What kind of MIDI device do you have?

[midiman_midiman]

I have the the following modules;

Roland MT-32
Roland U-220
Roland SC-155
Yamaha DB50XG

That's much more then i kan choose in this poll.

[Danny]

Let's see, what do I have right now.

SC-55 mk II
MT-32 (storage)
DB50XG (storage)
Gravis Ultrasound ACE w/ 1MB (storage)
Crative Labe Audigy (storage)
SB16 (been in storage forever)

I also had a SCD-15 which I sold on ebay recently because it was redudant to my SC-55 mkII.  Which gives me and idea for a spinoff thread, what do you listen to your audio with?  I'll get that thread started  

[RvLeshrac]

Resurrection!

Anyway... I'm using the nForce2 onboard audio (Soundstorm). It apparently uses the MS Softsynth's samples.

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I probably am), but wouldn't that, purely on audio grounds, make it comparable to an SD-90? Judging by the audio on the soundcard-comparisons page, it seems to sync perfectly (no discernible difference) with the SD-90 mp3 (after some tweaking. The midi and the MP3s all seem to sync differently at the beginning of each section).

At any rate, the MIDI is great, though I miss my MT-32!

*edit*

Haha, crap. I just noticed I had the MUNT MT-32 XP driver active when I was playing back the MIDI. Sounds nothing like the MT-32, to be honest, but it does indeed sound -exactly- like the SD-90.

Checking MP3s again vs. the Soundforce & MS/Roland DLS.

*edit 2*

OK, that's more in line with what I remember. Sounds like an SC-55 without the reverb. Note quite as bad as the MSGS softsynth, but still better than a SBLive!.

[achile464]

I have an Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS

[laxdragon]

I have an MT-32. I have thought about picking up an SC-55 so I can have General MIDI support. Right now in XP its a pain to switch from the MT-32 back to my Audigy in the sound control panel. If I only played MT-32 compatible games it wouldn't be an issue, but I do still have the odd MIDI game. My thinking is with an SC-55 I could get the best of both worlds in once device. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

[HondaSiR]

My thinking is with an SC-55 I could get the best of both worlds in once device. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Errr, what do you mean exactly? The SC-55  is purely GM/GS. It is not 100% MT-32 compatible although it has the tone bank which is supported by only a few games like King's Quest 3 and Spellcasting 101. These games do not take advantage of a real MT-32's capability of making custom instrument sounds and sound effects through linear arithmetic or L/A.

The only Roland sound module that supports both GM/GS and MT-32 is the Roland CM-500. But acquiring one is almost next to impossible since they are pretty rare even in ebay.

[RvLeshrac]

There is a GM sysex patch (from Roland) for the MT-32, to remap the instruments to GM. Results may vary.

There are also intrument mappings for Windows, though I'm unsure if they can still be used in XP (it appears that they can't, though I don't currently have an MPU-401 port available to see for sure).

Seems like a CM-500 would be the thing to pick up, or a CM-32L (am I right on that one?), rather than an SC-55 - though the SC-55 seems to be far easier to locate.

[laxdragon]

Hmmm, I thought I read somewhere that the SC-55 has a mode to emulate the MT-32.

I know there is a SysEx to map the MT-32 to General MIDI. I played with a bit but wasn't really impresssed with the results.

[Ari]

RvLeshrac: The CM-32L has the same capabilities as the MT-32 only with a few extra sound effects and better circuitry. It lacks the LED display and buttons though. For gaming purposes, there isn't much of a difference between the 2 modules.
You're probably refering to the CM-64 which is a CM-32L combined with a CM-32P which is a PCM module - but by no means GM compatible.

The only module that is both 100% MT-32 compatible and GM compatible is the CM-500 - as HondaSir stated earlier.

Laxdragon: The SC-55 only knows how to emulate the default sounds of the MT-32. However, since as you know, the MT-32 uses custom patches with most games, the SC-55's emulation really doesn't mean much.

[Doctor Creep]

I got:

Roland LAPC-1
SC-55 (connected to the LAPC-1 using MCB-I)
SB Live! value
Gravis Ultrasound  (storage)

Lutz

[laxdragon]

Ari: Thanks. I missed the part of the SC-55's lack of custom patch support.

[RvLeshrac]

Real shame that the GUS won't work in 2k/XP. :'-(

Maybe someday we'll get *full* emulation of that, too. Nice card. DOSBox has support, but not for the MIDI it appears.

[robertmo]

RvLeshrac: read dosbox's manual

[laxdragon]

RvLeshrac: http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=4287

[RvLeshrac]

From that thread, it seems that there are still a lot of issues with it.

The manual actually says that GUS MIDI isn't emulated, since MIDI is covered elsewhere in the app. :-O

Maybe I'm reading that wrong, though.

[laxdragon]

Then I'm not sure what you mean by MIDI. From what is discussed in that thread you need to download the patches and install them into a C:\ULTRASND dir. Once you have them, your games will be able to use the software synth features of the emulated GUS. Without them you won't get any synth. If there is MIDI beyond the software synth then I'm not really familiar with it. All I know is: set up the drivers and you get GUS music in your games. Seems to work good enough now in 0.63. I know that thread is old, but they never put the links to the GUS DOS drivers up on the DOSbox wiki or anywhere else on the site for that matter.

[shad0wfax]

Well, there's been some changes since I put my post some time ago. I now have new gear I didn't have before and I haven't gear I used to have, so here comes my list (only hard, no soft):

Stuff I have now:

ROLAND: Fantom XR module (with 2 SRX expansions), SC-88Pro ST module, RD-170 Stage piano/master keyboard

KAWAI: K1 synthesizer (used only as a master keyboard for its velocity/aftertouch/bender/modulation capabilities)

PC SOUND CARDS: Terratec DMX 6 Fire LT, built-in motherboard audio (for MIDI only)

Stuff I used to have (but I no longer have):

ROLAND: CM-32L, CM-32P, CM-64, SC-55 ST, XP-10, XV-2020, PC-180A

YAMAHA: PSR-12, PSR-48, DB50XG, MU-15, FM1 (DX7-compatible module)

KORG: NS5R

CASIO: CZ-230S

PC SOUND CARDS: quite a lot, including Fortissimo II and Audigy I

[Ari]

Wow! that's one hell of a list!
Why'd you get rid of the CM-64?

[shad0wfax]

I sold my CM-64, along with many other stuff, to get enough money to buy a fantom XR. I also had the "problem" of my moving to my new apartment, so I had little money to spend in my hobbies.

After some meditation, I finally realized that I had quite a lot of low-end and mid-end gear, but virtually no real hi-end stuff, so I decided to get the money for the best gear I could afford, (while maintaining GS compatibility -in the form of a SC-88Pro-) and that was the fantom XR. I regret not having my CM-64 (I really liked it), but I feel no remorse. I'm not planning to get another one. What I'm planning (not for the short term, though) is getting a MT-32 or compatible module.

[Steve D]

Ok, who's the fool who chose radio boxes for the poll, instead of check boxes?  :wink:  It's pretty clear most of us have multiple cards.

My stuff:

An SCC-1, and Audigy 2, and I just paid for an MT-32 on eBay.

Which means I'm going to start a new topic asking about cabling in a few minutes.