Macintosh Performa 6116 & Roland mt-32

[Dimitris1980]

I am thinking of buying a macintosh performa 6116. I would like to connect to this machine a roland mt-32 so to play old adventures like sierra with roland sound. Does this mac model have the capability to connect it with roland mt-32? They told me that roland needs a 5-pin connector. If performa 6116 does not have 5-pin connector what can i do? (For instance my powermac 7500 doesn't have). Do i need a midi adapter? And what type of midi adapter. At ebay i saw that most of them are for usb port.

 

[Unknown_K]

There are MIDI kits for the mac serial port (macman midiman for one), try to find one of those. You will also need MIDI software.

 

[Andrevas]

I hated my 6116. I would get the suggested MIDI kit and use that instead on the 7500.

 

[porter]

You will also need MIDI software.

Apple's MIDI Manager is freely available.

 

[Bunsen]

OMS is also freely available (Open Midi System). Apple MIDI Manager runs best on older System software (7.x.x and below). There's nothing wrong with a 61xx if you're running a stable System (7.6.1 or 8.1 - 9.1) with enough RAM.

The 5 pin DIN plug (of which only 3 pins are used) is a MIDI plug. The 8 pin Mini-DIN serial socket on the Mac does require a Mac serial (not USB) MIDI adapter to connect to MIDI equipment. There are several discussions here on this subject, which you would have discovered had you searched. You should be able to pick up a simple one in one out MIDI adapter for next to nothing on ebay.

 

[Gil]

I use a MIDI Timepiece (original) by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU). I think even the modern versions have an 8-pin serial port for older Macs. MOTU's own FreeMIDI software works good. The MIDI Timepiece is not a "dummy" interface - you can do a lot of complicated setups with it. And best of all, you can find them for a decent price on eBay.

 

[Dimitris1980]

Now i have a macman midiman and a roland mt-32 but with no cables. What type of cable(s) do i need to connect the midiman to performa 6116(Serial: 2 Mini DIN- 8) and the roland mt-32 to midiman?

 

[Bunsen]

cable(s) / to connect the midiman to performa 6116(Serial: 2 Mini DIN- 8)

Mac serial cable aka Mac printer or modem cable aka LocalTalk/AppleTalk cable. 8 pin MiniDIN on each end.

and the roland mt-32 to midiman?

MIDI cable.

 

[Dimitris1980]

i bought a cable for connecting the midi interface with the mac. It is a 'Macintosh Modem Cable 3' DB25 M to 8-pin MiniDIN'. It features DB25 male connector with locking screws on one end and miniDIN 8-pin male connector on the other. But i have a problem. When i connect the db25 male connector to mac the computer gets stuck!!! It doesn't work. I reset it and it does not start. It shows only a gray screen with the cursor. When i disconnect the db25 male connector from mac it works again! What is the problem? I don't know if that helps or if it is important but i have the performa connected with a 14" pc monitor via 'HDI45 HDI-45 to HD 15 Pin Video Port Adapter'.

 

[Gil]

The DB25 connector on the old Macs IS NOT a serial port! It is a SCSI port, and connecting a non-SCSI cable/device could potentially damage the system. The 8-pin round ports are the serial ports, and you need to connect to those.

 

[Dimitris1980]

Ok i ordered a 8-pin cable male to male. Another question. Is it possible to connect the roland mt-32 to imac g3 with a usb midi cable (for mac 9)?

 

[Bunsen]

cable(s) / to connect the midiman to performa 6116(Serial: 2 Mini DIN- 8)

8 pin MiniDIN on each end.

connect the roland mt-32 to imac g3 with a usb midi cable

Yes

 

[Dimitris1980]

Yes the cable that i ordered is '8 pin MiniDIN on each end'.thank you very much for your help Bunsen.

 

[Dimitris1980]

i took a midisport uno usb interface. I connected the one edge to the usb connector of the imac g3 and the midi cable in and midi cable out male connectors to the female midi in and midi out connector of roland mt-32. Then i installed the cd software (oms 2.3. 8) for mac os 9 (i have mas os 9.1 and mac os 9.2 installed). I tried to run some games of sierra that support roland mt32 but it says that it does not find midi manager. I don't know why but when i restart the imac it always shows one message that finds usb midisport uno but no software. I tried also this: The sierra games have a folder that contain a file named midi manager. When i try to run it , it says that i have to copy this file to the extensions. So i copy it to system folder/extensions, i try to run a game and it says again that cannot find midi manager. What can i do?

 

[Dimitris1980]

And now for the performa 6116. I have connected midiman macman midi interface to the computer with a serial adb cable. Then i connected a 5-pin midi cable. The one edge to the midiman at midi out port and the other edge to roland mt-32 at midi in port. The midiman macman has only the power light turned on and not the other lights( midi in and out). I have copied the midi manager to extension folder but when i try to run some sierra games that support roland a message comes out that 'cannot find any midi clients or midi ports' What should i do?

 

[Dimitris1980]

i managed to run the games with roland mt-32 with my performa 6116 but i do not hear any sound. Do i have to connect the roland with speakers? It has two jacks i think for RCA (it says output L(Mono) and R).

 

[Gil]

Yes. MIDI and sound are two totally different things. MIDI is a protocol, you can't hear MIDI.

 

[Dimitris1980]

i did something like that: I bought a cable almost like this http://www.proaudiosuppliers.com/hosa-cmp-159.html. The difference is that all the edges are 3,5mm so i also bought two adaptor converters from 1/4" to 1/8". I connected these adaptors in the two jacks (L & R) of roland mt-32,then i connected the two edges of the 3,5mm cable in the adaptors and the other edge (the third) i connected it to the 'mic' jack of my mac. I don't hear a thing. What do i have to do? The roland all the time is showing midi messages (various titles of the music that plays) while the games are running. It seems that it is working.

 

[Dimitris1980]

At last i managed to hear sound from roland mt-32 . I bought the real 'Hosa CMP-159 Mini to 1/4" Phone Stereo Breakout 10ft' (http://www.proaudiosuppliers.com/hosa-cmp-159.html) and i can hear the sound now. The sierra on line games like King's Quest, Space Quest etc have a lot better music quality with roland mt Thank you bunsen for your help