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ROLAND MT-100
Japan 1987

This is basicly
a Roland MT-32 in a Roland PR100 sequencer box, which
is a 2 track real time sequencer.
Some people
laugh at the Roland MT-32/MT-100, but I think the sound has
a
certain "magic".
Its already
worth buying for the "Soundtrack" preset, its got a lush
build in gritty warm sounding reverb and a truly ghetto drumkit!
I still want to
know if Roland ever put that warm cheap reverb in a
stand alone effects box.
The MT100/32
uses the Roland L.A. synthesis which is also used in the
D5/D10/D110/D20 etc. (The D50 used a more advanced version of this).
This is a
digital substractive method of synthesis, with digital
square, saw, sine oscillators or a PCM sample. You can put these
waveforms through an TVF (Time Variant Filter) which is a kind of
digital Filter.
I would highly
recommned one of those D-series synths over the MT100/32
because the MT100/32 does not have memory for user patches, you can put
them in while its on
but if its
turned off it loses all the user patches again. The only
thing going for the Roland MT-32 is its unresistable cuteness:

the original MT-32
To pump out the maximum juice Roland also tried to
market the MT-32 as a kind of MSDOS PC computer add-on, mainly in the
form of the LAP-I soundcard.
This worked quite well and a lot of games in the late
80s and (very) early 90s for the PC would have (optional) game music
for this box. In 1990 They also released the CM32L which looked like
something
of a central heating thermostat, coloured beige and sporting only one
knob with 2 LEDs, so it would fit more with the computer design from
that time.

Design Minamalism, the Roland CM32L
A Legowelt track
in which the MT100 was used heavily is E-PanMT100 You can
hear the drums of the MT100 and the nice sound called "E-pan"
This track Bannock
Bird Hat
also uses a lot of sounds of the MT100, like the
"Soundtrack" patch.
The
Mysterious SN-MT-32-09???

Is this the
MT-32 version of the famous Roland JD990/JV-series
vintage card? Or its far predessor?
Wait a minute
there are no card slots in an MT-32 or MT100 or
CM32L...there are no ROM cards or whatever cards for those
machines...what is going here?
Actually its a
soundbank with some "analog"-style patches I programmed
for the MT-32 you can download it here, this
picture of a supposed
MT-32 vintage ROM card is just to create confusion and chaos.
MT-32
Links:
MT-32
on wikipedia
Page with
lots of cool mp3's demos
Synthmania
MT-32 All
the presets in mp3's
Radio MT-32
Roland
MT-32
classic game music.