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Wanted OT: Roland MT-32

strobey

strobey

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Joined
Jul 24, 2011
Messages
1,560
Location
Derbyshire
Alias
Tim
Anyone have one or know where I might look? Ebay not fruitful.

Cheers

Tim
 
What sound are you chasing Tim ? I have a Kawai K1r from the same period and a Casio CZ101.
 
Cheers guys, yeah @stoptap i've got a ton of old midi sequences I'd like to hear again and I used to have (somewhere still do) the AWE32 but was always curious about the MT-32 with it predating general midi and it's PCM/LA synth technique.

Very unique sound.

Something to play with over Christmas really.... that Kr1 looks interesting, I'll continue this on PM.

@JMP if you have an MT-32 do gimmie a shout.

Cheers..!
 
I don't have one of those, but do you really want one?:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/mt32.php

Looks very basic (I personally didn't like the D50 sound) and there's a ton of other gear that will play general midi files. I have the keyboard version of the Roland JV1080. Rock solid module with a ton of stock Roland sounds, GM bank, expansion possibilities.... about £120 on Ebay from memory.

The only gear I have for sale at moment is a Roland XV3080 (bigger brother of a JV1080 with JV&SRX expansion slots) and a Novation KS4 synth.
 
It appears to be just a General MIDI playback module. Most PC soundcards will do that so can't see anyone bothering with a VST.
 
General Midi sounds are a bit shît to be honest.

What Roland keyboard do you have @JMP ?
I used to own the Roland XP50. Beautiful JV sounds but the sequencer was a chore.
 
the MT32 was a hell of a lot better than everything else around in the day. In memory some video games had a setting to run better sounds on a MT32.

A guy on you tube did a video I scanned thru the other week. The 8 bit guy (or his sister channel 8 bit keys).

As midi modules go - your PC one is not as good as a MT32! Unless you run some VST or other plug ins.
 
stoptap said:
General Midi sounds are a bit shît to be honest.
Click to expand...

Yep !

It's an XP80 expanded with Vintage Synth, Dance, Techno & Orchestral II boards. I've been through every XP synth and JV/XV module tbh, the XP50 was my only synth at one stage and I've had a variation ever since. Never used the sequencer once, computer sequencing like Cubase or similar is the only way to go.
 
That's good info, cheers John. There's one currently listed in Nottingham too so win-win.

I had assumed the MT-32 was a good choice because of it's popularity and heavy support in older games, but I'm getting the impression it's fairly "domestic grade" from what you've said which confirms what ive been reading too. Basically, noisy DACs and built to a price.

I think I'll bite the bullet on your 1080 recommendation as it's looks like the kind of thing I'm after - really quite complex in comparison and plenty to tinker with.

Might be shouting you and stoptap for some expert advice though!

@Pick Holder yeah ive been listening to how stuff sounds on youtube, but like virtual pinball, emus and soft synths just don't do it for me...

Cheers :)
 
Pick Holder said:
As midi modules go - your PC one is not as good as a MT32! Unless you run some VST or other plug ins.
Click to expand...

Agreed !

strobey said:
I had assumed the MT-32 was a good choice because of it's popularity and heavy support in older games, but I'm getting the impression it's fairly "domestic grade" from what you've said which confirms what ive been reading too. Basically, noisy DACs and built to a price.

I think I'll bite the bullet on your 1080 recommendation as it's looks like the kind of thing I'm after - really quite complex in comparison and plenty to tinker with.
Click to expand...

What are you looking for exactly? Curious as you're mentioning 'games'. Is it simply a module that will play GM bank sequences?
 
JMP said:
Yep !

It's an XP80 expanded with Vintage Synth, Dance, Techno & Orchestral II boards. I've been through every XP synth and JV/XV module tbh, the XP50 was my only synth at one stage and I've had a variation ever since. Never used the sequencer once, computer sequencing like Cubase or similar is the only way to go.
Click to expand...
The JV architecture really was groundbreaking. Still sounds fantastic to this day. I've got a Juno G and whilst it has a great sequencer and fantastic sound editing/creation I don't think it sounds as full as my old XP50.

I've got a Korg Wavestation in the loft somewhere. Now that sounds special.
 
JMP said:
What are you looking for exactly? Curious as you're mentioning 'games'. Is it simply a module that will play GM bank sequences?
Click to expand...

It's all kinda pinball seeded...

