VOGONS


Reply 500 of 894, by keropi

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Burrito78 wrote:

@typherial Add your name to this list and you will be contacted asap when one card is ready for you. There are plenty of cards this time, enough for everyone.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q6WDw … BYB4/edit#gid=0

exactly 😁

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

Reply 502 of 894, by appiah4

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Added myself to the list and sent a PM to you keropi, cheers.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 504 of 894, by Flare

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Forgive my ignorance, I'm a bit new to the retro game scene and I'd like some clarification.

This board expands the capabilities of another sound card, right?

Which card(s) should I pair it with for overall DOS game compatibility?

Reply 505 of 894, by Scali

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Flare wrote:

This board expands the capabilities of another sound card, right?

Well, not really. It is just a MIDI interface, fully compatible with the Roland MPU-401 interface.
You'll need a MIDI device to actually get sound out of it. This can be either a 'conventional' MIDI device, such as a Roland MT-32 or Sound Canvas, or a WaveBlaster, which is a PCB that you can stick onto the header on this card.

Flare wrote:

Which card(s) should I pair it with for overall DOS game compatibility?

Some kind of Sound Blaster or clone would be fine. Sound Blaster Pro or 16, or something like an ESS AudioDrive, Aztech Sound Galaxy or other common good clones. There's various topics on that on this forum.

http://scalibq.wordpress.com/just-keeping-it- … ro-programming/

Reply 506 of 894, by squiggly

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Flare wrote:

This board expands the capabilities of another sound card, right?

I would say it less expands their capabilities (most cards have MPU401 and a wavetable header)...what it does is free you from bugs and idiosyncrasies present particularly in Creative cards, meaning you have freedom to select just about any card for it's FM/effects capabilities, while using this card for its bug-free, intelligent, MIDI interface.

As someone else said...this card is just an interface...you actually need a Midi music engine either an external one like an MT32/55, or a daughterboard like a DB50X. Unfortunately, while this option is the most awesome, it is also expensive, as both external midi boxes and daughterboards cost a lot. You could also route the output to a modern PC using a midi->usb converter, and run emulation software of a Midi device (e.g. Munt for mt32). However, even a good midi->usb adapter can cost a bit. You may also want to look up DreamBlasters (modern midi daughterboards that can be loaded with large soundfonts), and PhilsComputerLab on ebay that reviews a lot of this stuff.

Reply 507 of 894, by Rackatack

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So, Thanks Keropi for the fast shipping, I got my card a week or two ago, but I didnt have a lot of time to play around with it. So, I managed to play around with IRQ conflicts and other fun stuff if you have some stubborn PNP cards, I also had to edit the ctcm config of my sounblaster to make sure that my port wasn't assigned to my sounblaster AWE pnp ...
The card works great, I don't have any issues connecting my mt-32 or Sound canvas.
I only had one issue when installing the drivers for the card (that you don't seem to need) because I played around with the metronome and in every game or in windows the midi tracks played too fast.
So I ended up removing the mqsetup line from my autoexec.bat and everything runs fine now

Reply 508 of 894, by keropi

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thanks for the feedback Rackatack !
Indeed you don't need any drivers at all - the card just works (unless you want to make some specialized midi configuration , normal users/gamers don't need any of this)

The metronome on the other hand is a different deal and it is only used with programs that are aware of it, run on the "intelligent mode" and also needs some additional setup , this is what the manual has to say about this:

6eqC2cS.jpg

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

Reply 510 of 894, by keropi

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^ nope, maybe the changes weren't saved? There is nothing wrong to do , one just fills his username

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

Reply 511 of 894, by deibit

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Ok now I see.. when I check from my cell phone, I only see up to row 52 and when I check from my PC i see until row 55 (I'm number 53)

Well, as long as you can see me, everything should be fine 😁

LOAD "*",8,1

Reply 512 of 894, by Outtheredude

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Been thinking of getting one of these Roland MTU-401 type cards to go with a possible Creative Labs CT1600 Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 for greater DOS compatibility. That this card also comes with a Wavetable header for daughterboards like the DreamBlaster S1, while also not needing an external original Roland MPU-401 MIDI breakout box too, makes it even better! 😁

Now if only that tiny little fragile looking breakout board was replaced with a a choice of proper breakout MIDI cables (one for double MIDI out, another for MIDI in & out perhaps) that connects directly to the DB9 port, without having to make my own, or look for a third party solutions...

