Argh! I'm green with envy!
I've tried to buy an MT-32 and also a CM-32L several times, but there were always problems (shipping, being outbidded, vendor ignoring my posts, etc) 🙁
Please, Dear Lord, make canadacow and kingguppy finish their emulator soon!!
wrote:SB cards were the pre-Win9X offenders, with "Game Ports" that claimed to be real, srs, MPU-401 ports, but were really just UART. You need an MPU-401 adapter that supports Intelligent Mode if you want it to reliably pass commands to the MT-32.
"MPU-401 Compatible" just won't cut it.
What's the real limiting factor though? Because I use an MT-32 on my SB16's gameport flawlessly.
So I've chained my MT-32 and SC-88 together, with the SC-88 connected via a m-Audio MIDI-to-USB cable in the MIDI IN receptacle, to my Windows 7 PC with a RCA-to-stereo 1/8" headphone jack, plugged into the L and R RCA outputs on the SC-88, into the line-in/mic port of my X-Fi sound card on the PC.
I then have my MT-32 connected to the SC-88 via two 1/4" audio jacks to RCA connections, each plugged into the L and R RCA connection inputs on the SC-88. A single MIDI cable is plugged into the "Thru" MIDI connection on the SC-88. The other end is plugged into the MIDI input receptacle on the MT-32.
I followed the model displayed here: http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php/topic,3109.0.html
I follow the instructions for games employing MT-32 sound, clicking both the ALL and MUTE buttons on the SC-88. MT-32 sound plays through nicely on such games, and I have no issues.
I'm less clear on what steps I need to take when playing a game with general midi sound. It's seemingly not playing through the Sound Canvas, but instead defaulting to the MT-32, even when the game is set to play GM and/or explicitly set to use Sound Canvas. I've also turned off both the ALL and MUTE buttons, with little change.
When playing a GM game, I am not sure what I should see on the screens of both modules. Right now, it's displaying channel/equalizer bars on the MT-32, and not on the SC-88. Seems to me that when working properly, the bars should be visible on the SC-88, with the MT-32 inactive.
I can just pick up another MIDI-to-USB cable, of course, but would prefer this chaining route.
Drake: I use a similar setup with MT-32 and SC-88, and when I want to use GM/GS I simply turn off the power to the MT-32 and un-mute the SC-88.
Please note that you should only toggle the SC-88's MUTE setting on/off when the ALL light is active, or else you'll just be toggling mute for the currently-selected individual MIDI channel. You should never need to deactivate the ALL light unless you want to fiddle with individual channels.
Also note that the MT-32 must be turned off because it has no mute button and the volume knob is software-overrideable, so the only way to make it shut up is to turn it off.
Just had a thought... previously when I did a device check, the MT-32 (or whatever) MIDI device showed up as device 3 and that has been my mididevice=x standby in the dosbox.conf templates that I've been recycling each time I write a new shortcut for a new game.
With both now connected, will both be device 3, or will a fresh check reveal them to be two separate devices, each with a unique number? If so, all I need are fresh *.conf templates, one for MT-32 and another for games that use the SC-88.
EDIT: Simply turning off the MT-32... can't remember if I tried that one or not, but it will be the first one that I do try.
They will both be seen as the same device in Windows/DOSBox because they are both being accessed via the same USB-MIDI interface cable. Since the communication is basically one-way (PC->synth), the computer has no idea what the USB-MIDI cable is connected to.
This means that if both synths are on and unmuted, you'll hear both at once - and it will probably sound awful.
Also, it means there's no way to set DOSBox up for one versus the other. It's up to individual game configs and you muting/unmuting and powering on/off your synths.
Edit: Also note that the volume of your MT-32 depends on both its volume knob and the little knob on the back of the SC-88, while the SC-88's volume depends on the knob in its front and of course the mute states.
So, essentially, since they are on the same channel and the MT-32 has no mute button/switch, the only way to avoid getting sounds from both at once is to turn off / unplug the MT-32 completely (else turn the volume all the way down via either knob, I suppose).
Turning down the volume knob on the MT-32 is problematic because it can be overridden by MIDI commands, and turning the knob at the back of the SC-88 is inconvenient. On the other hand, the MT-32's power switch is on its back side, so you're kind of screwed either way...
I plugged my synths into one of those power strips that is meant to sit under a computer monitor and let you turn your monitor and printer on and off individually so that I could turn my MT-32 off easily.
