MT32: A Loudspeaker by Cabasse Jersey Shore

The Roland MT-32 was the first PC device to provide "high quality" audio to enthusiasts. That's strange, because the Commodore C64 provided better synthesis, admittedly with higher noise, and only three voice polyphony.




Here we see the Cabasse MT32 speaker, which would work well with the Roland MT32, should you still have one. It's looks about the right quality to drive 1980's components, such as this, the AdLib and say even the SB - though sampling.


The MT32 used LA (Linear Arthritic, a form of subtractive) synthesis, which went along just right with the pop 1980's. Honestly, it sounded bad, and the later Roland Sound Canvas (SCC-1) was the first device, post Juno to start to regain their organic vitality. But it was remarkably popular.

We'd love to try the combinations agian. Perhaps to play Monkey Island by LucasArts, the same company that brought you Jawa Junkyard, and Racer Rush, also brought you Lego Star Wars.

Back in the day, we can remember first having three sound cards in our computer, and then ... four. The SoundBlaster Pro - never a noiser and worse sounding card, can we remember, despite the "pro" moniker. The Gravis UltraSound - locally produced in Burnaby, it was much better, and yet, still tawdry, even with the memory upgrade. The Roland MPU-401. That was a good unit. A minimal MIDI interface to connect ... get to it... the MT 32.

Of course, these cards would need to be connected to a mixer, amplifier and speakers. We had a lot.

Evette & Shaw's Elan was the premium ($2200) desktop loudspeaker, historically. Actually it came about 10 years too late. Or 40, if you consider the aesethetic. It would be perfect at Sterling Coopper (AMC Mad Men), on any of the desks. It's got a nice back and stand, but that's all we can say for it. Elan Skis were quite the thing, but we preferred Rossignol GS's.

At the time we considered the Bose Am5 the perfect dorm-room speaker. You can get them for $500 now, but I believe they were $750.00 USD circa 1990.

We used the Klipsch Heressy II and Sony TA-N55ES for dorm-room duties, then along with the Korg T1 for MIDI input. Klipsch's KG 1.2's worked better, in our experience, but it would be some time before an added a Velodyne F1500R subwoofer would allow us to share the glorious 8-bit bass. Oh my! [link]

Now the MT32 could generate 32 voices. That's better than the Adlib's nine (9) Try MilkyTracker, OK. The quality of the board, case, and architecture are higher than many hi-fi components, today. Micromega at the time provided similar quality. Perhaps you could try Micromega with Cabasse? From the quality of the Cabase MT32, judged by the photo, we would suggest Rotel, or a plain..., Cabasa.

L'enchant le ne pas plus DE mega.

JP 2015/92/19
www.hifiart.ca

Here's to Jersey Shore!