was included with a Commodore PC 10 system.

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Re: Roland sc-55 on 486 or Pentium?

Posted on 2024-01-19, 19:58

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

On my 486 DX2 66MHz with a SCC-1 card, I need to slow down the bus clock speed from BIOS for some (mid 90s) games to sound OK: Re: Joystick and MIDI issues after upgrade to i486DX2. Don't know if this is a common issue or just my setup. PS. The SCC-1 was released in 1991.

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Re: CRT experience

Posted on 2023-08-06, 08:47

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

doublebuffer wrote on 2023-08-02, 08:13: What do you think of CRTs? I have been enjoying revisiting CRTs and all the techs related to them. Just so much capabilities and features that I either didn't know or took for granted back in the day. Personally prefer systems with somewhat period correct HW …

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Re: Convert MIDI files to sound correct on a Roland MT-32 compatible device

Posted on 2023-08-06, 08:31

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

For easy GM/GS MIDI file playback in DOS with a Roland MT-32, the Roland SMF Player 1.25 provides a MT32 "MIDI GM Emulation In-Out Driver, for Roland MT-32 Synthesizers" driver. This is most likely similar/the same than running MTGM.MID but embedded in the driver.

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Re: Joystick and MIDI issues after upgrade to i486DX2

Posted on 2023-07-17, 16:46

by

by TamaMan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Update 2: The joystick issue was non-related and was limited to only couple of game adapters. Game ports on a Sound Blaster 2.0 and the IT Multipack-4 work OK. I'll try to measure the bus speed to document the difference between BIOS settings "CLKI/4" and "CLKI/6" if someone else was similar issues …

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Re: Joystick and MIDI issues after upgrade to i486DX2

Posted on 2023-06-04, 17:28

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Update: Changing the DX2 recommended (and BIOS default) "AT Bus Clock Selection" BIOS setting from "CLKI/4" to "CLKI/6" seems to fix the GM/Sound Canvas MIDI issue in Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. Need to test the joystick still.

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Re: Show us your IBM Compatible PC games collection

Posted on 2023-06-01, 19:43

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

This summer I'll be keeping the Origin Systems' ones out on display: Filename PXL_20230601_193740073.jpg File size 854.11 KiB Views 1100 views

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Re: Joystick and MIDI issues after upgrade to i486DX2

Posted on 2023-06-01, 13:26

by

by TamaMan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The motherboard's manual does list "66MHz 486DX2" as a supported (max) CPU. Jumper settings (CPU type & oscillator frequency) and cache speed requirements are the same than for a 33MHz 486DX CPU. Joysticks have worked fine with the 486DX@33MHz. The GM/SoundCanvas MIDI (in Doom/Duke3D) situation is …

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Joystick and MIDI issues after upgrade to i486DX2

Posted on 2023-05-31, 19:28

by

by TamaMan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi, I upgraded my 486 PC (Informtech IT486SR board with i486DX@33MHz) with an i486DX2@66MHz actually some time ago. All has been well but I have been unable to calibrate/use the joystick, have tried a dedicated Gravis gameport card and different sound cards/joysticks. GRAVUTIL works OK but games …

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Re: Ultima 6 no midi?

Posted on 2023-01-14, 08:32

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Very nice! Thank you! I assume this will work fine with midi daughterboards as long as they are set to the correct midi port? Yes, no computer I/O, IRQ etc. involved with that file, just standard MIDI program changes. A Roland SC-7 was used when creating the file, SCB-7 and SCB-55 should sound as …

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Re: Ultima 6 no midi?

Posted on 2023-01-13, 16:28

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Regarding Ultima 6 with newer GM devices, I have created a custom MIDI.DAT optimized for Sound Canvas devices. Using it should sound better on GM devices than the default MT-32 optimized one that comes with the game. Grab it here (remember to backup the original). Some background/setup info here .

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Re: How are you guys mixing audio? I have multiple devices with outputs and I'm considering hardware mixer options

Posted on 2022-12-18, 18:46

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by TamaMan

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've been using RME's various Fireface products for years successfully. Currently using a Fireface 802 for mixing 4-5 vintage sound sources for easy recording and monitoring to modern studio monitors. This saves also space as no separate mixer/console involved.

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