Well, sure enough, that did it. I can't believe I didn't try turning it off, but that's all it took.
Turn on the SC-88, with none of the four lights set to on, and the MT-32 turned off before starting up Dosbox. Plays GM in games like a champ.
Both my desktop and modules are on a side table, with the modules up front, so the knobs are near at hand. Doesn't look like it matters, though.
wrote:wrote:SB cards were the pre-Win9X offenders, with "Game Ports" that claimed to be real, srs, MPU-401 ports, but were really just UART. You need an MPU-401 adapter that supports Intelligent Mode if you want it to reliably pass commands to the MT-32.
"MPU-401 Compatible" just won't cut it.
What's the real limiting factor though? Because I use an MT-32 on my SB16's gameport flawlessly.
If you have a second-gen MT32, it isn't an issue, as the second-gen doesn't rely on proper timing; it just takes data as fast as the port provides it. The first-gen will overflow if data is sent too quickly, which means you lose SysEx and other control data.
I banged my head against this wall for hours with my E-MU X-Midi Tab USB adapter to my MT-32. No joy at all in Windows Vista x64. Finally I read a post that said to try a Mac, so I did. Works great on that platform. This was Wing Commander in DOS-Box. I have the M-Audio USB adapter on order now. Shame the E-MU didn't cut it on Windows.
What Windows? Did you configure DOSBox to talk o the E-MU? Because by default it talks to the Windows default MIDI device...
If your mt32 didn't show any reaction then it didn't get used and needs to be configured in a different way.
wrote:I banged my head against this wall for hours with my E-MU X-Midi Tab USB adapter to my MT-32. No joy at all in Windows Vista x64. Finally I read a post that said to try a Mac, so I did. Works great on that platform. This was Wing Commander in DOS-Box. I have the M-Audio USB adapter on order now. Shame the E-MU didn't cut it on Windows.
Try running mixer /listmidi in DOSBox and then setting the midiconfig= value in your DOSBox config to the number listed for your X-Midi Tab.
Another option is to use a utility that can set the default Vista MIDI device to be the X-Midi Tab instead of the Microsoft software synthesizer. There seem to be a lot of those utilities that don't work properly, though.
I should also mention that I've had SysEx issues with the X-Midi Tab, so the M-Audio is a better choice now that they finally have x64 drivers available.
Thanks, all. Good suggestions, but this is the problem where you get the "checksum error" on the MT-32 while it the game is sending the SYSEX commands that program the MT-32 for the game-specific sound effects. I read another post stating that the EMU X-Midi Tab adapter has issues in Windows with SYSEX command timing with the older-model MT-32s, and that the problem does not manifest itself on a Mac. I verified this to be the case on my MacBook, so I went ahead and ordered a MIDIsport Uno interface, which was claimed to have no such issue in Windows.
Good news! The MIDIsport Uno arrived on Friday...I loaded it up and it works GREAT with the SYSEX command in DOSBox on Windows Vista x64. So no more having to hook the MacBook up to the big screen to enjoy Wing Commander in all its MT-32 glory.
Thanks for all of the assistance on this forum. Us classic gamers have to stick together these days! 😀
Ian
Ah, yeah the exact situation you described happened to me, except I've only tried with Windows machines. I started out with an Uno but there were no 64-bit Windows drivers available for it when I built my Windows 7 x64 desktop, so I bought the X-Midi Tab only to have the checksum error issues. Fortunately M-Audio released 64-bit Uno drivers, so I just switched back to that adapter.
SVN of DOSBox should help with the checksum errors.
http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f= … &p=29852#p29852
I'm afraid the SVN feature is not able to solve the checksum errors in the case of EMU's X-Midi Tab. I also own such a thingy, and that midi interface produces checksum errors on my rev0 device even with huge delays, so it seems inheritly buggy when dealing with (MT-32) sysexes. No idea what's going on there.
I have an open ticket number KMM33697126I15977L0KM with EMU Support ( EMU.Support@customercare.creative.com ) about the SysEx issues with the X-Midi Tab. If other people want to complain about the issue, feel free to reference my ticket number.
They want me to jump through some annoying hoops like destroying my working MIDI setup by uninstalling my M-Audio MIDISport Uno drivers and double-checking that I don't have the X-Midi Tab hooked up backwards (lol), but I haven't had time nor inclination.
