I live in Hungary and I'm probably one of the VERY few game-music enthusiasts in this country in posession of Roland sound modules. I currently own an MT-32 (gotta be a first generation model 'cause it produces sysex buffer overflows frequently), a CM-32L and an SC-55, all in perfect working order.
I never considered ADLIB adequate and I always knew Roland LA was much better. In late 1993 I managed to convince my folks to buy me an SCC-1, which cost a fortune then (at least for our budget). It turned out to be one of the biggest blunders I have ever made. I really needed 100% LA compatibilty and could have lived without perfect General Midi. An LAPC-1 would have been a better choice, which was actually cheaper.
In 1999, shortly after becoming familiar with Ebay, I finally managed to get an MT-32 along with an MPU-IPC-T. I was foolish enough to sell my SCC-1 for about 30 bucks, but I'd have little use for it anyway. SC-55 is just as good, and it works with all modern PC's (I use a USB midi unit and DosBox). While I actually own several old game consoles (NES, SNES, GENESIS, CD32) and computers (AMIGA 500/1200), ATARI ST, COMMDORE 64) and nothing beats RGB connection to a CRT TV, for PC games, DosBox is good enough for me. I could hardly make space in my room for a retro PC, and in many cases, it would be either too fast or too slow. Slowdown utilities don't work all that well. I like the "Scanlines" mode which makes 320x200 graphics look smoother. Well, it's a matter of taste.
Anyway, there are compatiblity issues with both MT-32 and CM-32L. Most games that have SYSEX buffer overflow problems on a first generation MT-32 were obviously written for the LAPC-1 (I don't mean Sierra games, which usually worked fine for me, although SQ3 ramdonly produced a buffer overflow error), and produce the same errors even on a 386SX-25 (I tried it once). No slowdown utility works at all in these cases. A recent modified version of DosBox 0.70 does solve the problem, where you can specify a sysex delay that works with any game. You can find it here:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=15761&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=lapc&start=20However, you are still missing the LAPC-1/CM-32L sounds, so it's not a perfect solution for every game (in Race Drivin', the music sounds fine, but the sound effects are all wrong). There are only a handful of games where the SYSEX buffer overflow IS a CPU related problem, mostly those released by Electronic Arts circa 1990 (Popolous, Indianapolis 500, Ski or Die). These works fine with DosBox and MT-32, they don't need an LAPC-1/CM-32L.
There are also games that are incompatible with the CM-32L, although probably not many people except me play them!! Some games only play flawlessly (tolerably?) on an MT-32. You get weird and unbearable clicks on a CM-32L. I've never owned an LAPC-1, so I have no idea whether it's actually identical to the CM-32L. As far as I know, these games don't use SYSEX custom sounds at all. Here are a few: Back to the Future 2, Back to the Future 3, Rocketeer, Wrath of the Demon, Supaplex. There are probably many more, I just can't recall right now. It is interesting that the "Roland" support in Back to the Future 2 doesn't work if you select "Roland". I had thought it was bad crack, but recently, out of curiousity, obtained an original boxed version, which is even a different, US version with the Komami logo added. Well, it crashed when selecting "Roland" as well! However, I still managed to make it work by overwriting the ADLIB driver with the MT-32 one (they are named SDx.BIN, I ain't sure at the moment), and then selecting ADLIB. When you first see the title screens, you get no music, but it you start playing the game, the MT-32 music suddenly kicks in. Then, if you go back to the title screens by pressing ESC, you hear the title music as well! I wish someone would make a patch for it. I'm pretty convinced that 99.9999% of the gamers out there who play this title are perfectly fine with ADLIB! Needless to say, these games make primitive use of the MT-32, but are still not as bad as, say, It Came from the Desert (a true classic on the Amiga).
Sierra games sound just fine on my CM32-L as far as I'm concerned, but then, I'm no musician...
It's great that I also have an SC-55 in my posession, which I use for General Midi games. But the brilliant sound effects produced by LA custom sounds went cheesy when they switched to GM/GS.
I've never had any problems with 220V universal AC adaptors. My Roland modules are still working as good as ever, and there's no buzzing or anything.
