VOGONS


First post, by Jolaes76

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Could anyone please give me specific advice on how to setup -if possible- a Roland SC-8820 via gameport to MIDI DIN cable under DOS 6.22 / 7.0 and Win98 ? I'd like to use either the motherboard's gameport or the one on my SB Live! if that matters.

I have tried many games configured to either MT-32, General MIDI or Sound Canvas output. None gave a sound under plain DOS or Win98. I think I correctly connected the MIDI OUT DIN to the SC-8820's MIDI IN and MIDI IN DIN to SC 8820's MIDI OUT.

Maybe using an USB cable (under Win98 of course) and some sort of software redirector or hardware cable converter...? 😕

Reply 1 of 15, by Mau1wurf1977

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DOS games use MPU401 midi port.

Does your PC have ISA slots?

There are PCI cards that have MPU401 under DOS. I believe the Aureal Vortex 2 is one of them and there are likely more...

I don't think the Live! has MPU401.

DOSBox + USB midi adapter would also work very well!

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Reply 2 of 15, by Jolaes76

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OK. Thanks for the clearup!

My motherboard does not have ISA slots. So I will try with what I have - an AudioPCI and an Audigy2 ZS. If both fail, I will buy a Vortex 2.

Last edited by Jolaes76 on 2011-05-18, 21:32. Edited 1 time in total.

"Ita in vita ut in lusu alae pessima iactura arte corrigenda est."

Reply 3 of 15, by batracio

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Are you using one of these cables?
midi_cables.jpg

If so, it should work fine that way. I use a similar workaround for my external modules (SB PCI512 + Gameport-to-MIDI cable + MT-32/SC-55). However, this is a Win2K machine and therefore I play DOS games inside DosBox. Can't remember if I ever tried the same setup on any of my DOS/Win9x machines.

Before trying to find out why you can't hear anything in DOS games, you must be sure that you can hear something. Set your computer's MIDI output to SB Live! UART, and see if you can play a MIDI file on your Sound Canvas.

By the way, did you connect the module's output to either speakers or SB's LINE IN? Connecting SC8820's MIDI OUT to SB's MIDI IN just sends MIDI data back to PC, but not the audio output.

Reply 4 of 15, by Menkau_ra

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Vortex2 card would be the best in your case. Live! and more specially Audigy2 doesn't work well with Dos games anyway. Vortex2 cards are very cheap on ebay, you can get one under $10.

Reply 5 of 15, by Jolaes76

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Yes, I have the cable on the pic posted.

I have perfect sound under XP in Dosbox but only when connecting with the USB cable and selecting Roland SC synth part A or B as Windows' default MIDI out device. I can use a headphone connected to the SC-8820. I can feed the sound to the Live's LINE IN and use the mixer as well.

But connecting the Live's gameport to the SC-8820 won't work. Yes, I have selected the Live's midi out, not its software synth. The same happens when I select the motherboards own game port /MPU-401/ - no sound.

So I suspect that my SC-8820 will not work this way. The Live might not have a proper MPU-401 but the motherboard's manual says it IS an MPU-401 and that won't work either 😵

Thanks for all of you for the hints!

Reply 6 of 15, by batracio

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I can confirm that it should work that way. My SB PCI512 is basically a Live! (the lower Live! model actually), and its MPU-401 output worked with every external module I have used so far (MT-32, CM-32L, SC-55 and SC-55ST).

Please try again DosBox in either Win9x or XP, but make sure that you are sending MIDI data to the SC through the Live! UART. I mean, type "mixer /listmidi" in DosBox prompt, check what device ID is assigned to Live! UART, and set that ID to "midiconfig=ID" entry in dosbox-074.conf file.

Reply 7 of 15, by Mau1wurf1977

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Batracio are your comments about DOS as well, or purely for DOSBox?

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Reply 8 of 15, by batracio

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Mainly for DosBox (that "mixer /listmidi" thing, e.g., is a DosBox only command). I just know Jolaes76's hardware is suitable for this purpose, but haven't actually tried it under DOS, so I want him to check it first on DosBox before going the pure DOS way. OTOH, you're right that SB Live! isn't the best PCI card for DOS gaming.

Reply 9 of 15, by Mau1wurf1977

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Thanks for clarifying!

The live! is actually a pretty good PCI card for DOS games. At least most the newer DOS games (Doom and later) should work and the Creative drivers give you SB16 + General Midi out of the box.

Main issue is requirement of EMS, so games don't like it won't work. And really old games have compatibility issues, but so does the Vortex 2. Nothing is perfect 🤣

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Reply 10 of 15, by batracio

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Among all the PCI sound cards I have (Yamaha YMF-724, Aureal Vortex 2, SB PCI 128 / Ensoniq AudioPCI, SB PCI 512 / SB Live!, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz), I think Yamaha YMF-724 + SB-Link is the most compatible one for DOS games. The issue is that you need a motherboard with the SB-Link connector. Nothing's perfect, as you said.

Reply 12 of 15, by Jolaes76

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batracio,
thanks again for the insight...

I have tried the XP+Dosbox route as described above. Also experimented with pure Win98 and XP. Tried 4 game/MIDI ports so far. No signal passed to the Roland SC-8820.
I will test the Roland with an old Pentium with an AWE64.

Yet I think it will not work either. My soundcards and gameports are OK, my cables are OK, wiring OK. In my book this does not look good at all, the Roland's DIN ports must be dead...

"Ita in vita ut in lusu alae pessima iactura arte corrigenda est."

Reply 13 of 15, by elfuego

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For all that matters, I've used Terratec DMX 6 Fire with Roland SC55 module with exactly those cables both in Dosbox and Dos (though from within win98 dos window) and it worked perfectly. Both in Win98 and WinXP. Looks like something is rotten Jolaes76 - I wish you good luck!

Reply 14 of 15, by Jolaes76

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...Finally I got round to have the SC-8820 serviced. It only had to be internally re-set to enable the muted DIN ports. I hope I can do that myself next time if necessary (It must be a dip switch, jumper or sg like that).