Are you sure it ever worked? I was under the impression the SB pro and anything before the sb16 was NOT mpu-401 compatible....

Yes soviet conscript is correct, the SB Pro is incapable of driving a Roland MT-32.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster#So … Pro_2.2C_CT1600

The Pro's MIDI UART was upgraded to full-duplex and offered time stamping features, but was not yet compatible with the MPU-401 interface used by professional MIDI equipment.

MIDI UART communication through the CT1600's gameport with an appropriate adapter seems possible, at least in theory, although I've never tried. It may only work with games that can/will send MIDI output through SB DSP command 38h; and, of course, any game or app that requires intelligent mode won't work.

JP4 should be closed to enable the gameport according to the info here.

The joystick enable jumper has nothing to do with the MIDI output, joystick and MIDI are two entirely separate interfaces which happen to share the same physical connector.

A long, long time ago, some enterprising person made a patch that allowed the MT-32 to be used on the Sound Blaster MIDI interface with Sierra's SCI0 games. That patch is the only example I can come up with of a game that works with the pre-Sound Blaster 16' MIDI interface.

In that case it would be clearer if the jumper was actually referred to as a joystick enable/disable and not as a gameport enable/disable, because the MIDI pins are on the gameport connector.

I don't tend to notice when games use the SB MIDI interface, but I recall that Star Quest I in the 27th Century does, although IIRC it supports GM and not the MT-32.

Both games use SB MIDI:
Flashback (uses MT-32)
Big Red Adventure (uses GM i think)

Did I dream the Sound Blaster Pro 2 was working with the MT-32 or am I crazy?

I was sure it was working.......

I noticed with the Mt-32 and SC-55 sometimes notes get stuck.....is it because Im using a 100 mhz processor?

Overflow issue ? Too fast processor?

Hanging notes? That's because Creative's MPU401 interfaces are buggy.

If you have an AWE64 I would use that. They don't have any issues.

But ideally you want a real Roland MPU401 interface. They are rare amd expensive though 🙁

rgart wrote:

Did I dream the Sound Blaster Pro 2 was working with the MT-32 or am I crazy?

I was sure it was working.......

If it was working then it must have been an exception in creative cards. I have the same Pro2 1600 and it never worked with SC55 (yes, I knew it would fail, but I still tried 😜 )

Mau1wurf1977 Hanging notes? That's because Creative's MPU401 interfaces are buggy.

If you have an AWE64 I would use that. They don't have any issues.

But ideally you want a real Roland MPU401 interface. They are rare amd expensive though Sad

Yeah thats exactly it. Hanging Notes.

Will an Awe-32 Correct the issue?

What exactly is a real MPU401 interface and where would I get one, can you direct me to some reading material?

Most of AWE32s have buggy MPU (except for CT3980 model AFAIK).

Here's the reading material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPU-401

There were few compatible cards from third parties, I just don't remember exactly. This info should be somewhere at Vogons.

I thought that driving a MT-32 requires a MPU intelligent mode, am I not right?

Compiled wisdom about the hanging note bug can be found at this Vogons Wiki page.

The (perhaps not so obvious) solution would be to use both the SB Pro and one of the newer cards at the same time (the former for digital sound, the latter for MIDI), which would eliminate the hanging note bug and the clicking noises.

bristlehog wrote:

I thought that driving a MT-32 requires a MPU intelligent mode, am I not right?

No, it's not as simple as that.
Here is an attempt to round up all the games which require genuine MPU-401 compatibility, all others will also work with SB MIDI interface.

rgart wrote:

Will an Awe-32 Correct the issue?

What exactly is a real MPU401 interface and where would I get one, can you direct me to some reading material?

Just woke up and everything has been answered already 😀

A real Roland MIDI interface include the MPU401AT, SCC1 (this is an ISA Sound Canvas with MIDI interface) and various older MPU401 interfaces that come with a breakout box (careful, often you see auctions with JUST the external breakout box but the ISA card missing).

Using an AWE64 card will fix the hanging note bug.

