The mt32 will probably play it, the mt32 EMULATION seems to not emulate it...

You are probably using MT-32 roms while the game only supports LAPC-I. That or Ykhwong's build differs somehow from the current munt. I tried it briefly and I hear the shooting sounds (I'm not a fan of the game so it was just in the very beginning).

Hm, so how can I emulate a LAPC-1? And is munt a better emulator? Does it get volumes right for all instruments? (Protostar LAPC-1 is quite broken for example in DOSBox - but that might be another problem for me with my MT-32 of course).

the mt32 emulation of yhkwongs dosbox built is based on Munt. he improved it recently but may have killed some stuff by mistake.

So is there any version of yhkwong's that still plays the sounds? 😀

Ask yhkwong

Keep in mind that just because a game has soundFX with SoundBlaster does not mean that it will using an MT-32. A famous example is in Quest for Glory II where with SoundBlaster you hear the genie laugh in the intro, but not with an MT-32, even though there are few games that have as good of MT-32 support.

Hm, so how can I emulate a LAPC-1?

You need to use proper roms ie. CM32L_CONTROL.ROM and CM32L_PCM.ROM instead of mt32 ones.

Edit: @Mok, ah I see, was still writing at the time you answered 😀 That might be a solution, thanks for helping out! Do you think DOSBox can emulate the LAPC1 with those roms? Do I need to specify something special in the configuration? Or rename them?

My original post:
Alright, so actually none of yhkwong's versions plays the sounds. Also the other CVS build with MT-32 based on Munt does not play them. Should I try the original Munt? I don't see why this should work, though, if all the CVS builds are based on that code. I already have Timidity by the way - anything that can be done to make it emulate a LAPC1 somehow? 😁

@collector: well in the video I posted, the sound is played from the MT-32, there is no option to select any SB along with a MT-32 so it has to be sound from the Roland card.

dex wrote:

Edit: @Mok, ah I see, was still writing at the time you answered 😀 That might be a solution, thanks for helping out! Do you think DOSBox can emulate the LAPC1 with those roms? Do I need to specify something special in the configuration? Or rename them?

If the roms are named just like in my previous message, munt (and dosbox) will use it (just make sure to have only 1 set of roms in the dosbox directory and not both ie. move mt-32 ones somewhere else). Renaming mt-32 roms will not work of course, you need real roms with extra sounds. TBH I'm curious why so many people use mt-32 roms (even if they have cm32/lapc versions). It's not like majority of pc games were written for 1st generation MT-32.

Oh of course - well not many but some really huge releases support 1st generation MT-32. For example the monumental "Daggerfall", of course "Epic" (LAPC1 is the only option besides Soundblaster/Adlib/PC Speaker and some others for example), the original "Wing Commander" of course and "Protostar - War on the Frontier". There are quite some more but that's what I just got out of my head 😉 There may be not that many games with MT-32 but those that use it are often quite remarkable 😉

Well there are actually a lot of games that only sound 100% correct on an MT-32 (old). Most games from Sierra and Dynamix and as mentioned, Wing Commander.

One game I discovered myself is "The Heart of China" and I added to that wikipedia compatibility list. What happens is that custom sound effects often don't sound the later units.

As a rough guide, if the game is very old (late 80s) and has custom sounds, chances are you will hear differences on newer Roland units.

I have most Roland units and the two main ones to get are the MT-32(Old) and CM-32L.

dex wrote:

@collector: well in the video I posted, the sound is played from the MT-32, there is no option to select any SB along with a MT-32 so it has to be sound from the Roland card.

You miss my point. With some games it is a choice between MT-32 music or some other audio hardware such as SoundBlaster. If you want the digital audio sound at the same time as the music you need select SoundBlaster, which will give you both. In my previous example of QfG2, the genie's laugh is only heard with SoundBlaster selected. The game does not allow the use of both at the same time, i.e. you get either SB MIDI with digital soundFX or MT-32 music.

I meant the game uses the MT-32 also for sounds, those may be not digital at all of course. But as with the game Protostar, sounds seem to come out of the card (laserfire-samples in Protostar for example, while MT-32 Midi plays in the back - might be hardcoded samples on the wavetable of the card of course.) And in Epic the sounds are also coming from the card somehow - though it seems they are "synthesized", if you listen closely to the sound in the video I posted, you will find that the engines sound strangely thin and not quite sampled at all. I would have bet it is Soundblaster but that would not be possible, especially since the music in the beginning is true MT-32/LAPC1. Of course I might still misunderstand you - in this case... I just didn't get it 😉 Thanks for taking the time, though.

EDIT: I tried what Mok said and the sound indeed works, absolutely perfect! The explosions and lasers seem to be synthesized, so no samples here. Sounds really great, including reverb effects 😀 Also nice instrumentation used for the Holst (The Planets) parts in the movie sequences. Quite... Epic actually xD So thanks for everyone helping out, looks like you need a LAPC1 to really enjoy the sound in this game. The game itself may not be that good but I still like it for its variety, graphics and obviously the sound 😉

Both of you are right of course!

Many games did generate sound effects on the MT-32. That was one of the MT-32 main benefits, the ability to play "custom" sounds. E.g. Wing Commander, Space Quest 4 or Heart of China.

However there are many games that simply don't play all sound effects if you choose an MT-32. Even popular ones like Monkey Island 2. This all changed once games supported MIDI + Sound Blaster.

Now ScummVM has a mixed Adlib mode which addresses this issue, maybe it supports QfG2?

Ah interesting, thanks didn't know that at all 😀 I am sure that was what collector meant as well!