Sound Blaster MIDI setup


Tip
I recently added a new hard disk to my system and had to reload a lot of software that I previously used. I sorted out most of the problems that I encountered, without too much trouble. However, there is one problem that I cannot fix.
One of the programs that I reloaded was SB PRO (Sound Blaster software). It had a Juke Box and Media Player, both of which I used to play MIDI files. However, since reloading the software I get an error message when I try to play some of the MIDI files that I have, that says "This file may not play with the default MIDI setup."
I think that I have to change something in the MIDI Mapper setup, but I'm not sure what! Can you help?
-- Bob Lent

Editor's note: And Bob's solution is:
I have to admit that I spoke to many of my friends before a solution was reached, and they all suggested that it probably was a setup problem, and it was to do with the MIDI Mapper. The actual solution was found by trial and error, where I tried all of the various MIDI settings until I found one that worked properly.
While there were a number of settings to choose from, and some that worked in a fashion, the final setting I chose, which worked on all of my MIDI files, and worked best of all, was SBP2ALL FM
I don't know why this worked, and I still don't know all the ins and outs of MIDI settings, but it certainly was not explained and spelled out in the documentation supplied by Sound Blaster, or the people who put the Sound Blaster card in the computer, as part of a multimedia kit. I assumed incorrectly that by reloading the software the default settings would restore everything to their previous settings. But I hadn't counted on the settings being changed to something other than the default settings before the computer was delivered to me.
Thanks for any efforts that you have made in attempting to solve my problem, and thanks also for all the help that you give readers, like myself, through your Help Screen column.
-- Bob Lent

Editor's note: Thanks to you, Bob and David, for taking the additional trouble to write in with the solution after you'd found the problem. It's not only me who benefits from your efforts.

Category: Multimedia, Hardware
Issue: Sep 1996
Pages: 164-166

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