Here, try the following:

Roland CM-32L:
http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-80sRETRO-ROLAND-CM-3 … 1QQcmdZViewItem

Roland MPU-IPC-T:
http://www.sonicstate.com/class/class_single. … id=69072&age=14&

It will cost you plenty, but you will be able to obtain full MT-32 sound in an okdskool PC.

You can probably use an SB16 with a joystick-to-MIDI cable in place of the MPU-IPC-T as well.

There are also usually a few actual MT-32's available on eBay. I decided to get an MT-32 instead of a CM-32L myself because the MT-32 looks cooler and is more functional.

A CM-64 would probably be better for gaming though.

Whoa, that MPU card better be worth it 😳

I'd recommend watching ebay for that kind of stuff, if you've got the time. Sometimes items show up in the wrong category or have bad descriptions, so you can get them very cheap, if you know what you want.

My recent acquisitions:
- Roland LAPC-I with MPC-1, mint, original boxes with all the manuals, even the original receipt was included (~500€ in 1991) - for 60€! 🤑
- Roland SCC-1 (only the board, no accessories), good condition - 1€! (that was real luck, the seller lived in my city and refused to ship anywhere, so nobody placed a bid 😁)

Maybe the best option would be to get a MT-32 first, connect it to the joystick port and upgrade the interface card later when the opportunity arises.

MT-32 goes for $35 to $55 on eBay, and it seems that there are a few for sale at any given moment. Be careful to check the shipping -- there are a few Japanese sellers that charge some insane shipping amounts.
Pretty much any Soundblaster will work as MPU-401. If you have one of the high-end models with breakout box you just need a regular MIDI cable. Otherwise joystick cable to MIDI will work, as HunterZ said. Pay attention to connect cable end marked "out" to MT-32 port marked "in," and that's it. I actually connected audio out back to SB line input, that requires some cable work -- MT-32 has two separate 1/4" mono outputs.
BTW, MPU-401 support in DOSBox works really well. Tell Windows to forward all MIDI to external port, configure DOSBox to use "windows" as MIDI device, and you are all set.

Nothing beats a true Roland MPU-401 interface. Anything else and you will sacrifice intelligent midi capabilities, vital for compatibility and speed on low end systems. If I ever buy my ultimate IBM PC, I must have a Roland and an Adlib.

A CM-32L is better than an MT-32 for DOS Gaming, better output quality, no buffer underuns, extra sound effects. A CM-64 holds no benefits for DOS Gaming.

Pity that interface is ISA only. I don't think PCI or newer USB implementations are "old skool compatible." You might as well use Soundblaster.
CM-32L may be better in some respects but if I am not mistaken you will be losing that cool display. IMHO, that's a required part of MT-32 experience. A lot of games write text there. "Insert buckazoid" 🤣

vasyl, I don't think SB's prior to the SB16 were fully MPU-401 compatable, and may need a TSR or specific support in games. I'm not sure though.

Personally, I chain my MT-32 and SC-88 onto a USB-MIDI interface and play old games in DOSBox and SCUMMVM. There hasn't been a single game that I haven't been able to get working (the most I've had to do is reduce cycles during startup of a game to prevent buffer overflows).

Great Hierophant: Aren't there some sound effects that are only on the CM-64 that some games take advantage of? I seem to remember even having a discussion about this a while back.

Great Hierophant: Aren't there some sound effects that are only on the CM-64 that some games take advantage of? I seem to remember even having a discussion about this a while back.

The answer to your question is technically no. The CM-32L has extra sound effects that some DOS games use. Lure of the Temptress is the best example. A CM-64 is a CM-32L + CM-32P (a second midi module that uses PCM sampling) combined into one module. Only games for Japanese home computers ever took advantage of the CM-32P or the CM-32P portion of the CM-64.

I was thinking how he could best integrate a Roland module into an oldskool rig. A Sound Blaster 16 is fully compatible with the MPU-401 midi interface's UART or dumb mode. But only Roland cards supported intelligent MPU-401 midi processing, which many older games used. If I obtain my IBM PC and wanted to use my CM-64, I would have to obtain a Roland midi card. This would not be high on the priorities because most games that support an MT-32 don't run quickly, if at all, on a 4.77MHz 8088 CPU.

HunterZ, you are absolutely right, I completely forgot about that. Pre-SB16 cards supported only "SB-MIDI" mode which allowed sending and receiving MIDI commands but was not compatible with MPU-401. Looks like some games supported that, many did not. Well, I did not have any MIDI devices then so I did not pay much attention. I do remember AtariST ads from that time that had caption "The difference between computer that makes music and computer that makes troubles" -- the upper part had picture of AtariST MIDI ports and the bottom had nice mess of sound card (presumably early Soundblaster), cables and diskettes.
BTW, did you notice that ScummVM takes an advantage of MT-32 display?

I haven't noticed if SCUMMVM itself does anything special with the MT-32 display. I do know that it passes the original MT-32 MIDI and sysex data to my MT-32, so any LucasArts games that take advantage of it will still work (I think I've seen messages in a few games, and I know I have with some Sierra and other games in DOSBox).

At least with the latest (0.8.0) version, when you start the game you get "SCUMMVM 0.8.0" on MT-32. I don't think you will get the very first message from LucasArts games which was "Lucasfilm Games" -- that was generated by the executable. Sierra used that display a lot. Legend Entertainment also put game name there.

Hey thanks everybody for your comments. Lots of good ideas and info in this thread. It seems like for simplicity's sake, an LAPC-1 would be the way to go, but a CM-32L would be pretty rockin' also. I'll keep my eyes peeled, and again thanks for the discussion, it digressed a bit but in a very cool fashion!

~Justin

Yeah, sorry - I have a habit of steering threads off-topic a lot...

Bah, it's cool. It's fun to reminisce, and the info in this thread has given me some ideas as to what else I could possibly look for.

I just wish there were even a slightly more modern card (i.e. one that'll go in a PCI slot -- gasp) that were 100% compatible with all this -- my retro computer has both ISA and PCI. The problem I've read about with "compatible" cards is reprogramming; whereas an LAPC-1 can be reprogrammed by the game, you'll end up with stuff on "compatible" cards like the laser sounds on Wing Commander being piano notes.

Oh well, I'm sure you all know all that. Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts!

~Justin

Yeah, the LAPC-1/MT-32/CM-32 is a special kind of synthesizer (instrument sound generator) that can't be adequately emulated by the hardware or software wavetable synthesizers on most modern sound hardware. Roland's term for the type of synthesis they use is LA Synthesis. Newer synths with an MT-32 (or similar) compatible mode usually just contain recordings of the default sounds, but LA synths are versatile and can be programmed to make custom sounds. Many DOS games took advantage of this and programmed custom sounds, which is why you really need either a real LA synth or a good emulator (Munt being the only one in existence that I know of - and it's quite good) for such games to sound good.

Also, the reason there are no PCI-based LA synths around is that they went out of style at the end of the 80s, when the Sound Canvas replaced the MT-32 as the high-end MIDI synth for games and the Adlib/Sound Blaster took over the low-end of game music.