VOGONS


First post, by wildweasel

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I've got a complete Roland MT-32 kit with an MPU-401 interface card here, currently buried in a 486 that essentially has no business even trying to run the games I want to run on it (only four megs of RAM? can't even handle Strike Commander). Now, after hearing something to the effect that DOSBox can directly interface with a real Roland MT-32 somehow, I wanted to try to get my rig working on my Dell XPS 600.

Except that the interface card is ISA. I don't have any ISA slots on my motherboard.

How would I go about hooking a Roland MT-32 up to my modern system? I currently have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi card installed; it's supposed to have MIDI In support but I have no idea how to confirm this.

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Reply 1 of 13, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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IIRC there is USB MIDI interface to use external MIDI devices (including MT-32) on modern system. I think we had such discussion few months ago, but I don't remember what thread it was. All I remember is that dh4rm4 uses such USB MIDI interface to use his MT-32 for games running in DOSBOX (running on modern system without ISA slot).

By the way, shouldn't PC hardware discussion be done in this forum? And while we're at it, am I the only one who think that "Marvin" is not a very descriptive name? I think "PC hardware" is a better name but maybe it's just me.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 2 of 13, by crash.

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I think that the name of this forum is intended to be consistent with the themes of this wonderful site (VOGONS). I suppose that it could be renamed to "Old PC Hardware", but that isn't very interesting IMHO.

Please see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_the_Paranoid_Android

For that matter, you might want to look up:

Vogon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogon

Milliways:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milliways#Milliway.27s

Deep Thought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_characters … xy#Deep_Thought

I personally use my MT-32 attached to a gameport MIDI adapter, which works fine if your sound card or motherboard happens to have a gameport. Gameport MIDI cables are currently available on eBay for $12. A USB MIDI adapter costs about the same, but I would assume will only work if you are running Windows. I think if you have to run a game in DOS or Windows98 DOS mode, you may be out of luck with the USB device.

There seem to be a lot of X-Fi models, so you'll have to take a look at yours to see if it has the DB15 gameport interface.

Cheers!

Reply 3 of 13, by Qbix

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I got an usb-midi adaptor and that works with dosbox under linux as well with an mt32.
However mine was (a lot )more expensive then $12. (I might have been ripped off 😉 )

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 4 of 13, by crash.

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Yours could also be a lot better than the USB adapter on eBay for $12.50. I think I paid more like $60-80 for the one I got for my brother's computer. The Gameport MIDI adapter is much simpler though, and shouldn't require drivers or circuitry, so it is harder to mess that up.

Reply 5 of 13, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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crash. wrote:

Oh.

crash. wrote:

I personally use my MT-32 attached to a gameport MIDI adapter, which works fine if your sound card or motherboard happens to have a gameport. Gameport MIDI cables are currently available on eBay for $12. A USB MIDI adapter costs about the same, but I would assume will only work if you are running Windows. I think if you have to run a game in DOS or Windows98 DOS mode, you may be out of luck with the USB device.

Would an external MIDI device work in DOS, given that the sound card (the one with gameport adapter) is PCI?

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 6 of 13, by Malik

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

By the way, shouldn't PC hardware discussion be done in this forum? And while we're at it, am I the only one who think that "Marvin" is not a very descriptive name? I think "PC hardware" is a better name but maybe it's just me.

I agree. Marvin seems to be out of place for a pure Dos machine topic. Whereas the thread PC is reserved for EMULATION of old pcs and hardwares???

Reply 7 of 13, by wildweasel

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At this point I'm probably going to have to resort to using the USB MIDI adapter, for the main reason being that my X-Fi card does not have a gameport on it, and while I have a gameport card lying around in my dad's old hardware stash, it too is an ISA card, so I'm back to square one on that.

As for USB MIDI adapters and where to buy them...are they seriously $60-80? I really don't have that kind of money right now, being out of a job at the moment...

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Reply 8 of 13, by Qbix

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Malik wrote:
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

By the way, shouldn't PC hardware discussion be done in this forum? And while we're at it, am I the only one who think that "Marvin" is not a very descriptive name? I think "PC hardware" is a better name but maybe it's just me.

I agree. Marvin seems to be out of place for a pure Dos machine topic. Whereas the thread PC is reserved for EMULATION of old pcs and hardwares???

You will get used it 😉
For more things related to this board setup, please use the Milliways board.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 9 of 13, by crash.

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Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Would an external MIDI device work in DOS, given that the sound card (the one with gameport adapter) is PCI?

It should work if the PCI card has DOS drivers or some equivalent. Aureal Vortex2 have DOS drivers, as to many of the later Sound Blaster PCI cards and I'm sure other brands as well.

The Yamaha onboard sound on one motherboard I used has a DOS configuration program that activates the card, but I don't think it is actually a driver that takes up memory. There are some other Yamaha models including a PCI YMF724 that seems to indicate is has legacy hardware support without drivers.

Cheers!

Reply 10 of 13, by crash.

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wildweasel wrote:

At this point I'm probably going to have to resort to using the USB MIDI adapter, for the main reason being that my X-Fi card does not have a gameport on it. As for USB MIDI adapters and where to buy them...are they seriously $60-80? I really don't have that kind of money right now, being out of a job at the moment...

Some Sound Blasters do have the gameport header on the card, so they would only require that you get the gameport cable and port/plate. Are there any pin header blocks sticking out of your card? Which specific model do you have?

There are actually USB MIDI adapters on eBay from $4 and up. You may not want to try recording a studio album using one of these, but for gaming on an MT-32, it will probably work just fine.

Cheers!

Reply 11 of 13, by wildweasel

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crash. wrote:

Some Sound Blasters do have the gameport header on the card, so they would only require that you get the gameport cable and port/plate. Are there any pin header blocks sticking out of your card? Which specific model do you have?

My X-Fi (not sure of the exact model - it came pre-installed on my Dell computer) does not actually have any gameport support at all. I thought it had a gameport on it, but it actually has one extra row of pins (making three rows instead of the Gameport-standard two rows), I assume for some Creative proprietary hardware.

There are actually USB MIDI adapters on eBay from $4 and up. You may not want to try recording a studio album using one of these, but for gaming on an MT-32, it will probably work just fine.

Cheers!

Hey, as long as it works, I'm happy. I'll go search for one there then...would be nice to take a break from my futile search for Pinball World.

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Reply 12 of 13, by Thrillo

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I use a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz; I don't even use the sound portion, only the gameport. It's in my system solely so that I can use my MT-32 in Dosbox.
The advantage to using this over a USB midi adaptor is that a gameport also allows you to use old joysticks, like the CH Flightstick, so you can get an even more authentic feel with Dosbox.

Reply 13 of 13, by wildweasel

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Thrillo wrote:

I use a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz; I don't even use the sound portion, only the gameport. It's in my system solely so that I can use my MT-32 in Dosbox.
The advantage to using this over a USB midi adaptor is that a gameport also allows you to use old joysticks, like the CH Flightstick, so you can get an even more authentic feel with Dosbox.

Wow, and those are even cheaper than the USB MIDIs I'm seeing on ebay...do you have any idea if the Microsoft force feedback controllers work through that? They're sitting on a shelf here and I'm a bit disappointed that I can't use them.

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