SoftMPU advantages:
- Seems to be 100% "intelligent mode" compatible at the moment;
- Works with the great majority of cards with a UART interface
- Some cheap sound cards can be used as a "poor man's" intelligent MPU-401 (OPL3SAx cards can be configured to use little resources and act as a single MPU interface sitting on IRQ2/9 which some games require)
- Runs on DOS;
- Works with a simple gameport to MIDI cable;
- Costs NOTHING; (we must send bjt and the DOSBox devs a medal)
SoftMPU disadventages:
- Needs Virtual 8086 mode, a minimum of a 386 is required;
- Has a small performance impact due to the emulation overhead (this can be actually an ADVANTAGE for a 386DX-40 system on games like Wing Commander);
- Emulation needs to be reset every time a computer starts or restarts;
- It's a TSR program, takes some memory. Memory footprint is low enough and can be loaded high;
Hardware MPU-401 advantages:
- Real time hardware MPU-401 processing;
- 100% "intelligent mode" compatibility for the Roland MPU-401 units;
- No software emulation, no CPU overhead;
- Takes little hardware resources, one port and one IRQ set on the card;
- Ready to go when computer is on or restarted;
Hardware MPU-401 disadvantages:
- Some MPU-401 "intelligent mode" clones are not 100% compatible/have problems with some games;
- Some clones are system speed sensitive;
- The Roland MPU-401-IPC is speed sensitive, is meant for XT systems;
- Takes an extra ISA slot;
- Can cost a LOT of money nowadays;
- Somewhat rare, hard to find;
These are only the main things i might have forgot something.
Anyway, i wanna thank Vetz for testing. I'm actually surprised the Super MPU works with Sierra game adventures, i thought it wouldn't work with those so its good to take down the myths. For me it really doesn't make sense. I have a MIDIMAN MM-401 which i got cheap and Keropi made a cable for me (its great to meet/befriend with such extraordinary people here on VOGONS), but i don't intend to use it for something greater than a 286. SoftMPU will do a great job on my 386 build.
However its great to have these things tested!