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DOS Midi?

TwiggyTwiggy
edited July 2017 in Software
I installed the sound blaster vibra 16 into the Pack-Mate III and while Windows 3.0 can't use it, DOS uses it fine, Wolfstein 3D detects and uses it fine, so I take it that it is installed correctly.

I tried two DOS Midi programs, one of them played the MIDI file, but I didn't get any sound,

the other plays and I get sound, but it loads it's own Sound Blaster Drivers for the 16/Pro/Pro 2 etc

However it sound different than it did on my previous systems when it was working.

Does anyone know what could be causing this sometimes lack off, and sometimes differing MIDI sound?

Comments

  • SomeGuySomeGuy
    That is the nature of midi. A midi file is just a set of notes. Each track in a midi file can be assigned to one of about a hundred standard MIDI "instruments".

    It is up to the application and sound system to determine what each of the instruments sounds like. And each one does things a little differently.

    Oh, and some earlier MIDI players expect to output to a synthesizer connected to a MIDI port, not a sound card. Possibly why that one had no sound.

    Somewhere on youtube there was a video showing how DOOM's midi music sounds different across a ton of different sound cards.

    If you want some good music on a slower computer, download some Amiga "MOD" files and a MOD Player.
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    yeah, I will try a MOD player.

    oh and also,

    This for me at least confirms that the PnP motherboard on my "solar" system was the problem.

    This is the same sound card that was in that system, but obviously due to the pack-mate three's age (the newest component I know of being from 1991), it is not a PnP board.

    both my 486 machine that bit the dust, and the deskpro also were not PnP boards, and they worked perfectly.
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    I found this:

    http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/Impulse_Tracker/

    is a mod tracker the same as a mod player?
  • SomeGuySomeGuy
    A "tracker" is usually an editor - but will often play the music as well.

    For a 286, I would recommend TrackBlaster: http://vetusware.com/download/Trakblast ... /?id=11992

    For slightly better sounding audio output (take advantage of 16-bit sound sampling), you might try Dual Module Player (DMP) but only the earlier versions ran on a 286.
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    SomeGuy wrote:
    A "tracker" is usually an editor - but will often play the music as well.

    For a 286, I would recommend TrackBlaster: http://vetusware.com/download/Trakblast ... /?id=11992

    For slightly better sounding audio output (take advantage of 16-bit sound sampling), you might try Dual Module Player (DMP) but only the earlier versions ran on a 286.

    Since I have a Sound Blaster 16 connected to a 16-bit ISA Slot, and a 16-bit processor, I don't see why I should limit myself to an 8-bit player, so I am going to go with DMP.

    earliest I can find is 4.0 from 1995 here: http://vetusware.com/download/Dual%20MO ... 0/?id=6788

    Would that be workable on a 286 or not?

    EDIT: Well shit, I found v1.53 and v3.02 but v1.53 doesnt support SB16 and V3.02 while it does support SB16, requires a 386.
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    I tried v1.53 just to see if it'd work, and it did.

    I had to type in dmp -i44100 -p220 -i5 and -c2 like the guy in this video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GNBMOFe7qs&t=203s

    I know that p220 means address 220 and i5 means interruput 5, and that information is correct for my setup.

    I don't know what the i44100 or -c2 mean, but it still works.

    Do you know what those mean?

    EDIT: -c is "Card type" -c2 means SB PRO. even though I have a 16, the -c2 parameter works just fine for me.
  • altracker9altracker9
    Just guessing, but it appears that the -i44100 is the sample rate, i.e. 44.1 KHz.
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