Roland MT-32 and EASE

[jcniest5]

Hi folks! Here is what I really want. Back in the late 80s, there was a company called Sierra Online, Inc. They sold the King's Quest, Police Quest and a few other types of games. Back then, they also sold a sound module made by Roland called "Roland MT-32 Multitimbral Sound Module." That sound module came with a MIDI Music Sequencer called "EASE." I don't remember what the full name is anymore. I need to find source for this music program.

If anyone knows anything about it or have any information, I would really appreciate it if you could relay them to me.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Maverick1978]

I'm more than overly familiar with Sierra..

I have a few MT-32's (all second-hand, none CIB). I've never seen mention of nor heard of EASE. I've seen quite a few of these CIB on ebay... can you post a link to a picture or something? I'm quite interested to see it.

Also... if you're just looking for a DOS sequencer, lmk - Voyetra's quite readily available, if you know who to ask

 

[jcniest5]

I'm more than overly familiar with Sierra..

I have a few MT-32's (all second-hand, none CIB). I've never seen mention of nor heard of EASE. I've seen quite a few of these CIB on ebay... can you post a link to a picture or something? I'm quite interested to see it.

Also... if you're just looking for a DOS sequencer, lmk - Voyetra's quite readily available, if you know who to ask

No, I don't have any link or pictures of it anymore. All I have is a disk that I cannot load unless I run the Setup program to load the roland MPU driver, VGA and Mouse driver, etc... Without doing that, the program wouldn't even run. It sets a few parameters for itself to run or something. The song file extension is something like .SNG. I've seen used MT-32s being sold on Ebay regularly, but never with the EASE music program. The reason why I'm seeking it: I have some songs under .SNG that I need to play and record into a MP3 file. Very unfortunate that I sold it to someone and they jush trashed it later. Been hunting for it for the last fifteen years with no success. Hopefully someone can give me a lead.

 

[Cloudschatze]

You might check with Tom Lewandowski, owner of the QuestStudios website. He'd mentioned owning the EASE software a number of times on the forum there, and while he wasn't sure of the whereabouts then, he may have found it by now.

I have Roland's MUSE software for the Commodore 64, if anyone ever cares, or comes looking for that.

 

[jcniest5]

You might check with Tom Lewandowski, owner of the QuestStudios website. He'd mentioned owning the EASE software a number of times on the forum there, and while he wasn't sure of the whereabouts then, he may have found it by now.

I have Roland's MUSE software for the Commodore 64, if anyone ever cares, or comes looking for that.

Thanks for the info. I just contacted him via his website. Hope I get some kind of lead.

 

[jcniest5]

Now, I'm getting a little closer. Here was what made me buy the MT-32 that came with the Roland EASE MIDI Sequencer: http://queststudios.com/quest/lounge.html

After listening to that Demo Cassette, I had no doubt in my mind I wanted it. BAD!

For those that have never heard about Roland EASE program before, if you listen to the PC MUSIC CARD AND DEMONSTRATION link, the narrator mentioned about it later in that demo (side one).

These days, there are far more advanced music sequencers available, that can do much, much more, but at that time, it was the greatest thing I've ever bought.

 

[Maverick1978]

Now, I'm getting a little closer. Here was what made me buy the MT-32 that came with the Roland EASE MIDI Sequencer: http://queststudios.com/quest/lounge.html

After listening to that Demo Cassette, I had no doubt in my mind I wanted it. BAD!

For those that have never heard about Roland EASE program before, if you listen to the PC MUSIC CARD AND DEMONSTRATION link, the narrator mentioned about it later in that demo (side one).

These days, there are far more advance music sequencers available, that can much, much more, but at that time, it was the greatest thing I've ever bought.

Yeah... I've listened to that from Tom's site too I've been looking for that cassette for years... I finally found the Sierra Soundtrack Collection CD last year and purchased it (for WAY more'n I should've). One day I'll have the cassette in my collection too.

Good luck in your search for the SW. If you find it, PM me - I wouldn't mind putting it up on my site for a more permanent home on the web.

 

[jcniest5]

Yeah... I've listened to that from Tom's site too I've been looking for that cassette for years... I finally found the Sierra Soundtrack Collection CD last year and purchased it (for WAY more'n I should've). One day I'll have the cassette in my collection too.

Good luck in your search for the SW. If you find it, PM me - I wouldn't mind putting it up on my site for a more permanent home on the web.

I got a few Sierra Online games, Goblins, Silpheed, and a few other titles come to mind. I kind of still want to keep them, but if I ever want to just throw them out, I will give them to you instead. Will keep you in mind.

 

[Maverick1978]

Wow... that's very kind of you! PM me if there's something you need for your collection, especially as you've got the Roland... some of those sounds are just plain amazing - though definitely different from the beeper/Sound Blaster sounds I grew up with!

 

[jcniest5]

Wow... that's very kind of you! PM me if there's something you need for your collection, especially as you've got the Roland... some of those sounds are just plain amazing - though definitely different from the beeper/Sound Blaster sounds I grew up with!

