The machine is fine, but you I recommend using DOS and an ISA Sound Blaster, not a PCI one.

I've ordered a new ISA AWE 64 SB4500 (as advertised)

I had spent quite a while trying to find drivers that would make the CT-4870 work at all in DOS.. then found out that part of the issue was that it kept reverting to with Digital Output.

On Windows 95 I currently have it set it set to use "MIDI for Creative SB Live! Series MIDI UART". And for games such as the VGA remake of SQ1 and Colonels Bequest changed the resource.cfg to reflect MT32.DRV but it still bypasses the MT-32 for some reason.

Yea for DOS you really want to have an ISA Sound Card. The AWE 64 you ordered will work great!

Thanks, guess I will wait for the arrival of the new card and revert to DOS. From the version info mentioned above do you think there is anything I need to do to revert the MT-32 to a factory state?

Mine says ver 1.07 10 Oct, 87
Tks to Masa + Adrian

AFAIK this is the ROM version, so you could change the ROM chip if you really wanted to. But best to wait for the ISA card to arrive.

What do you mean by Win 95 MIDI files? If you're talking about GM demo files, they will of course sound awful on an MT-32.

The MT-32 seems to work fine when in Windows 95 and playing MIDs made for the MT-32. Regular sound is working in DOS, however I cannot get (for example) The Colonels Bequest to use the MT-32 for some reason.

While I wait for the new soundcard, can anyone suggest what I'm doing incorrectly?

Older games like The Colonel's Bequest requires a Real (Intelligent) Mode MIDI interface (like the Roland MPU-401 or one that is 100% compatible).

Alternatively, you can use SoftMPU on a supported sound card that preferably also has a UART mode MPU-401 MIDI interface to emulate an Intelligent mode MPU-401 MIDI interface.

EvilCensor wrote:

The MT-32 seems to work fine when in Windows 95 and playing MIDs made for the MT-32. Regular sound is working in DOS, however I cannot get (for example) The Colonels Bequest to use the MT-32 for some reason.

While I wait for the new soundcard, can anyone suggest what I'm doing incorrectly?

You do realize that the SCI games need to be configured to use their MT-32 driver, don't you? If it is set to AdLib or SB it will sound like shit through the module.

Selecting either Adlib or Sound Blaster in the game's setup menu will not output any MIDI messages to the MT-32. As such, you won't hear any sound output coming from the MT-32.
But, as stated in my previous post, even if you do select MT-32 in the setup menu, you still require an Intelligent Mode MPU-401 MIDI interface (either simulated or in hardware) in order for the game to communicate properly with the MT-32.

As an afterthought, for Sierra's SCI games, there was a patch made that allowed you to output directly via the Sound Blaster's MIDI port, bypassing the need for an Intelligent Mode MPU-401 MIDI interface, but I've never tried or tested it with that patch.

With the PCI SB LIve! CT-4870 (which I understand is supposed to emulate the 401 to some degree) and SoftMPU I've had no MT-32 audio in DOS.

Based on a post on the SoftMPU "game & sound card testing" thread, the Live! cards are not supported - SoftMPU project needs your help! (game & sound card testing) (post 13).

No (the display on the MT-32 thus far has never reacted to a game loading), however games would load slower when told to use the MT-32, sometimes either no audio, regular audio or the audio would be slightly different (but not going through the MT-32).

I have an AWE64 coming in today, I'll start from scratch with that.

So, to simplify diagnosing any problems.. can anyone suggest which game should work fine with an MT-32 connected via a MIDI cable going to a joyport of an ISA AWE64 on a P5 166Mhz computer running DOS 6.22?

Appreciate the replies so far.

Monkey Island 2 and Fate of Atlantis are MT-32 games that will work with the Sound Blaster MIDI interface. Many others will also.

For those that need a real Roland interface, just use SoftMPU, a really cool project.

But one thing at a time 😁

Start Monkey Island and Fate of Atlantis with the flag r like

monkey2 r

or

atlantis r

To launch with Roland.

Okay, new card in.

Monkey Island 1 - I get Lucasarts message on MT-32 (midi message light remains on) but not MT-32 audio only regular audio.
Monkey Island 2 - (with switch r330) I get Message and activity on MT-32 but no audio at all.. volume levels on mixer are fine and left and right output of MT-32 going in to the AWE64 line in.

EDIT: Test phono output of MT-32 with headset and there is music on Monkey Island 2.

EDIT: Monkey2 working now - yay.. Mixerset Line Out had to be set. Monkey1 still same issue.

Monkey 1:

Go into BIOS and disable L1 and L2 cache options. This will slow the PC down to 386, so be sure to boot straight into DOS, not Windows 98 😀

Disabling cache didn't help - but thanks.. at least I know the MT-32 is working 😉

EvilCensor wrote:

Disabling cache didn't help - but thanks.. at least I know the MT-32 is working 😉

Hmm

Run monkey ? to get all the options. Maybe the command for MT32 is different?

I did but the result were those above.

Ultima VII (GoG version) intro workworks fine - but fails to load thereafter, will have to dig out the floppies and hope they still work.

No luck with any Sierra titles at the moment though (same as old card) - will try SoftMPU.