i would like to see someone developing a midi out for the snes, it would probably be a pain in the ass and probably impossible since the games probably any common table for instruments, but it would be awesome to listen to those classic tunes through the sound canvas
@@geovani60624 If you want to hear classic tunes through Sound Canvas, convert them to MIDI using SPC2MIDI and then play those MIDIs back thru a Sound Canvas.
@@Miku01624 ZUN wrote the original music from Seihou to PoFV along with other of his "strange works" in the SC-88 Pro, the SD-90 was used completely in DiPP and the .wav version of EoSD, while PCB, IN and PoFV used the SD-90 along with other VST (Like the drums)
Před 3 lety+3
That's why EoSD's wav music sounds werid. The midi is the intended one for EoSD
@@occultCapra Instruments from the SD-90 are still used by ZUN to this day, including Romantique Tp. (zunpet!), Reed Romance, Blow Tenor, Altosoft Vib, St. Strings, etc. For example, Touhou 17's title theme uses JP-9 Lead and Chime Bells I believe.
I love the SC-55. Its tone is nostalgic, and it has this awesome balance between "cool 80s keyboard" and "uber-realistic digital piano". The samples weren't just borrowed (and downgraded!) for Windows PC's, but also for SNES and GBA games! The professional model (JV-1080) was in so many iconic 90s songs. Many of the sounds hold up today, and they're "vanilla" enough to not be distracting when they're overused. I have a Roland Fantom-8, and while it's chock-full of modern-sounding presets and many sound design possibilities, it still has the old Sound Canvas banks as well.
Roland sound devices are such a fascinating topic... especially when you keep in mind that for example the mt-32 came out in 1987 when adlib and pc speakers was the standart. It's astonishing how far ahead of their time they were.
I still have the same SC-55mkII that I bought back in 1996, and I love it! It made the sound tracks from games like Doom / Doom II, Warcraft II, King's Quest, and so many more so amazing! I bought it mostly for it's intended use a MIDI synthesizer to learn how to play and compose music, but having it as a superior sound system for my PC games was a nice added bonus.
God I love that digital screen. There's nothing I love more than an 80s or 90s digital display with an equaliser or some rudimentary movement on it. I really love that Boss (roland's guitar division) has moved back to those big, two-tone low pixel count screens in their new 500 series pedals (like the boss DD-500 or RV-500). It's also half the reason I'm looking at Rack gear for the guitar now.. there's something so cool and sci-fi about a unit like the TC2290 Delay or any of the Lexicon rack gear. It reminds me of the picture Alien painted of what future technology would look like.
Fascinating stuff. Glad to see you covering more sound hardware from the 90s! Also, I've never heard Tyrian's music played the Sound Canvas before....very nice!
The Sound Canvas was also used heavily in Nintendo games and still is. For example, the steel drums in the overworld theme from Super Mario World and the bandoneon accordion in the windmill hut theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is from the Sound Canvas.
Awesome :D Little tip regarding the coin battery, it can leak, so I highly recommend taking a look and replacing, or removing it. When you remove it, the unit is reset after turning on, which is not a bad thing for "just" retro gaming :)
Nice to see you around here Phil Especially because this is about retro gaming. @Clint/both which of these 2 do you reconcider as better, I have both Physically the SC-55 (MK1) and MT-32 (Mk1) Also Clint, Anders Jensen, you spoke to the 8-bit guy as well XD same supplier (and Anders Jenssen is visible in one of ihis video's
i tried searching if the SC-8820 uses a CMOS battery but i don't think it uses one at all (and unlike the SC-55 and SC-88 there doesn't seem to be a way to open it either so i am unable to check if there is a CMOS battery in my SC-8820 or not)
MIDI for MID-90´s (I could experience this goodness later on, beacuse in that time i wasn´t able to calibrate those hellish settings - ignorance of youth). Impressive review, as always!
Being a Creative SB16 type dude, all I know is that there are a couple MIDI soundfonts out there that emulate this that sound very, very good for what they are and their file size. "SC-55.sf2" ~140MB and "Roland_SC-55_v1.1 full pack.sf2" ~10MB. I'm not sure of their authenticity, but they are what brought me here, I mean, you know, other than being a fan of the channel anyway, of course.
