Roland D-110 General MIDI Desmonstration

[Rhizome]

As Alastair knows I bought a second D-110 for an experiment - yes, call me insane if you wish, I'll just agree with you 

The experiment was to see how well the D-110 could handle the GM patch I got for it, however I needed the second one for the extra parts and poly.

Here's how the two D-110s are setup for those interested:

First D-110 (v1.10):

Has MIDI out/in from gameport on main WinXP system, then uses MIDI thru to send MIDI data to the second D-110.

Part setup:

1 - MIDI Channel = 1
2 - MIDI Channel = 3
3 - MIDI Channel = 5
4 - MIDI Channel = 7
5 - MIDI Channel = 9
6 - MIDI Channel = 11
7 - MIDI Channel = 13
8 - MIDI Channel = OFF
R - MIDI Channel = 10

Second D-110 (v1.07):

Receives all MIDI data from the MIDI thru on the first D-110.

Part setup:

1 - MIDI Channel = 2
2 - MIDI Channel = 4
3 - MIDI Channel = 6
4 - MIDI Channel = 8
5 - MIDI Channel = 12
6 - MIDI Channel = 14
7 - MIDI Channel = 15
8 - MIDI Channel = 16
R - MIDI Channel = OFF

The reason I've split the channels up like this is to ensure the poly is spread across the modules best. So far I've not heard poly drops with how this is setup.

The reverb on both modules is setup as the following:

Reverb Mode = 4 (hall)
Reverb Time = 6 (max 8 )
Reverb Level = 6 (max 7 )

Onto the demos that I've recently uploaded - remember, ALL of these are General MIDI!

All recordings are quality 5 Ogg Vorbis.

Silpheed
Introduction
Fighting in Normal Space (Listen to that organ!!)

Space Quest 1
Introduction

Space Quest 6
Introduction

King's Quest 7
Introduction

Monkey Island 1
Church (24 poly was used just to play this)

Monkey Island 2
The Swamp

Doom
Level 1 (Hangar)

Others
Descent - Level 7
Tom & Jerry Fast Piano (got this from some RPG2k game)

This experiment will probably go on for ages, I'm just grabbing MIDI files and seeing how the D-110s handle them. Of course, I plan to tweak some of the tones - Bowl Glass for example (the looping noise not only ruins various MIDI files, it can also get annoying - will post a sample if requested). For people who want to see a shoddy camera shot of both D-110's together (and turned on), here's an image.

Of course, I'm up for any other MIDI files people may have that they'd like to try. I gather people would like to hear more solo organs after MI1, but unfortunately I can't find any

[mace]

Intertesting project.
Two D-110's It might just be crazy enough to work!

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE?

_{here end the vague pop culture references.} 

If you ask me, the original versions of the songs sound better, more balanced somehow.
Silpheed sounds alot cleaner though, unlike my MT-32

[Tom]

I would think a better way to really test the GM's patch ability is to test it against MIDI files that were originally designed for GM, not songs that have been converted from the MT-32.  Space Quest 6, King's Quest 7, Quest For Glory 3/4, etc.  Converted GM songs often use sounds that aren't perfectly matched to what they've been converted from or composed for.

[mace]

Yeah, LA midi converted to GM playing on a LA machine with GM patches.
Doesn't seem too logical to me.

[Rhizome]

That never crossed my mind actually 

Added Space Quest 6 & King's Quest 7 introductions. Let me know if there's any others you would like to compare - I would have done Quest for Glory 3, but I need to remove the embedded sysex data from the GM MIDI (both D-110s went silent until I reset it's internal ROM)

I've never actually played Space Quest 6 nor King's Quest 7, but I'll be trying the intros on my CM-300 later 

[Cloudschatze]

As Alastair knows I bought a second D-110 for an experiment

To see if there was something wrong with the first one?

I don't recall, but were you ever able to get the SysEx transfer issue resolved? Was it a DosBox issue?

[Rhizome]

To see if there was something wrong with the first one?

And that 

I don't recall, but were you ever able to get the SysEx transfer issue resolved? Was it a DosBox issue?

I would say it was. Both D-110s do the same thing - either give complete silence, or play incorrectly

It's unfortunate that I can't get those D-110 patches to work, as with both D-110s connected together it would almost eliminate that poly issue.

[Alistair]

I'm surprised the Silpheed tracks sound so much like the MT-32, it's really impressive. I think you'll find the MT's organ is pretty similar to that though (the D-110 one sounds like a cross between the MT and SC-55.)

Wait, that Intro sounds pretty uninspiring (I heard "Fighting.." first.).

By the way, the General MIDI files sound like the MT-32 playing General MIDI back.. i.e. bad.
SQ6 = very similar to MT-32 (crappy), except balanced even worse
KQ7 = I'm surprised at how the MT-32 doesn't totally butcher it, but still, I have to ask, why try and play GM tracks back on this device. It sounds awful!

While there's merit in getting extra polyphony for MT-32 games, for General MIDI tracks, I question it.

Finally, upgrade to a new Ogg Vorbis encoder man, yours is from 2004, and the best one is from November last year


EDIT: Forgot about SQ1. Ick, that synth brass isn't a patch on the MT-32 trumpet (or is it actually a trumpet? ).

Nah, I don't really like this rendition at all. Anyway, i'm going to declare this experiment a failure- I hate hearing Gm tracks played on a MT-32 (or D-110), when they're designed for GM, and even the MT-32 soundtracks converted sounds pretty bad (although the Silpheed ones were OK). But in the end, the converted ones just sound like the MT-32 but worse anyway, so what's the point?

- Alistair

[Rhizome]

The experiment was just for some fun mostly. I'm just getting the hang of programming them - having the manual (which is about 122 pages) is VERY handy for this module

Regarding the "proper" D-110 Sierra tracks, I actually tried dumping the sysex data to see if it wasn't actually sending it to find it *was* sending it (128 lines) which now REALLY stumps me.

I tried sending the sysex data manually, and got this on the screen:

        PLEASE
INSERT BUCKAZOID

then...

*  SPACE QUEST  *
*          III           *

However, it's still not playing correctly. Some tones don't play, and some sound wrong. Memory protection/channel command is off and the unit is set to #17. I even tried playing back the MT-32 MIDI from the Quest Studios front page (which is the same one the D-110 is sent if I remember correctly), yet that just did the exact same thing as the game does.

Very dissapointing - I don't know what you did Cloudschatze to get your's working, but both of mine refuse to

I've uploaded the .sysex patch I made if anyone wants to see if the problem is there.

[Cloudschatze]

I've uploaded the .sysex patch I made if anyone wants to see if the problem is there.

Eh, this isn't everything, I hope?

[Rhizome]

Eh, this isn't everything, I hope?

That's everything that is sent to the D-110 at the beginning of SQ3 - let me guess, it's not all of it?

[Cloudschatze]

That's everything that is sent to the D-110 at the beginning of SQ3 - let me guess, it's not all of it?

Yes. Have you tried the same from outside of DosBox? The SCI0 games will work with the Elite's MIDI interface, if you haven't an actual MPU-401 device.

[Rhizome]

Problem solved - it appears the driver I was using wasn't the correct one (I didn't realise I had to use the one in D110.com) 

Time to get the parts setup like I did for GM, extract the sysex data and get some recordings with both running via the MT-32 MIDI files 

PS. Yes you can call me stupid after all this