If you have a MIDI interface/port for your PC already, then you should just need a standard 5-pin MIDI cable. Music equipment stores would be the best bet, since MIDI cables are used with music production hardware.

And yes, you will need to connect the audio output from the MT-32 to something. Typically either this will be an external mixer or line-input on your sound card (using the sound card to mix audio).

I think my computer lacks both the midi port and the sound input...

Attaching a picture here

What brand and modem computer is it ?

It looks like it has expansion slots, so adding a sound card with MIDI capability should be possible.

It's a Fujitsu s-700xp

Just to confirm, I need one of those cards with the "joystick" port right? And a cable that convers the 5 pin midi output of the mt32 to this "joystick" port?

kelmer wrote on 2024-09-05, 18:24:

Just to confirm, I need one of those cards with the "joystick" port right? And a cable that convers the 5 pin midi output of the mt32 to this "joystick" port?

Essentially, yes, if you have a sound card that has a joystick port that supports MIDI (not all of them do) AND make sure the sound card MIDI is MPU-401 COMPATIBLE (at least in UART or "dumb" mode) or you will have issues with getting DOS games to work with MIDI.

Also, most currently available cables/adapter of this type are crap that skimps on on the required passive components which can cause complete or intermittent dysfunction.

IMHO, your best option is
https://www.serdashop.com/DB15MIDI
and the proper DIN cable to connect the adapter to to your MIDI sound module. See this thread and linked ones for more details.
Re: No Midi with Roland SC-55

kelmer wrote on 2024-09-05, 18:24:

Just to confirm, I need one of those cards with the "joystick" port right? And a cable that convers the 5 pin midi output of the mt32 to this "joystick" port?

It depends on the sound card.

What you need is an MPU-401 MIDI interface. This is built-in to certain sound cards and would typically be connected with the 15-pin joystick port and requires an adapter to convert the 15-pin to a 5-pin MIDI connection. However, not all sound cards necessarily have an MPU-401 interface.

You can also get dedicated MIDI interface cards and they typically have different connections, for example mini-DIN ports. There are also some cards that use 1/8" jacks such as the PicoGUS, Orpheus/Orpheus II, etc.

Making things more complicated is not all MPU-401 interfaces are the same. There is something called "intelligent mode" (aka normal mode) that is used by some games. For MIDI interface that lacks an intelligent mode (as is the case with many sound cards), there is an alternative using SoftMPU to emulate it.

Another factor I have found with MT-32 compatibility is speed sensitivity with some games. Depending on how fast your system is, you may need to throttle it for it work properly with certain older games.

I use this one with my laptop:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266975946440

kelmer wrote on 2024-09-05, 18:24:

Just to confirm, I need one of those cards with the "joystick" port right? And a cable that convers the 5 pin midi output of the mt32 to this "joystick" port?

Yeah I mean provided your computer has isa slots you should be able to purchase a sound blaster 16 or some similar sound card , install the card and purchase the casio midi cable MAZter suggested and connect the mt32 midi in to the gameport on the sound card with the cable.

As for the speakers you should be able to connect the speakers 3.5mm to the sound cards line out jack and the mt32s speaker cable (assuming you have a 1/4 L and R to stereo 3.5 cable) into the sound cards line in , that should mix the audio from the two together.

Thanks for all your responses!

I've read a bit and also searched in second hand websites and there are so many sound blaster 16 models... saw one promising sound blaster 128 but apparently it doesnt behave well with the mt-32... who would know it would be so hard to get the correct setup!

would this one work nicely with it?
https://es.wallapop.com/item/creative-sound-b … rd-pc-832146870

kelmer wrote on 2024-09-06, 09:35:

would this one work nicely with it?
https://es.wallapop.com/item/creative-sound-b … rd-pc-832146870

The person listing that card assumed that CT1749 is the card model, but that us only the model if one of the chips. The card model is silkscreened on the printed circuit board. The card is a Sound Blaster 16 variant (SB16).

If you can get the actual model number from the seller (or from others selling SB16 cards), the following link should give you more info about potential issues.

Sound Blaster: From best to worst

wow thats a great source thanks

kelmer wrote on 2024-09-09, 09:14:

wow thats a great source thanks

Bottom line though is that no SB16 is perfect when it comes to MIDI, they all have some bugs which you may or may not be irritated by.

Given that you pay a premium for SB16 because of all the Creative fanboys, if your primary goal is to get an MPU-401 interface to use the MT-32, I'd suggest going for a less pricey option that has bug-free MPU-401 UART MIDI. I personally like 3rd or 4th gen Aztech cards (AZT2316 or 2320-based) for that, but pretty much anything with an OPTi 829 or 830 would be fine too, as would ESS 16xx / 18xx-based cards, or indeed Advance Logic ALS100 or C-Media CMI-8330. Almost all of those would be cheaper than an SB16 and has better (i.e. bug-free) MIDI.

