MidiLink 2.0 looking for testers. (no MIDI devices required)

[BBond007]

What you are seeing here is a "Logon Matrix". Back in the late 80's and early 90's PC based Pirate/Warez boards would run software like Vision/2, VisionX, Emulex/2 and Oblivian/2. There is a selections for Logon Matrix type. If you set it to 0 (zero) for None then you will get a regular logon screen.

Thanks. I had a feeling it was working correctly...
After setting it to 0 the login works more like I was expecting...
I just need to read the docs and do some more configuring and make some screens with TheDraw now

I have also found out that Vision/2 will not work with any speed higher than 38400.

Very strange. I have no idea about that.
Vision-X seems to work fine at 57600...

[SHIFT838]

Very strange. I have no idea about that.
Vision-X seems to work fine at 57600...

I ran Vision-X for a few years from 1989 to 1991 I believe. I had a lot fun with it.

Are you planning on putting up a Vision-X BBS on the Mister?

there were a few of us that ran multi-node, of course to do that back then you had to have multiple phone lines.

I do not think that would be possible with midilink as it would have to be coded to distinguish between TCP sessions and route them accordingly to a different node.

[BBond007]

Are you planning on putting up a Vision-X BBS on the Mister?

Not Vision-X specifically. I'm just playing. I would just like to be able to demonstrate how a BBS worked (from both sides) using my two MiSTers.

My main motivation for adding the TCP/Modem stuff to MidiLink was for the ability to dial-out to existing BBSs and play some modem playable games between the two MiSTers.

there were a few of us that ran multi-node, of course to do that back then you had to have multiple phone lines.

I ran a single line BBS on an Amiga 500 for a while to qualify for a substantial discount for a USR high-speed modem.

I do not think that would be possible with midilink as it would have to be coded to distinguish between TCP sessions and route them accordingly to a different node.

I'm not sure if I understand 100%.

I was aware of people running multi-node BBS on Amiga and using DOS multitaskers such as DesqView. Given MiSTer cores only have access to a single COM port, I think that won't work.

Are you talking about running multiple MiSTer's ?

[SHIFT838]

I'm not sure if I understand 100%.

I was aware of people running multi-node BBS on Amiga and using DOS multitaskers such as DesqView. Given MiSTer cores only have access to a single COM port, I think that won't work.

Are you talking about running multiple MiSTer's ?

Yes, Deskview was one of the big multi-tasker apps used back in the DOS days. Typically a second copy of the BBS would be stored in say Node1, Node2, etc directory, but all one share the same message base, etc. just the executables, OVR's, Config files were copied over and the configuration would be changed to use a different COM port. Which back then would mean a different phone number for each node.

Of course today there are multiple node BBS that run from Telnet like Mystic BBS and Syncronet.

I was also able to get Oblivion/2 to run as well with MIDILink.

[Paradroyd]

BBond007, This is a reminder that I really appreciate Midilink and use it almost every day to call BBSs.

Thanks for all of your work on this!

[mahen]

Hi !

- are "sysex" supported when using Munt on the Amiga side ? I tried several MIDI players from Aminet which are supposed to support sysex and the MT-32. I tried to throw the Dune 1 and Dune 2 MT-32 Midis at them and it clearly sounded very bad / kinda random at times and off all the time. It that supposed to work ?

- I noticed the "download soundfonts" script was broken. Actually it doesn't download the SC-55 soundfont (broken link ?).

Best regards !! Thanks a lot for this very nice feature Too bad the ARM is too slow to support both ScummVM and Munt (yep, using the MiSTer for as many things as possible !)

[BBond007]

Hi !

- are "sysex" supported when using Munt on the Amiga side ? I tried several MIDI players from Aminet which are supposed to support sysex and the MT-32. I tried to throw the Dune 1 and Dune 2 MT-32 Midis at them and it clearly sounded very bad / kinda random at times and off all the time. It that supposed to work ?

- I noticed the "download soundfonts" script was broken. Actually it doesn't download the SC-55 soundfont (broken link ?).

Yes SysEx messages are supported on the Amiga Side. I'm not what is going on with the MIDI players from Aminet you tried... I believe "MidiPlay" I use does. Maybe the problem is with the message you are sending. Some (like to set the LCD) have a checksum which must be correct.

