MT-32

They pretty good, but beware not to spend more on one than you'd spend on an SC-55.
Spent 50 bucks for mine and has been hooked to my 486 PC ever since. If you're planning to use it with late 80s DOS games and don't have a real/100% compatible MPU-401 unit/card you'll need to find a tsr that will emulate the Intelligent mode of this MIDI interface (most so called MPU-401 compatible MIDI interfaces only support the UART mode). Personally, I use SoftMPU to allow game games like Silpheed, Zeliard and King Quest I to use the MT-32 through my SB16 MIDI port.

Anyway, some good MT-32 tunes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFF7LgUE8d4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5NwzCb7_ks

>>3714594
Thanks heaps, good advice on here is a diamond dozen.

>>3714580
You can just pirate the ROM of MT-32 or any retro Roland device and emulate it... unless you're autist about muh accuracy.

I just use a soundfont that ripped samples from a real MT32, and load it up in BASSMIDI. It's pretty good, but some of the sound samples seem to be glitchy? Then again I was testing it on adventure games that didn't really support it.

>>3714606
Yeah I wanted it primarily for adventures, especially Monkey Island as I play the series through once a year.
My hardware is all original, just thought I'd treat myself to some silly audio.
I know I could just emulate/go the SCUMMVM route but something about playing on original hardware feels better.

>>3714606
Emulation it is good for 32-bit Windows uses and the likes, almost undistinguishable from the real thing (Roland didn't use tricks and the likes for his ROM routines, it's just straight math done by the DSP and that's it), but if his retro PC is running DOS and not Windows, that's another story.

>>3714614
*silky

>>3714615
It's a DOS machine, thanks for the insight.
I do have Windows 3.11 for a few enhanced games (IE. Kings Quest 6) but obviously that's irrelevant.

>>3714614
http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=33990

More info and link to the MT32 soundfont above. But it doesn't work for sounds , only for music. You need to stack it with a another GM soundfont for MIDI sound effects

>>3714645
Thanks so much, you guys seem to know your shit.

>>3714619
What are this machine's specs? CPU, RAM, Soundcard etc...

>>3714652
486dx2, 8MB ram, random SiS graphics adapter and a generic ESS Audiodrive soundcard, which I'll have to upgrade to a decent MPU card I assume?

>>3714664
>486dx2, 8MB ram
Pretty good for 1992/1993 stuff m8, that's exactly what I have on my own DOS PC.
>ESS Audiodrive, which I'll have to upgrade to a decent MPU card I assume?
No need, the real MPU units are really, REALLY expensive (if you even find one that isn't a PC-9801 C-Bus version), with the lest version of SoftMPU you shouldn't have any issue at all.

>>3714737
Ok, got it.
Again thanks.

>>3714580
Hey Clint.

>>3714752
OP here, not Clint but I did watch did watch his latest vid.
Cringed at the foil wrapped video adapters and unsleeved floppies though.

>>3714737
AFAIK you can plug a Roland device into a Sound Blaster AWE card. Not sure how much those cost these days on jewish ebay

>>3714961
You can but you'll need to use SoftMPU for late 80s DOS games (and some early 90s ones as well) to use it because, like I said earlier, the """MPU-401""" interface of Soundblaster cards aren't 100% compatible with the MPU-401, they lack the intelligent mode that those games use.

>>3714580
I actually have one of these and I cannot for the life of me get one to work. I've been trying to plug in a MIDI controller keyboard to use it to make music but I can't make it cooperate for some reason.

>>3715020
The default configuration of the unit assign the first channel to MIDI channel #2, try to use your keyboard on that channel.

>>3715029
Thanks, I'll see if I can make that work after work later tonight. I'm using an M-Audio Keystation 49e, and trying to send the audio outs from the MT-32 into a firewire interface into Logic. I'd love to get my USB-to-MIDI cable to interface with the MT-32 so that I can use its MIDI brain as an instrument within Logic itself so that I can quantize notes and everything, but I can not figure out how to make that happen, and it seems like one of those things that's way too specific to have any examples of on the internet, unfortunately. I never really thought to ask on /vr/!