So glad to see a video on the SC-55! It's by far my favorite MIDI module, and everyone seems to overlook it for the MT-32. Which is really weird, considering just how fantastic it sounds
Late response but I think I get it. If you are only interested in General Midi, there were many modules that people chose over the SC55 like Yamaha's and Korg's. Even if you wanted Roland GS support there were other options so the SC55 wasn't the only option. If you wanted Midi sounds from games that used the MT32 you only had the MT32 or CM32, so you had fewer options for a specific use case
The SC-55 is essentially a slightly upgraded rack-mount version of the SC-33 I have. I love that thing and still use it today. I'll never forget the first time I played Duke Nukem 3D through that thing. Ah, memories...
Oh man, I am a massive audiophile and as soon as I heard those Rolan Secret of Monkey Island tunes, I was immediately immersed in greatness. MIDI systems are so cool!
I have a Roland Sound Canvas SD 90 that I use to make game music with. I freaking love it and things of this nature overall. As for why I have the SD 90 in particular, thats because I love the music of The Touhou Project that also uses the SD 90 for its music. The sc-88 was used for the older Touhou games music though, and those songs are great as well. Also, great video Clint, keep up the good work!
I finally got my very own OG SC-55 and SC-88 Pro and I'm loving it. I also got the Sound Canvas VA, but even though it's great, the original hardware is something else.
The SC-55 is one of the few retro PC gaming hardware I still own. Sometimes I just put my midi files on a floppy and listen directly through it. Beautiful sound.
What really amazes me about your videos is not only that you have all of this amazing hardware, but you have it all in mint quality. It's getting hard to find these devices these days and when you do they're usually pretty beat up.
Honestly, I don't think I knew a single person in the 90s rocking anything fancier than a Sound Blaster compatible. I remember seeing those General MIDI and Roland options and having not clue one what they were.
OMG, that overkill setup on 10:16...my body wasn't ready. For me, some game are really shine on FMsynth rather than GS Midi, Tyrian is probably the most fine example of oustanding use of FMsynth. Alexander Brandon was amazing!
I have an SK-88 Pro which is a keyboard version of the SC-880, and man, it's amazing. Functions in the same way as the modules, but has a built in keyboard. It's my favorite keyboard.
I just bought an SC-88 Pro which also emulates an SC-55 and let me tell you...this is the coolest thing ever!! I am planning on making my own music with it using Cubase.
LGR's voice just sounds so badass. The dude needs to release a podcast, I'd listen to it. Also I learn something new every time I watch an LGR video. Probably the best channel on CZcams at the moment!
Now that's funny. While Roland as the original manufacturer isn't able to properly emulate the MT-32 with the SC-55 although they know everything about it, the MINT developer team puts together an almost perfect emulator of the MT-32 availible as free software (needs ROM files from the MT-32 of course) for 32/64bit Windows that is perfectly suited for playing back MT-32 MIDI tracks including those special MT-32 features the SC-55 lacks. MINT also has a virtual display integrated into the program so you can see that INSERT BUCKAZOID message when starting good old Space Quest III in DOSbox. And the sound is perfect, exactly as demonstrated in this video. As far as I remember, you can also interface an old DOS gaming PC to your modern Windows system with MINT and use the Windows system as your external MIDI synthesizer for the DOS machine. Hardware looks nice, but today it's not really required any more if u just way to play the old games with good music.
OMSI-Fan Mark Are you sure you're not talking about MUNT? Also, Roland couldn't make the SC series sound exactly like the MT-32 because that's a completely different architecture of producing sound. It would mean they had to include a whole extra set of components inside and this was supposed to be a new and improved design back in the day. That's why it just uses the default sounds to emulate the MT-32/CM-32L, but can't receive SysEx data so only the few games that doesn't re-program the patches, will sound OK.
Yes if course, I meant MUNT. Thanks for the hint, I obviously made a typo when I was commenting from my mobile phone. And once it learns a new "word", it get's wrong again and again and I didn't notice it. ;-) About the MT-32 mode, I would have expected that - with more updated technology - it would have become easier and cheaper to produce the required stuff to keep it compatible. Love your musical creations btw.,, as heard on The 8-bit Guy's channel. :-)
Bought my own SC-55 straight from Japan on the back of this video. One of, if not the best, retro computing purchase I've made I've got to say. The quality it adds to the games that support it is beyond belief.
My Roland XP-10 synth in 1995 sounds exactly like your SC-55. Most GS synths uses the same set of sounds for the GM/GS mode. Thank you for the nostalgia, dear LGR
WOW! The part where you play game sounds with the Roland SC-55mkII sounds amazing with my Noisehush NX-80 Stereo earbuds. And even without them on my Microsoft Surface Pro 4's internal speakers! Truly Amazing sound!