I know MT-32 supported Sierra games work - which extensively use SysEx messages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_M ... dore_Amiga

I would suggest trying those. There is a "RESOURCE.CFG" file you edit and change to "MT32.DRV"

[mahen]

@BBond007 :

you may be interested in trying those soundtracks : http://gansweith.freehostia.com/midi/MT-32-MIDIFILES/

They clearly don't play properly from Minimig + Munt unfortunately. Yes, I did try several MIDI players (midiplay, the camd library player, and others, which supposedly support SysEx).

What is especially interesting is that some games have an mt32 init midi file that has to be played beforehand. It actually doesn't seem to make any difference although it should.

I didn't notice issues with the Sierra Amiga games supporting the MT32 BTW (although I'm not too sure as I don't have an accurate memory about those).

[BBond007]

you may be interested in trying those soundtracks : http://gansweith.freehostia.com/midi/MT-32-MIDIFILES/

They clearly don't play properly from Minimig + Munt unfortunately. Yes, I did try several MIDI players (midiplay, the camd library player, and others, which supposedly support SysEx).

For Dune II and Kyrandia anyway, The SySex files are getting rejected by MUNT:

Code: Select all

playSysexWithoutFraming: Header not intended for this device manufacturer: 7e 7f 09 01
SysexHandler: parseSysexFragment: SysEx message lacks end-of-sysex (0xf7), ignored
SysexHandler: parseSysexFragment: SysEx message lacks end-of-sysex (0xf7), ignored
SysexHandler: parseSysexFragment: SysEx message lacks end-of-sysex (0xf7), ignored
SysexHandler: parseSysexFragment: SysEx message lacks end-of-sysex (0xf7), ignored
SysexHandler: parseSysexFragment: SysEx message lacks end-of-sysex (0xf7), ignored

I will need to see if it works on my real Roland MT-32 Rev0. I suspect something is wrong with those files.

[mahen]

Thank you ! You can find alternate versions here that seem to behave the same way :

http://www.mirsoft.info/gamemids-archive.php

[SS4Rob]

I don't have MIDI hardware, but I would like to use MIDI music in Doom. Using ao486, I have configured UART to use MIDI / Local / MUNT, installed QEMM 8.03, and have 'softmpu.exe /mpu:330 /output:com1' in my autoexec.bat. I've downloaded 'MidiLink.INI', and run the 'midi_updater.sh' & 'soundfont_install.sh' When I configure Doom to use General MIDI (or Roland Sound Canvas) on port 330 and start the game, I get an "mpu-401 isn't responding @ p=0x330" error with no music. If I ssh into the MiSTer box and manually run 'midilink', I get 'ERROR: cannot open /dev/midi1: No such file or directory'. If I run 'fluidsynth', I get 'fluidsynth: error: Failed to connect to Jack server.'. I've been looking through the various wikis, and I'm not seeing clear steps, or what I could be missing. Any guidance or configuration instructions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[NegSol]

I don't have MIDI hardware, but I would like to use MIDI music in Doom. ...

I never got it running for DOOM or DOOM2. My guess is that softmpu is not compatible with the way doom handles memory.

[BBond007]

I don't have MIDI hardware, but I would like to use MIDI music in Doom. ...

I never got it running for DOOM or DOOM2. My guess is that softmpu is not compatible with the way doom handles memory.

Yes, SoftMPU seems to work best that applications that use DOS "real" mode and not 32bit DOS extenders.

If I ssh into the MiSTer box and manually run 'midilink', I get 'ERROR: cannot open /dev/midi1: No such file or directory'. If I run 'fluidsynth', I get 'fluidsynth: error: Failed to connect to Jack server.'. I've been looking through the various wikis, and I'm not seeing clear steps, or what I could be missing. Any guidance or configuration instructions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

If you don't specify any parameters then MidiLink is looking for a USB MIDI adapter.

You can start it manually using one of the following parameters:

• midilink MUNT
  midilink FSYNTH
  midilink UDP
  midilink TCP

The only reason you would start it manually like this is if you debugging something and wanted to peek at the raw MIDI/serial data. It is also very important to issue the command "uartmode 0" before manually starting MidiLink. If you don't then the daemon may already be running which will obviously cause conflicts.

Doom on ao486 is not all that playable anyway due to the framerate.

Can I suggest PrBoom+ running on the HPS? --> http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=117&t=37035

You can use FluidSynth MIDI sound fonts...