Using two cards (which have the bug) also fixes the issue. So you configure one for Sound and the other one for MIDI. Personally I found this setup challenging because of resources and conflicts and definitely need a bit of work to get going.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Just woke up and everything has been answered already :) […]
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rgart wrote:

Will an Awe-32 Correct the issue?

What exactly is a real MPU401 interface and where would I get one, can you direct me to some reading material?

Just woke up and everything has been answered already 😀

A real Roland MIDI interface include the MPU401AT, SCC1 (this is an ISA Sound Canvas with MIDI interface) and various older MPU401 interfaces that come with a breakout box (careful, often you see auctions with JUST the external breakout box but the ISA card missing).

Using an AWE64 card will fix the hanging note bug.

Using two cards (which have the bug) also fixes the issue. So you configure one for Sound and the other one for MIDI. Personally I found this setup challenging because of resources and conflicts and definitely need a bit of work to get going.

I find PnP sound cards challenging enough getting them to work at all.

If you want a Pro and a 16/AWE to work together, here is the ideal resource setup :

Pro = A220 I7 D1

16/AWE = A240 (260 280) I10 D0 H5 P330

Of course, with a PnP card, you can disable a few resources, but choosing PnP resources is like wrestling with Hulk Hogan. (Maybe not that bad, but still). The 16 is still quite usable with these settings if the game supports choosing the resources in the install program or actually looks at the SET BLASTER variable.

Of course, add a Gravis Ultrasound to the mix, and it gets eve more fun.

Great Hierophant wrote:

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I find PnP sound cards challenging enough getting them to work at all. […]
Show full quote

I find PnP sound cards challenging enough getting them to work at all.

If you want a Pro and a 16/AWE to work together, here is the ideal resource setup :

Pro = A220 I7 D1

16/AWE = A240 (260 280) I10 D0 H5 P330

Of course, with a PnP card, you can disable a few resources, but choosing PnP resources is like wrestling with Hulk Hogan. (Maybe not that bad, but still). The 16 is still quite usable with these settings if the game supports choosing the resources in the install program or actually looks at the SET BLASTER variable.

Of course, add a Gravis Ultrasound to the mix, and it gets eve more fun.

I followed your advice. I have a Sound Blaster Pro 2 and Sound Blaster 16 in the same system.

Its really nice to finally hear a Roland MT-32 and SC-55 without hanging notes or any issues and the Sound Blaster Pro 2 working with the MT-32 means theres no pops or clicks. It sounds excellent.

However even with the settings you described I seem to be having a conflict somewhere because games crash back to dos often.

I need to buy a Roland ISA card!

I know the SCC-1 is the equivalent to the SC-55 but is there an ISA card that is the Roland MT-32 equivalent?

LAPC-I

robertmo wrote:

LAPC-I

Yup that's it. Fantastic card, though very hard to find and expensive 😀

Rgart you mentioned the SCC-1. In case you're not aware, this card is also a MPU401 Intelligent interface, meaning you can connect up a Roland MT-32 or CM series unit.

But again, none of these are cheap...

rgart wrote:

However even with the settings you described I seem to be having a conflict somewhere because games crash back to dos often.

Try configuring the AWE64 Gold in such a way that everything apart from the MPU401 gets disabled. You can do this via CTCU or by editing that config file in the same folder.

Ok I'll have another crack at disabling things on the SB16 Card Im using as the MT-32 Interface.

Yeah there is a SCC-1 on ebay at the moment at $122 and a Rap-10 for 200......Pricey.

I've got to say I love how "native" the Sound Blaster Pro 2 is. Works without drivers in dos and no pops and clicks when speech starts.....Really Natural.

I have a SB 16 and Awe 32 and they both pop when speech starts ....Maybe only in the beginning of the game and only 2-3 times but it just doesn't cut the mustard 😜

Yea the Sound Blaster Pro 2 is a great card!

$122 for a SCC-1 is a good price! Is this a Buy-now? If so I'd purchase it. Because you are getting a MPU401AT and a Sound Canvas in one hit.

Rap-10 for $200 is way too much.