VOGONS


First post, by notsonic

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I've recently been trying to get a midi setup going for some dos games like Doom, Hexen, and so on. I'm not sure if this is the infamous hanging note bug as I haven't been able to find any good example audio/video.

I'm using a Yamaha PSR 260 keyboard until my SC-55 comes in the mail.

It seems that almost immediately, when starting doom a chord plays and gets stuck, but music will keep playing along with it. It continues onto the first level. I can turn the keyboard off and on and it goes away but the instruments are wrong when it comes back on. If I pause the game the note keeps playing. If I exit the game the note keeps playing. If I start another game it keeps playing. If I reboot it keeps playing. The only way to make it stop is to turn off the keyboard.

I've tried using PC Speaker or no sound and have the exact same results.

I have tried with two different sound cards and gotten the same results.
Media Magic ISP 16
Sound Blaster CT1770 SCSI (v4.13)

I don't know if this is a problem with my keyboard or the hanging note bug. It doesn't seem to happen with King's Quest 6 (dos). Midi playback in Windows 3.11 is also fine.

Is it time for an AWE64?

Reply 4 of 9, by PhilsComputerLab

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notsonic wrote:

Here's a video of what I'm talking about. You can hear the stuck note isolated when I pause the game around 0:37

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9exrCYnkbk

Could be.

Now there is a very easy way to test if it's a buggy MPU interface on a Sound Blaster. Run SETUP and set the option for sound effects to off, or PC speaker. So that it only playes General MIDI music. If you don't get the stuck notes, than you know you're dealing with a MPU 401 interface related MIDI bug.

YouTube, Facebook, Website

Reply 5 of 9, by firage

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Yeah it sounds like it's missing a note off command. The instruments are wrong because it boots into a native mode instead of TG300B/GM/GS. I think you got the other type of hanging note bug too at 1:03.

My big-red-switch 486

Reply 6 of 9, by notsonic

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I noticed that too at 1:03.

Setting sound FX to pc speaker or off doesn't change the behavior, same thing.

I'll report back once the sc55 comes in the mail.

Fwiw this is a VLB mobo (no PCI), 486dx2-66, 8mb ram, dos 6.22.