Thallanor wrote:[...]
So if a sound card _does_ output MIDI through the gameport, is it accurate to say _any_ will work with the SoftMPU driver, or did every card manufacturer have their own SoftMPU implementation, meaning some might never have released it?
SoftMPU is a modern community-driven piece of software that has nothing to do with any of the old manufacturers. It's also not a driver (i.e. it's not tied to any particular hardware), it's a DOS TSR program that intercepts calls from games (or other software) intended for intelligent mode MIDI hardware and adds that intelligence itself, then communicates the output to the UART ('dumb') MIDI hardware of a sound card.
So the only requirement is a sound card (*any* sound card) with a good 'dumb' UART MIDI implementation. Basically that means pretty much anything out there, except cards with a known buggy MIDI implementation (various early Creative Soundblaster 16 cards, for example).
I'm sort of at a point where I'm looking at options like Keropi's cards, but I already have an SB16 (which I understand has its own collection of MIDI issues) but it would at least get me buy until I could get one of Keropi's.
Of all the cards you could have, that's probably the worst. But it will still work, just with hanging notes.
Note that you don't need the intelligent mode to communicate with the MT-32, that works just fine. You need intelligent mode to support software that depends on it, so very early MT-32/CM-32L/LAPC-1 titles.
Again, sorry for all of the n00b questions. I really tried hard to see if I could figure things out on my own, especially the Lo-Tech card stuff and how it might connect to an MT-32. 😀
Tbh, I'd not spend significant money until you understand the situation.
- Pretty much any sound card other than that buggy SB16 would be fine for connecting to the MT-32. Even this SB16 can do it, but with hanging notes.
- The vast majority of software supporting MT-32 would just work with no other hard or software.
- A small number of old games (Ultima 6 for example) need Intelligent mode.
Now, *if* you need intelligent mode, you can get it in a few ways:
- The original Roland MPU-401, connected to the PC via the MIF-IPC-A
- A Roland LAPC-1 sound card with built-in MPU-401
- An MPU-401 clone, such as the MusicQuest card, or Keropi's clone of the MusicQuest card
- SoftMPU, a TSR to emulate intelligent mode without special hardware
So right now, with that SB16, you can already talk to the MT-32, run any software that works with dumb UART mode and use SoftMPU to emulate intelligent mode for the few titles that don't. Your only limitations are the hanging note bug and the fact that SoftMPU takes up some memory, although you can load it high if you have a 386 or later with at least 1MB of RAM.
All you need for a seamless experience is a sound card without the irritating Creative MIDI bugs. Added advantage is that most will give you good SBPro 2.0 support, which Creative's own SB16/32/64 don't. If you go for an Aztech 2316/2320 or ESS688/1868-based card, you get solid hardware-level compatibilty with the Soundblaster, real OPL3 FM-synthesis and a bug-free MIDI implementation. I regularly see those go for EUR 10 or less around here (NL), far less than any other option for 386 or higher. Of course you *can* go for dedicated hardware with intelligent mode support, in which case Keropi's MusicQuest clone or otherwise HardMPU is probably the best option. But apart from a more 'authentic' experience, you don't actually gain anything else.
Things get different when you mention an 8-bit only XT-class system. Then a sound card with good MIDI port is probably going to cost more than a HardMPU/MusicQuest(clone), and SoftMPU won't work (it requires emm386.exe). So you need a hardware solution. Unless you are very rich or very lucky, original stuff is not an option. So you want HardMPU or a MusicQuest clone here. Note that you can't use your SB16 here anyway, so for non-MIDI based sound options you are also in a different ballgame - which would require a separate topic 😉