I love you for emphasizing the technology. General MIDI is so overlooked today, but everyone who has ever used a DAW will find their way to VSTs and controller surfaces. It really has stood the test of time. Do tell me you cable managed with velcro straps, eventually! :j Funny story, a friend of mine said my DAW GUI looks very much like a bomb-deactivation device. Haha.
Great video as always mate. This was the era I got into PCs, I started with an Epson in the early 80s but when dad brought home a new 286. Oh man. We split that HDD up and my brother and I had 5 megs each and dad had 20. All these games and all this hardware was my time. 87-92 was a shining period.
Thanks for the video ! How good midi can sound was always one of those unanswered questions for me, as a teenager I had to spend my limited money on trying to get a new 3D card or RAM upgrade usually, MIDI equipment was a far flung fantasy. I remember hearing a big improvement in the early 00s on some retro games after getting a new sound card and tinkering around with MIDI libraries, but I always wondered how a top of the line setup would have sounded.
Had one of these growing up hooked up to a packard bell 386 through the db 15 to midi adapter. Loved it so much, this video just brings me back to my childhood. Thanks LGR.
I had one of those SC-15 daughter cards. It was functionally equivalent to the SC-55MkII. Great card, great sound. I composed a lot of music for that thing over the years.
Fun fact: Nobuo Uematsu recorded the Final Fantasy VII and VIII soundtracks using an SC-88. The soundtracks are full of classic 90s Roland ROMpler sounds.
That's rather ironic knowing that the PC version of Final Fantasy 8 is one of the only games I know of to explicitly support Yamaha XG synthesizers. Plus, the game's primary platforms are Playstation consoles, which have Sony sound hardware. You would think considering those things combined with the Japanese tendency to favour other Japanese companies that he'd be using Yamaha stuff, not Roland... But you never can tell. XD
Roland is a Japanese company! They picked the name while leafing through an American phonebook because the CEO thought that a Western sounding name would set them apart from their other Japanese competitors iirc. In the late 80s and 90s they were the preferred company for a lot of musicians and composers.
So much nostalgia in these videos! I still have my old MT-32, but my SC-55 is long gone. A couple of good music showcases you might consider for your videos: Ultima 7 on the MT-32, and Ultima 8 on the SC-55. Really good, dark music for Ultima 8, despite how... ungood the game may have been. ;)
I know I'm late to the party - I've been enjoying your channel for awhile now, and for whatever reason didn't notice this one until now. You'd given me plenty of inspiration to start a retro PC collection with all your content, but being a musician myself this video has made me start looking into it in earnest. Thanks for sharing!
Wonderful. Thanks to watching you over the years I've developed an appreciation for such exquisite audio devices; I greatly appreciate the unintentional expansion of my interests.
As a retro videogame nutcase I have been writing compositions for pretty much my entire life using the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth and honestly I wouldn't have had it any other way. It's such a unique palette of sounds that just works so well on its own, and the Roland SC-55 has to be my favorite MIDI sound module, making these sounds so clear and readily accessible. Thanks for this video! Highly informative, and great to hear Duke Nukem, Descent and Doom music tracks played in the medium they were written for. :D
That sick advertisement that plays on the LCD when you boot the unit up. Glorious. Also pretty much just says "Hey, I'm a Sound Canvas. Let's MIDI some shit in glorious 18bit output."
I bought my SC-55 way back when they were still the latest thing Roland had to offer. Fast forward to today and that same unit is still an important part of my computer setup.
The prices of the Roland SC-55 mkII on online auction sites just went up... Thanks for this one, Clint, it is certainly a great addition to any DOS gamers setup - I had the keyboard variant back in the day, Roland's JV-30 - 'cause I was I wannabe muso at the time...sadly that never came to pass, but it provided much greatness to my DOS gaming.
Fun fact: Some Karaoke players in the Philippines used SC-55 sound samples, and the sound module from them is the either Dream SAM 9xxx or 2xxx series using the GMS963200 sound bank, which contains the aforementioned samples.
It's crazy how much of an impact Midi has had over the past 30 years, I'm a Synthesizer man so when i hear midi i think pure Synths But this i had no idea existed for gaming back in the day. So cool thanks for this cool bit of knowledge.
There were quite a lot of MIDI soundtracks released on CD in Japan. Konami's MIDI Power and MIDI Power Pro CDs being good examples. They mainly used the SC-88 and SC-88pro though, IIRC.