[SS4Rob]

Thanks for your input @NegSol and @BBond007!

Running the commands manually pointed out that apparently the SC-55.sf2 soundfont file that was supposed to be downloaded by running midilink_update.sh did NOT download the file, just an empty file. I don't know if the one I found on the Internet Archive uploaded by Emperor Grieferus is the same or correct version (103 MB, MD5: a9c10de9b7168ff762fc72ad5b8be6b8) but installing this, and PrDoom (which is absolutely awesome BTW, how did I miss this??), glorious MIDI flooded my ears!

Thanks for your help folks, and I hope the Google Drive link in the script gets fixed!

[BBond007]

Thanks for your input @NegSol and @BBond007!

Running the commands manually pointed out that apparently the SC-55.sf2 soundfont file that was supposed to be downloaded by running midilink_update.sh did NOT download the file, just an empty file. I don't know if the one I found on the Internet Archive uploaded by Emperor Grieferus is the same or correct version (103 MB, MD5: a9c10de9b7168ff762fc72ad5b8be6b8) but installing this, and PrDoom (which is absolutely awesome BTW, how did I miss this??), glorious MIDI flooded my ears!

Thanks for your help folks, and I hope the Google Drive link in the script gets fixed!

Bummer that the script is broken. Not sure why...

The link google drive link to the script soundfont is originally came from this video's description and still seems to work. --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J8-CgvC-As

The correct soundfont is the one that sounds best to your ears

It is also probably < 300MB...

[SS4Rob]

Ah, got it. Looks like it's the same person, and the one on Google Drive is newer. It is possible the script doesn't work anymore because I think the SF_FILEID has changed - looks like it is this now:
1G53wKnIBMONgOVx0gCOWrBlJaXsyaKml
I tried this version with Doom 2, and it sounds too reverb & echo-y to me, so I switched back to Emperor Grieferus Internet Archive version. Not sure why, I might reach out to the guy. Thanks again for your help, literal music to my ears!

[nightshadowpt]

Hi!

I've just recently decided to jump on the MIDI bandwagon and bought a Roland SC-88 Pro on the cheap.

Unfortunately the whole experience has been challenging, to say the least, as I cannot seem to be able to run ANY games without having "hanging notes" at some point, and that completely ruins the experience.

Here is my Setup:

• MiSTer with all the expansion boards (including 128Mb RAM), running the latest AO486 Core
  USB-MIDI cable - Roland UM-ONE MK2
  Roland SC-88 Pro
  MS-DOS 6.22
  SoftMPU 1.91

Does not matter what mode I'm running the SC-88 Pro (native, SC-88 Map, SC-55 Map or CM64 Map), some notes ALWAYS end getting "hung up". The longer the music is playing, the more notes get hung up, and it becomes an unbearable cacophony of sounds.

This situation also happens regardless of me selecting MT-32, General MIDI or Sound Canvas from the games options.

If I had to guess, it seems like some of the commands to turn off notes never reach the SC-88 Pro, hinting at a communications problem (timing maybe?).

Here are some of the games I have tried:

• Space Quest 3
  Kings Quest 6
  Kyrandia 2
  Guilty: Innocent Until Caught 2
  Ultima 6
  Eco Quest 2
  Leisure Suit Larry 3
  Police Quest 3
  Secret of Monkey Island

Anyone has had a similar experience?

Cheers,

[BBond007]

Anyone has had a similar experience?

I have a MT-32 and a SC-55MK2 and SC-88Pro all connected in a chain and don't experience that.

I would suggest unplugging the UN-ONE and just using FluidSynth for testing purposes. If it still occurs (or not) then at least that helps narrow down the problem.

I've just recently decided to jump on the MIDI bandwagon and bought a Roland SC-88 Pro on the cheap.

Maybe there is something wrong with it? You did say it was cheap...

Did you try switching around USB ports and is the HUB powered? For testing purposes maybe remove all unnecessary USB peripherals...

Does not matter what mode I'm running the SC-88 Pro (native, SC-88 Map, SC-55 Map or CM64 Map), some notes ALWAYS end getting "hung up". The longer the music is playing, the more notes get hung up, and it becomes an unbearable cacophony of sounds.

Also, keep in mind, a Roland SC-88 is not a MT-32 (or CM-32L) and they are NOT compatible regardless of the default soundbank. I'm not seeing where Ultima 6 even supports any Sound Canvas (or General MIDI) device at all.

