MT-32 Manual - are other versions available?

[gadrela]

I just came across this site while looking for a replacement for my manual which, believe it or not, was partly eaten by termites! Only the first 14 pages survived. When I compare my page 1 (Contents) with your's, my index has Major Specifications on pg 28 which you have on pg 27. My manual's pg 27 apparently was ROM PLAY. Does anyone have a manual similar to mine? I'd really appreciate it if I could get the info that was on the ROM PLAY page. Thanks so much. My email is gadrela@yahoo.com

[Laust]

Hmm, "ROM Play". Is this the elusive built-in demo song mode, I wonder.

Try holding down Master Volume while turning on your MT-32, and see if it starts playing demo tunes (or acts differently from normal). And let us know if it does!

I think Cloudschatze might have more info.

[Matt W]

I have 2 mt-32 units. One is a RWI (Real World Interfaces) modified unit. The other is a later stock unit with the ROM Play feature.

I do have the manual for the ROM play unit. I could always see if I can scan it and post it for you.  I suppose I should record the ROM songs and save them in .Ogg format since there seems to be some interest in hearing them. Its a shame that they don't output MIDI data when they play though.

Matt

[moturimi1]

I have 2 mt-32 units. One is a RWI (Real World Interfaces) modified unit. The other is a later stock unit with the ROM Play feature.

I do have the manual for the ROM play unit. I could always see if I can scan it and post it for you.  I suppose I should record the ROM songs and save them in .Ogg format since there seems to be some interest in hearing them. Its a shame that they don't output MIDI data when they play though.

Matt

Would be great, if you could post the recorded Rom Song in the message board. I'm really interested. And I think some other guys here too!!!  

[Matt W]

Ok folks, here are .ogg files of the MT-32's ROM Play demos. I'll try to keep them up for a few days...

1 - Boiler Buster

2 - Sinfonia

3 - Short Demo

4 - Adjarre

5 - Good Morning

Personally, I like Adjarre best. It sounds like it belongs in the Quest for Glory series...Good Morning is pretty cool too.

I'll see if  I can scan the last page of the manual soon too.

Matt

[moturimi1]

Ok folks, here are .ogg files of the MT-32's ROM Play demos. I'll try to keep them up for a few days...

1 - Boiler Buster

2 - Sinfonia

3 - Short Demo

4 - Adjarre

5 - Good Morning

Personally, I like Adjarre best. It sounds like it belongs in the Quest for Glory series...Good Morning is pretty cool too.

I'll see if  I can scan the last page of the manual soon too.

Matt

The links don't work for me. (I'm no AOL memer)
Is it only availible or AOL members?

[moturimi1]

Ok folks, here are .ogg files of the MT-32's ROM Play demos. I'll try to keep them up for a few days...

1 - Boiler Buster

2 - Sinfonia

3 - Short Demo

4 - Adjarre

5 - Good Morning

Personally, I like Adjarre best. It sounds like it belongs in the Quest for Glory series...Good Morning is pretty cool too.

I'll see if  I can scan the last page of the manual soon too.

Matt

The links don't work for me. (I'm no AOL memer)
Is it only availible or AOL members?

By the way shouldn't the link be like:
http://members.aol.com/mattwillia/5-Good_Morning.ogg

[Matt W]

I don't have to be logged into AOL to access the links. I'm able to access them without AOL at all...(I've tested them from a non AOL account)

A single left click for me brings up a save dialog and a single right click  offers the option to save link/target as: Both work fine.

then of course you can listen to them in the .ogg player of your choice.

Matt

[Tom]

The links are wrong -- the 'slashes' are backward.  "\" should be "/" in all cases.  (There's no backward slashes in URL's.)  Also, the server they're on isn't set for the correct MIME type for Ogg Vobris files and you're likely to get corrupted downloads.

[Laust]

Thanks for the files! Downloading right now.

I've been wanting to hear these for ages...

[Tom]

Downloading, too.  Guess it requires Microsoft Internet Explorer to download, as Netscape doesn't recognize the server and doesn't know what to make of your directory structure.

Do you have these songs in standard MIDI file format rather than digital files?

[moturimi1]

Now it works. Only Shortdemo.ogg isn't availible to me. (error: sorry, we can't find that page)
Boiler Buster sounds like taken from the Willi Beamish sound track!!!

