Midi Support on Non-PC Platforms

[Doctor Creep]

Here's a new improved clip with audio track recorded directly from the roland sound module

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZDCshk1Q0Ak

Doc

Your video is very interesting, but I would not two issues with the Amiga and MT-32:

1.  The music sounds like it is being played back too slowly.  I have played Sierra games with an MT-32 on slower computers, but the music itself played back at normal speed.  I wonder if this is being played back slowly because the system is European, and therefore is using PAL 50Hz speeds?

I'm surprised that it took so long before somebody mentioned it Of course it's a little bit too slowly - dunno why. Perhaps it's a performance issue? The other day I tried the standard amiga sound - IMO it's also too slowly.

2.  The saxophone is missing from the LSL5 opening as heard on your video, any reason why?

Is it? Perhaps that's also "Amiga only"? Have to compare it to the pc intro...

Doc

[endre1952]

The music will play at normal speed, if you swhich your Amiga into NTSC mode. You can achieve this from the boot menu on Amiga 1200's.

[endre1952]

I've just made these recordings:

The first one is recorded from my CM-500 under WinUAE emulation in NTSC mode:

http://www.tar.hu/endre1952/lsl5_amiga_mt32.mp3

The second one is recorded from my Amiga 1200 computer in NTSC mode:

http://www.tar.hu/endre1952/lsl5_amiga.mp3

The playback speed seems correct this way. But you're right, the saxophone is missing here. Perhaps it's a buggy conversion, because otherwise the midi output seems identical to the PC version...

[Great Hierophant]

I've just made these recordings:

The first one is recorded from my CM-500 under WinUAE emulation in NTSC mode:

http://www.tar.hu/endre1952/lsl5_amiga_mt32.mp3

The second one is recorded from my Amiga 1200 computer in NTSC mode:

http://www.tar.hu/endre1952/lsl5_amiga.mp3

The playback speed seems correct this way. But you're right, the saxophone is missing here. Perhaps it's a buggy conversion, because otherwise the midi output seems identical to the PC version...

The CM-500 recording sounds very wrong.  I installed LSL5 1.000 in WinUAE 2.0.0, selected the MT-32 driver and output to my MT-32 it sounds exactly like your second recording. 

By the way, do you still get the big black bar on the lower part of the screen in NTSC mode with games like LSL5, which use a 320x200 resolution, on an Amiga?

[endre1952]

No, in NTSC mode it appears fullscreen on a real Amiga. Might be different in emulation.

You can find an intact, uncracked version here:

http://sps.elowar.com/ipf/L/

To use it in WinUAE, you'll need the DLL here:

http://www.softpres.org/download

I think I got it working by editing the resource.cfg by hand (inside the emulated Amiga OS.)

UPDATE: Try this version:

http://www.tar.hu/endre1952/lsl5_amiga_mt32.rar

I've edited the resource.cfg of the boot disk, works for me, even if I boot the floppy image.

[Doctor Creep]

The music will play at normal speed, if you swhich your Amiga into NTSC mode. You can achieve this from the boot menu on Amiga 1200's.

Ok - worked. Thanks! Same way with Space Quest IV. But I have to play both in b/w using NTSC on my TV

So I have to apologize to the Amiga. No, you're not too slow for midi output

BTW: Is it the same with other Amiga midi stuff for example midi sequencers or midiplayer into PAL mode? Cause I'm not sure if they play at normal speed.

Doc

[endre1952]

I don't know if it affects other Amiga midi stuff.

If you get a b/w picture on your TV in NTSC mode, obviously you're not using a scart RGB cable. If your TV has a 21-pin scart socket, I recommend getting such a cable from Ebay. The image quality will improve a lot!

[Doctor Creep]

If you get a b/w picture on your TV in NTSC mode, obviously you're not using a scart RGB cable. If your TV has a 21-pin scart socket, I recommend getting such a cable from Ebay. The image quality will improve a lot!

Ok - I'll check out my TV sockets, etc

I love the Amiga and own several such computers, but honestly, I don't see much fun in trying out these - the MT-32 support is identical to the PC versions, while the graphics are poor straight conversions. (Yes, I've tried them in WinUAE, and the MT-32 support does work.)

Yes the amiga conversions are poor - and so the music is even more important. And hey it's IMO pretty cool to have amiga-midi-support in Sierra games. But even Amiga geeks don't know - so I updated wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MT-32-compatible_computer_games

BTW: Have a look at the Amiga "Rise Of The Dragon" Box



I have no Dragon MT-32 sound on Amiga - are there other versions?

Doc

[endre1952]

The version of Dragon I tried has no MT-32 support.

[OmerMor]

I managed to get working MT-32 music in Police Quest 3:
You'll need 2 files:

• 1.PAT - a patch file for MT-32. This file is game specific, so you'll need to extract it from the PC version of PQ3. I use the excellent SCI Resource Viewer to do the extraction.
• MT32.DRV - an MT-32 driver. I used the one from the amiga version of Space Quest 4.

This proves that the Amiga version contains the MT-32 soundtrack resources, but it was just not enabled when released.

So far I've only tested it in ScummVM, but I'm confident it'll work in a real Amiga and in WinUAE as well.

I believe this method will work for the rest of the SCI games as well - but I'll have to verify it.

[Doctor Creep]

I managed to get working MT-32 music in Police Quest 3:
You'll need 2 files:

• 1.PAT - a patch file for MT-32. This file is game specific, so you'll need to extract it from the PC version of PQ3. I use the excellent SCI Resource Viewer to do the extraction.
• MT32.DRV - an MT-32 driver. I used the one from the amiga version of Space Quest 4.

This proves that the Amiga version contains the MT-32 soundtrack resources, but it was just not enabled when released.

So far I've only tested it in ScummVM, but I'm confident it'll work in a real Amiga and in WinUAE as well.

I believe this method will work for the rest of the SCI games as well - but I'll have to verify it.

Great - thx for the info! I'll check it out...

Doc