[nightshadowpt]

Hi!

Thanks for coming back to me on this topic.

I have a MT-32 and a SC-55MK2 and SC-88Pro all connected in a chain and don't experience that.

Maybe there is something wrong with it? You did say it was cheap...

I've done some additional testing and I've ruled out the Roland UM-ONE and the SC88-Pro as part of the problem.
I have connected both to my modern PC and running the exact same games under ScummVM, they work like a charm with the Roland. Perfect music and no notes hanging.

I would suggest unplugging the UN-ONE and just using FluidSynth for testing purposes. If it still occurs (or not) then at least that helps narrow down the problem.

Done.

Fluidsynth sounds wrong and sometimes accelerates or slows down. No hanging notes though.
Also, not sure what is the default sound bank, but it sounds weird in some games.

Did you try switching around USB ports and is the HUB powered? For testing purposes maybe remove all unnecessary USB peripherals...

I'm using a MiSTer USB board (with one of those fancy cases).
I've removed all other USB devices (except the keyboard and mouse because I need them) and tried every USB port on the MiSTer.
The MIDI module is always detected, passes on the music notes, but the hanging problem remains

Also, keep in mind, a Roland SC-88 is not a MT-32 (or CM-32L) and they are NOT compatible regardless of the default soundbank. I'm not seeing where Ultima 6 even supports any Sound Canvas (or General MIDI) device at all.

Yes I know. That is why I have tried several games.
All the ones I tested work, but some of them sound wrong.
I was just providing examples of several games where I have the hanging note proble.

I am running out of ideas...

[BBond007]

I've done some additional testing and I've ruled out the Roland UM-ONE and the SC88-Pro as part of the problem.
I have connected both to my modern PC and running the exact same games under ScummVM, they work like a charm with the Roland. Perfect music and no notes hanging.

What about ScummVM under MiSTer? Does it also have notes sticking? --> https://github.com/bbond007/MiSTer_ScummVM

Fluidsynth sounds wrong and sometimes accelerates or slows down. No hanging notes though.
Also, not sure what is the default sound bank, but it sounds weird in some games.

MUNT occasionally has tempo problems when CPU utilization is very high, however, I have never heard FluidSynth on MiSTer do that...
FluidSynth has no default soundbank as it uses whatever ".sf2" SoundFont is specified in "/media/fat/linux/MidiLink.INI"
Are you sure you are not getting the two confused?

I'm using a MiSTer USB board (with one of those fancy cases).
I've removed all other USB devices (except the keyboard and mouse because I need them) and tried every USB port on the MiSTer.
The MIDI module is always detected, passes on the music notes, but the hanging problem remains
...
I am running out of ideas...

I have two ideas:

• - Try MiSTer_ScummVM for testing purposes.
  - Try a different USB HUB also for testing purposes.

I just have a hunch that the problem is somehow USB related...

I just ran Ultima6 with my SC88pro and seems to work well using "CM-64" mode. It sounds very similar to the MT-32 although the MT-32 still sounds better to my ears. No stuck notes for me going through the intro and the character creation and starting the game.

[nightshadowpt]

What about ScummVM under MiSTer? Does it also have notes sticking? --> https://github.com/bbond007/MiSTer_ScummVM

I have two ideas:

• - Try MiSTer_ScummVM for testing purposes.
  - Try a different USB HUB also for testing purposes.

I just have a hunch that the problem is somehow USB related...

Done!

We can rule out the USB problem on the MiSTer.
Games with ScummVM work flawlessly. Beautiful sound through the SC-88 Pro without any hanging.

MUNT occasionally has tempo problems when CPU utilization is very high, however, I have never heard FluidSynth on MiSTer do that...
FluidSynth has no default soundbank as it uses whatever ".sf2" SoundFont is specified in "/media/fat/linux/MidiLink.INI"
Are you sure you are not getting the two confused?

Not so much getting them confused, but more like having configured Fluidsynth so long ago that I forgot what the sound font font was using sounds like.
I am using the SC-55 sound font.

Anyway, I guess than it comes down to something stupid I'm doing with AO486 and SoftMPU, as those are the only two remaining elements in the equation.

I know that to use the MT-32 or Munt, I need to use SoftMPU because it is compatible with the intelligent commands, but I thought It was not required for games that supported General Midi.

