I have a Waveblaster midi daughterboard on my soundcard. It's one of the last ISA SB-clones made, on one of the last consumer motherboards with an ISA slot made (which I got specifically so it would be easier to play DOS games directly). It works perfectly in Linux (Mandrake 10.1), and I can play midi files to it, to the OPL3, or through Timidity separately. DOSBOX is set up so that the MPU-401 goes to the Alsa port that goes to the Waveblaster.

Anyway, my problem is this:
-- The Waveblaster has some interference. However, if I just play a midi file the interference is no problem--it's too low to hear.
-- If I play a DOS game (Elder Scrolls: Arena) that uses MPU-401, in DOSBOX, the volume of the midi is much lower than when I play a midi file.
-- In fact, it's low enough that if I increase the volume enough to hear it well, I've also increased the volume of the interference enough that I can hear *it*. This happens whether I use the Alsa mixer volume control or the knob on my speakers. (The in-game control is already at 100%, I can't increase that.)

So what I want to do is to have DOSBOX make my MIDI louder, but to do so by increasing the volume of the MIDI that it passes through to the card, so that it's as loud as a MIDI file that I just play--not by using the Alsa mixer or speaker knob. (I don't even know if DOSBOX is decreasing the MIDI volume, or if the game is just playing it low to start with.) Any ideas?