New to the MT-32

[Kenneth]

Reccently, I bought a MT-32 off Ebay, so I could play my old sierra games. and it came with the Module and Adapter, but there aren't any cables that I can hook it up to my sound card with. Is there any special software the MT-32 needs to work or is it plug and play? I've heard that MT-32's have trouble working on pentiums, If so can this problem be resolved? Because I need it to work with a pentium.

My MT-32 looks like this: (click to enlarge.)

 





 My Sound card looks like this:







 I don't think I have to use the Midi ports at all when I set up the MT-32 (or do I?), but I have to figure a way to get both output ports to connect to my sound card and speakers. If anybody knows how to solve this problem, it would be greatly Appreciated.
Thanks

[moturimi1]

You need:

- 2x mono adapter Phono --> Chinch
- 1x Chinch cable (2x Chinch and 1x Headphone jack)
- Gameport-Midi-Cable

Plug both adapter into the L and R audio output. Connect the Chinch cable with your soundcard and with the MT-32.
Connect the gameport midi cable to the joystickport of the soundcard and the MIDI IN of the cable to the MIDI OUT of the MT-32 and MIDI OUT --> MIDI IN.
Under windows you have to select the MPU-401-PORT as the MIDI-device in the section audio device.

Now it should work.

[Danny]

One addition that may have not been explained.  To get the audio from your MT-32 to your speakers, you will connect the MT-32's audio outputs to the Line Input of your sound card.  Then, in the windows mixer, you can control the output volume of the MT-32 through the line-in control, which is usually muted by default.

[HondaSiR]

I've heard that MT-32's have trouble working on pentiums, If so can this problem be resolved? Because I need it to work with a pentium.

Usually fast machines (such as Pentium 4s) send sysex messages too fast to the MT-32, resulting in an overflowing error. When I play old DOS games on my Pentium 2 (which is a "fast" Pentium for MIDI), I use the DosBox utility. This little program is easy to use and effectively regulates and slows down the game speed. It also fixes known problems of the MT-32 regarding the overflowing snafu. It is better than Mo'Slo and can be downloaded from the net free of charge.

[Alistair]

Usually fast machines (such as Pentium 4s) send sysex messages too fast to the MT-32, resulting in an overflowing error. When I play old DOS games on my Pentium 2 (which is a "fast" Pentium for MIDI), I use the DosBox utility. This little program is easy to use and effectively regulates and slows down the game speed. It also fixes known problems of the MT-32 regarding the overflowing snafu. It is better than Mo'Slo and can be downloaded from the net free of charge.

I disagree. I run a Pentium 4, 2.66 GHz on this PC and I've *never* had a buffer overflow message. Well, at least one that wasn't my fault.

I'd be interested to hear how you got a buffer overflow, Honda. The idea that SysEx can be sent 'too fast' sounds unlikely to me (though it's probably quite correct).

- Alistair

[HondaSiR]

I've experienced it (overflows) on my P2 way before I was introduced to DosBox. The LCD confirms it and I get no music, the module quits out on me. I'm sure that my MT-32 has nothing to do with it. I've never really understood how or why it behaved that way, but since I've used DosBox, the problem never occured again. I guess some games that support the MT-32 has this problem with faster machines and some games don't. With DosBox, all the game's MIDI function work.

Hmm, I'm starting to sound like a spokesman for DosBox...and they're not even paying me royalties. It's such a sweet utility for me, it ran my all time favorite Apple 2 game, Castle Wolfenstein (not the Apogee version). This vintage game spit out all of the game decelerator software out there, except DosBox. And that's good enough for me.

[Tom]

MT-32 buffer overflows are quite common on faster machines only because the games lack proper programming (time-based method of sending SysEx) and end up shooting the data faster than the MT-32's buffer can handle it.  You'll notice that sending SysEx independently of a game, like, from within a sequencer or SysEx utility, works fine, no matter what speed you're PC is.  That's because such software is designed to send this kind of data at a specific rate based on time, not processor speed.

Sierra seemed to correct the problem with most of their latter games that still support the MT-32.  I've encountered the problem any number of times but have always solved it by using MoSlo, or sending the bank with MidiEx or some other utility.

Curious...what's a "Chinch" cable.  Never heard that term.  Sounds like you're referring to a cable with two RCA plugs on one end (Left/Right), and a 1/8" stereo plug on the other?

Note that the MT-32's 1/4" output jacks need to be connected to any amplification source; whether that's another soundcard or an external stereo system, it doesn't matter.  The MT-32 has no internal amplification, so simply plugging speakers into the Left/Right output jacks will do nothing.

Some soundcards (like my Sound Blaster Audigy and Santa Cruz) refer to the MIDI port as "External MIDI port", not specifically, a MPU-401 port, so keep that in mind when your selecting an output source to listen to the MT-32.

[Kaminari]

RCA cables are often called Cinch cables (not Chinch ;) in Europe.

[Kenneth]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all your helpful Relpies. I think this is possibly the dumbest question of all, but where do i go on windows to change my output source?

[Tom]

That's in the Multimedia Properties of Windows' Control Panel.  Select MIDI, then for MIDI Output, select 'External MIDI' or 'MPU-401' or whatever designation your sound cards' given to the external MIDI port.

[laxdragon]

FYI: You'll need two of these from radio shack to plug in your "mini headphone jack to RCA" cable to the mono phono jacks on the back of the MT-32.