VOGONS


First post, by Sybok

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Hi, I have a "new" good and old Roland CM-300 and need a sound card to use with it in my "new" 5x86 PC (DOS games are my focus here).

I found on eBay a card named "TopTek Golden Sound Card" it is an ISA 8 Bit mpu-401 card and looks like it works fine with the Roland MT-32.
Here is the item: https://www.ebay.com/itm/202225887610?ul_noapp=true

Could anyone tell me if it works with my Roland CM-300?

I also accept suggestions from other better cards and where to find them. I'm new to this Roland sound thing and I'm completely lost on how to connect the module to the PC.

Reply 1 of 9, by keropi

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Since the CM-300 is a GM device (cut version of SC-55 apparently) then the card you linked would work with a DB15->midi adapter like this: http://www.serdashop.com/JoystickMIDICable
But then again 99% of ISA sound cards do have MPU-401 interfaces in them so the choices are countless: from SoundBlasters to Aztech cards to Audician32 one to ESS/OPTI/whatever based cards.
IMHO just get a good SB16 for your 5x86 build and a cable like the one I linked and you'll be fine.

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 2 of 9, by Sybok

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keropi wrote:

But then again 99% of ISA sound cards do have MPU-401 interfaces in them so the choices are countless: from SoundBlasters to Aztech cards to Audician32 one to ESS/OPTI/whatever based cards.
IMHO just get a good SB16 for your 5x86 build and a cable like the one I linked and you'll be fine.

🤣!!!

I guess I got confused by the 8-bits guy video at 2:44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMmFcs-_4x4&t=173s

It shows a card like this as needed and the guys on youtube always talks about connecting it in parallel with a sound blaster.
I already have a good sound blaster 16 with input for joystick on my 5x86.

If all I need is this cable, you really saved my day! (and a lot of money).

Thanks a lot!

Reply 3 of 9, by keropi

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OK this is a dedicated MPU and it is really needed if you plan to do MT-32 (and similar modules) gaming. These old MT-32 games do need a fully-fledged roland mpu to work. Since your CM-300 is a later unit that belongs to the GM/GS era, games that support it are happy with a simple UART-mode MPU like the one found on soundcards.

So if you plan to do GM/GS gaming then a dedicated mpu is not needed - it will work but the "advanced features" needed for older games will go unused.
Just get a nice soundcard, a cable and game away and when/if you want to explore oder titles then you can look for options 😀

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 4 of 9, by gdjacobs

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I kind of hope someone buys this card. Does the box say it has SB and OPL3 compatibility.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 5 of 9, by keropi

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^ box bs 🤣 It's OPL2 - jwt27 has a pic here: Sound card ID help

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 6 of 9, by gdjacobs

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Hmm... I wonder if the onboard micro and glue logic enables true intelligent MPU capability.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 7 of 9, by keropi

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nah... it's just a SB clone of the era my friend, there are not enough components on it to support intelligent MPU modes.
Plus there is an auction with a better picture of the box here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352233279623 that states UART mode for the mpu interface... but in reality you can't really trust many things from these old descriptions as the next line claims "fully supports GS/MT-32 instruments compatible with game software" all that is just catchy names in broken English 🤣 🤣 🤣

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 8 of 9, by jesolo

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Agree with Keropi.
Our very first sound card was a Toptek Golden Sound just like this one.
It's a standard Sound Blaster 2.0 clone but, I can't recall whether it actually had a working MPU-401 UART MIDI interface.
To my knowledge, there were no sound cards that had an intelligent mode MIDI interface.
But, at that price, I would rather look out for something like an Aztech (third generation) or Sound Blaster card.

Reply 9 of 9, by gordon-creAtive.com

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I stumbled across this card on eBay, then across this thread. Since the question has never been properly answered I'm gonna necropost here: It's UART only, no intelligent mode. Here's the feature list from the package:

Golden Sound.jpg
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