brk102@leah.albany.edu (Brian King) (03/19/91)
I am in the market for purchasing a new music board for my 386 box. I currently own the SoundBlaster, and it is nice for games, but you really can not do any worthwhile composing with it, not to mention that it does not support the MIDI standard used in the music business (the Roland MPU-401). I am very interested in the Roland MT-32, but I heard rumors that it has been discontinued. Is this true? If so, why? I'm also interested in the LAPC-1. What can the Roland MT-32 do that the LAPC-1 can not? The ads I see simply state that the LAPC-1 is an MT-32 on a card. Then what are all of those buttons on the front of the MT-32 for? (BTW, where does the MT-32 plug into? Does it come with a card? Does it plug into the parallel port?) What would you recommend? Are there other companies out there that have comparable equipment that I should check out? What are the going prices for this stuff? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Please send me e-mail and I will post a summary. -Brian King University at Albany Internet: brk102@leah.albany.edu Bitnet: brian@albnyvms.bitnet
david@kessner.denver.co.us (David Kessner) (03/19/91)
In article <1991Mar18.231419.2295@sarah.albany.edu> brk102@leah.albany.edu (Brian King) writes: >I am in the market for purchasing a new music board for my 386 box. I >currently own the SoundBlaster, and it is nice for games, but you really can >not do any worthwhile composing with it, not to mention that it does not [ Stuff deleted ] >What would you recommend? Are there other companies out there that >have comparable equipment that I should check out? What are the going >prices for this stuff? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. > >Please send me e-mail and I will post a summary. > >-Brian King > Internet: brk102@leah.albany.edu Hmmm. The MT-32 is a sound module that is similar to the Roland D-5/10/20 synthesizers. Now, a sound module is just a synthesizer without a keyboard-- relying on MIDI data to play the notes rather than input from the keyboard. The normal method of connecting (the now discontinued) MT-32 to a computer is with a MIDI interface (available for about $125, for MPU-401 compatable). Roland then came out with the LAPC-32 (or something like that). It is basically a MT-32 and an MPU-401 compatable MIDI interface on a PC card. I always wondered about the quality of the sound these things produce-- since todays 386's have lots of noise, and the LAPC-32 is unshielded and usually located within 8 inches of the 386 itself and above the RAM chips. I have therefore never looked closely at the cost... At the same time Roland came out with some "sound modules" that are basically an MT-32, a striped down U-110, and the two in one box. These are external and require a MIDI interface. Now, you said that you want to compose music on it-- but you imply that all you have is the QWERTY keyboard from the 386. While it is possible to compose music with just a QWERTY, it is diffucult to experiment with different sounds unless you have a velocity sensitive "piano" keyboard. Having the ability to actually play the thing is even better! With that in mind, you have other options. There are synthesizers that might fit your bill. Namely the Kawai K-1ii, Roland D-5 and D-10, and several others. All of these can be bought (with anMPU-401 interface) for less than $1000. You can sequence all you like, or just sit a experiment at the keyboard. The only thing that it cannot do is play sounds from games-- that are written for the MT-32. This should not be a big problem since you have a soundblaster... - David K -- David Kessner - david@kessner.denver.co.us | do { 1135 Fairfax, Denver CO 80220 (303) 377-1801 (p.m.) | . . . If you cant flame MS-DOS, who can you flame? | } while( jones);