First post, by Ozzuneoj
- Rank
- l33t
I posted about about this in another thread here but figured it'd be worth its own thread if this is something that is common on other Roland GM\GS modules. I have a rather rare MT-200, which is apparently very similar to an SC55 but is more focused on being able to record\remix music tracks using its built in floppy drive. After a little tinkering I figured out how to make it useful as a simple sound module for my PC. But I've noticed that I'm getting some incorrect sounds when playing GM music through it. I'm testing with the Descent sound setup program, simply by hitting enter to start and stop the music test. My PC is a K6-2 500 and the MIDI data is coming through a Midiman MM401.
Basically, it sounds like reverb effects get stuck on some times, or the track will start with notes (the distorted guitar at the beginning) dragging on like they are being held too long or are STILL playing from the last time (even though the track has stopped and there's silence before it starts), or a long note will hang for the entire song. It seems to mostly do this when I stop and restart the track. I have a 3 way AV switch hooked up between the MT200, SC7 and MT32. I can flip through them back and forth (they are all getting the MIDI signal simultaneously) and only the MT200 has these problems. I have my midi devices daisy chained through the "THRU" ports as follows: Midiman MM401 -> MT200 -> MT32 -> SC7... so the MT200 also has the least amount of cabling\devices between it and the source and yet it is the only one to have these issues. It also doesn't go away if I disconnect the device from the MT200's THRU port.
It would seem that it HAS to be something specific to the device, as the problems are happening on it alone and aren't being passed on to the others. Turning it off and turning it back on fixes the problem... until it happens again, either by stopping and restarting a track, or if a certain note happens to get stuck playing.
I don't know if this is just a side effect of the device doing its own thing, intended for recording\remixing tracks, or if it is actually faulty.
I will say, this is a really cool device but I get the feeling it wasn't ever totally meant as a stand alone midi sequencer, attached to a computer. It is definitely more geared toward actually using it for recording, cutting and mixing tracks using the floppy drive.
I got it for a really good price and it seems to be worth quite a bit on eBay, but I'd probably trade it for a nice SC-88 or SC-55MKII. I am interested in composing music at some point, but I'm certainly going to be using modern MIDI software on my PC for that.
Has anyone ever experienced the GM playback problems I've mentioned above?
Now for some blitting from the back buffer.
