After a long pause, here’s another guessing game. Do you recognize the five peripherals below? This should be very easy since the manufacturers’ names are clearly visible, only the model numbers got “lost”.
This is all 1980s-1990s hardware from (obviously) Roland and Yamaha. The oldest module was made in 1987 or so, the newest is 1999-ish.
At least three of these modules are explicitly supported by some/many DOS-based games from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The remaining two work more or less very well by virtue of backwards compatibility with one of the others.
that is cool
Top is an ED SC-8820. Middle is an SC-55ST. Second from the bottom is an SC-88. Bottom is a CM-64.
Yamaha one is an FB-01.
Indeed. Not the best known synth for use with PCs, but supported by a number of Sierra games roughly in the 1988-1991 era.
Now why oh why did Yamaha think that soldering a lithium battery on the synth’s board was a good idea…
Very nice (or was it just too easy?). But why do you think the bottom unit is a CM-64 and not a CM-32P?
I said CM-64 because the CM-32P isn’t GM or MT-32 compatible and was seldom used as a gaming synth.
The CM-32L was MT-32 compatible (and was, therefore, suitable for gaming) but didn’t have a memory card slot.
Good thinking 🙂 And yes, it’s a CM-64. As far as I can tell, apart from the label it does look identical to CM-32P.
I’m actually not aware of any PC game that would support the CM-32P at all. Too bad really, from my brief experience the CM-32P sounds much better (more realistic) than CM-32L, although the MT-32/CM-32L is admittedly more flexible.
FB-01 is equivalent to the IBM Music Feature Card, which Sierra also supported, and which MESS emulates.
The synth is the same (YM2164), but is the IMFC really equivalent to a MPU-401 + FB-01? I’ve only seen the IMFC on a photo, but I’m guessing Sierra wouldn’t have separate FB-01 and IMFC drivers if they were compatible?
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