(That, and not being currently broke due to having just dropped a load of money on something else prior to hearing about this... 😜 )

The world is insane and so am I, which makes me more trustworthy with a chainsaw than a person who claims to be sane in an insane world. 😉

Reply 513 of 894, by Mauricio

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Outtheredude wrote:

Now if only that tiny little fragile looking breakout board was replaced with a a choice of proper breakout MIDI cables (one for double MIDI out, another for MIDI in & out perhaps) that connects directly to the DB9 port, without having to make my own, or look for a third party solutions...

I thought a DB9 MIDI breakout cable was something you could buy fairly easily. Is that not the case?

Another question... what is the value of wavetable daughterboards (for DOS games) if you are already connecting to something like an MT-32?

Reply 514 of 894, by Rackatack

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Mauricio wrote:

Another question... what is the value of wavetable daughterboards (for DOS games) if you are already connecting to something like an MT-32?

The mt-32 is amazing for games where the music is written for it and when the game devs wrote good drivers...
But it sounds weird/bad when playing general midi tracks

Reply 515 of 894, by Tree Wyrm

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Mauricio wrote:
Outtheredude wrote:

Now if only that tiny little fragile looking breakout board was replaced with a a choice of proper breakout MIDI cables (one for double MIDI out, another for MIDI in & out perhaps) that connects directly to the DB9 port, without having to make my own, or look for a third party solutions...

I thought a DB9 MIDI breakout cable was something you could buy fairly easily. Is that not the case?

Another question... what is the value of wavetable daughterboards (for DOS games) if you are already connecting to something like an MT-32?

Nah, you're confusing it with a DB15-MIDI cable. Those are easy to get, but this board uses DB9.

To me the value of wavetable connector is plugging in something like a Creative Waveblaster CT1900, which doesn't exist as an external MIDI module. Or say if you want a compact retro build and have no space to pile up MIDI modules. A matter of convenience too, no extra cables, additional power supplies and so on. Besides MT-32 ain't going to cover GM stuff, so typically it's a combination of SC55/SC88 and MT-32, unless you have CM-500.

Reply 516 of 894, by strygo

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I recently received the updated card (thanks Keropi!). I still haven't had a chance to test it out. I just watched Phil's new video and I'm looking for a recommendation.

Similar to Phil's video, I'd like this new card to drive both an MT-32 and an SC-55. I also plan to add a DreamBlaster S1 (that I'm currently using on my Audician 32 Plus). I plan to continue to use the Audician, so I'm wondering what the best way to route the audio is. Should I use a mixer before feeding the MT-32/SC-55/DB-S1 into the Audician? Or should I use a mixer and not send them through the Audician at all? I'm looking for the highest fidelity solution even if it has a bit of cost. Thank you for your input!

Reply 517 of 894, by keropi

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By far the best option is an external mixer with 3+ inputs. You will find that after a while each game has it's own audio level and it gets worse if you have one device for sfx and another for midi.
With my setup I use a mixer with 3 inputs:
- 1st is SB
- 2nd is GUS
- 3rd is MIDI

now on the midi line I have a sound source selector that selects which output of my 4 external modules go to the mixer.
There is an added cost for the mixer but nothing beats manually adjusting your audio levels on the fly...

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

Reply 518 of 894, by Schyz

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Hi, added my name to the list. Already have a HardMPU but after seeing this one has a wavetable header, it has to be mine!

Does anybody know if the midi cable pinout of the HardMPU is compatible with this one? (even if I lose the second MIDI out)

Reply 519 of 894, by Mauricio

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Rackatack wrote:

The mt-32 is amazing for games where the music is written for it and when the game devs wrote good drivers...
But it sounds weird/bad when playing general midi tracks

Thanks for the replies! I was under the impression that the MT-32 was "the final word" for DOS game music. What are some games where the General MIDI version is better? (i.e. where a wavetable module would be helpful) And I guess any wavetable module will be better than the MIDI support in any Sound Blaster card. Do you think a Sound Blaster + MT-32 + Music Quest + Dreamblaster S2 will give pretty complete coverage for 80s/90s games?