I don't know why, but the "grant them Magical Roland Powers" bit really struck my funny bone. Sure wish I had had the jacks to own the SC-55 or SC-88 back in the day! It's delightful to see your take on them!
Thanks for this great video. Another approach was soundfonts with Creative AWE-64, some games had their own custom soundfonts, but the headaches of "soundblaster-compatible" soundcards made for big puzzles during setup for some specific games, including having to know IRQs and port numbers by heart. One thing is certain, the huge gaming industry propelled this technology very quickly for musicians, Creative later purchased E-MU systems, they had their expensive "Audio production studio" or APS for writing MIDI with top quality samples, again with soundfont wavetable architecture. Hardware units like Sound Canvas, MT-32 and Proteus simplified MIDI setup, many of the software sequencers like Cakewalk had tough learning curves, so it made this process bearable.
I actually just ordered mine, for a mere 70 bucks here in Romania :) Can't wait to get it... Also got a USB to MIDI cable, can't wait to fire up Tyrian in DosBox on this config... That game has marked my childhood, and I do a playthrough at least once every 6 months anyway :) Thanks for the GREAT insight, Clint!
I love that you bring up Tyrian, and its soundtrack, so often! It's a truly great game, and I used to record the soundtrack from my computer to casettes so I could listen to it in school when I was a kid.
Absolutely, but don’t forget this was very high end hardware back in the day, costing hundreds of dollars - beyond reach of the average PC gamer’s budget.
+LGR *The end of the Roland® Sound Canvas track is a rackmount:* The 2U-sized SC-880 GS™/General MIDI 2, 128-voice/32-part Sound Module, which packs two stereo outputs, two MIDI chains, and a four-mode serial interface.
Holy crap, that brings back memories. I think I actually still have the first version in a closet somewhere along with my Roland GP-16 guitar effects. I seem to remember that I had some Roland midi demo files as well that turned the screen into a simple Scramble game animation. I think I have lost those files a long time ago though. :/
I used to play Rise of the Tried just for the soundtrack. Descent is a long-forgotten classic - I went through tons of joysticks, and STILL play it on my Linux system.
Another great LGR vid! I coveted (and still do) a Roland system of this sort, but I have to say I was happy with my old AWE32, and later AWE64 from Creative. They did a damned fine job of doing the Midi "thing" at a relatively affordable price - both back then and now!
I'm learning a lot about stuff I didn't know I wanted watching these videos.
i am too, i thought Roland was a keyboard company, i would have bought one of these back in the day, i was totally into midi back then!
metfan4l Yeah, join the club. I have zero interest in doing any of this myself, but it's so much fun watching somebody who does.
me too
Dude, you're everywhere! Glad to see another fan of LGR, I'm massive fan of your channel as well, cheers from Brazil.
Right on! :D
The Sound Canvas is apparently also one of many sources that SNES sound programmers used to create instrument samples!
as well as some Korg keyboards. the M1 and 01/W come to mind.
Cool to know!
i would like to see someone developing a midi out for the snes, it would probably be a pain in the ass and probably impossible since the games probably any common table for instruments, but it would be awesome to listen to those classic tunes through the sound canvas
@@geovani60624 If you want to hear classic tunes through Sound Canvas, convert them to MIDI using SPC2MIDI and then play those MIDIs back thru a Sound Canvas.
also the source of most instrument samples in the 3rd generation of Pokemon games.
general midi reporting for duty
General Failure ready for action
General Public reporting for duty
General Electric reporting for duty
General midi for call of duty.
007 reporting for duty
Fun fact: ZUN used the Sound Canvas to compose the music for the older Touhou games.
amazing fact
Roland SC-88 Pro and Roland/Edirol SD-90
@@Miku01624 ZUN wrote the original music from Seihou to PoFV along with other of his "strange works" in the SC-88 Pro, the SD-90 was used completely in DiPP and the .wav version of EoSD, while PCB, IN and PoFV used the SD-90 along with other VST (Like the drums)
That's why EoSD's wav music sounds werid. The midi is the intended one for EoSD
@@occultCapra Instruments from the SD-90 are still used by ZUN to this day, including Romantique Tp. (zunpet!), Reed Romance, Blow Tenor, Altosoft Vib, St. Strings, etc. For example, Touhou 17's title theme uses JP-9 Lead and Chime Bells I believe.
I love the SC-55. Its tone is nostalgic, and it has this awesome balance between "cool 80s keyboard" and "uber-realistic digital piano". The samples weren't just borrowed (and downgraded!) for Windows PC's, but also for SNES and GBA games! The professional model (JV-1080) was in so many iconic 90s songs. Many of the sounds hold up today, and they're "vanilla" enough to not be distracting when they're overused.
