just got an mt32, can't get it to work

[Scythifuge]

Greetings!

It has been a little while since I last posted. I just recently aquired 2 MT-32 units to add to my old-gaming-computers. I have tried using both, and cannot get sound with either one. They both power up, and I can access options and features. I have a gameport-midi cable hooked up to my gameport on my SB AWE32, with the midi IN and OUT going to where they need to be on the MT-32. I have tried Ultima VII, and various Sierra games. I don't see any of the messages that I have been reading about,  appear on the MT-32 screen. I have tried connecting the sound output jacks to my line-in (where I normally have my scc-1 hooked up), via guitar cables attatched to a stereo splitter. I have tried using headphones on the left(mono) jack.

I'm a total newbie when it comes to the MT-32, and I hope someone here can help me figure this out! I'm either doing something wrong, or my gameport-midi cable is bad, or both of my MT-32s are faulty (I hope not!). Thanks!

Scythifuge

[jbltecnicspro]

There could be loads of things wrong with your setup, but let's start by diagnosing the problem.  Have you set your MIDI option in the sound settings so that the gameport outputs the MIDI signal?  You cannot just hook the cable up and expect everything to work properly - you must set the computer to output through your gameport.  Does the "MIDI MESSAGE" light illuminate at all when you try the MT-32?

[Tom]

You might first want to establish a working setup in Windows.  Make sure the MIDI setup in your Multimedia settings is set to output MIDI to the  Sound Blaster (AWE32) MIDI OUT 330H (or, 300...depending on how you've set it on the card.)  Then, play back a MIDI file with Media Player.  

I'm using two AWE32's on two different PC's, with sound modules connected to the AWE's MIDI ports.  Works beautifully.  For gaming, I don't know, though.  I only use these for music production.

Are you using a version of Windows so that you can try this?

[Scythifuge]

Have you set your MIDI option in the sound settings so that the gameport outputs the MIDI signal?

How do I do this under dos? With my autoexec.bat?

Does the "MIDI MESSAGE" light illuminate at all when you try the MT-32?

It blinks once for a split-second when I power up the MT-32. It hasn't done anything when loading games.

[Scythifuge]

You might first want to establish a working setup in Windows.  Make sure the MIDI setup in your Multimedia settings is set to output MIDI to the  Sound Blaster (AWE32) MIDI OUT 330H (or, 300...depending on how you've set it on the card.)  Then, play back a MIDI file with Media Player.  

I'm using two AWE32's on two different PC's, with sound modules connected to the AWE's MIDI ports.  Works beautifully.  For gaming, I don't know, though.  I only use these for music production.

Are you using a version of Windows so that you can try this?

I'll try that, then I'll post what happens (or doesn't happen). I'm testing with two computers. A 486 with MS-DOS 6.22 and WFW 3.11. The second computer is a K6 200MHZ with Windows 98SE.

[Tom]

Both WFW 3.11 and Win98SE should work well....

[HondaSiR]

Early Sierra game titles (such as Colonel's Bequest and Codename: Iceman) require an intelligent MPU-401 interface. You can try a utility here in QS, the Sound Blaster MIDI port utility.

Link: http://www.queststudios.com/roland/utilities.html

You can also try to download a program called DosBox. It efficiently emulates an intelligent mode MPU-401.

[Scythifuge]

I didn't see an option in WFW 3.11 to change my base address. On the Win98 machine, all options play a midi file (canyon.mid for testing). My scc-1 is on p330, so I used SB16 Midi Out (300), and the midi file is playing through my card/speakers, not the MT-32. I remember that I had to change the MSEL jumper to 300 so that the SCC-1 would work properly. I'm not sure what else I should do. I watched the MT-32, and the Midi Message light never came on.

I'm not sure if this matters, but both sound cards have wavetable daughterboards on them. A generic one on the ESS Audio Drive in the 486, and a Waveblaster on the AWE32.

Thank you everyone, for your help and tips so far.

[Scythifuge]

YES!!! I switched the cables, as they are mislabeled, and I saw the message on my MT-32 screen change when I played a midi file! I could hear it through the headphones as well. So I hooked up the splitter with the guitar cables to the mic port (the splitter is large and won't fit anywhere else!) on my AWE32, and I could hear the song playing. Does anyone know of a stereo y-adapter that I can get to connect the MT-32 to my sound card? Radio Shack had a similar cable, but the package read that it is a mono cable.

Now that I know that my MT-32 is functioning, I have to get it to work with games. I'm using Ultima VII and Space Quest III as test games, then I'll use the utility that HondaSiR mentioned. Well, Space Quest III crashed in Windows, so I went into Dos. When I ran SQ3, no messages on my MT-32, but music was playing. So I knew right away that SQ3 was using my SCC-1, so now I have to figure out out to get it to use my MT-32. I'm going to try Benjamin Carter's MIDI Port Changer, but the utilities page describes it as working with games from 1990-95. So I'm going to hook up the MT-32 to the 486 which lacks an SCC-1, and see how that goes...

[Cloudschatze]

Does anyone know of a stereo y-adapter that I can get to connect the MT-32 to my sound card?

Here's an expensive option:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2110512&cp=&pg=2&origkw=y-cable&kw=y-cable&parentPage=search


Or, you could try this cable...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102974&cp=&pg=2&origkw=y-cable&kw=y-cable&parentPage=search

With these adapters...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062455&cp=2032058&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032058&categoryId=2032058&kwCatId=2032058&kw=rca+mono+adapter&parentPage=search

[Tom]

The two last options Eric posted should be available at most music stores.  Hell, our small town HARDWARE store even has these cables and adapters.  Of course, we always kid about how John (the store owner) is a one-man-Walmart; he carries everything!  But anyway, the cables are pretty common.

