red_avatar wrote:I've been tweaking and tuning my old trio of IBM PCs for the best retro DOS gaming experience and I read that software like Falcosoft can emulate external MIDI devices using a Windows PC to run the software.
More or less. The basis for MT-32 emulation is the MUNT emulator. For Sound Canvas, Roland has a (commercial) emulator available. However, since Sound Canvas supports the General Midi standard, most synthesizers can be used to approximate the Sound Canvas, including Windows' built-in software wavetable synthesizer.
Falcosoft's MIDI player can be used as an 'in-between', to route sound from the MIDI input of your PC to the synthesizer of your choice, and it can also help you to configure the synthesizer.
red_avatar wrote:- I can use my old laptop running Windows Vista to run Falcosoft player
Assuming the Falcosoft player runs on Vista, yes.
red_avatar wrote:- I need a USB-to-MIDI device like this to connect to my laptop:
https://www.amazon.de/Roland-UM-ONE-mk2-MIDI- … ywords=USB+midi […]
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- I need a USB-to-MIDI device like this to connect to my laptop:
https://www.amazon.de/Roland-UM-ONE-mk2-MIDI- … ywords=USB+midi
But would a cheaper one like this work just as well?
https://www.amazon.de/TIE-professionelles-lat … ywords=USB+midi
In theory, any USB MIDI device would work. In practice, you get what you pay for, so the cheap brandless stuff may cause some problems.
Roland is one of the brands that originally developed the MIDI standard, they have always been a safe bet.
That TIE interface seems to look decent enough though, so I don't expect problems with it.
red_avatar wrote:- I need a cable that converts gameport on the SBAWE64 to MIDI jacks - no idea where to find this locally but Aliexpress seem to sell some.
Yes, something like this:
They still seem to be available as new from various sources. They are also very simple to make if you are handy with a soldering iron.
red_avatar wrote:- I need F-F midi to connect the USB/MIDI to the Gameport/MIDI:
https://www.amazon.de/Hosa-GMD108-MIDI-Kupplu … s=midi++coupler
Given the USB MIDI devices you listed, yes, since they have male connectors only (intended to plug directly into another MIDI device).
However, there are also other types of USB MIDI devices, such as this one:
In that case the male connectors of the gameport->MIDI cable could plug directly into the USB MIDI interface.
You only need to connect the MIDI out of the gameport->MIDI cable to the MIDI in of the USB MIDI interface though (games generally only use one-way communication with the MT-32 or Sound Canvas, and afaik DOSBox and SoftMPU do not even emulate the MIDI in part at all).
red_avatar wrote:- I need a M-M 3.5 audio jack cable to connect the headphone port to the LINE-IN port on my SBAWE64.
Yes.
red_avatar wrote:Is this all correct and does anyone have any remarks on this idea? I did consider getting the actual hardware but there's so many standards that this seems by the far the easiest and cheapest way.
I think you have everything covered.