I have a Roland Fantom-8, and while it's chock-full of modern-sounding presets and many sound design possibilities, it still has the old Sound Canvas banks as well.
Man, you make me want one of the Roland's and I don't even have a compatible PC right now.
Every pc is compatible if it has USB (not C), has software for it, and you can find MIDI to USB.
@@DMARtunes oh and VirtualMidiSynth exists as well
@@kirschitz64 almost forgotten vms.
Munt for MT-32 and Sound Canvas VA for General MIDI.
I own a SC-55 and if you have USB to midi cables it'll be fine.
This shit blows my mind. So fascinating as its completely alien to me.
Roland sound devices are such a fascinating topic... especially when you keep in mind that for example the mt-32 came out in 1987 when adlib and pc speakers was the standart. It's astonishing how far ahead of their time they were.
5:10 Awww, you gained a love of stickers from Christina Aguilera! (I bet Roses is so proud, too. ;->)
Nice! Please do more pro sound stuff, it's a very under appreciated topic!
More sound stuff is in the works as we speak :)
Check out Techmoan, he’s good for that kind of stuff
Agree! I love it.
As a composer and musician, I absolutely LOVE finding any reason to use the Sound Canvas(es) whenever possible. Just a classic sound all around.
I still have the same SC-55mkII that I bought back in 1996, and I love it! It made the sound tracks from games like Doom / Doom II, Warcraft II, King's Quest, and so many more so amazing! I bought it mostly for it's intended use a MIDI synthesizer to learn how to play and compose music, but having it as a superior sound system for my PC games was a nice added bonus.
God I love that digital screen. There's nothing I love more than an 80s or 90s digital display with an equaliser or some rudimentary movement on it. I really love that Boss (roland's guitar division) has moved back to those big, two-tone low pixel count screens in their new 500 series pedals (like the boss DD-500 or RV-500).
It's also half the reason I'm looking at Rack gear for the guitar now.. there's something so cool and sci-fi about a unit like the TC2290 Delay or any of the Lexicon rack gear. It reminds me of the picture Alien painted of what future technology would look like.
TimothyPage06 I just got the new boss sy-1
Fascinating stuff. Glad to see you covering more sound hardware from the 90s!
Also, I've never heard Tyrian's music played the Sound Canvas before....very nice!
Here's the complete Tyrian soundtrack on a Sound Canvas! Enjoy. 🙂 czcams.com/video/20Kwbkn2Ptg/video.html
The Sound Canvas was also used heavily in Nintendo games and still is. For example, the steel drums in the overworld theme from Super Mario World and the bandoneon accordion in the windmill hut theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is from the Sound Canvas.
Awesome :D Little tip regarding the coin battery, it can leak, so I highly recommend taking a look and replacing, or removing it. When you remove it, the unit is reset after turning on, which is not a bad thing for "just" retro gaming :)
It was replaced just a week before this video was recorded, but thanks!
PhilsComputerLab that's the cmos battery, right? Super cheap but a Pc goes crazy without one? I think you had to use a paperclip to short/reset.
Yes, Clint shows it at 02:29.
Nice to see you around here Phil Especially because this is about retro gaming.
@Clint/both which of these 2 do you reconcider as better, I have both Physically the SC-55 (MK1) and MT-32 (Mk1)
Also Clint, Anders Jensen, you spoke to the 8-bit guy as well XD same supplier (and Anders Jenssen is visible in one of ihis video's
i tried searching if the SC-8820 uses a CMOS battery but i don't think it uses one at all (and unlike the SC-55 and SC-88 there doesn't seem to be a way to open it either so i am unable to check if there is a CMOS battery in my SC-8820 or not)
MIDI for MID-90´s (I could experience this goodness later on, beacuse in that time i wasn´t able to calibrate those hellish settings - ignorance of youth). Impressive review, as always!
+MiroslavZima LOLZ! That pun is Just2good
+tim5fl Hehe, thanks :) But i´m usually bad with puns xD
An LGR video? On MIDI?? On my BIRTHDAY?? Best present ever, Clint!
That's awesome, happy birthday.
Vintage Roland? Check.
MIDI? Check.
LGR? Check.
THIS VIDEO HAS EVERYTHING
The SC-55's rendition of the Betrayal at Krondor theme is amazing. Load it up. Turn it up.
