On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:28 +1000
Jonathan Gray <jsg@jsg.id.au> wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 26, 2025 at 09:16:36AM -0400, Thomas Frohwein wrote:
> > On Mon, 11 Aug 2025 10:54:25 -0400
> > Thomas Frohwein <tfrohwein@fastmail.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > Hello ports@,
> > > 
> > > This is a new port for munt which provides a library mt32emu that
> > > can emulate high-quality synthesizers like Roland MT-32, CM-32L,
> > > LAPC-I. This library can be enabled by dosbox-staging with the
> > > attached diff (it's actually enabled by default; had to disable
> > > it without the munt port) to use this emulated audio device. It's
> > > also picked up by games/exult, which is why I'm including a diff
> > > here.
> > > 
> > > For audio to work, ROMs from the synthesizers are needed to
> > > produce the sounds. dosbox-staging has some detailed info about
> > > those [1] and how to enable MT-32 MIDI. The address for the
> > > device has been 330 when software asks for it. I tested this
> > > successfully with a few games in dosbox-staging (Tie Fighter,
> > > Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, and Jagged Alliance). The
> > > instructions for Ultima VII via games/exult are here [2].
> > > 
> > > The port also includes (GUI) applications to work more with these
> > > emulated synthesizers for those with an interest in making MIDI
> > > music.
> > > 
> > > I've checked several other games/emulators that cover that era of
> > > MIDI music to see if they pick up libmt32emu (dosbox, dosbox-x,
> > > scummvm, sdlpop, shockolate), but that's not the case. We might
> > > need to be on the lookout if anything else from that era picks it
> > > up.  
> 
> A more general way would be to use the sndio midi interface like
> fluidsynth does.  Then you could use scummvm's support for sndio midi.
> Which is the same way you'd connect to a real MT-32.

scummvm actually includes mt32emu from munt for MT-32 emulation. The
files are in scummvm under audio/softsynth/mt32/. The way to make use
of the MT-32/CM32L ROMs is described at [1] (it works by the way).

munt would basically be the way to make this available to other ports
via a shared library. I'm not sure if fluidsynth or sndio midi would
know what to do with the MT-32 ROMs without the mt32emu layer.

[1]
https://docs.scummvm.org/en/v2.6.1/advanced_topics/understand_audio.html#mt-32-device-emulation

> 
> > > 
> > > ok for munt? (the diffs are for testing it with dosbox-staging or
> > > exult)  
> > 
> > *ping*
> > 
> > Re-attached the port and the dosbox-staging diff
> >   
> > > 
> > > [1]
> > > https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/wiki/MIDI#mt32emu
> > > [2] https://exult.info/docs.php#midi_music  
> >   
> 
> 
> > Index: Makefile
> > ===================================================================
> > RCS file: /cvs/ports/emulators/dosbox-staging/Makefile,v
> > diff -u -p -r1.1.1.1 Makefile
> > --- Makefile	5 Aug 2025 17:41:32 -0000	1.1.1.1
> > +++ Makefile	11 Aug 2025 14:30:05 -0000
> > @@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ COMMENT =	modern continuation of DOSBox
> >  V =		0.82.2
> >  PKGNAME =	dosbox-staging-${V}
> >  DIST_TUPLE +=	github dosbox-staging dosbox-staging v${V} .
> > +REVISION =	0
> >  
> >  CATEGORIES =	emulators
> >  HOMEPAGE =	https://www.dosbox-staging.org/
> > @@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ MAINTAINER =	Thomas Frohwein <thfr@openb
> >  PERMIT_PACKAGE = Yes
> >  
> >  WANTLIB += ${COMPILER_LIBCXX} GL SDL2 SDL2_net c fluidsynth iir
> > -WANTLIB += m opusfile png slirp speexdsp z
> > +WANTLIB += m mt32emu opusfile png slirp speexdsp z
> >  
> >  COMPILER =	base-clang ports-gcc
> >  
> > @@ -30,14 +31,12 @@ RUN_DEPENDS =	devel/desktop-file-utils \
> >  		x11/gtk+4,-guic
> >  LIB_DEPENDS =	audio/fluidsynth \
> >  		audio/iir1 \
> > +		audio/munt \
> >  		audio/opusfile \
> >  		audio/speexdsp \
> >  		devel/sdl2-net \
> >  		graphics/png \
> >  		net/libslirp
> > -
> > -# use_mt32emu requires https://github.com/munt/munt
> > -CONFIGURE_ARGS = -Duse_mt32emu=false
> >  
> >  # avoid conflict with games/dosbox
> >  post-install:  
>