Unfortunately, if I don't run SoftMPU, I will get no sound from my games (both in MT-32 or GM)

I run SoftMPU like this:

Code: Select all

softmpu.exe /SB:220 /IRQ:5 /MPU:330 /OUTPUT:COM1

Happy to test any other ideias.

By the way, thanks for the support. Really appreciated.

[BBond007]

I know that to use the MT-32 or Munt, I need to use SoftMPU because it is compatible with the intelligent commands, but I thought It was not required for games that supported General Midi.

Unfortunately, if I don't run SoftMPU, I will get no sound from my games (both in MT-32 or GM)

I run SoftMPU like this:

Code: Select all

softmpu.exe /SB:220 /IRQ:5 /MPU:330 /OUTPUT:COM1

Happy to test any other ideias.

By the way, thanks for the support. Really appreciated.

SoftMPU is going to be required 99% of the time as using a MIDI device on the serial port on the PC/Clones just not standard practice (like on the Amiga). Unless there is a specific option for MIDI over COM1 then you'll need SoftMPU.

The Sound Canvas modules could be directly connected to a PC serial port at 38400 BPS with a special cable, so there probably are a few things that support bypassing SoftMPU, but games, in general, need it.

Not sure is it will help but have you tried running without IRQs? I recommend that first and only trying IRQs as a last resort. The setting seems to break more stuff than it fixes. I made it an option in my boot process --> http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 54#p362630

softmpu.exe /SB:220 /IRQ:5 /MPU:330 /OUTPUT:COM1

[nightshadowpt]

Not sure is it will help but have you tried running without IRQs? I recommend that first and only trying IRQs as a last resort. The setting seems to break more stuff than it fixes. I made it an option in my boot process --> http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 54#p362630

softmpu.exe /SB:220 /IRQ:5 /MPU:330 /OUTPUT:COM1

I made it an option at boot --> http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 54#p362630

I was not aware that having the IRQ option could cause trouble.
Unfortunately I have tried it, but it does not fix the problem.

Could it be a matter of the speed of communication for the MIDI interface? Is there anywhere where I can try to slow it down (or accelerate).
Or is it even worth it?

Are you aware of any DOS app that I can use to test the MIDI interface?

[BBond007]

Could it be a matter of the speed of communication for the MIDI interface? Is there anywhere where I can try to slow it down (or accelerate).
Or is it even worth it?

SoftMPU requires 38400 BPS. PC UARTS did not support 31250 BPS (MIDI) speed.

Are you aware of any DOS app that I can use to test the MIDI interface?

I like Dosmid --> http://dosmid.sourceforge.net/

"DOSMID /MPU=330 TEST.MID"

You can also use Dosmid to bypass SoftMPU entirely, but you need another util to set the com-port speed. Dosmid does not do this and DOS "MODE" command does not allow higher than 9600.

UARTCFG 38400
"DOSMID /COM=3F8 TEST.MID"

UARTCFG came from here --> https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic ... 78#p390771

Sticking notes can caused be the wrong instruments, for example, an organ needs a note-off message and a piano does not.

[nightshadowpt]

You can also use Dosmid to bypass SoftMPU entirely, but you need another util to set the com-port speed. Dosmid does not do this and DOS "MODE" command does not allow higher than 9600.

UARTCFG 38400
"DOSMID /COM=3F8 TEST.MID"

UARTCFG came from here --> https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic ... 78#p390771

Thanks! Downloaded and tested.

Results:
Using DOSMID with SoftMPU or directly through the COM port port (as configured through UARTCFG) yields the same results.

Hanging/sticking notes

I guess we can remove SoftMPU out of the equation, as even without it the problem remains

Sticking notes can caused be the wrong instruments, for example, an organ needs a note-off message and a piano does not.

That is true, but one of the things I noticed during my last testing with DOSMID is that the notes that get stuck keep changing (i.e.: each time I run DOSMID with the same song, different notes get stuck)

This thing is driving me crazy!

At some point I even considered the problem could come from using EMM386 instead of QEMM, but I've tried a CLEAN BOOT, without HIMEM nor EMM386, and the problem remained.

Normally, I would pin this to the be an issue with the AO486 core, but it is very strange that it is working flawlessly for you.

What version of MS-DOS you are you using?