Being a Creative SB16 type dude, all I know is that there are a couple MIDI soundfonts out there that emulate this that sound very, very good for what they are and their file size. "SC-55.sf2" ~140MB and "Roland_SC-55_v1.1 full pack.sf2" ~10MB. I'm not sure of their authenticity, but they are what brought me here, I mean, you know, other than being a fan of the channel anyway, of course.
So glad to see a video on the SC-55! It's by far my favorite MIDI module, and everyone seems to overlook it for the MT-32. Which is really weird, considering just how fantastic it sounds
Late response but I think I get it. If you are only interested in General Midi, there were many modules that people chose over the SC55 like Yamaha's and Korg's. Even if you wanted Roland GS support there were other options so the SC55 wasn't the only option. If you wanted Midi sounds from games that used the MT32 you only had the MT32 or CM32, so you had fewer options for a specific use case
@@nerdyneedsalife8315 that makes sense, I was thinking of it in terms of present-day usage (from what I remember at least lol)
Thanks for the info!
Sound Blaster was king back in the day, I loved mine!!☺️
The SC-55 is essentially a slightly upgraded rack-mount version of the SC-33 I have. I love that thing and still use it today. I'll never forget the first time I played Duke Nukem 3D through that thing. Ah, memories...
Oh man, I am a massive audiophile and as soon as I heard those Rolan Secret of Monkey Island tunes, I was immediately immersed in greatness. MIDI systems are so cool!
I have a Roland Sound Canvas SD 90 that I use to make game music with. I freaking love it and things of this nature overall. As for why I have the SD 90 in particular, thats because I love the music of The Touhou Project that also uses the SD 90 for its music. The sc-88 was used for the older Touhou games music though, and those songs are great as well. Also, great video Clint, keep up the good work!
I finally got my very own OG SC-55 and SC-88 Pro and I'm loving it. I also got the Sound Canvas VA, but even though it's great, the original hardware is something else.
Especially when you leave a note or many hanging and need a panic button (which was literally called that in software).
The SC-55 is one of the few retro PC gaming hardware I still own. Sometimes I just put my midi files on a floppy and listen directly through it. Beautiful sound.
Bonus points for using "polyphony" in a video about computer technology. The computer music community appreciates you!
What really amazes me about your videos is not only that you have all of this amazing hardware, but you have it all in mint quality. It's getting hard to find these devices these days and when you do they're usually pretty beat up.
Love this shit, Clint. Keep doing this and I'm happy! Thank you very much, goodbye! 🌷🌷🌷
Thanks for watching!
I love waking up to "LGR" and "MIDI" in my CZcams notifications. Even better that Anders helped to make this episode possible. Rockin!
Honestly, I don't think I knew a single person in the 90s rocking anything fancier than a Sound Blaster compatible. I remember seeing those General MIDI and Roland options and having not clue one what they were.
I’m playing the Descent soundtrack the rest of the afternoon now. Thanks.
I'm just glad my Dad got a Roland SCC-1 back in 1992. Yes I still have it and use it all the time. Amazing Card
Love the music from late 80's-early 90's games
OMG, that overkill setup on 10:16...my body wasn't ready.
For me, some game are really shine on FMsynth rather than GS Midi, Tyrian is probably the most fine example of oustanding use of FMsynth. Alexander Brandon was amazing!
I have an SK-88 Pro which is a keyboard version of the SC-880, and man, it's amazing. Functions in the same way as the modules, but has a built in keyboard. It's my favorite keyboard.
I just bought an SC-88 Pro which also emulates an SC-55 and let me tell you...this is the coolest thing ever!! I am planning on making my own music with it using Cubase.
LGR's voice just sounds so badass. The dude needs to release a podcast, I'd listen to it.
Also I learn something new every time I watch an LGR video. Probably the best channel on CZcams at the moment!
I loved the choice of the Monkey Island theme ;)
Those midi devices sounds really warm and crystall clear and they both look professionsl.
Now that's funny.
While Roland as the original manufacturer isn't able to properly emulate the MT-32 with the SC-55 although they know everything about it, the MINT developer team puts together an almost perfect emulator of the MT-32 availible as free software (needs ROM files from the MT-32 of course) for 32/64bit Windows that is perfectly suited for playing back MT-32 MIDI tracks including those special MT-32 features the SC-55 lacks.
MINT also has a virtual display integrated into the program so you can see that INSERT BUCKAZOID message when starting good old Space Quest III in DOSbox. And the sound is perfect, exactly as demonstrated in this video.
