MT-32 Demo Songs

[MichalN]

Last September I bought a 'new' MT-32 (ROM version 2.07) in original box, sans cables but with power supply and all manuals, in excellent mint condition. The module must have been used extremely little or not at all. This week I finally set it up - in between I moved from the US to Europe, which rather complicated matters (finding a replacement power supply was the least of my worries). The unit works great hooked up to a XP system via SB Audigy and playing old games in DOSBox. I may get a MPU-401 for an old PC but so far it looks like DOSBox is a very good solution. Too bad I didn't have a MT-32 back in the day, because it still sounds great!

I noticed in the manual that there is a 'ROM Play' function and the MT-32 contains five demo songs. This was fortuitous because I could verify that my module works; since my old gameport-to-MIDI cable did not have an optoisolator and didn't work, I might have given up on the MT-32 otherwise.

Now the actual question: The MT-32 manuals in PDF I found on the web (including this site) do not contain the information about demo songs. Is this something that was added in the later revisions? Or was it just previously undocumented? Just for reference, ROM Play mode is entered by holding down Master Volume while powering up, then selecting track with buttons 1 to 5 and pressing Volume to play. (If someone was really really interested, I could probably scan the manual and provide the images.)

Are there other secret key combinations besides ROM Play and ROM version display?

Another question, are there some good demo MIDI files for the MT-32 available on the web? I could not find anything. Note that I'm not interested in game music, just random compositions for the MT-32, preferably ones that can show off its capabilities.

[shad0wfax]

AFAIK, only rev. 2 MT-32s and the MT-100 (which uses the same motherboard, the one with a phones jack) have those rom songs built in. I've actually checked this in a "new" MT-32, in an "old" MT-32 and in a MT-100. On the other hand, I don't know about web sites with "original" mt-32 midi files, although here in QS you've got tons of good MT-32 midi music

[Cloudschatze]

Are there other secret key combinations besides ROM Play and ROM version display?

Shh! Don't tell anyone!
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

If that doesn't work, try holding [3] and [Volume] down while powering-on.

[BlueMax]

Shh! Don't tell anyone!
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

BWAHAHAAA!   Unlocks an extra 30 voices of polyphony too! 

Any MP3's of those MT-32 factory demos?

[Laust]

I noticed in the manual that there is a 'ROM Play' function and the MT-32 contains five demo songs. This was fortuitous because I could verify that my module works; since my old gameport-to-MIDI cable did not have an optoisolator and didn't work, I might have given up on the MT-32 otherwise.

The opto-isolator is only used for recieving  MIDI data (there's one on the MIDI input of the MT-32 too), so for sending MIDI to your MT-32 the gameport adapter should work - or at least there's something else wrong with it. In principle, it could also be the MT-32, but if you run the test mode and have a regular MIDI cable, connect it between MIDI-In and MIDI-Out (on the MT-32) and it should tell you.

Without the cable, the test mode will stop with a MIDI Recieve error which you can safely ignore. Hold Master Volume and press Volume to skip the MIDI test and proceed to the sound test.

[MichalN]

The opto-isolator is only used for recieving  MIDI data (there's one on the MIDI input of the MT-32 too), so for sending MIDI to your MT-32 the gameport adapter should work - or at least there's something else wrong with it.

True. But according to the diagrams I've seen, the gameport cable does need resistors for MIDI out, and my old cable doesn't have those either. I checked with a multimeter - there was no resistance to speak of. That same multimeter also told me that the pins were hooked up the way they were supposed to be; from this I concluded that the resistors were essential for correct operation (I'm no electrician though so I could easily be wrong!).

Hmm, I guess I could check the new cable (which works)... yup, it's got 220 Ohm resistors built in.

I read somewhere that some sound cards had opto-isolators and resistors built in, but the information about which cards those might be seems impossible to find.

Without the cable, the test mode will stop with a MIDI Recieve error which you can safely ignore. Hold Master Volume and press Volume to skip the MIDI test and proceed to the sound test.

Thanks for the tip!

[Cloudschatze]

from this I concluded that the resistors were essential for correct operation (I'm no electrician though so I could easily be wrong!).

No, you're right. Here is the actual specification.

I read somewhere that some sound cards had opto-isolators and resistors built in, but the information about which cards those might be seems impossible to find.

The AdLib Gold is one such card, and the IBM PC Music Feature another, though the latter makes use of a DB9 MIDI adapter, rather than the joystick-to-MIDI variety.

[Kaminari]

Are those demo songs available somewhere in MIDI form? I have a CM-500.

[MichalN]

I have recorded the MT-32 demo songs and placed them at http://pages.prodigy.net/michaln/mt32/

Beware - they're encoded in AAC and stored in QuickTime containers. I would welcome if someone could find a more permanent home for the files and perhaps recode them to mp3 format. I might have to delete them soon.

The recordings are not processed in any way, just recorded from my MT-32 straight to my laptop. Any tips on improving sound quality are welcome, although I could not hear any obvious deficiencies in the audio.

Edit: I converted the tracks to MP3 format and added ID3 tags.

[Tom]

I have some Oggs of these songs, if anybody wants them.  Maybe I should just upload them to my MT-32 site.

[Laust]

Don't use a laptop comes to mind

Someone else posted Oggs of the demo tunes a while back, but while those links can be found in the archives, they no longer work.

---Well, looks like Tom beat me to it, but at least I got to see that nifty "While you were typing another reply was posted..." feature in SMF. Neato!

[MichalN]

Don't use a laptop comes to mind

That's assuming the quality would be better with my desktop(s) - maybe I'll do a comparison later. All I know is that with good headphones, I didn't hear any noise in the recordings. The laptop has an Intel High Definition Audio controller, though I'm not sure what the HDA codec is (likely a SigmaTel).

For recording from the MT-32, does anyone know what's a good volume setting that will avoid any possible clipping issues while giving the best SNR?

[Tom]

I've re-uploaded the Ogg files to:
http://queststudios.com/roland/music

I set all my device Master Volumes to 80% (which in the case of the MT-32, makes the display read, '80', and about 101 on the 0-127 scale.)   I have no idea how accurate this is, but it works for me.   I compose and normally work this way and it always prevents distortion on all of my devices.  It also circumvents (sp?) the Sound Blaster's Automatic Recording Level, when I use that for digital recording.

[BlueMax]

Yay!  I'm gonna' grab 'em RIGHT NOW!