Roland MT-32

[+DarkLord]

Hey gang. I finally unpacked the Roland MT-32 that I bought off E-bay

a few years ago. Externally, it looks great and I actually got it for a

fair price (for the time). This is the older model - it doesn't have the

additional headphone jack on the rear panel.

 

So I don't have any cables other than the P/S hooked up to it. It's the

P/S that came with it, 9v rating.

 

It powers on, green power light and an off-green colored LED display.

 

However...(always a catch, isn't there?), the LED shows nothing. The

buttons are all responsive and feel solid. Using any of them, including

holding down volume or Master volume and turning the far left knob

does nothing.

 

My question, does it have to have the output and/or MIDI cable(s)

hooked up before it displays? I tend to doubt this but thought I

would ask since I'm not familiar with it.

 

I'm attaching a screenshot of what I'm seeing here:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone...

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by DarkLord

[mickster]

2 hours ago, DarkLord said:

Hey gang. I finally unpacked the Roland MT-32 that I bought off E-bay

a few years ago. Externally, it looks great and I actually got it for a

fair price (for the time). This is the older model - it doesn't have the

additional headphone jack on the rear panel.

 

So I don't have any cables other than the P/S hooked up to it. It's the

P/S that came with it, 9v rating.

 

It powers on, green power light and an off-green colored LED display.

 

However...(always a catch, isn't there?), the LED shows nothing. The

buttons are all responsive and feel solid. Using any of them, including

holding down volume or Master volume and turning the far left knob

does nothing.

 

My question, does it have to have the output and/or MIDI cable(s)

hooked up before it displays? I tend to doubt this but thought I

would ask since I'm not familiar with it.

 

I'm attaching a screenshot of what I'm seeing here:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone...

 

Actually you should not have the green light, that's when the mt-32 is receiving data.  The midi message light should be out and the display should  say "1 2 3 4 5 R :vol" and then a number that changes with the volume knob.

 

That being said, its possible that the display is bad and but the unit is actually working.

[mickster]

here is a pic of mine

[+DarkLord]

Yeah, I googled for working Roland MT-32's and saw the normal LED output.

 

I was just trying to figure out if it gave that with nothing else hooked up but

the P/S. I guess it does.

 

So...I've got something wrong somewhere. 

 

[Chri O.]

See if you can run in test mode:

[+DarkLord]

Thanks for the schematic.

 

I tried it, but....with no LED output, how can

I tell if it's working or not?  ?

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

send it midi data or if you have a midi keyboard try that with it

[+DarkLord]

I've got the MIDI cables and 1/4" cables for output ordered, they should

be here today (Saturday), if the tracking is correct.

 

Once here, I'll hook everything up and see if it's operating correctly,

even if it's not clear by the LED.

 

I'm no musician, BTW. 

 

The only purpose here is so I can hear games like Ultima III, IV, and V

with their MIDI support. Or all the Sierra games...

 

Thanks.

 

[Clint Thompson]

Cool, hopefully you manage to get it working though the persistent green MIDI LED isn't a very promising sign. I've never owned one but have always been interested in them. Find it surprising that there are zero troubleshooting measures in the manual. Literally just directs you to take it to an authorized Roland dealer for repair lol

[+DarkLord]

Okay, the cables all arrived so...

 

I've got the R + L 1/4" sockets/cable from the MT-32 to R + L on my speakers.

 

I've got the MIDI cable from "OUT" on the Mega STe to "IN" on the MT-32.

 

Is there anything else special I'm supposed to do? From posts I browsed

through on the 'Net, just starting a game that supports MIDI is supposed

to do all the work and send what needs to be sent to the MT-32 and then

output to the speakers.

 

I've got nothing. I've got the sound from the game coming through the

monitor on my SC-1224 and I've got sound from my speakers from the

RCA jacks on the Mega ST to the RCA jacks on my speakers. Nothing

else, unfortunately.

 

Open to any suggestions and ideas... 

 

[Zogging Hell]

Just a quick thought, on the ST the midi out cable is slightly non standard (iirc pins 1 and 3 should not be connected).

There is some explanation here:

https://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/interfaces.php

Sorry if that's no use or you were aware of it.

[DragonGrafx-16]

1 hour ago, Zogging Hell said:

Just a quick thought, on the ST the midi out cable is slightly non standard (iirc pins 1 and 3 should not be connected).

There is some explanation here:

https://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/interfaces.php

Sorry if that's no use or you were aware of it.

Pins 1 and 3 are not connected on any MIDI cable... that is standard. A DIN 5 cable that has all pins connected is DIN Sync.

Edited November 20, 2021 by DragonGrafx-16

[+DarkLord]

Well, the MIDI cable I purchased is a Roland brand with

gold connectors... I hope it's okay. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Roland-Midi-Cable-Gold-RMIDI-G3/dp/B07284ZC25/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=roland+midi+cable&qid=1637452326&sr=8-8

 

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

I get my MIDI cables from Monoprice... $15 for one cable is nuts. Especially for 3ft. I got 8ft MIDI cables from Monoprice for like $4 each. Gold connectors does nothing for a digital signal.