So a whole bunch of things recently have made me realise I love oddball synth, recently the BSMT sound chip which is so staggeringly different compared to the FM synth OPM stuff used in pre-DCS, which as a kid i really loved listening to.

I remember burning an F14 sound rom to put into my Pinbot (went nuts about the checksum!) and listening back to the highscore looped theme for hours. Just brilliant.

On the gaming side, upgrading from SB16 to AWE32 blew my mind and suddenly games took on a different dimension. Sam n Max and Rise of the Triad to name a couple.

Also bundled with that soundcard was a copy of 'Voyetra Orchestra Plus' which was basically a girlie Cubase, but I was obsessed with it.

I've got a bunch of old sequences I wanna play back, all GM, some I made and some I hacked about with.

The MT-32 was my goto choice after watching David Murray's 8bitkeys and 8bitguy channels on youtube, as @Pick Holder said (He messes with some cool stuff, I'd recommend.)

I'd never heard it in the flesh but always saw it listed as a hardware option.
So sequences, old games, and jumping into the deep end of something I love but know relatively little about!

I'm collecting the JM-1080 Saturday :)
 
The roland D50 I loved in the late 80s, recently I love things like the Novation mininova and the MicroKorg.

Started using a atari st 520 then upgraded that to the 1040 running cubase, now on my mac I am on v8.5. Always stuck with cubase but do more audio recording now, back in my atari days I had the R8 8 track reel to reel rigged up with a smpte time code so you could sync cubase with recorded audio. So much simpler today when I have mixed albums on my home computer.
 
Pick Holder said:
The roland D50 I loved in the late 80s, recently I love things like the Novation mininova and the MicroKorg.

Started using a atari st 520 then upgraded that to the 1040 running cubase, now on my mac I am on v8.5. Always stuck with cubase but do more audio recording now, back in my atari days I had the R8 8 track reel to reel rigged up with a smpte time code so you could sync cubase with recorded audio. So much simpler today when I have mixed albums on my home computer.
Click to expand...
I'm a big fan of Novation and Korg too. Although I am selling a lot of my hardware. My Bass Station 2 is going on eBay soon along with a lot of my older gear. Two I'd never sell are my Yamaha AN-1x and my Microkorg.
 
strobey said:
It's all kinda pinball seeded...
Click to expand...

Same here, I once had the AWE64 Gold with a 4MB memory module upgrade and remember collecting loads of soundfont samples (sf2). Cost a fortune at the time and now pretty worthless.... Voyetra was my first sequencer too, bundled with the hardware I think. I've stuck with Cubase SE ever since even though it's old. Does what I need and runs under my designated refurbed Win XP PC that cost me a tenner ! :D As does, Steinberg Clean, Wavelab and other stuff I know inside out. Never felt compelled to upgrade.... although actually bought a Steinberg UR22 USB audio interface to use with my new Win10 PC but ended up going back to my Terratec 24/96 DMXfire setup in the Win XP PC. Still sounding great and working perfectly.

So for GM bank sequencer playback the JV1080 has this, plus about 4 or 5 Roland preset sound banks that are pretty good plus another bank of user programmable sounds. I got a load of .SVD format sound banks I can send you for it. You'd need to load via Sysex probably, there's free software available to do this.

If you get into controlling it with a midi keyboard consider some SR-JV80 expansions too. I've been through them all over the years and the ones in my XP80 are the best IMO.

I trust you have some software to playback the midi files and a midi interface to connect with the JV?
 
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stoptap said:
The JV architecture really was groundbreaking. Still sounds fantastic to this day. I've got a Juno G and whilst it has a great sequencer and fantastic sound editing/creation I don't think it sounds as full as my old XP50.
Click to expand...

Get yourself another XP50, the expansions really open it up. I got SVD soundbanks for it too you can have and you're right, still sounds great today:


 
JMP said:
Get yourself another XP50, the expansions really open it up. I got SVD soundbanks for it too you can have and you're right, still sounds great today:


Click to expand...
I think my Kraftwerk dreams are over mate.

Have you ever heard a Yamaha AN1x ? There are many who believe it is the best virtual analogue synth ever made.
I've had actual analogue synths that don't sound as good as it.

 
Yeah I've had one and know you can get good results from it, just the keys and interface didn't gel with me. Not enough hands on control of individual parameters. Was always pulled more towards the like of JP8000/8080 and Virus Ti etc. because of the layout. AN1X is good for the money though.

Just picked up a Roland System-8, that's exactly the type of control I like. :)
 
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