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Looking for an MCA Sound Card

E

EverythingIBM

Experienced Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2010
Messages
367
Location
Canada
I require an MCA sound card, if anyone has one *cough*
--> It can't be an M-Audio or soundblaster one. The M-Audio ones are rubbish, and the MCA soundblasters won't operate properly on a pentium 1 at 180 Mhz.
 
I sent them a message, but haven't heard back so far.
I'll pop their other email address a message after December.

Worse comes to worst, I'll just have to fabricate my own MCA soundcard and use the model 56 as a testing dummy and NOT the model 95. Although I hate programming, and I'm not sure how I'll program drivers yet.

Hardware will be easy enough though.
 
There are Roland MPU-IMC for sale here: http://cgi.ebay.es/251399900295.

The seller has 3 NOS/NIB and offered them to me (all 3) for EUR 650 including international shipping. There is no digital sample playback on these: you would hook up your MIDI devices for music / sound effect playback.
 
EverythingIBM said:
I sent them a message, but haven't heard back so far.
I'll pop their other email address a message after December.

Worse comes to worst, I'll just have to fabricate my own MCA soundcard and use the model 56 as a testing dummy and NOT the model 95. Although I hate programming, and I'm not sure how I'll program drivers yet.

Hardware will be easy enough though.
Click to expand...

That sounds... fun. Using a standard ISA chipset would be a way around the drivers issue, just setup the card at standard addresses that drivers look for. The ChipChat is an ESS1688 ISA chipset bridged to MCA, I bet the standard ISA driver package works with them.
 
PeterLI said:
There are Roland MPU-IMC for sale here: http://cgi.ebay.es/251399900295.

The seller has 3 NOS/NIB and offered them to me (all 3) for EUR 650 including international shipping. There is no digital sample playback on these: you would hook up your MIDI devices for music / sound effect playback.
Click to expand...

Wow. I sold an IBM Model 56 some time ago on this board and it had a Roland MPU-IMC in it along with the breakout box. I don't remember what I sold it for, but I don't think it was much. 650EU is around $888, so your seller is looking for about $215 per MPU.

I guess I can't get it out of my head that these things are honestly obsolete pieces of equipment. Prices for everything 'retro' just keep getting more ridiculous. Even NES games are getting wildly jacked up in price.

I did sell the Model 56 because I could not get a digital sound card for it. Sound Piper was another MCA soundcard, but that and ChipChat are un-attainable today, along with pretty much every other Soundblaster-compatible MCA soundcard.
 
I bought your card off of the Marketplace, IIRC. It didn't go for much... which quite surprised me! I put the bid on there hoping primarily to spur interest; I didn't actually set out to purchase it. But since no one bid against me....

That said, the MPU-IMC is relatively rare. As with anything, you'll often find sellers just throwing it out there with a high price to see if they get a bite. Invariably, it seems, someone with more money than brains will come out and purchase it, and thus begins the crazy pricing structure we often have with things of limited inherent value.
 
In comparison with other hobbies that involve collecting; computer items are still pretty affordable. Comics and books come to mind. Peope are willing to drop 100(0/00)s for items in those areas without blinking an eye.
 
Maverick1978 said:
I bought your card off of the Marketplace, IIRC. It didn't go for much... which quite surprised me! I put the bid on there hoping primarily to spur interest; I didn't actually set out to purchase it. But since no one bid against me....

That said, the MPU-IMC is relatively rare. As with anything, you'll often find sellers just throwing it out there with a high price to see if they get a bite. Invariably, it seems, someone with more money than brains will come out and purchase it, and thus begins the crazy pricing structure we often have with things of limited inherent value.
Click to expand...

Well I dropped $300 (w/ shipping) on one of those MPU-IMCs because at the moment, I don't have a solid MPU interface for my MT-32... AND, it will both allow me to use the MT-32 on a rather exotic computer, and let me get more use out of the model 95 at the same time. So I can't complain really. Plus I seen some of the ISA MPUs go for $400 and beyond. More than the MT-32s themselves...

--> I'm not buying it for a collection, but to actually use for music projects and some games of course. Really want to hear the bitmap brothers "GODS" on the MT-32.

Sometimes I sell certain computers or devices after I become bored with them. Or give them away. It's fun fixing up abandoned IBMs and giving them away to a friend who uses them.
 
MT-32s are the most common Roland module from that era to be found in stores and online. They are pretty cheap.
 
raifield said:
Wow. I sold an IBM Model 56 some time ago on this board and it had a Roland MPU-IMC in it along with the breakout box. I don't remember what I sold it for, but I don't think it was much.
Click to expand...

I was the buyer of that Model 56, and I elected not to get it with the MIDI card or box, in exchange for a reduced price. I have since installed an IBM M-Audio Capture & Playback Adapter, which is a relatively easy to find and inexpensive MCA sound card, although it is not Sound Blaster compatible, and its MIDI music playback sounds very odd, as bbishoppcm's video demonstrates:

 
PeterLI said:
MT-32s are the most common Roland module from that era to be found in stores and online. They are pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

Well I paid $20 for mine: which is a decent price. Anything above $50 is cutting into unpleasantries. But they're definitely nice either way. D-50 engine gets most of its flavour due to the fact it was created from limitations in sampling technology, which ironically make it better than most ROMplers.

Yea, the disadvantage turns into an advantage.
 
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