VOGONS


First post, by keropi

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Hiya!

I received a fully boxed Music Quest PC MIDI Card mpu , and I decided to make this thread with as much info as possible about it.
Before anything else I will answer the most important question:

Is this card 100% Roland compatible with intelligent mode?

With rom version 010: 100% YES.
Gateway, Laser Squad, Wing Commander - all work great without any special configuration.

With rom version 004: 99% YES.
Wing Commander crashes near the intro fireworks. For me sometimes before the Origin FX logo, sometimes when the fireworks should start. 😵 Gateway and Laser Squad work fine.

First of all, here is a picture of the card (notice the firmware version, it's v.004) , silkscreened on the pcb is the model of the card: IH9MQ9
Also the DB9 breakout is a cable based one, not a solid block with the ports.

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... and here is a picture of the retail box, notice that this is just called the "PC MIDI CARD"

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Inside you can find the registration card, an online registration guide, a stapled manual and a driver diskette:

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I . Hardware Setup

So how do you setup the card? It's easy, there is only 1 jumper block on the card, here are the configuration options it offers:

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Basically, to be Roland compatible you need to jumper "P" and "2" so the card uses port #330 and IRQ 2.

II . Software Setup

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The driver disk doesn't really offer a driver as it's not needed for DOS operation. It does offer though a diagnostics program, the metronome setup, a reset program and a PS/2 speed fix among the other things, here is the description of what is included:

This diskette contains several useful programs: […]
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This diskette contains several useful programs:

INSTALL
Installs and sets up your Music Quest MIDI interface, and
all of the utilities and diagnostic programs.

MQDIAG
Support program for all Music Quest interfaces. Allows you
to set up any programmable features (such as the PC MIDI
Card's programmable metronome) and verify general operation.

MQSETUP
Used to initilize the programmable features of your MIDI
interface. This program is particulary valuable for use in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, where it can be used to set up the
metronome every time you re-boot your PC.

MBATCH
A MIDI batch file utility program. This program provides an
analogous function to the DOS batch file feature. You can
use MBATCH to do many things, including upload and download
system exclusive data.

THRUOFF
Turns off the MIDI-thru function of your interface.
Normally, anything arriving at MIDI-in is passed "thru" to
MIDI-out, thus creating an echo effect.

MQRESET
Resets your MIDI interface to its nominal, power-on state.
This includes turning the MIDI-thru function on.

UPDTPC2
Some versions of Personal Composer System/2 exhibit timing
dependencies on fast PCs, particularly 80386 based machines.
This program removes the timing dependencies.

Download links:
driver disk files - https://www.mediafire.com/?bsng0fb62xv41hv
driver disk image - https://www.mediafire.com/?f0phtt44ft1pdin

You can find the above also attached to this thread , it's an archive containing an image of the driver disk and "just the files" in case you don't want to mess with writing disks.
Remember that the installation program works only if the files are on the A: drive, so either swap drive letters or subst.

III . Manual

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Do you need more info? Just grab a .PDF I made of the manual 😊 , the original was just a bunch of stapled b/w pages btw...

Download link: https://www.mediafire.com/?535496top1xzww5 (also mirrored in the thread)

IV . Technical Info

a. Breakout cable schematic:
(rev.2 fixed some stupid mirroring issues 🤣 )

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At the moment I don't have anything else to add to the thread, if you know something else to try and verify compatibility please post.
I hope this helps and clears any kind of confusion. 😊

Attachments

  • Filename
    MQ-drv_IMG.zip
    File size
    109.45 KiB
    Downloads
    190 downloads
    File comment
    Midi Quest PC MIDI CARD driver disk image
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • Filename
    MQ-manual.pdf
    File size
    2.55 MiB
    Downloads
    289 downloads
    File comment
    Music Quest PC MIDI CARD manual
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • Filename
    MQ-drv.zip
    File size
    123.93 KiB
    Downloads
    223 downloads
    File comment
    Midi Quest PC MIDI CARD driver disk
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by keropi on 2021-11-02, 16:01. Edited 17 times in total.

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Reply 1 of 109, by badmojo

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Cool little card and nice pics of the box, etc. I like it when things come in the box!

I have an MQX-32M and like you have found it to be great with tricky intelligent mode games like Gateway, etc, but I can't get Wing Commander to work with it. The game does start playing on the MT-32 and sounds fine, but it consistently freezes just after the fireworks start popping during the intro.

I'd be interested to hear if you have the same problem - I don't know if that means the card isn't 100% Roland compatible, but it would be a noteworthy limitation I guess.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 3 of 109, by soviet conscript

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awesome news about the 100% compatibility. mine is version .010 so I'm interested to hear how it does. Wing Commander is one of the games I bought it for so hopefully it will work.

Reply 4 of 109, by keropi

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I'll test with wing commander then , thanks for mentioning it.

