Vintage Hardware: The Roland MT-32
Now, I’m not much of a gear head. I’ve never been one to drool at the thought of collecting vintage synthesizers and other audio hardware units. VSTs are a good enough substitute for me (I can already hear all the hardcore enthusiasts screaming ‘blasphemy!!’).
But there was always one piece of hardware that I had wanted to try out as far back as I can remember. That piece of hardware being the Roland MT-32. You see, I grew up when Sierra On-Line was in its prime. The ‘Quests’ were some of the most popular games of all-time, and the company as a whole was always pushing the boundaries of what home computer technology could do. I remember being upset because my Tandy 1000 only had 256k of RAM, and when King’s Quest IV came out it required 640k! But at least the Tandy 1000 had a 3-voice music chip which could output music vastly superior to the beeps of the PC Speaker.
Now that brings me to my main area of discussion; that being the music of the Sierra-era games and the MT-32. Sierra were big supporters of this hardware unit because it could do something that current built-in computer audio could not. The music coming out of this device was amazing for its time (and is still pretty darned awesome today). I always hated installing new Sierra products and seeing the option in the menu for the MT-32 and not being able to select it. So, it made me curious what this thing was all about.
Fast forward 20+ years later and I finally own one! I bought it off eBay and don’t regret it at all. I’ve currently embarked on a ‘Quest’ to play all of the Sierra titles that exist to hear them through the MT-32. I’ve just started and I’m currently in the middle of the Police Quest 1 VGA remake. I’m not sure if I’ll play through all the Police Quest games, or jump around a bit. I think King’s Quest IV was the first Sierra game to make use of the Roland MT-32, so I’m really curious to try that one out as well.
To hear comparisons of what Sierra music sounds like through the MT-32, check out:
Also, check out this video on the evolution of game music hardware, using the Monkey Island theme as a test:
