Wing Commander 1/2 on Roland D110

Darkmage

Vice Admiral
Has anyone tried to use Wing Commander on a Roland D-110 Synth? It's supposed to be the professional version of the MT-32. I have a rare chance to pick one up and I just want to confirm if anyone has tried it.
 
I have not, but I'll be interested to know how it goes!

I do think the external MT-32 is probably the canonical piece of hardware for Wing Commander, as the music was originally composed on one.
 
Well, if the D-110 has the same instrument patches as the MT-32, then it would sound pretty much the same. "Pretty much" because the MT-32 has a few limitations intentionally put in there by Roland to compromise the audio output. But if the patch banks are the same, you'll probably be treated to a better audio experience.

There is also a question of whether the D-110 supports the SysEx of the MT-32 - some like the LCD don't matter, but I believe custom instruments are used - if they are not handled properly then there will be missing effects. Personally, I'd say go for it, but it's your money. (The SC-55 can be put into "MT-32" mode but it doesn't handle the SysEx, so you lose the effects. Even my SC-88Pro in CM-64 mode (a mode combining the CM-32L and CM-32P into one box, with the CM-32L being the "computer" version of the MT-32. The "L" being LA synthesis, the "P" meaning PCM samples, i.e., wavetable).has the effects sounding odd.
 
Well, if the D-110 has the same instrument patches as the MT-32, then it would sound pretty much the same. "Pretty much" because the MT-32 has a few limitations intentionally put in there by Roland to compromise the audio output. But if the patch banks are the same, you'll probably be treated to a better audio experience.

It doesn't. Annoyingly for people wanting to use it with games, the D-110 isn't just an MT-32 with better quality parts. The patch list is different, and at the very least the samples are not arranged in the same order as on the MT-32 (I'm not 100% certain all of the samples are the same either, although I think they probably are).

The D-110 does obey the same SYSEX as the MT-32 but, because of the sample order being different, you're screwed if the games use custom instruments, as it will load the wrong samples. Instruments that use pure synth should work fine, but the majority will use the PCM samples in some manner. If they don't use custom instruments, and instead use the MT-32's default timbre set, it is possible to recreate the MT-32's patches and arrange them in the correct order on the D-110. I really don't recommend buying a D-110 for gaming as its utility is limited for that (I made the mistake of thinking it was a high quality MT-32, but I had some other uses for it before I got hold of a D-50). There were a few Sierra games that had D-110 support though, IIRC.
 
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