VOGONS


Roland RAP-10

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Reply 20 of 34, by Gona

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I have some Roland hardware so I can say my experiences:
No driver needed for games in DOS.
By games there is two standard, the "MT-32" based and the "General MIDI" based games. Some games say in it's sound setup only "Roland". Most of them are "MT-32" based but some are General MIDI. Here is a list about MT-32 games.
Some game say is's sound setup "Sound Canvas". They are General MIDI.
I have not found game that takes advantage of the "Roland GS", the games are have the same sound on a General MIDI only and a General MIDI + Roland GS device. The only advantage of the Roland GS that you can load the MT-32 compatible sound set. The compatibility with the true MT-32 is slight, but I have found that the Frontier: Elite II is not written on MT-32/LAPC-I but on Roland GS with MT-32 sound set because sound much better on it.
I have tested RAP-10 before. It is General MIDI device without Roland GS. I have try one game with "RAP-10" so I think with native digital out (also without DOS driver), it was terrible. So I say the RAP-10 digital out is not useful for games and the DMA usage is a big disadvantage (as I remember, I cannot disable the digital audio part).
If you want to play with Elite II (on PC) a GS capable device would be the best (SC-55; SCC-1; SCB-55 etc.).
If Elite II is not important General MIDI capable one will be pretty good (SC-7; SCB-7 etc.).
What I have tested with General MIDI games on General MIDI compatible Roland devices: SC-55; SCC-1; SCB-55 and RAP-10 are sounds the same for me.

Video card compatibility matrix for DOS games | ATI3DCIF compatibility matrix | CGL API compatibility matrix

Reply 21 of 34, by Xmodule999

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Gona wrote:

I have try one game with "RAP-10" so I think with native digital out (also without DOS driver), it was terrible. So I say the RAP-10 digital out is not useful for games and the DMA usage is a big disadvantage (as I remember, I cannot disable the digital audio part).

The sound quality for Roland RAP-10 is surprising?

Last edited by Xmodule999 on 2012-09-05, 18:02. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 22 of 34, by Gona

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Yes, the digital out sound quality (in DOS games that sapports it in native) was a surprise for me because I have expected much more. However I have not tested the digital out on Windows. But the General MIDI quality is perfect as all other Roland GM compatible device.

Video card compatibility matrix for DOS games | ATI3DCIF compatibility matrix | CGL API compatibility matrix

Reply 24 of 34, by Gona

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Yes, this is true, the RAP-10 is the most (and now maybe the only) affordable General MIDI product from Roland.

Video card compatibility matrix for DOS games | ATI3DCIF compatibility matrix | CGL API compatibility matrix

Reply 25 of 34, by keropi

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I actually had one too... never really liked it tbh ... always considered a sb16+roland_db a better solution :\

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Reply 28 of 34, by Stiletto

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Xmodule999 wrote:

This time I decided to ask again after exactly 20 years - these DOS drivers ( http://www.verycomputer.com/47_33edfd7292704769_1.htm ) somewhere exists?

Well, the AIL drivers would have been released with games. In fact, the HMI drivers would have been included with games. I'm not sure how you intend to use these drivers unless you're creating your own game.
http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Aud … terface_Library
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Sound_System

Somewhere on VOGONS here is a guy who hacks around with these things, he could probably say more.

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Reply 29 of 34, by Dantyr

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Sorry for unearthing this topic, but some useful info to share.
I use my RAP-10 in conjunction with a Pro Audio Spectrum 16 so there is no conflict between the RAP-10 and the PAS in DMA5 like occurs with a SB16 for example. RAP-10 uses DMA5 and 6 for his digital Audio, so will conflict with SB16 using the default high DMA5 for 16bit audio. With a PAS you will only use DMA1 for SB emulation and DMA3 for PAS native audio, leaving DMA5/6 free for RAP's digital audio.

Reply 30 of 34, by jesolo

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You can change the high DMA channel on a Sound Blaster 16 to either use a different DMA channel or, not use it all and "reroute" it to the low DMA channel.

Reply 31 of 34, by Dantyr

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jesolo wrote:

You can change the high DMA channel on a Sound Blaster 16 to either use a different DMA channel or, not use it all and "reroute" it to the low DMA channel.

Sure, but some games are weird and don't let you change DMA outside the "standard" for SB. Not to mention that my PAStudio16 have a way better output quality than any common SB16.
Besides that, still have the fun to use three standards for digital audio on the same machine. 😀

Reply 32 of 34, by Niezgodka

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Sorry for highjacking the thread.
I have Rap 10, and plan to use it along Picogus for old games.
Is there a way to load mt32 instruments set via rap 10? Some games sound awesome on sound canvas (Doom) , but Monkey Island sounds cheap, comparing to MT32.

Reply 33 of 34, by GL1zdA

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Niezgodka wrote on 2024-08-13, 12:51:

Sorry for highjacking the thread.
I have Rap 10, and plan to use it along Picogus for old games.
Is there a way to load mt32 instruments set via rap 10? Some games sound awesome on sound canvas (Doom) , but Monkey Island sounds cheap, comparing to MT32.

I don't think the RAP-10 has an MT-32 map.

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Reply 34 of 34, by stamasd

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No unfortunately you can't. My RAP10 has never output anything but GM midi sound.

I/O, I/O,
It's off to disk I go,
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And a read and a write,
I/O, I/O