External MIDI for the MD/Genesis.

[chinitosoccer]

I think it would have been a great idea if Sega implemented external midi synths support for the Megadrive and let the player decide what type music to play with, hook the Megadrive to a Roland SC-55, MT-32 or in case you dont own one of these people can always play with the YM2612 music that comes by default on the Genesis.
What do you guys think about?

Arcus Odyssey - X68000 - Roland MT-32
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1991/AO1.html

FZenki Axis - X68000 - Roland MT-32
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1990/AXIS.html

Gradius II - X68000 - Roland SC-55
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1992/GRA255.html

Granada X- X68000 - Roland MT-32
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1990/GRANA1.html

Thunder Blade - X68000 -Roland MT-32
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1990/THUNB1.html

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo - X68000 - Roland SC-55
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1994/SSF2.html

Super Hang-On -X68000- Roland MT-32
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1989/SHN1.html

Sol Feace -X68000- Roland MT-32
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1990/SOLF3.html

Pop'n Twin Bee -X68000- Roland SC-55
http://gyusyabu.ddo.jp/MP3/1991/DTTW55.html

[CMA Death Adder]

I always thought PC (DOS) games had the edge, back in the day, for one because most of them offered the user multiple graphic display options and multiple options for sound and / or music. That said, when people buy a console they generally want simplicity. That's why they ain't buying a computer. So to have a console offer multiple choices for music would be darn confusing to most, especially back in the era of the Genesis. I can't say I think it's a bad idea, because I own and appreciate the Roland MT-32, but I don't think it would've caught on very well nor would it have been implemented very well.

[j_factor]

Doesn't the X'Eye (or maybe just the Japanese Wondermega) support some kind of MIDI input?

[chinitosoccer]

I can't say I think it's a bad idea, because I own and appreciate the Roland MT-32, but I don't think it would've caught on very well nor would it have been implemented very well.

The MT-32 is great for old DOS games, but there's also great games for the Sharp X68000 that can be played through emulators like X68k-High Speed or XM6 wich lets you use your actual MT-32 (or CM64, LAPC-I) or SC-55 and SCC-1, Final Fight and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo are good examples.

Doesn't the X'Eye (or maybe just the Japanese Wondermega) support some kind of MIDI input?

I didnt know that, i have never seen or touched one of those MD/CD combos, but if that's true the Wondermega/X'Eye would be the coolest Sega 16bit setups IMO (for homebrew, since not a single MD game has support for MIDI music).

[TmEE]

Wondermega does have a MIDI port on it, but I do not know where its hooked to in the sstem, and research is pain in the rear end because of a lovely sprayed copper layer on one side of the board :/
...a game needs to be written specifically to be able to use the MIDI port to make use of it and apart from some special cart for the Wondermega, there is nothing more to it.

[Deo]

This wouldn't happen to be what you guys are looking for would it?

[TmEE]

This is a setup with a special cart + microcontroller that takes MIDI in and outputs the data to MD controller port which the program on cart interprets. Same thing is in progress for SMS too, by that same guy.

[nathanallan]

That's one of the coolest things I have EVER seen done with a Genesis!

[TmEE]

I'm leaving the microcontroller out and replacing it with a PC :P
my setup needs more attention, its way too incomplete...