I had an idea about using rev. 00 firmware (v1.07) from a first gen MT-32 in a second gen rev. 01 MT-32. I have read that the opposite will not work, but has anyone tried this?
The reason I am interested is because there are games from Sierra and other companies that exploit bugs in the rev. 00 firmware that result in certain sounds sounding correctly on first gen devices but sounding incorrectly on second/third gen devices.
I am not sure whether this has ever been tried. Since MT-32 first gen units are by far the most common type of MT-32 compatible available, I am not sure whether anyone would have a need to bother with it.
If the first gen firmware can work on second gen hardware, then you could burn a double sized EPROM (128K) and hook up A15 and A16 to a switch that determines which line is connected to the address bus. Each switch position would select half of the EPROM containing either the first gen or second gen firmware code. That way, you should get almost the ideal from both worlds, the greater reliability, compatibility and less-noisy output overall with the second gen hardware/firmware and the early compatibility with the first gen firmware. You lose out on the digital volume control of first gen units and will be prone to pops and cracks at high digital volume levels.
If you combine this mod, assuming it works, with my mod to turn a second gen MT-32 into a CM-32L, see here:
http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php/topic,2706.0.html,
then you will have the closest to the ultimate Roland MT-32 ever conceived.
