AFAIK midi is passed through to the systems device. If you have Windows the midi device can be chosen in the config file (or it uses the default midi device selected in Windows (that is up to XP, for newer Windows you need additional software to set that). This includes Munt.

so i cant have say, a real mt-32 and a real sound blaster running at the same time?

I don't understand your question.
What would be the goal to have both running at the same time?

mt-32 for music and sound blaster for sfx, DUH

These are two different things. For sfx your soundcard doesn't matter. Soundblaster is only emulated and not passed through to the system device. Your AWE32 will thus only matter when you choose Midi music in a game, and in these cases you will have to decide whether you want to use your AWE32, the Midi emulation of Windows, your MT32 or Munt. You can not playback the midi music on both devices. And when the game uses MIDI SFX it will be the same device you use for music.

great, now for a cheap isa to usb bridge 😜 know where to find one?

Just so you are clear on this, all you can use with Dosbox are the AWE32's Midi capabilities. It's soundblaster capabilities will not be used by Dosbox.

decided not to get an awe32, its not like the games i want will use it anyways. Id rather get an adlib gold, cm-64, mt-32 rev 0, and sc-55 and maybe more 🤣, but im going to save money first, there are more important things in life that i want 😜 . Sorry for the waste of post space 🤣, i might want an awe32 later, but not atm, unless there are good games that support it 😜

DOSBox doesn't support passthrough to real internal sound cards. The only thing stock/official(*) DOSBox builds support is external MIDI synths, and those are only supported because DOSBox outputs MIDI to the host OS which the host OS can then route to a synth.

This means that cards like the AWE32 and Adlib Gold are pretty much useless for DOSBox. If you really want to play with old sound cards then your best bet is to build a complete retro system.

(*) - I think there are some patches out there for doing things like OPL passthrough, but unless you're rabid about real OPL versus emulated OPL it's not worth the effort.

Plus, if the idea is to be able to SoundFonts with DOS games that can be done through the host OS with a modern SoundFont capable sound card.

k, ill stick with emulation, oh well 🙁

edit: the build im using has opl passthrough built in, so maybe i should try that, if i do should i get a adlib gold or awe32?

so maybe i should try that, if i do sould i get a adlib gold or awe32?

unless you're rabid about real OPL versus emulated OPL it's not worth the effort.

You decide...

does anybody have a recording from a real sb16, sb16 audio enhanced with awe32, opl3 audio enchanced with adlib gold, and the best emulator for opl3 around?

Does the AWE32 even have an OPL chip?

some models do, from what i heard, the chip is exactly the same as sb16 though. I thought the awe32 somehow enhances it with special effects like reverb and chorus, though i dont know how the enhanced sound compares an adlib gold.

edit: nevermind, ill forget it, sticking with emulation. Lack of isa port = NO GO!

My AWE 32 sitting in my garage has an OPL chip on it. I used it for everything in DOS back in the day. In fact, I think it was MORE compatible with legacy DOS games than my SB Pro was (I have that sitting around somewhere too).

Funny thing--when I went from my first 286 (Tandy 1000 TX) that had an Adlib card in it to my 386 w/SB Pro (gen 1 card, not 2), games that ran on my Tandy in Adlib, well a few in particular like Ultima 6 (not all), the sound would mess up and I would get crazy hissing from it on the SB Pro, hence killing my playability of some of these old games.

When I got the AWE 32 for my P100 it was able to play those old Adlib-compatible games again. I believe there was a flaw either in the drivers or the chips of those first gen SB Pro cards. I know, probably too much information but thought I'd share some experiences from an old dude who actually lived through that period.