There are a lot of other differences though, as DOS sound is quite a rabbit hole to go down- but they all offer bug-free UART MPU-401 (MIDI), at least SBPro2 compatibility and they work in DOS without nasty TSRs. They also have original Yamaha OPL3 for FM-synthesis or 1:1 clones, or in the case of ESS a different but generaly liked alternative. SB16 either has OPL3 or Creative's own (and generally not liked) CQM.

Thanks for the insight; Im not too demanding really, Im looking for a sound card that can give me both a good adlib sound just as I remember it, plus the opportunity to try the Roland MT-32 that I could not enjoy as a kid. Most bugs Id honestly probably not even notice I think. Im concerned that non-creative cards might have comptibility issues with the games? dunno if thats even true.

kelmer wrote on 2024-09-09, 11:03:

Thanks for the insight; Im not too demanding really, Im looking for a sound card that can give me both a good adlib sound just as I remember it, plus the opportunity to try the Roland MT-32 that I could not enjoy as a kid. Most bugs Id honestly probably not even notice I think. Im concerned that non-creative cards might have comptibility issues with the games? dunno if thats even true.

There are definitely cards with compatibility issues, but that's not Creative vs non-Creative, as AdLib wasn't defined by Creative but by AdLib.

If you want proper AdLib sound, you want a Yamaha YMF232 OPL3 or 1:1 clone will work fine. In that case anything in the list I mentioned except the ESS chips will be good. Older SB16 cards also have OPL3, but they will either be noisy and/or have MIDI issues. They all suffer slowdowns in MIDI music when playing high-quality digital audio at the same time and many cards have hanging note bugs of varying severity. If you want a Creative card with no major compatibility issues, look for a SB Pro 2.0 (CT1600) card. However they are very expensive, they are noisy and they lack full MPU-401 MIDI (and SB-MIDI is a whole load of 'fun' you probably don't want). A reliable card with solid hardware SBPro 2.0 compatiblity and solid MPU-401 UART is a much better choice in terms of compatibility. I can't recall the last time I had any problems with my Aztech MMSN-824 (with AZT2316) in games.

dionb wrote on 2024-09-09, 10:59:

Bottom line though is that no SB16 is perfect when it comes to MIDI, they all have some bugs which you may or may not be irritat […]
Show full quote

kelmer wrote on 2024-09-09, 09:14:

wow thats a great source thanks

Bottom line though is that no SB16 is perfect when it comes to MIDI, they all have some bugs which you may or may not be irritated by.

Given that you pay a premium for SB16 because of all the Creative fanboys, if your primary goal is to get an MPU-401 interface to use the MT-32, I'd suggest going for a less pricey option that has bug-free MPU-401 UART MIDI. I personally like 3rd or 4th gen Aztech cards (AZT2316 or 2320-based) for that, but pretty much anything with an OPTi 829 or 830 would be fine too, as would ESS 16xx / 18xx-based cards, or indeed Advance Logic ALS100 or C-Media CMI-8330. Almost all of those would be cheaper than an SB16 and has better (i.e. bug-free) MIDI.

There are a lot of other differences though, as DOS sound is quite a rabbit hole to go down- but they all offer bug-free UART MPU-401 (MIDI), at least SBPro2 compatibility and they work in DOS without nasty TSRs. They also have original Yamaha OPL3 for FM-synthesis or 1:1 clones, or in the case of ESS a different but generaly liked alternative. SB16 either has OPL3 or Creative's own (and generally not liked) CQM.

Yeah sorry that's my bad for defaulting to mentioning an sb16 when giving an example on how the whole setup works I really glossed over a lot of things,
I guess I live in a bit of a bubble given I've been using a Roland MPU 401 for ages and never had any midi bugs since so I've forgotten all the issues SB16s had,
my soundblaster cards being only used for SFX or OPL music.

Kelmer you should probably take dionb's advice and get another brand of sound card.

Also you might wanna grab a copy of SoftMPU which would let you have intelligent mode free of charge for the handful of games that use it without having to shell out for a PCMIDI card or a real MPU 401.

Also for what its worth there is supposedly a utility called fixmpu to fix the issue on soundblaster cards but i dont know how well it works.
and there was also The Soundblaster DSP project to patch the DSP thus fixing the issues with midi but that requires soldering skills you may not have.

dionb wrote on 2024-09-09, 10:59:

They also have original Yamaha OPL3 for FM-synthesis or 1:1 clones, or in the case of ESS a different but generaly liked alternative.

ESS's OPL emulation sounds the same as genuine OPL to me.

Just purchased that one, thanks for your help 😀