Cakewalk 5.0 (for DOS) hanging when MIDI in port is connected - Solution

[auralhead]

This is a solution, for other people’s benefit – not a problem post.

Hardware:
-PIII 500 MHz, (with 1 ISA slot)
-Roland SCC-1 ISA Sound card (don’t mock me – it sounds amazing)

Software:
-DOS 6.0
-Cakewalk 5.0 (for DOS)

Symptoms:
System hangs when the MIDI IN is plugged into a device, while Cakewalk 5 for DOS, is running.

As with most ISA cards, the Roland SCC-1 card gives you have the ability to change the IRQ the card uses via jumpers.

The Roland SCC-1 card uses the MPU401 driver. Filename: MPU401.DRV

When using any MPU401-compatible sound card, on any IRQ other than IRQ 2, at address 330, you need to go into the driver config program (started with CAKEWALK.EXE /s”, option 3) and configure the driver to reflect the fact that you are using one of the other IRQs.
Upon exiting the program, MPU401.DRV is copied to MIDIPORT.DRV with your alternate IRQ settings in place.

FYI, by default, MIDIPORT.DRV is a copy of MPU401.DRV, however it is set to run on IRQ 2.


So WHY, you ask, on God’s green earth, is someone in 2011 using Cakewalk 5.0 running on top of DOS 6.0??? Well, like several others out there, 20 years ago I became wildly proficient at Cakewalk for DOS, and although today’s product evolution is superior in every way, I do not have the same speed and agility as I did with the product from 1994. Thought I would post this as there is very little on the web in terms of Cakewalk 5.0 for DOS support, and I have to believe that there is at least one other person in the world who could benefit from this information

[Steenamaroo]

Admittedly, there's probably not a big audience for this as you say, but it's nice of you to post up the info!

Welcome to the forums.

[James Argo]

Welcome to the board!

Don't feel bad about the old time Cakey. I AM still using Cakewalk Pro 3 (Midi only, originally made for Win 3.1) in my PC. Coupled with SB Live!'s soundfonts & external gears, it's the best sequencer ever for me to do detailed MIDI work. No DXi, no VSTi, no fancy virtual synth & sampler.

BTW, I also keep my copy of $149 Voyetra's Sequencer Plus Gold for DOS that came with MQX32 ISA dual port 32 channel MIDI card I purchased in 1993... What a powerfull device back then!

Nothing like vintage gears!

[Jdogdos]

Is there anywhere one can find Cakewalk 5 (or 4) for DOS these days?

Twelve Tone Systems (Cakewalk Inc.) won't sell it, and it never shows up on eBay or similar. I've tried googling for torrents even, but nothing (there's a dead torrent with CW 3 for Windows that is supposed to have a DOS version as well, but the torrent is very dead).