Isn't Ken doing a new KQ1 soundtrack?

Not that I'm aware of...unless you're talking about his Under The Half Dome album, which won't be the entire soundtrack, AFAIK. Why?

I was only reminded because of the patch bank from KQ1SCI. Yeah, I believe it was for Under The Half Dome now that you mention it. There really is not that long of a soundtrack for the game, so it could easily fit on the album with other things.

Ok, as the OP edit suggests, I've begun attempting to program this myself. I've come a fair way and have already begun pulling the Timbre names from the SYX file (at "F0 41 10 16 12 08 xx xx" addresses), after detecting whether it is really an MT-32 SYX file or not (checks for "F0 41 10 16" existence in the file). However, I understand that the Timbre memory list does not necessarily correspond to the Patch memory list which is what I really need. I'm mulling over the MT-32 MIDI Implementation specs and going over each command and what they do, etc, but I'm a little confused as to what the values actually mean in the DATA portion after the "F0 41 10 16 12 05 xx xx" section (which sets Patch memory settings) and before the checksum and "F7". The SYX file I'm working with was created from Conquests of Camelot and acquired from Quest Studios. There is clearly a full 128 instrument patch list with custom instruments everywhere, not to mention most of the custom 64 Timbre memory taken up with new instruments), but there are only 4 instances of the "F0 41 10 16 12 05 xx xx" hex string in the entire SYX file, which doesn't make sense to me. Can someone shed some light on this? I'd ask on the QS forums but, well, they're gone and I can't find enough information about the MT-32 anywhere that really explains everything.

Second question, what exactly is the Patch Temp area used for?

You could try asking sergm. Not sure if he reads anything outside of the Munt forums.

Remember that with SysEx, each data byte has its own address. Per Roland's implementation, an individual SysEx string can explicitly address something as small as a single data byte, or as large as 256 consecutively-addressed data bytes.

Each of the 128 patch memory locations in the MT-32 is comprised of eight data bytes - seven of which correspond to separate parameters, and the eighth of which is a dummy byte - for a total of 1024 bytes of data.

Using the Camelot SysEx dump as an example, the single SysEx string for Patch Memory 1 is as follows:

1               ADDRESS  DATA
2               +------+ +---------------------+
3               |      | |                     |
4F0 41 10 16 12 05 00 00 01 35 18 32 0C 00 01 00 (checksum) F7
5                         +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +
6                         |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
7TIMBRE GROUP   05 00 00 -+  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
8TIMBRE NUMBER  05 00 01 ----+  |  |  |  |  |  |
9KEY SHIFT      05 00 02 -------+  |  |  |  |  |
10FINE TUNE      05 00 03 ----------+  |  |  |  |
11BENDER RANGE   05 00 04 -------------+  |  |  |
12ASSIGN MODE    05 00 05 ----------------+  |  |
13REVERB SWITCH  05 00 06 -------------------+  |
14dummy          05 00 07 ----------------------+

Sending 128 separate SysEx strings for patch memory isn't efficient or necessary, so the data bytes continue out to comprise a grouping of 32 patch memory locations, hitting against Roland's 256-byte limit for a single SysEx string.

1F0 41 10 16 12 05 00 00 01 35 18 32 0C 00 01 00 01 36 18 32 0C 00 01 00 02 03 18 32 0C 00 01 00 ...etc... (checksum) F7
2                        +----------+----------+ +----------+----------+ +----------+----------+
3                                   |                       |                       |
4                                   +                       +                       +
5                            Patch Memory 1          Patch Memory 2          Patch Memory 3

The four 256-byte strings that make up the entire Patch Memory are are as follows

1F0 41 10 16 12 05 00 00 ... F7	Patch memory 1 - 32
2F0 41 10 16 12 05 02 00 ... F7	Patch memory 33 - 64
3F0 41 10 16 12 05 04 00 ... F7	Patch memory 65 - 96
4F0 41 10 16 12 05 06 00 ... F7	Patch memory 97 - 128

For each of the Patch Memory locations, the two bytes/parameters that it sounds like you are concerned with are TIMBRE GROUP, and TIMBRE NUMBER.

TIMBRE GROUP is a value of 0 - 3, defined as follows:

0 - Preset A
1 - Preset B
2 - Internal
3 - Rhythm

TIMBRE NUMBER is a value of 0 - 63, corresponding to one of the 64 timbres in the previously-defined timbre group. So, in the example above, Patch Memory 1 references the Taiko timbre.

The Timbre, Patch, and Rhythm Setup Temp areas can be thought of as the "working" areas of the MT-32. The MT-32 doesn't really provide anything in the way of front-panel editing, but imagine turning on the MT-32, and editing the timbre on Part 1. Your edits would all be done against a copy of the timbre in the temporary timbre area. If you were to then switch to a different timbre, and then back to the one you had edited, you would notice that your edits had been lost.

Does any of this help, or is it just adding to the confusion? 😀

Furthermore, did you ever download the "Lost Synthesizer Archive" I'd posted on the QuestStudios forum several years ago, as originally provided by Anders Olsson? It includes patch-map documentation for a number of the SCI0 titles, and might make your life a bit easier...

http://www.symphoniae.com/elw/sierrautil.zip

Thank you, that is actually very helpful! No, I hadn't found that archive before. Thanks for it as well! Though, it doesn't make my life easier exactly because I still would like a way to automatically generate the INS files. That's the most brutal part. Figuring out how these files function and getting the programming practice in as well is just fun too, though.

Well, I did it. Here's the program if there are any composers out there who use Cakewalk/Sonar and want to take advantage of the custom MT-32 libraries of Sierra's games with the SYX files that Tom provided on Quest Studios (now located here http://www.midimusicadventures.com/queststudios/). Or any MT-32 SYX file for that matter.

DOWNLOAD: https://github.com/MusicallyInspired/Syx2Ins

This would also help in composing MT-32 compatible tracks when creating SCI0 and SCI1.1 fangames with the latest release of SCI Companion (http://sciprogramming.com/community/index.php?topic=1420.0). Creating an INS from a Sierra MT-32 Patch file sounds like a fun next project and would aid tremendously in this area as well.

Great! You should upload this to the Wiki.

I wasn't able to attach the file to the wiki as I don't have permission, but I made an entry in the audio tools section. I put a link to my site, could you take that file and attach it to the wiki and replace the link?

Yeah I will, but you should have permission to upload. I'll look into why you are not able to. On another note, did you ever get an account for the AGI Wiki?

Nope.

I made you a bureaucrat, so you should be able to upload now. Did you want an AGI Wiki account?

Sure. I don't know if I'll ever do any AGI work, but you never know.

At least the core members of the SCI community should have access to both Wikis. You should have received an email with your temp pass.