Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

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philscomputerlab
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Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

Beitrag von philscomputerlab »

Roland MT-32, CM-32L and General MIDI for $50!



Apologies, for the catchy title. I just wanted to grab you attention because I am very excited about this project :). I am showing how to build a MIDI box for your Retro Gaming PC that will substitute Roland MT-32, CM-32L and General MIDI.

Instead of having to buy this:

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You can build something like this:

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Please note that a space notebook or desktop is required, but it doesn't have to be very fast. I'm using a 1.7 GHz Celeron notebook.

The main ingredient of this MIDI Box is the Roland UM-ONE mk2 USB MIDI adapter, which you have to purchase for around $50. I've tried a cheap one from eBay, but sometimes instruments sound wrong. So here it pays to invest a little bit more. Other branded products should also work, but I have only tested it with the Roland UM-ONE mk2.

The video shows step-by-step instructions of how to build your MIDI Box, and how to set it up for MT-32, CM-32L and General MIDI operation. Recordings of Monkey Island 2, Space Quest III, Ultima Underworld,

Parts needed:

ISA soundcard with MPU401 MIDI interface (UART mode, use SoftMPU for intelligent mode) and line-in
MIDI cable for you soundcard
MIDI joiner if necessary (female on both ends)
Roland UM-ONE mk2 USB MIDI interface
Spare desktop PC or notebook
Audio cable (headphone jack to headphone jack)

Software needed:

SoftMPU
Munt
MT-32 and CM-32L ROM files
BASSMIDI
Soundfonts
MIDI-OX

Specifications of Retro Gaming PC used in the video:

Gigabyte GA-5AX
AMD K6-III+ running at 133 MHz
64 MB PC100 SDRAM
3dfx Voodoo3 3500
2 GB CF card
GOTEK floppy emulator
CD-ROM drive
MS-DOS 6.22
Creative AWE64

Specifications of notebook used in the video:

Intel Celeron B820
8 GB RAM
120 GB SSD

Links:

Link to SoftMPU: http://bjt42.github.io/softmpu/

Link to Munt: http://sourceforge.net/projects/munt/

Link to BASSMIDI: https://kode54.net/bassmididrv/bassmididrv.exe

Link to soundfonts: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/general ... fonts.html

Link to more soundfonts: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtu ... soundfonts
Zuletzt geändert von philscomputerlab am Do 28. Mai 2015, 06:09, insgesamt 1-mal geändert.
falloutboy
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Re: Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

Beitrag von falloutboy »

Wow, das ist eine wirklich geniale Lösung.
Das ist die perfekte Aufgabe für mein 11,6" Netbook.
Vielen Dank dafür! :-)
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hofinger
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Re: Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

Beitrag von hofinger »

Very Cool, I have to try this out. :-)
I will give the 6€-Adaptor from Amazon a chance before buying the expensive Roland thing.

Dos anybody know where to get those Ganeport to DIN Cables? Couldn't find one for < 20€ :-(
Power to the pixel!
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philscomputerlab
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Re: Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

Beitrag von philscomputerlab »

I found this one: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MIDI-Organ-E ... 5d59081a0d

Postage might vary from your country.

You will also need a MIDI joiner: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Swamp-Audio- ... 1e6cdcebac

Another option is to make your own cable :) The pinout should be easily found online.
S+M
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Re: Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

Beitrag von S+M »

Big thx for the nice overview, I will try it :-)

By the way, if the second machine is a desktop, an old soundcard as MPU401-interface also works great (for example cmi8738) :like:
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philscomputerlab
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Re: Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

Beitrag von philscomputerlab »

S+M hat geschrieben:Big thx for the nice overview, I will try it :-)

By the way, if the second machine is a desktop, an old soundcard as MPU401-interface also works great (for example cmi8738) :like:
Great idea, good thinking. Didn't think of this :)

Let us know how you go.
drzeissler
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Re: Roland MT-32, CM-32L + General MIDI for $50: A MIDI box

Beitrag von drzeissler »

Das schaue ich mir noch mal genauer an. Vielleicht ist das was für mich, wenn dann aber nicht mit einem Laptop oder weiterem vollwertigen PC.
Denke da an den Raspberry.
CPU: 486 DX2/66 MOBO: SNI-D882 RAM: 3x16MB - FDD: 3,5" 1,44MB HDD: 6,4GB Seagate ISA(1): Audican32Plus PCI(1): 3com TX 905 OS: MsDos622 - Win95a - WinNT 3.51
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