[Matt W]

Hmmm...strange. I see the links correctly (although understanding that IE & Opera auto-correct for the slashes in links and oddly enough, when I look at one I get it formatted correctly.) So, its entirely possible I made a typo when I was typing all this up. (lots of cut and paste) AOL was the only place I had to host the files at the moment and their FTP service stinks...you get what you pay for right? So, please bear with me! Tom, your welcome to host those if you'd like...I can send them too you if need be. Also, according to the MT-32 manual...the ROM play does not output the MIDI data when its playing the demo files. Of course, if you know a way around this, I'm up to trying it. I'd like to have the midi version of these too. Any ideas?

The correct links should be:

1 - Boiler Buster

2 - Sinfonia 1

3 - Short Demo

4 - Adjarre

5-Good_Morning.ogg

I hope this helps,
Matt

[Tom]

You mean, there's no data coming from the MIDI OUT port?  Wow...that's awfully strange.  Is it the same with the MIDI THRU port?  Is there anything  showing up on the MT-32's display?  Does the MIDI Message light come on?

I was able to download all the the Oggs using I.E., except the "Short Demo".  But since you reposted the links, I'm now able to download that one, too.  Typical Roland Demo fare -- these guys sure know how to make the MT-32 sing.

If we can get the MIDI data, I'd like to host those song files on my Roland site, but I'm not sure about the digital versions.

[Laust]

MIDI-THRU just replicates what happens on MIDI-IN, nothing more. Getting MIDI files would involved desoldering the ROMs and reading the contents, finding the MIDI data (shouldn't be too hard) and creating MIDI files from that. And that's assuming Roland stored it as MIDI data. I guess we're not so lucky that Roland released these as demo MIDIs on a demo disk at some point...

I agree with what Tom said. I think the tunes, short as they may be, show great technical skill. It's obvious the composer(s) knew how to handle the MT-32.

BTW, Matt, could you tell me which ROM version your unit is? Hold down Part 4, Rhythm, and Master Volume while turning on the unit and it should tell you. There are also some MIDI files I'd like you to try (and record), but let me get back to you on that...

Also, I'll gladly host the files indefinitely (to the best of my ability ) if you need to take them down. As would others I'm sure.

[Tom]

The "MIDI THRU" was just a desperate attempt to gain access to the MIDI signals.  Wonder if these songs are available somewhere, in MIDI format.  I have quite a few Roland MT-32 Demo MIDI files, but I've never heard these.  Thought they may have been something used with the PR-100, but they're not.

[Matt W]

My MT-32 with the ROM Play shows:

MT-32 2.07 90-05-23

my other RWI modified MT-32 shows:

ver. 1.07 10 Oct, 87

then a short pause and:

Tks to Masa & Adrian

Just let me know if If I can help you record anything...I'd be happy to.
If you have any ideas on how to extract the MIDI data for these demos I'd love to hear it.

Matt

[HondaSiR]

Very interesting...it seems that the ROM play feature for the MT-32 was included with later 1990 models...not the early 1987 ones. I thought  Roland included that with the first batch releases. For what purpose? Not that I'm complaining, but it just boggles the mind. Could it be that Roland tried to save the MT-32's lackluster sales at the time?

On another note, I also checked my MT-32's ROM version. I also have the RWI modified unit that has the Tks to Masa + Adrian display (plus sign is used in my unit, not &). How many versions does the MT-32 have? How does a RWI modified unit differ from a standard MT-32? Could you elaborate further, Matt? Laust?

[Tom]

Both of my units are v1.07 as well.

Wonder if there's any built in demos in the CM-500?  There's no buttons to push except the Power button.  

[Laust]

My unmodified (until I opened it ) unit is 1.07 too, same message about Masa and Adrian.

A 1990 ROM date is very late, later than I expected (but it's nice to see Roland updated it for so long). Even my CM-32L has a 1989 date (and a ROM version 1.02, so obviously the numbering is different).

The CM-32L's ROM has the strings "Random Demo-Play" and "Chain Play", but nothing in the way of song titles, so I assume it doesn't have demo tunes as I had once hoped.

I don't know what the RWI mod is, but the most common one was a battery backup for the RAM.