As far as I remember, you can also interface an old DOS gaming PC to your modern Windows system with MINT and use the Windows system as your external MIDI synthesizer for the DOS machine. Hardware looks nice, but today it's not really required any more if u just way to play the old games with good music.
OMSI-Fan Mark Are you sure you're not talking about MUNT?
Also, Roland couldn't make the SC series sound exactly like the MT-32 because that's a completely different architecture of producing sound. It would mean they had to include a whole extra set of components inside and this was supposed to be a new and improved design back in the day.
That's why it just uses the default sounds to emulate the MT-32/CM-32L, but can't receive SysEx data so only the few games that doesn't re-program the patches, will sound OK.
Yes if course, I meant MUNT. Thanks for the hint, I obviously made a typo when I was commenting from my mobile phone. And once it learns a new "word", it get's wrong again and again and I didn't notice it. ;-)
About the MT-32 mode, I would have expected that - with more updated technology - it would have become easier and cheaper to produce the required stuff to keep it compatible.
Love your musical creations btw.,, as heard on The 8-bit Guy's channel. :-)
Bought my own SC-55 straight from Japan on the back of this video. One of, if not the best, retro computing purchase I've made I've got to say. The quality it adds to the games that support it is beyond belief.
My Roland XP-10 synth in 1995 sounds exactly like your SC-55. Most GS synths uses the same set of sounds for the GM/GS mode. Thank you for the nostalgia, dear LGR
WOW! The part where you play game sounds with the Roland SC-55mkII sounds amazing with my Noisehush NX-80 Stereo earbuds. And even without them on my Microsoft Surface Pro 4's internal speakers! Truly Amazing sound!
I love you for emphasizing the technology. General MIDI is so overlooked today, but everyone who has ever used a DAW will find their way to VSTs and controller surfaces. It really has stood the test of time. Do tell me you cable managed with velcro straps, eventually! :j
Funny story, a friend of mine said my DAW GUI looks very much like a bomb-deactivation device. Haha.
Great video as always mate. This was the era I got into PCs, I started with an Epson in the early 80s but when dad brought home a new 286. Oh man. We split that HDD up and my brother and I had 5 megs each and dad had 20. All these games and all this hardware was my time. 87-92 was a shining period.
Those are such 90s looking things.
I have such a soft spot for black boxes covered in rectangular buttons and finished with an LCD data screen.
That's part of the reason these midi sound moduels appeal to me. That and the classic
PCM digitized instrument sounds.
Thanks for the video ! How good midi can sound was always one of those unanswered questions for me, as a teenager I had to spend my limited money on trying to get a new 3D card or RAM upgrade usually, MIDI equipment was a far flung fantasy. I remember hearing a big improvement in the early 00s on some retro games after getting a new sound card and tinkering around with MIDI libraries, but I always wondered how a top of the line setup would have sounded.
Had one of these growing up hooked up to a packard bell 386 through the db 15 to midi adapter. Loved it so much, this video just brings me back to my childhood. Thanks LGR.
This timing, just in the week that I started to learn about MIDI's and soundfonts, LGR puts this vid online. Sweet
I had one of those SC-15 daughter cards. It was functionally equivalent to the SC-55MkII. Great card, great sound. I composed a lot of music for that thing over the years.
Before I saw your video I want a Roland MT-32... but now I want Roland SC-55mk II. Thank you Clint, excellent video as usual!
The reveal at 9:20 was a big 'OMG that's why all those examples sounded so familiar to me' moment !
I love your reviews of these big external sound devices. I was completely unaware of them at the time, and they sound amazing.
Fun fact: Nobuo Uematsu recorded the Final Fantasy VII and VIII soundtracks using an SC-88. The soundtracks are full of classic 90s Roland ROMpler sounds.
That's rather ironic knowing that the PC version of Final Fantasy 8 is one of the only games I know of to explicitly support Yamaha XG synthesizers.
Plus, the game's primary platforms are Playstation consoles, which have Sony sound hardware.
You would think considering those things combined with the Japanese tendency to favour other Japanese companies that he'd be using Yamaha stuff, not Roland...
But you never can tell. XD
Roland is a Japanese company! They picked the name while leafing through an American phonebook because the CEO thought that a Western sounding name would set them apart from their other Japanese competitors iirc. In the late 80s and 90s they were the preferred company for a lot of musicians and composers.