[Tom]

The two last options Eric posted should be available at most music stores.  Hell, our small town HARDWARE store even has these cables and adapters.  Of course, we always kid about how John (the store owner) is a one-man-Walmart; he carries everything!  But anyway, the cables are pretty common.

Glad to hear everything's working for you.

[Scythifuge]

Thanks for your help everyone! Cloudschatze, I'll be going to Radio Shack, probably on Tuesday, so I'll look for those adapters. I'll be choosing those over the expensive option! Plus, the less expensive option looks like it will fit better amongst all of the other cables hanging out of my rigs.

Tom, I'll call my local hardware store first, but they usually don't carry such items, unfortunately. I usually have to drive 20-30 minutes in all directions to find a store that carries such items.

Well, I just spent about 45 minutes rearranging half of my computer room, so now its time to go back to experimenting with my MT-32s. I just fired up the 486, and I'm hoping that I have no issues! My quest for the ultimate classic-gaming rigs continues. I'll post back if anything significant happens. Thanks again, everybody!

[Zemus]

Have you tried using the SCC-1's MIDI output instead? It has an intelligent MPU-401 interface so it should work with all games. You would also solve the problem where some games use the SCC-1 instead of the AWE32's MIDI out.

[Scythifuge]

Have you tried using the SCC-1's MIDI output instead? It has an intelligent MPU-401 interface so it should work with all games. You would also solve the problem where some games use the SCC-1 instead of the AWE32's MIDI out.

I'm going to get some midi patch cables when I go to Radio Shack, to that I can try this. I have two midi cables that came with my Audigy 2 Platinum, so I need cables with male ends.

When I was using my 486 last night, I played Blackthorne for a bit, and noticed that I was getting music from both my wavetable daughterboard AND the MT-32. I turned turned off the MT-32, and the music was still playing. The sounds were different, and the volume was lower than with the MT-32 on. Are they both playing at the same time, or does the wavetable take over as soon as the MT-32 is shut down?

Also, I am getting "Out of heap space" errors on both machines when running Sierra games with MT-32 selected. The games run fine when using any sound option (that my machines support), other than the MT-32. On the K6 machine, SQ3 will work with the SCC-1, but gives me the error when I connect the MT-32, so the errors seem specific to the MT-32. Does anyone have any idea what would be causing this?

[Tom]

The AWE32's setting for the "External MIDI Port" (where your MT-32 is connected) also directs music to whatever's connected to the WaveBlaster Header on the card.  You'll want to turn the volume down to that device (Windows' default  Volume Control should allow you to control volume to the Wave Blaster.)  That's one of the drawbacks with using the setup you have, though it should be easy enough for you to silence your Wave Blaster -- which won't affect the MT-32 connected to the MIDI port.

[Scythifuge]

The AWE32's setting for the "External MIDI Port" (where your MT-32 is connected) also directs music to whatever's connected to the WaveBlaster Header on the card.  You'll want to turn the volume down to that device (Windows' default  Volume Control should allow you to control volume to the Wave Blaster.)  That's one of the drawbacks with using the setup you have, though it should be easy enough for you to silence your Wave Blaster -- which won't affect the MT-32 connected to the MIDI port.

I was able to silence the wavetable card under dos with essvol.exe. Now I have to figure out this "unable to initialize your music hardware" and "out of heap space" errors. Some other games, such as Savage Empire and Martian Dreams fail to run with MT-32 selected. Space Quest IV started to work, but locked up during the intro. Liesure Suit Larry VGA locked up during the blender sequence after getting mugged...

Ultima VII works, but some many sound effects are accompanied by "bell" or "ringing" sounds.

I'm running out of things to try, in order to solve these issues.

[Great Hierophant]

I am puzzled.  You have a Roland SCC-1.  It's settings should be at IRQ2 and I/O Port 330h, which are its default settings.  Games expect the midi interface to use those settings.  Make sure nothing else is using IRQ2/9.  There is no reason to use at all the AWE32 midi port when you have an SCC-1 if you want to use an MT-32.  It could be that the machine is sending the midi data too fast for the MT-32 to cope.

[Scythifuge]

I am puzzled.  You have a Roland SCC-1.  It's settings should be at IRQ2 and I/O Port 330h, which are its default settings.  Games expect the midi interface to use those settings.  Make sure nothing else is using IRQ2/9.  There is no reason to use at all the AWE32 midi port when you have an SCC-1 if you want to use an MT-32.  It could be that the machine is sending the midi data too fast for the MT-32 to cope.

The K6 has the scc-1 (which is at irq2/p330) along with an awe32 (p300)+waveblaster. The 486 has an ESS AudioDrive with a generic wavetable daughterboard, and is the current test machine. Either system is giving me problems with some of the games, especially the "out of heap space" error.

 I have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to aquire the midi cables I need to hook up the MT-32 to the SCC-1. This will allow me to play around on both machines, as I will then have an MT-32 attached to both rigs.

I'm having more games fail to load or work properly with my MT-32. Veil of Darkness hangs upon loading.

[Scythifuge]

Ok, I tried a patch from the utility page (mt32sb), and I have SQ3 working on my K6. I'm getting somewhere!