It's a tricky one - have you tried a AWE64? I've been messing around with AWE cards lately (What retro activity did you get up to today?) and think they're great, particularly the ability to load sounds fonts.

Well, there's the Roland SCC-1 and Yamaha SW60XG, but both have become hard to find and pricey (I see an SCC-1 on eBay going for around $380 at present).

A more feasible option is to buy a Yamaha YMF715/YMF718/YMF719 sound card and disable everything except the MPU-401 port and use it for MIDI. Several VOGONS members have done this and it works reasonably well. You could also replace the SB16 with the Yamaha card and avoid the issues you're currently having (unless you're set on the SB16).

if you have a USA address or have ship forwarding available:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-MPU-IPC-T-Midi … =item19fcf760be

at about the 1/3 of its usual price, it is a steal...

Also Voyetra/Midiman/Music Quest cards. I am a fan of the Voyetra as it uses a Roland chipset and is 100% compatible, unlike the other two. These should go a bit cheaper than the Roland cards.

SW60XG is cool but it doesn't have an external midi port.

I use a YMF718 card in one of my machines for a DB and external midi, it does work well. You just have to make sure the resources don't overlap with the SB16.

Well, I've put the YMF719 card on order and should arrive within a few days. Here's hoping it'll work out. In the meantime, any chance I can get a hold of the drivers for Windows 95 and DOS?

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/lsi/download/ 😀

There are also Turtle Beach Maui and Malibu MIDI cards.