It may be possible to do this, but the result may not be ideal in all circumstances. Here is the quick and dirty way :

MT-32 & CM-32L Instruments play on MIDI channels 2-9. MT-32 Percussion and CM-32L Sound Effects play on MIDI channel 10. Set your SC-55 into MT-32 emulation mode. Mute MIDI Channels 2-9 on the SC-55. This is easy to do, press mute, then part and mute until the lines just above the numbers 2-9 on the SC-55 display are not visible. Then on the MT-32, turn the Rhythm Part's volume all the way to zero by pressing the Rhythm button and turning the knob.

Of course, the other easy way when not having a CM-32L variant module is to use the CM-32L ROMs with Munt in Dosbox. I play GODS and Lure of the Temptress like this in my netbook, which has Windows 7 32-bit.

But if you use the roms in Munt, you can't also use a real MT-32, right? I've used Munt and it doesn't sound nearly as good as the real one.

"not nearly as good"

That's quite radical and inaccurate. Apart from a few minor quirks, the recent versions of Munt sound almost exactly like the real one. (And I should know: I have an MT-32, a CM-64 and a CM-500.)

If the last version of Munt you used was from seven years ago, you might want to get the 1.2 version and try again.

[Edit] Oh... and you can use both Munt and an MT-32, they are considered as separate synths by the OS/DOSBox/whatever.

The latest MUNT is very convincing, and is the closest thing you can get to a LA synthesis without the real modules.

In Dosbox, simply choose the MIDI output to select either the real MT-32 via a "USB-MIDI" (or the relevant driver) cable option or the "MT-32 Synth Emulator" for the MUNT.

Great Hierophant wrote:

It may be possible to do this, but the result may not be ideal in all circumstances. Here is the quick and dirty way :

MT-32 & CM-32L Instruments play on MIDI channels 2-9. MT-32 Percussion and CM-32L Sound Effects play on MIDI channel 10. Set your SC-55 into MT-32 emulation mode. Mute MIDI Channels 2-9 on the SC-55. This is easy to do, press mute, then part and mute until the lines just above the numbers 2-9 on the SC-55 display are not visible. Then on the MT-32, turn the Rhythm Part's volume all the way to zero by pressing the Rhythm button and turning the knob.

Thanks. I did all this and when I move over to midi channel 10 on the SC-55 I see that it reads 128 CM-64/32L (per the manual this is the number it should be for the right SFX set). Oddly though when I play Ultima Underworld, when I jump in water I still don't hear any water sound effects like I would expect (or so I've read). Instead, I hear a string play on the MT-32 itself and channel 10 remains oddly vacant on the SC-55.

Now, I know the SC-55 is outputting sound because it will output drums on channel 10 on occasion. No sound effects though.

It is also worth mentioning that Ultima Underworld does utilize some vanilla MT-32 stuff for sound effects, also.

I suppose I'll try MUNT just to be sure.

edit:

Well I installed the latest MUNT and it can't find the control ROM files. I put them in my dosbox directory which is a nonstandard path if that has anything to do with it. I dunno. Where exactly do they go? I'm old-fashioned and I just load up dosbox and then commandline manually to whatever drive/directory/game I want to play using dos commands.

edit 2:

OKAY. So apparently you don't put the ROM files in the Dosbox directory under Windows 7 64-bit. Instead, you must put them in /Windows/SysWOW64 . It is kind of counter-intuitive to have the ROM files there while MUNT is installed in Program Files but whatever. Once I put them in there it works. MUNT loads up and everything after I set my midi channel in the dosbox config.

It does actually sound surprisingly good. Nice work.

However, Ultima Underworld still doesn't play any special water sound effects when I jump in water/swimming etc. Maybe it is just a myth and there really aren't any?

The water sound does exist in Ultima Underworld, but they only play on a real LAPC-I or CM-32L, not an MT-32 and not a SC-55. If you have the CM-32L Control and PCM ROMs and tell Munt to use them, you can hear it. Turn the volume up, the sound is not loud.

Ah yes, I got it to work in MUNT water and all. I found out I had to manually specify MUNT via the GUI it has to use the CM-32L roms. Once I did that I can hear the water.

Interesting.

MUNT has come a long way I must admit. It isn't perfect but I'm surprised by how good it is at some things. Others not so much. It isn't as good as the real deal but for someone who doesn't have a MT-32, they wouldn't be able to tell.

Thanks for the help. 😀

I wish I could get the SC-55 trick to work but oh well. That'd be the ultimate solution (save getting a CM-32L which... are... pricey). Strange that the SC-55 won't play those sound effects with the real MT-32 running through it also even though it says it is in CM-32L mode. Oh well, Underworld must actually use the MIDI-IN to communicate with the MT-32 to id which device is hooked up.

Hmm, as I understand the above, those FX just went to wrong MIDI channel so SC-55 simply didn't get it.
In short, if things like this were as simple, MUNT wouldn't exist... Remember, a game can use samples of the extended PCM bank in its own patches, so SC-55 won't help at this.
Thank you guys for your high opinion about MUNT but you're right it isn't perfect. 🙁 I can just remind what I wrote in the dev thread: its current emulation model sucks by design, so it'll never be. But trying to get it work with MESS seems a long way...

I'm even directing the MIDI output in STeem, (Atari ST emulator) to MUNT, and playing the ST games like Leisure Suit Larry 3 and Hero's Quest (QFG1), just because it's possible, and it's convenient to listen to the LA synthesis via MUNT anytime, anywhere, even in my Atom based netbook.

I do have a real MT-32, LAPC-I and a CM-500, and I still like the latest MUNT.

Well, I'd say MUNT sounds like if real units were equipped with Pentium instead of 8098 MCU 😀