Edited November 21, 2021 by DragonGrafx-16

[atarian1]

For Sierra games, you need to configure the music for the MT-32. There should be a MUSIC.PRG program in the folder with the Sierra game that you run first to configure the SCI interpreter to play music through the MT-32.

[Zogging Hell]

12 hours ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

Pins 1 and 3 are not connected on any MIDI cable... that is standard. A DIN 5 cable that has all pins connected is DIN Sync.

Yes that is true but as you mention some so called MIDI cables have 1 and 3 connected, so thought I'd check As Darklord got his from Roland it seems unlikely.

[+poobah]

Bit of an oddball thing to check (since the symptoms aren't the norm):

Roalnd in their infinite wisdom has the DC in jack wired as center negative, where most of the sane world has center positive. I've repaired quite a bit of Roland stuff where someone has plugged in a center pos adapter. Normally that takes out the protection diode and that's all, sometimes it is worse. Is the adapter the correct one for the MT-32?

[DragonGrafx-16]

4 hours ago, poobah said:

Bit of an oddball thing to check (since the symptoms aren't the norm):

Roalnd in their infinite wisdom has the DC in jack wired as center negative, where most of the sane world has center positive. I've repaired quite a bit of Roland stuff where someone has plugged in a center pos adapter. Normally that takes out the protection diode and that's all, sometimes it is worse. Is the adapter the correct one for the MT-32?

Actually most music gear is center negative.

[DragonGrafx-16]

On 11/20/2021 at 1:41 PM, Zogging Hell said:

Just a quick thought, on the ST the midi out cable is slightly non standard (iirc pins 1 and 3 should not be connected).

There is some explanation here:

https://info-coach.fr/atari/hardware/interfaces.php

Sorry if that's no use or you were aware of it.

Why does that matter? On any synth/sampler/anything with MIDI in those pins would not be connected to anything inside the unit. Generally the ST would be the MIDI master so there isn't really a need for a thru.

Edited November 21, 2021 by DragonGrafx-16

[+DarkLord]

13 hours ago, Zogging Hell said:

Yes that is true but as you mention some so called MIDI cables have 1 and 3 connected, so thought I'd check As Darklord got his from Roland it seems unlikely.

 

The description does say "4 conductor configuration". Does this have anything to do with anything?

 

Thanks.

 

[Clint Thompson]

On 11/21/2021 at 2:10 AM, atarian1 said:

For Sierra games, you need to configure the music for the MT-32. There should be a MUSIC.PRG program in the folder with the Sierra game that you run first to configure the SCI interpreter to play music through the MT-32.

^ this

 

also, in worst case scenario that you simply cannot get the unit to function (I'm guessing it's still sitting at a blank green LCD display with green LED MIDI indicator illuminated constant on as an error state condition) then carefully take the unit apart to see if there are any socketed chips that can be re-seated. While unlikely to fix your issue, it's worth a shot if there are any as these old units tend to build up corrosion quite easily causing unpleasant issues.

 

*it does not look like there any chips at all that can be re-seated but maybe one of the cables have jarred loose or even worse, some of the capacitor needs replaced but still very possibly fixable...

 

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

More likely it is just a bad screen.

[+DarkLord]

Don't have time at the moment, but when I get the chance I'll take

it apart and see if anything appears out of place. I'll report back

here if/when I find something solid.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

[+DarkLord]

Okay, some progress to report. I opened the MT-32 up and looked around.

 

First impressions, the board is very clean, no dust, nothing obvious like
an exploded cap or burn marks. No loose connectors or wires. Nothing
that easy of course.

 

However, I did remove everything that could be unplugged, cleaned
the connectors and hooked everything back up.

 

Some improvement. It's faint, very faint, but I can now see the text
in the LED screen. Not something I'd want to read by, that's for sure.

Point is, I can see the Roland name when I turn it on, followed by
(from what I've seen in the pics) a normal screen. Holding volume
or master volume and turning the knob does show a digital count,
up or down.

 

I can't get it to do a demo song, so I'm going to assume that is
because it's not one of the newer models (doesn't have the head
jack on the back panel).

 

I found the MUSIC.PRG software in the SpaceQuest III folder and
ran it. Pretty straightforward, easy to use. I started the game
and boom! I've got MIDI sound. Compared to the beeps and boops
of the original game it's pretty amazing sounding.

 

I've still got a problem though (aside from the almost unreadable
LED screen). I've got a background hum coming through both my
speakers. It goes up and down as I turn the volume up or down
on the speakers. I tried moving the speakers around, tried moving
the cables around (thinking maybe something was too close to a
power cord) but nothing has helped so far. It does really detract
from the wonderful sound of the game.

 

Any ideas? Thanks all... 

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by DarkLord
spellcheck...

[+DarkLord]

Oh, I also tried the Ultima games but I couldn't get any MIDI

sound from them at all. They don't have a separate MUSIC.PRG

program to enable MIDI so I'm not sure how to get them to

use the MT-32?

 

Thanks everyone.