First post, by shadmere
- Rank
- Newbie
Today I got an SC-88 and was super excited to hook it up. I connected it to the MPU-401 on my 486 and ran the install program for King's Quest 6 in DOS. I set it for General MIDI and . . . it sounded great!
I started Windows and installed the MPU-401 driver. Set up a new MIDI map where all the channels were sent to the MPU-401 port, saved it, and played a MIDI. It sounded wonderful!
KQ6 for Windows was already installed, so I was thinking that it would "just work," since it was already set for MIDI output. I thought that since I had set Windows MIDI map to MPU-401, it would just go out through those channels. Unfortunately it did not work.
I tried changing MIDI maps a few times just in case, and restarted Windows, but nothing worked. Finally I went to play a MIDI file again and . . . it didn't work. The LCD on the SC-88 didn't register that it was getting input at all.
I quit to DOS and ran KQ6 there. Same thing; no music, no activity on the LCD.
I unhooked the SC-88 and hooked up my MT-32. Music!
I pressed the volume knob on the SC-88 and heard a tone. I hooked the SC-88 up to my modern PC with a USB-to-MIDI cable and ran a game in DOSBOX. It worked.
I hooked the SC-88 back to the MPU-401 on the 486 and . . . it does not work.
Seems like I can guarantee that the MPU-401 is working. And the SC-88 seems to be working too. But not together.
I am confused. I opened up the box to look at it and am a bit over my head here, but shouldn't any issues that kept it from working with the MPU-401 also keep it from working with my modern computer? (While in there, I removed the battery. I've read on here in a couple places that the battery doesn't matter for gaming, and I'd rather not risk it exploding because I forgot to change it.)
TL;DR:
SC-88 hooked up to MPU-401 does not work. No activity on LCD whatsoever.
MT-32 hooked up to MPU-401 does work.
SC-88 hooked up to modern PC with MIDI cable does work.
SC-88 does give a test tone when volume knob is pressed.
I'm not sure what troubleshooting steps to try next. I would love some advice. Thank you.