VOGONS


Reply 120 of 178, by d0pefish

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I've now tested all of the mentioned games on a PII 400 machine with a Vibra 16 and joystick port to MIDI cable, and my usual Pi 3B/Arananet PI-MIDI development setup.

All games sounded fine.
Only TIE Fighter triggers an unexpected status consistently on startup for me; Duke3D only did it once or twice on startup but it seemed completely random and otherwise worked fine.

When I captured and analysed the raw MIDI data from TIE Fighter's startup sequence to find the point where the unexpected statuses were coming from, mt32-pi's MIDI parser was doing the right thing. TIE Fighter was sending a faulty initialization sequence with extra bytes in between valid CC messages for some reason, which is illegal according to the MIDI spec. As previously mentioned, real synthesizers ignore these quietly when it happens, mt32-pi currently reports them by design.

There are many reasons why this may happen; some games and some sound cards are known to be buggy. Nearly all of the games mentioned appear on this list for Type 1 hanging note bugs, so their MIDI subsystems are well known to have flaws:
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Hanging_ … e_hanging_notes
This thread is also full of information: SB16 vs DBs (hanging / stuck / wrong notes in MIDI)
This and the following posts are further evidence that TIE Fighter suffers from MIDI problems: Re: SB16 vs DBs (hanging / stuck / wrong notes in MIDI)

Sure, you might not be experiencing the hanging note issues they discuss, but to me this suggests that the games have imperfect MIDI implementations overall.

mt32-pi is simply revealing minor bugs in games and/or sound card MIDI interfaces or other unexplained phenomena that only occur on certain combinations of hardware. Whatever the cause(s), mt32-pi is just warning you with the message. You should only be concerned if you actually notice obvious, jarring faults in the music like stuck or missing notes or things being played out of tune. YouTube is full of recordings to compare if you don't know what it should sound like.

Seeing as people keep panicking when they see this warning instead of enjoying the music (actually since some time before this thread existed), the next version of mt32-pi will just hide these messages unless "verbose = on" in the config file. That way, if you do actually hear problems and want to debug them, they can be re-enabled.

US1wUaR.pngg
💾 Download | 📚 Documentation | Support

Reply 121 of 178, by dreamblaster

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

MP32L enclosure prototype for "B type" Pi's
here tested on PI4 B

Attachments

  • DSCN0365.JPG
    Filename
    DSCN0365.JPG
    File size
    986.44 KiB
    Views
    1733 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • DSCN0364.JPG
    Filename
    DSCN0364.JPG
    File size
    908.47 KiB
    Views
    1733 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • DSCN0363.JPG
    Filename
    DSCN0363.JPG
    File size
    668.3 KiB
    Views
    1733 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • DSCN0362.JPG
    Filename
    DSCN0362.JPG
    File size
    1008.66 KiB
    Views
    1733 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • DSCN0360.JPG
    Filename
    DSCN0360.JPG
    File size
    1.55 MiB
    Views
    1733 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 124 of 178, by dreamblaster

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Drasglaf wrote on 2021-08-14, 10:09:

No blue version for B types?

Yes of course, blue as well

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 126 of 178, by dreamblaster

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
RockstarRunner wrote on 2021-08-14, 11:29:

Will you be selling 3a+ enclosures separately, for us early adopters?

Yes, just pm me if you need one

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 127 of 178, by d0pefish

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
mp32l.JPG
Filename
mp32l.JPG
File size
544.28 KiB
Views
1608 views
File license
CC-BY-4.0

Thanks for sending me this, @dreamblaster!
After testing it over the weekend I've found that it performs just as well as the other mt32-pi HAT solutions I have tried (and there are many), as expected.

For those who haven't yet noticed, mt32-pi v0.10.2 is available, and in this version MIDI errors are not reported by default.
N.B. nothing has been "fixed"; this is purely cosmetic in response to people who don't like seeing the warnings.

You can simply replace the kernel*.img files on your SD card to update.

US1wUaR.pngg
💾 Download | 📚 Documentation | Support

Reply 128 of 178, by GuillermoXT

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

My PI based MT32 built by DREAMBLASTER arrived today and after installing the Rom files i can combine the intelligent mode of the MPU-401 card by KEROPI with it.
It's my first time hearing SQ3 and many other games with that sound outside of YouTube and Co. 🤩🤩😁🥰
Actually i am re-organizing the power cables because USB cable to my charger is too short😅

16293969543808238349471816237510.jpg
Filename
16293969543808238349471816237510.jpg
File size
1.65 MiB
Views
1566 views
File license
CC-BY-4.0
16294189481732958503726533578539.jpg
Filename
16294189481732958503726533578539.jpg
File size
1.82 MiB
Views
1529 views
File license
CC-BY-4.0
Last edited by GuillermoXT on 2021-08-20, 00:24. Edited 1 time in total.

