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Help n00b with MT-32 via gameport.

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First post, by tokyoracer

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Sorry to be such a pain here. I recently got a real nice example of a Roland MT-32 though I have no idea how to hook it up as it came with no instructions or software. Does it have to have a sound card? I have 2 gameport outputs on my old 386SX machine (one on the mobo and the other on a 3com ISA network card) but only onboard AdLib sound hardware with no possability for other soundcards. I am aware that most run it thru the SB cards but is it possible to actually use the MT-32 on anything other then the SoundBlaster's gameport specifically?

Thanks in advance.

P.s. If it will work will this cable to the trick?:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-8m-VGA-15pin-to-M … =item4600d94e61

Reply 1 of 28, by MaxWar

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Cable looks good, buy you need to connect it to a sound card with Mpu401 compatibility. Any other joystick port or db15 connector will not work.

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Reply 2 of 28, by tokyoracer

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MaxWar wrote:

Cable looks good, buy you need to connect it to a sound card with Mpu401 compatibility. Any other joystick port or db15 connector will not work.

Ah so it wouldn't work just connected to the gameport and the speakers plugged into the back of the MT-32? 🙁 As I mentioned soundcards are a bit of an issue and I am stuck with Ad-Lib on this machine sadly (for now until I get another DOS machine).

Reply 3 of 28, by Mau1wurf1977

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A Roland MIDI interface like the MPU-401AT would work. But that card needs a separate ISA slot and Roland MPU interfaces are quite pricey and hard to get these days.

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Reply 4 of 28, by tokyoracer

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Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

A Roland MIDI interface like the MPU-401AT would work. But that card needs a separate ISA slot and Roland MPU interfaces are quite pricey and hard to get these days.

So MPU hardware support is a must from what I can gather? Look like it has to be a soundblaster then, I certainly can't afford to spend a 3 figure sum on a MIDI ISA card that's for sure!

Reply 5 of 28, by Mau1wurf1977

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Don't rush out just yet 😀 There are two types of MPU-401 MIDI interfaces. Intelligent mode and UART mode.

The Roland MIDI interfaces are intelligent mode. The MIDI interfaces on all other Sound Cards are UART. And, you guessed it, some games will not run with the UART interface when you select MT-32.

But many will. So it's not ideal to be honest.

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Reply 6 of 28, by tokyoracer

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Interesting... Ok do I still need to use Line-In or will the gameport be enough? I asume the Line-In is only used to send the audio signal to the PC speakers rather then plugging it into the MT-32 itself?

Last edited by tokyoracer on 2012-10-12, 07:42. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 7 of 28, by Mau1wurf1977

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Yes the Gameport carries the MIDI signals only. The MT-32 has the audio outputs at the back and you then route wires into an amplifier, or into the line-in of your sound card and mix it with your Sound Blaster.

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Reply 9 of 28, by jmrydholm

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I did a similar hookup with my MT-32. I used a dual TRS to 3.5mm single (Y cable) like this one here:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41x6DHo … L500_AA300_.jpg

The big TRS cables go into the back of your Roland, then put the small 3.5 mm into whatever sound card you want to mix it with. I have a dual midi-to-gameport plug with two openings on the end for joystick use while the MT-32 is hooked up. That looks like this:

http://i.iinfo.cz/urs/pc_50_08-123557960172560.jpg

For a modern system like my laptop, I use the same Y cable above along with a midi-to-USB adapter. Feel free to IM me if you need advice! Roland is awesome, have fun with it. 😁

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Reply 10 of 28, by tokyoracer

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Sorry to drag this on. I now have (or had for some time now) a AWE32 equipped 486DX4 machine. Does anyone know if that can support the MT-32? It ofcourse has the gameport so I just got to hope that it has that illusive MPU-401 I assume?

Reply 11 of 28, by Mau1wurf1977

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You are lucky!

That card together with the SoftMPU driver (there is a thread on this) will do the trick 😀

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Reply 12 of 28, by tokyoracer

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Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

You are lucky!

That card together with the SoftMPU driver (there is a thread on this) will do the trick 😀

Am I? 😀

It's a CT3600 with 512kb of RAM (2 modules). I see in the Windows AWE menus it has some MIDI settings and it needs a "path" for the MT-32. So one assumes that it can work with it then? If you could find 'that' thread you speak of, it could be really helpful.

This 486 machine is really coming along nicely though with the help from you guys. Would like to finally get a finished result if possible.

Reply 13 of 28, by Mau1wurf1977

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Windows? Shudder.

Get rid of it and install DOS 6.22 😀

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Reply 15 of 28, by tokyoracer

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Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Windows? Shudder.

Get rid of it and install DOS 6.22 😀

I have both. 😎 Some games I play have to be run in Windows and some infact run better under Windows too but yes I try and keep my preference to DOS.

Sorry for the lateness of my reply on this by the way, I certainly hadn't forgotten and thanks for that software I will certainly give it a go! I just orderd the MIDI cables for the MT-32 but will be a long wait from China *sigh* (I don't want to fork out £20+ for the same thing locally if I can get it for a quarter of the price).

Also see you've uploaded some cool videos on the subject on YouTube, might just save them for reference. 😁

Reply 16 of 28, by Mau1wurf1977

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Good to hear!

Let us know how you go 😀

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Reply 17 of 28, by tokyoracer

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Well after another hiatus, I finally got the cable all hooked up and SoftMPU on the HD but I get an EMM386 and QEMM error. Not sure why as I use HIMEM which I honestly thought does the same job. I try and run the EMM386.EXE but it says there is no driver (?). Not sure what to do now really since it is all hooked up. (Yes I am a little dim with this kinda' stuff still, sorry).

I know the card's info is: /SB:220 /IRQ:05 but i'm not so sure what the MPU is. Is there any decent software that can detect the correct info for my card? I assume the MPU would be a different figure to "220"?

Reply 18 of 28, by Mau1wurf1977

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Told you Windows will be a pain 😀

Do you have a second HDD you can mess around with?

Head to http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm and make a DOS 6.22 boot floppy.

It has all the files needed. Even for CD-ROM.

But to be honest at this point it's a huge pain to help through a forum. I might do a video for beginners that goes off this bootdisk and shows how to setup a HDD and configure it all...

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Reply 19 of 28, by tokyoracer

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Well I finally managed to get EMM386 to run ok without error but when I try and run SoftMPU, it still asks for EMM386.

I checked out your video on the matter and jumped into my SB configs. I managed to pretty much copy you right to the IRQ which has 5 as the only option so I hope that it will still work... Needless to say, the uploads were invaluable and cut alot of forum posting. So many thanks for that. 😀

It is a real pain, trouble is I know im so close, just need SoftMPU ot see that the extra memory is there. Trouble is I find Windows still useful for various things, I got plenty of games that actually require Windows to run. I don't really have a second hard drive handy either (well not one that is quiet enough to live with more than a few seconds!).

If I can't get it working than I will certainly look forward to seeing more videos on the subject. I don't see any YT stuff showing how to hook up an MT-32 to vintage hardware.