Unfortunately, I do not own the MT-32 at the moment. I wish, though. It costs a lot now, since it is now a vintage item.

 

[Maverick1978]

Unfortunately, I do not own the MT-32 at the moment. I wish, though. It costs a lot now, since it is now a vintage item.

Depends on your definition of a lot... Keep watching the auctions - you CAN find them cheaply (~$30) if you're patient. Also, you might try putting up a want ad here - I picked up my 3rd unit recently from a forum member for $60 along with a Roland MCU-IMC an the breakout box (this is the MCA expansion card for IBM PS/2 systems, with my plan being to put it and my MCA Sound Blaster into my 8570, 9590, or 9595 for gaming)

Note that I only have 3 because I plan to mod my Gen 1 MT-32 with Robin Whittle's Real World mods and I wanted another Gen1 as a backup. I've also a Gen2 MT-32. I keep these because some games were written specifically for the Gen1 and took advantage of its bugs to produce its music and do no sound correct on a Gen2. Similarly, there are games that were made with a Gen2 that do not sound correct when played with a Gen1 (not many, mind you, but I figured what the heck - it was cheap)

Also... for gaming on the cheap, DOSBox has built-in MT-32 emulation that is pretty good. If you prefer a real machine, you can get a Sound Blaster AWE model that has the waveboard memory chips (CT2760, IIRC?), load the MT-32 set into the memory, then have at it. Note that I've only read about others doing this on various forums, and have not done it myself (I've no need to)

 

[Great Hierophant]

The card is the MPU-IMC. I would be very interested in hearing how it and an MCA Sound Blaster work in a PS/2. I would strongly suggest looking for the Pro model.

The CT-2760 is the first of many AWE32s. SB16s do not have RAM for soundfont patches, nor can they add it. Only the Sound Blaster AWE32, 32, AWE64 for ISA Sound Blasters have RAM functionality. However, even if you were to load an MT-32 soundfont bank into the chip and get it working in DOS, it will sound pretty bad.

Depends on your definition of a lot... Keep watching the auctions - you CAN find them cheaply (~$30) if you're patient. Also, you might try putting up a want ad here - I picked up my 3rd unit recently from a forum member for $60 along with a Roland MCU-IMP an the breakout box (this is the MCA expansion card for IBM PS/2 systems, with my plan being to put it and my MCA Sound Blaster into my 8570, 9590, or 9595 for gaming)

Note that I only have 3 because I plan to mod my Gen 1 MT-32 with Robin Whittle's Real World mods and I wanted another Gen1 as a backup. I've also a Gen2 MT-32. I keep these because some games were written specifically for the Gen1 and took advantage of its bugs to produce its music and do no sound correct on a Gen2. Similarly, there are games that were made with a Gen2 that do not sound correct when played with a Gen1 (not many, mind you, but I figured what the heck - it was cheap)

Also... for gaming on the cheap, DOSBox has built-in MT-32 emulation that is pretty good. If you prefer a real machine, you can get a Sound Blaster 16 model that has the waveboard memory chips (CT2760, IIRC?), load the MT-32 set into the memory, then have at it. Note that I've only read about others doing this on various forums, and have not done it myself (I've no need to)

 

[jcniest5]

Depends on your definition of a lot... Keep watching the auctions - you CAN find them cheaply (~$30) if you're patient. Also, you might try putting up a want ad here - I picked up my 3rd unit recently from a forum member for $60 along with a Roland MCU-IMP an the breakout box (this is the MCA expansion card for IBM PS/2 systems, with my plan being to put it and my MCA Sound Blaster into my 8570, 9590, or 9595 for gaming)

Note that I only have 3 because I plan to mod my Gen 1 MT-32 with Robin Whittle's Real World mods and I wanted another Gen1 as a backup. I've also a Gen2 MT-32. I keep these because some games were written specifically for the Gen1 and took advantage of its bugs to produce its music and do no sound correct on a Gen2. Similarly, there are games that were made with a Gen2 that do not sound correct when played with a Gen1 (not many, mind you, but I figured what the heck - it was cheap)

Also... for gaming on the cheap, DOSBox has built-in MT-32 emulation that is pretty good. If you prefer a real machine, you can get a Sound Blaster 16 model that has the waveboard memory chips (CT2760, IIRC?), load the MT-32 set into the memory, then have at it. Note that I've only read about others doing this on various forums, and have not done it myself (I've no need to)

I have no idea what a Gen1 differs from the Gen2.

 

[Maverick1978]

Thanks for chiming in, GH... I didn't have the time to back-reference through forum posts to see how faulty my memory really was (and i guess it was pretty bad!) Also, corrected my typo on the Roland card in my previous post.

I *think* it was VCF member ajimerez who used the Sound Blaster AWE patch bank with the MT-32 patches.. been awhile.

OP, for gen1 vs gen2 differences, check out the wikipedia article on the MT-32. Besides numerous bug fixes in the software on the roms, gen2 was also a completely different board with mostly different components.