@SquallStrife
I'll put them once I find the login data again, it's buried in my INBOX...

edit:
got the wing commander crash as well... first post edited

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Reply 6 of 109, by bjt

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Strange that Wing Commander has problems when its usage of intelligent mode is very limited compared to the likes of Laser Squad and Gateway. The only 'weird' thing it does is send 'All Notes Off' commands instead of 'Note Off', causing the MIDI traffic to be higher than needed. Perhaps it's hitting some buffer limit in the Music Quest card.

Last edited by bjt on 2014-02-27, 10:07. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 8 of 109, by soviet conscript

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I attempted to test my V. 010 card with wing commander but unfortunately the tests are inconclusive since I think there's something corrupted with my game. I have 4 5 1/4 disks and disk 4 is labeled "secret missions" on installing when it gets to disk 4 it will install some files then ask me to insert disk 4 (the disk that is inserted) and basically refuses to continue install from there. I tried a different floppy drive as well as a backup copy I have of disk 4 with the same result so I have to assume my disk 4 is corrupt. I attempted to run the game from disk but after about 20 disk swaps it ran the intro screen and about 2 disk swaps later it crashed due to a "memory allocation error".

so until I procure a new copy (preferably on 3 1/2 disks I'm at a impasse.

Reply 9 of 109, by badmojo

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soviet conscript wrote:

so until I procure a new copy (preferably on 3 1/2 disks I'm at a impasse.

I'm no WC expert but I don't think you need the install the secret missions? Also it's available on GOG for a few bucks.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 10 of 109, by soviet conscript

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badmojo wrote:
soviet conscript wrote:

so until I procure a new copy (preferably on 3 1/2 disks I'm at a impasse.

I'm no WC expert but I don't think you need the install the secret missions? Also it's available on GOG for a few bucks.

yea....how many disks did the original 5 1/4 version come on. I'm guessing I'm missing disk 4 but instead have disk 4 of the secret missions disk

Reply 11 of 109, by Cloudschatze

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keropi wrote:

got the wing commander crash as well... first post edited

Try Ultima VI and Bad Blood as well. The games may not crash, but you're likely to get incorrect MIDI playback using the Music Quest card.

The issue with Music Quest cards and select Origin titles is referenced in a dozen-or-so old USENET posts as well. This one seems particularly noteworthy, with the relevant excerpt as follows:

I guess you haven't seen my followup. Yep, I called MusicQuest and they acknowledged the problem and bingo the MusicQuest line i […]
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I guess you haven't seen my followup. Yep, I called MusicQuest and
they acknowledged the problem and bingo the MusicQuest line is not
100% compatible with Roland's MPU-401 cards and will not work with
Wing Commander for reasons yet unknown to them though they have been
aware of the problems for at least 6 months. They claim that Origin
must have used some undocumented feature of Roland's cards that wasn't
covered by the standards document...

Reply 12 of 109, by keropi

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^ will give them a go later, thanks for the suggestions
I wonder if v010 of the firmware fixes these errors , mine is v004... I am getting a dead 010 card so hopefully the eprom is fine and I can use it for testing , will report my findings when I receive the dead card

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Reply 14 of 109, by DonutKing

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That is strange, I played Wing Commander 1 with this card and an Mt32. I believe I sold them both to Dacow. Perhaps my card was a later revision?

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Reply 15 of 109, by keropi

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^ could be the case, mine has 004 firmware , all I have seen are 010 ...

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Reply 16 of 109, by keropi

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just an update, I received the dead card yesterday:

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Removed the eprom, it was an OTP 64kbyte chip whith the 010 firmware version. Already dumped and stored, will try it on the good card once I put a socket on it's eprom. Also removed the crystal to see if a replacement gets it going. Else I'll just replace all the chips 🤣
Haven't had the chance to try softmpu with Wing Commander , will do that ASAP.

Last edited by keropi on 2017-10-06, 17:27. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 17 of 109, by soviet conscript

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I'm having NO luck with installing Wing Commander on my 386 to test my rev 010 music quest. my first copy on 5 1/4 disk is apparently missing disk 4 so I cant complete the install. I just got another copy on 3 1.44 mb disks today and apparently disk 1 is corrupt. the drive sees the files but when I try to install i get a retry/abort/fail error. same thing on other PC's and drives. *sigh*

I also tried a another copy of the game acquired online and it gives me an error as well and will not install. I get to input my sound and video options but when I go to install it just kicks me back to DOS with a "install aborted"
I have never used GOG before. $6 for WC 1 and 2 isnt bad. If I bought my copy there would I be able to transfer them to a floppy Or CD-ROM from use on the 386?

Reply 18 of 109, by keropi

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First post edited, rom version 010 corrects the Wing Commander crashes, so basically the card just works fine. If you know another problematic game please tell me to test it.

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 19 of 109, by soviet conscript

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keropi wrote:

First post edited, rom version 010 corrects the Wing Commander crashes, so basically the card just works fine. If you know another problematic game please tell me to test it.

This is excellent news! perhaps one day when the gods of gaming have forgiven me for whatever act of transgression I committed and allow me to actually find a working copy of WC for my 386 its good to know my card will work.