FF7: External MIDI playback interferes with game controls

[case]

I want to play the music in FF7 over an external MIDI keyboard which is connected to the gameport. I use onboard sound (AC97) and the gameport is also integrated on the mainboard. My problem is: when I select the external MIDI device in FF7Config (MPU-401), the game controls go berserk. The hand cursor starts moving on its own as if one direction key was constantly pressed (it changes - most of the time it's the down key, but sometimes also left or right). This only happens when I use external MIDI, with the internal MIDI synths everything works ok (but sounds crappy).

I don't have a joystick connected at the gameport. In fact, the gameport is even disabled in the BIOS (but not the MIDI part). I have a parallel port joystick entry in device manager, which I use for WinUAE, but it's currently also disabled and there's no joystick listed in the game controller panel. So it can't be a physical joystick interfering with the game.

I have 3 theories:
- a bug in FF7, which misinterprets its own MIDI data sent over the gameport as incoming joystick commands.
- a bug in the MPU-401 driver (Microsoft's original)
- a problem with the motherboard


My relevant system specs:
- Windows XP Pro SP2 with latest updates
- Soundmax Integrated Digital Audio (AC97) with latest drivers
- Asus P4PE motherboard with latest BIOS


Has anyone ever had similar problems? I already tried redefining the joystick controls and at least the problem changed a bit, but the game's still unplayable that way. I also changed the MIDI port adresses in any possible way, but to no avail.
 I don't want to install any "hacks" like FF7Music. I really want to use external MIDI, because it sounds fantastic on a Korg Trinity 

[Aaron]

This is interesting, never heard of this problem before.  Of course, this is also the first time I have heard of someone trying to use external MIDI with this game. 

First things first, you don't have a gameport joystick set up, do you?  (Check the "Game Controllers" control panel.)

Other than that, this is the only thing I can think of.  Have you tried disabling your gameport in the Device Manager?
I am hoping that this will kill the "joystick" functionality of the gameport, while keeping the MIDI functionality, since the MIDI functionality of the gameport should be tied to the sound card driver and not the gameport driver.  I think this is a long shot but it is the only thing I can think of.  (I don't have an external MIDI device to experiment with.  Actually, I don't even have a gameport anymore.)

Actually...
Some boards allow you to separately configure the game and MIDI functionalities of this port (I remember that my old ECS K7VZA board could do this) so it may be possible to disable one and not the other.  I don't know if this is possible for you, or if it would make any difference anyway.

[case]

This is interesting, never heard of this problem before.  Of course, this is also the first time I have heard of someone trying to use external MIDI with this game. 

Maybe that's why nobody discovered the problem until now. 

First things first, you don't have a gameport joystick set up, do you?  (Check the "Game Controllers" control panel.)

Sorry, but I already said so above. No, there's no joystick connected to the gameport. I don't even own one. There's also no joystick set up in the control panel, although I sometimes connect one to the parallel port (with a DIY interface), but currently it's disconnected and the driver is disabled.

Other than that, this is the only thing I can think of.  Have you tried disabling your gameport in the Device Manager?

The gameport is already disabled in the BIOS and is not listed in the device manager (I also said so above )
The MIDI port is enabled however.

If only I knew whether it's a fault of FF7 or a driver/hardware problem. I FF7 was to blame, I wouldn't pursue this any further, but I remember playing extarnal MIDI with FF7 back when it was rather new, but then I had a Soundblaster AWE64 and have used its gameport. But I don't remember if I already had that problem back then or if it first appeared when I upgraded to the new motherboard.


[EDIT]
I did something weird today. Inspired by the numeric keypad patch I loaded ff7input.cfg into a hex editor and changed all joystick control codes to zeros. Now the FF7 control configuration screen says "NONE" for all joystick controls. BUT the problem still persists! 
At least I know that theory no. 1 drops out. Even if FF7 would misinterpret the MIDI data, it wouldn't know which joystick command to use. But what else could it be?