apparently it does want to be this way

stepmania/src/RageSoundManager.cpp

@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ void SoundMixBuffer::write(const Sint16 *buf, unsigned size)
 {
 	if(mixbuf.size() < size)
 	{
-		basic_string<Sint32> empty(size-mixbuf.size(), 0);
+		basic_string<Sint32, char_traits_Sint32> empty(size-mixbuf.size(), 0);
 
 		mixbuf.insert(mixbuf.end(), empty.begin(), empty.end());
 	}

stepmania/src/RageSoundManager.h

@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ public:
 /* This inputs and outputs 16-bit 44khz stereo input. */
 class SoundMixBuffer
 {
-	basic_string<Sint32> mixbuf;
+	basic_string<Sint32, char_traits_Sint32> mixbuf;
 	float vol;
 
 public:

stepmania/src/SDL_utils.h

@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@ SDL_Surface *SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceSane
 
 void FixHiddenAlpha(SDL_Surface *img);
 
-template<>
-struct char_traits<Sint32>
+struct char_traits_Sint32: public char_traits<Sint32>
 {
 	static Sint32 *copy(Sint32 *s, const Sint32 *p, size_t n)
 	{