st31276a wrote on 2026-01-23, 19:59:

FM synth should play through the OPL3/CQM synth and general MIDI through the wavetable addon or external synth plugged into the gameport.

There is nothing on the gameport atm, I'll use it for joysticks. I'd like to use simple internal midi sounds, but as I have no wavetable addon that will not be possible? Or does W3.11 already have a software solution for that?

The vlb video being driven at 50 is unusual.

A better vesa routine might work with it for 640x480 on duke 3d, 'maybe'.

I'd want to test the now free SDD to see if linear framebuffer mode is enough. (SDD, as in, Scitech Display Doctor. It was made freeware by its creators quite some time ago, and can be found in the vogons driver library. Among other things, it provides means of linear framebuffer access on a wide number of cards.)

That said, I'd be worried about instabilities. VLB is out of spec driven faster than 40mhz.

I was expecting an instability nightmare but so far it has been rock solid!

I hadn't realized that this PC would have no midi as-is...

Soundblaster should have OPL/FM synthesis on port 388, on even the crustiest of ISA cards...

Two VLB cards at 50MHz, that's a bloody miracle

Interesting! In practical terms, does that mean adding a P388 to the set blaster command (or is that not required), and selecting adlib (or general midi?) on 0x388 in duke3d setup to test it?

In W95, midi files remain silent when played so something is wrong there too.

Matth79 wrote on 2026-01-23, 21:07:

Two VLB cards at 50MHz, that's a bloody miracle

I haven't found a tool that measures the bus speed, but logically speaking any dx at 50mhz would have a 50mhz bus, right?

And if it were a dx2, it would be recognized as a dx2 in the benchmarks, right? Also the benchmarks measure it right where a dx50 would perform.

It's a miacle. Behold, the only stable dx50 in the world! And that is with the wait states at the tightest possible setting except for cache write. It does have "massive" cooling for 486 standards though: paste, heatsink and cpu fan!

Those Cirrus vlb cards do claim 50mhz zero wait state capabilities in the brochure.

Nicolas 2000 wrote on 2026-01-23, 21:09:

Interesting! In practical terms, does that mean adding a P388 to the set blaster command (or is that not required), and selecting adlib (or general midi?) on 0x388 in duke3d setup to test it?

In W95, midi files remain silent when played so something is wrong there too.

No, that's just the port where the OPL lives at for 'adlib' fm synthesis. A handful of dos games have setup programs that ask about it, but for the most part you dont have to know that this is true.

The P330 sets where the MPU401 interface is, which is a different beast.

Ok I'll try adlib next time.

Why would duke3d not find mpu401 when I select general midi at 330?

If there is NOT A MODULE CONNECTED, there is nothing to respond!

P330 is more like a serial port for SysEx messages to be transmitted over. A physical midi device needs to be connected, like a midi capable keyboard, or a midi module like an MT32 or an SC-55.

Without one connected, messages are sent, but there is nothing to respond!

(For example, this is a midi capable keyboard synthesizer, that you could attach to the MPU401 port on that soundcard.)

https://www.amazon.com/Korg-49-Key-Controller … 9/dp/B0CFW33HQW

(Though most games would probably prefer an MT32 or SC-55 midi module)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/358112934835?_skw=mt … ABk9SR5TqwM39Zg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184339454023

(Respectively)

Ok so it's not that he doesn't find mpu401 itself, rather he doesn't find communication there. Clear! Adlib it is.

Just tested Adlib in dos: works! Sounds suitably old school. For high end midi, there is the audigy2 in the W98 pc.

In W95 on the 486, midi stays silent. And as the w95 is super restricted, I can't change the settings.

So I'll try to install a different hard drive and give it a fresh 3.11 and take it from there.

wierd_w wrote on 2026-01-23, 21:48:

If there is NOT A MODULE CONNECTED, there is nothing to respond!

Granted, it will produce no sound since there is no synthesizer connected but Duke3D should be able to detect the MPU-401 emulation on the SB16 regardless. Maybe it's jumpered to a port other than 330, or not jumpered at all.

The only jumpers I found on the SB16 were irq11/12 and factory/eeprom presets. They are numbered jp3 and jp4, but I can't see any jp1 and 2.

Yes there are two different IO ports, one for the onboard OPL3/CQM synth and another for an attachable wavetablr synthesizer.

If the attachment is not attached and you play to its port, it will remain silent.

Mine also only has the onboard, in my case CQM, synth. The setup method is basically to fiddle with knobs in the game’s sound setup until it makes noise.

Nicolas 2000 wrote on 2026-01-24, 09:26:

The only jumpers I found on the SB16 were irq11/12 and factory/eeprom presets. They are numbered jp3 and jp4, but I can't see any jp1 and 2.

Probably means it's a PnP card and the port is controlled with a software driver. I guess it doesn't matter since you don't have a MIDI module at this point anyway.

Well, it does matter in the sense that I'd like to see the pc find the mpu before spending on an MT32 or similar.

I've researched the soundcard some more. Found jumper1 and 2, no idea what they do. Also, oops, it's not a soundblaster. It's an Aztech Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16-Bit ISA Sound Card - I38-MMSD802.

Am I right that these are SB Pro (and 16?) compatible and also use the set blaster commands? I have set blaster in autoexec so I hope it does something...

They are not mpu-401 compatible! So I don't know if/how they can talk to an MT32 or similar?

Nicolas 2000 wrote on 2026-01-24, 14:45:

They are not mpu-401 compatible! So I don't know if/how they can talk to an MT32 or similar?

No, you need an MPU-401 interface (preferably with intelligent mode) to use with an MT-32.

Authentic Roland MPU-401 interfaces are rare and expensive these days.

Your best bet for an affordable interface is the PicoGUS. There is also the modern PCMIDI card (essentially an MPU-401AT clone), though it's a bit more expensive than the PicoGUS.

So on the Aztech card the gameport is purely for joysticks and the like? I'm fine with that, I have a whole synth studio for true MIDI madness anyway.

So what does this mean in practice: do games such as Monkey Island offer Adlib as well for music? In which games would I have to do without music?