Here's a soundfont with a MT32-like bank, so that midi music in ROA1 (if Roland MT32 is selected for music) doesn't sound garbled anymore. You'll need Qsynth or Timidity to play with it. It's based on Creative Labs' 8MBGM, with missing presets taken from another free soundfont (A320U).

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wbfiiq1wx6n5chl/8mbgm-emu_MT32.7z

1. Download the soundfont

2. Download Qsynth, run it, go to setup -> soundfonts -> add the soundfont.

3. You could need a virtual midi port like Maple Midi, I'm not sure, try without it, if it doesn't work get one, then choose it in Qsynth setup -> MIDI. You could also need to set that port as default midi port in your OS (Vista or Win7, get this http://sierrahelp.com/Utilities/SoundUtilities/PutzlowitschsVistaMIDI_Mapper.html). But setting the port in Qsynth setup should be enough.

4. Open dosboxrealms1.conf, in the last lines add 'sound' after 'cls', it'll look like

c:
cls
sound
intro
bladem
exit

Also, set these options:

cycles=10000 (max is too much for ROA1, and midi doesn't play well with max)
fullresolution=0x0
output=ddraw
aspect=true
scaler=none


5. Run the game and choose Roland MT-32 for music and Sound Blaster for effects.

6. Then delete again that 'sound' in the dosboxrealms1.conf or it will launch it every time.

Thanks for the detailed instructions!

I'm a huge noob when it comes to midi emulation, so just to clarify:

Do I keep the GOG-prepackaged-DOSBOX settings as:

[midi]
mididevice=default
midiconfig=

Or do I change it to mt32 or some other setting? (default, win32, alsa, oss, coreaudio, coremidi, mt32, synth, timidity, none)

What do you think of using MUNT MT-32/LAPC-1 emulation for RoA1? I'm going to try everything and compare them (against the GOG-bonus RoA1 CD audio tracks) but a lot of this is super subjective :)

midi must be left at default, set to mt32 only if you use yhkwong build with integrated munt. To use munt you'd need the Roland ROMs though..