Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Do the sounds dissappear when you turn off the reverb?? The Digital
    reverb seems to be the culprit when I find something really 
    objectional. The other sounds (breath, etc) are programmed in &
    you really need a computer to change them (I don't have the capability
    yet either).
    								Jens

    I heard this noise when trying the MT-32 at Daddys, and when trying
    my friend's unit just before he traded it in on a TX-81Z. It seemed
    to me then, that Roland should have prefixed all the voices with
    'Breathy'. Unfortunately voices such as 'Breathy Snare', 'Breathy
    Xylophone' and 'Breathy Pizzicato Violin' are not very useful. In
    fact, they're downright annoying. Canning the reverb eliminated
    some of the problem, but left much behind, and much to be desired.
    
    If one can believe the photograph of the MT-32 on the cover of a
    recent Electronic Musician, then the culprit is poor design. Roland
    uses cheap, monolithic filters, rather than sinking the bucks into
    fine analog circuitry that will produce a good sound. Ensoniq did
    this to the ESQ-1 also. ESQ-1 owners will know the phenomenon this
    note is talking of, when they setup three slightly detuned sawtooth
    waves, and run them through the filter, with the cutoff frequency
    very low. What you hear is not a smoother sawtooth wave, but lotsa
    crackles and hiss. If this doesn't convince you, then try a filter
    sweep with the ORGAN waveform (ick!) You get the hissss and crackles
    in that one!
    
    Nothing short of ripping out the LPF chip, and replacing it with
    your own discrete version, will help. SSM manufacturers the LPFs
    used in the ESQ-1. They have just released a new pin-for-pin
    replacement, which I intend to put into my ESQ-1. The newer version
    boasts a 10db s/n ratio improvement. Maybe this will help, who knows.
    It's a cheap mod anyway. 
    
    I found out about all this after I got the ESQ-1, but BEFORE I got
    the MT-32
    
    dp

>    Do the sounds dissappear when you turn off the reverb?? The Digital
>    reverb seems to be the culprit when I find something really 
>    objectional. The other sounds (breath, etc) are programmed in &
>    you really need a computer to change them (I don't have the capability
>    yet either).
>    								Jens


  Haven't tried with th reverb off yet.  The breathiness I was talking about
  is not something that would be programmed in and it isn't the hiss that
  the MT32 is well known for.  It is alomost like a mouthpiece attack
  from a brass instrument or a *very* bad bowing attack on a string.  It is
  very hard to describe exactly what it is, but it is on the attacks of the
  lower pitched sounds.  Try using patch 57 (Contrabass) with some 1/8, 1/4
  and 1/2 note lines and you'll hear what I mean.  It is slightly noticeable
  on almost all notes though.

  Chad

RE: .2

    Keep us posted on that h/w mod.  If it works, I have a couple ESQs
    I wanna change ..... FAST!

-b

    re. : .0
    	Is what you are describing "digital noise"?  I have a Kawai
    K5, and have found that certain patches on it also seem to "click"
    as they sound.  The K5 allows you to do a lot of fiddling with the
    waveform, attack and decay, and I've found that modifying the attack
    (particularly reducing the speed of the initial transient) helps
    to alleviate this clicking.  
    	I don't know if this is the same for the MT-32, as that uses
    a different technology.  However, when I initially asked my dealer
    what it was he suggested it might be "digital noise" which I take
    to be a by-product of the synthesis process.  

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Note 2191.0                    MT-32 Modification                        1 reply
HYSTER::LICHTENSTEIN                                  4 lines   4-DEC-1989 10:45
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    I have seen an ad for a company in Oregon that claims to Modify
    the MT-32 to reduce the inherent noise level. Is anyone familar
    with this modification? I own 2 of them and would love to do it
    myself. Any info would be appreciated.

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Note 2191.1                    MT-32 Modification                         1 of 1
CSC32::MOLLER "Nightmare on Sesame Street"           20 lines   4-DEC-1989 11:20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            -< What I've heard... >-

	I was looking into them also, but I could never get an actual
	price out of ProSound (the people who would be shipping the unit
	off for the modifications) or a turn around time (I use this
	stuff every weekend, so I need to know how long this takes).

	Supposedly, you can get seperate outputs (Like the D-110),
	New Reverb functions (Like the D-110) and a front panel
	control system (Like the D-110). Each at about $80.00 per
	mod or less if all are done at the same time. I'm not sure
	if it gets converted to a single high rack mount unit of not.

	I popped apart a D-110 and my MT-32 & Saw that the boards were
	different (not greatly) and most of the chips were the same
	(the D-110 has a few more). 

	I simply can't survive without my MT-32 for 2 weeks while these
	mods are getting made, otherwise they would have been done 
	by now.

								Jens

    This has been discussed in at least one of the previous MT32 topics.
    Associated topics, FYI (from DIR/KEY=MT32) ...

 891 ORACLE::YABLON     29-JUL-87  30  Roland MT32 Multitimbral LA Synth Module
 989   AQUA::ROST       23-OCT-87  61  Roland MT32 LA Multi-timbral Synth Module
1418  FREKE::LEIGH      26-MAY-88   5  Noise on Roland MT32 attacks (not hiss)
1429  HARDY::JKMARTIN    3-JUN-88  17  Electronic Percussion: HR16 vs. MT32
1894  VOLKS::RYEN        7-FEB-89  25  Programming Roland MT32 L/A Synth Module
1980  CURIE::DECARTERET  1-MAY-89  21  How do I get my MT32 to work?
2043  CURIE::DECARTERET 12-JUL-89   6  Hooking Roland MT32 to VAXmate
2068 YIPPEE::FIROUZIAN   4-AUG-89   2  Steinberg PRO24 Sequencer /Roland MT32 Question

    You might find more info somewhere in one of these.

-b