My Retrosystems:
PIII on GA-6BA running Win98SE
AMD K6 233 on GA-586HX with Win95
Tandon 286-8MHZ Running DOS 6.22 on XTIDE-CF
M326 486DLC + 4c87dlc (Dos+Win3.11)
ECS UM4980 AMD DX2 80 5V (Dos & Win3.11)

Reply 129 of 178, by Shreddoc

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
d0pefish wrote on 2021-08-16, 15:00:
mp32l.JPG […]
Show full quote

mp32l.JPG

Thanks for sending me this, @dreamblaster!
After testing it over the weekend I've found that it performs just as well as the other mt32-pi HAT solutions I have tried (and there are many), as expected.

For those who haven't yet noticed, mt32-pi v0.10.2 is available, and in this version MIDI errors are not reported by default.
N.B. nothing has been "fixed"; this is purely cosmetic in response to people who don't like seeing the warnings.

You can simply replace the kernel*.img files on your SD card to update.

Awesome, all updated and pleased here, thanks.

Reply 130 of 178, by GuillermoXT

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Here's SQ3 with MT32 support running as expected 🙂
Maybe I upload this on YT too
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRB8mQSL/

My Retrosystems:
PIII on GA-6BA running Win98SE
AMD K6 233 on GA-586HX with Win95
Tandon 286-8MHZ Running DOS 6.22 on XTIDE-CF
M326 486DLC + 4c87dlc (Dos+Win3.11)
ECS UM4980 AMD DX2 80 5V (Dos & Win3.11)

Reply 131 of 178, by dreamblaster

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Final version of MP32L Pi4B enclosure, it is available now,
in red/black and in blue/black colors

Attachments

  • MP32L_PI4B.JPG
    Filename
    MP32L_PI4B.JPG
    File size
    1.4 MiB
    Views
    1417 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 133 of 178, by Yoghoo

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
dreamblaster wrote on 2021-09-05, 11:02:

Final version of MP32L Pi4B enclosure, it is available now,
in red/black and in blue/black colors

Nice! Are the STL's downloadable somewhere?

Reply 134 of 178, by Joakim

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Received mine today! Very cool! I bought it together with midi cable and db15midi. Worked well with my aureal vortex 1. 😀

IMG_20210917_161834.jpg
Filename
IMG_20210917_161834.jpg
File size
1.16 MiB
Views
1302 views
File license
Public domain

Reply 136 of 178, by Joakim

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I have never owned a mt32 or such, but I have been curios for some time about how my old games were made to sound. I must say that I am very happy with my purchase. Ofc I can't say if it sound 100% correct but it is very impressive to hear the Hero Quest music as it is supposed to sound. Wow!

How do people usually mix the sound though? I have used the line in of the sound card so far.

Reply 137 of 178, by dreamblaster

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Joakim wrote on 2021-09-19, 10:28:

How do people usually mix the sound though? I have used the line in of the sound card so far.

yes if you don't use an external mixer, the line in is a good option.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 138 of 178, by Joakim

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Did some more tests,

I get this unexpected midi status error when I tried out TES II Daggerfall on my Pentium 2 system. Tried it both in windows 98 and dos 7 and with a vortex 1 and a sb16 non PNP card. It does not seem to matter which setting I choose for midi.

IMG_20210920_203333.jpg
Filename
IMG_20210920_203333.jpg
File size
1.29 MiB
Views
1228 views
File license
Public domain

Tbh I don't know how the music should sound but to be it sounds quite bad. It sounds better in sound font mode than midi mode imo. Some music is worse than others, I believe that the music in town is ok and the error did not show at that time. But I would say it is pretty random.

I'm using the SW version from June or July, that was on the disk when I received it last week.

(If OP or mods would like to move this discussion to an other thread I'll be happy to do so.)

BR Joakim

Reply 139 of 178, by dreamblaster

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

please check the latest mt32-pi release (3 days ago) : https://github.com/dwhinham/mt32-pi/releases

mt32pi.png
Filename
mt32pi.png
File size
20.04 KiB
Views
1192 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

it seems to fix some more

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !