Not sure what's going on there, but my MT-32 (old model) sounds exactly like the 'other units'.

Not saying it's gonna help, but just in case, did you try a factory reset?
-> http://www.synthmanuals.com/manuals/roland/mt … ctory_reset.pdf

Interesting. I was hoping a definitive answer would pre-empt me sticking my noob's oar in, but that patience didn't last.

An initial list of the variables I see, for further consideration:
1. module revision
2. module state (interference by user settings)
3. software/TSR configuration
4. module state (re: game-specific LA patches, e.g. potential failure of game's initial SYSEX upload)

I won't attempt to expand further at this stage, probably quicker and easier if I just load up the game on my box here and do some experimenting with my Munt module to see what transpires and if I can recreate what you hear, then look backwards and see what the cause was. Might get a chance sometime later today, assuming noone solves the matter in the meantime.

Any other intermediary signal-alterers we might have missed?

(btw, despite obviously not being the "correct" patch, imo your version sounds better with that U6 music! an opinion largely due to my general ambivalence toward Roland guitar patches...)

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-06-26, 22:27:

On my unit the lead melody at the beginning is a xylophone type thing, but it's a guitar in other captures. Does anyone know what's going on here? I'm running everything from a cold boot so I know there are no lingering patches messing my MT-32 up. I'm running SoftMPU because I have to. Could a different hardware revision be the cause? Or something dumber that I'm missing?

I don't know either, to be honest. Anyway, I would like to thank you very much for sharing that experience with us!
The MT32 is fascinating and it's good that surpriseslike this still happen. 😀

Wild guesses.. Your MT32 might be one of these Blue Ridge models (modified units) with a battery-backup that holds settings even after power loss.
Or, the ROM chips are of an unknown version (not all MT32 ROM revisions are preserved yet). Or, the unit's ROMs are slightly faulty (bit-rod). Or something else.

Thanks for the comments. Some great questions have been raised here, so I'll do some deeper investigation and see I can answer all of them.

So, it's the game files. Here's the thing. I shop on GOG, but for convenience I often just run versions that we would call unsupported here. Last night I unpacked the GOG version and transferred it over. Voila, correct instruments! So it's something to do with the other release. Files that I thought may be a factor included CONFIG.U6, MIDI.DAT and U6ROLAND.DRV, but the file juggling I tried didn't change anything. The answer will be in there somewhere with enough investigation, but I'm not fussed enough to sink the time into it.

For a bit of fun I repatched my audio so I could play the 'wrong' MT-32 version mixed in with the TG100, and I enjoyed it a lot.

FWIW my MT-32 is the old type, serial 850308, mobo 79377310 01. Clean and stock inside.

OK... maybe this might have something to do with it:
http://nodling.nullneuron.net/ultima/ultima.html

Other synthesizers If you don't have an MT-32, you can use another external synthesizer instead. However, since your synthesizer […]
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Other synthesizers
If you don't have an MT-32, you can use another external synthesizer instead. However, since your synthesizer probably doesn't use MT-32 compatible instrument mappings, you have to change these mappings somehow. Luckily, there's an easy way to do that.

Go to your U6 directory, and look for the file MIDI.DAT.
It's a regular text file that determines the instrument mappings used by Ultima 6. You can view and modify it with a text editor.
If you have a General MIDI synth, you can try a GM configuration file for Ultima 6. Just rename it to "midi.dat" and copy it over the old file of the same name.

Maybe your less official version had been patched for GM, which would make it sound off on an MT-32.