So much nostalgia in these videos! I still have my old MT-32, but my SC-55 is long gone. A couple of good music showcases you might consider for your videos: Ultima 7 on the MT-32, and Ultima 8 on the SC-55. Really good, dark music for Ultima 8, despite how... ungood the game may have been. ;)
I know I'm late to the party - I've been enjoying your channel for awhile now, and for whatever reason didn't notice this one until now. You'd given me plenty of inspiration to start a retro PC collection with all your content, but being a musician myself this video has made me start looking into it in earnest. Thanks for sharing!
Wonderful. Thanks to watching you over the years I've developed an appreciation for such exquisite audio devices; I greatly appreciate the unintentional expansion of my interests.
As a retro videogame nutcase I have been writing compositions for pretty much my entire life using the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth and honestly I wouldn't have had it any other way. It's such a unique palette of sounds that just works so well on its own, and the Roland SC-55 has to be my favorite MIDI sound module, making these sounds so clear and readily accessible.
Thanks for this video! Highly informative, and great to hear Duke Nukem, Descent and Doom music tracks played in the medium they were written for. :D
That sick advertisement that plays on the LCD when you boot the unit up. Glorious. Also pretty much just says "Hey, I'm a Sound Canvas. Let's MIDI some shit in glorious 18bit output."
In the 90s, I had an AWE 32 and loved it, only now realizing what I missed not having an SC-55.
I bought my SC-55 way back when they were still the latest thing Roland had to offer. Fast forward to today and that same unit is still an important part of my computer setup.
heh, midi committee
Itty bitty midi committee.
Glad I'm not alone in loving that name
midi commidi
Son of a... ! I was gonna say the thing, but I look and other people already said the thing.
Commidi
The prices of the Roland SC-55 mkII on online auction sites just went up...
Thanks for this one, Clint, it is certainly a great addition to any DOS gamers setup - I had the keyboard variant back in the day, Roland's JV-30 - 'cause I was I wannabe muso at the time...sadly that never came to pass, but it provided much greatness to my DOS gaming.
Fun fact: Some Karaoke players in the Philippines used SC-55 sound samples, and the sound module from them is the either Dream SAM 9xxx or 2xxx series using the GMS963200 sound bank, which contains the aforementioned samples.
It's crazy how much of an impact Midi has had over the past 30 years, I'm a Synthesizer man so when i hear midi i think pure Synths But this i had no idea existed for gaming back in the day. So cool thanks for this cool bit of knowledge.
LGR is again a guided missile right into my nostalgia center. You're the man, Clint!
There were quite a lot of MIDI soundtracks released on CD in Japan. Konami's MIDI Power and MIDI Power Pro CDs being good examples. They mainly used the SC-88 and SC-88pro though, IIRC.
I don't know why, but the "grant them Magical Roland Powers" bit really struck my funny bone. Sure wish I had had the jacks to own the SC-55 or SC-88 back in the day! It's delightful to see your take on them!
Thanks for this great video. Another approach was soundfonts with Creative AWE-64, some games had their own custom soundfonts, but the headaches of "soundblaster-compatible" soundcards made for big puzzles during setup for some specific games, including having to know IRQs and port numbers by heart. One thing is certain, the huge gaming industry propelled this technology very quickly for musicians, Creative later purchased E-MU systems, they had their expensive "Audio production studio" or APS for writing MIDI with top quality samples, again with soundfont wavetable architecture. Hardware units like Sound Canvas, MT-32 and Proteus simplified MIDI setup, many of the software sequencers like Cakewalk had tough learning curves, so it made this process bearable.
Doom, exactly the way I heard it back on my pc! Love it!
Man I would have killed to have that kind of device when playing PC games as a kid. Very cool and great video!
I actually just ordered mine, for a mere 70 bucks here in Romania :)
Can't wait to get it... Also got a USB to MIDI cable, can't wait to fire up Tyrian in DosBox on this config... That game has marked my childhood, and I do a playthrough at least once every 6 months anyway :)
Thanks for the GREAT insight, Clint!
Oh BOY, that SC-55 sure sounds good to my ears :) And I also like the way it looks. Damn!
i was unaware of the existence of these devices, but they sound AMAZING. they must make a huge difference in playing the games that support them.
Probably seen this one but pleased to see you of all people doing one on this. Looking into the MT-32 and SC-55 again and came across this
I can hear my childhood crying from here over not having this available...
I love that you bring up Tyrian, and its soundtrack, so often! It's a truly great game, and I used to record the soundtrack from my computer to casettes so I could listen to it in school when I was a kid.
I never knew MIDI could sound so good. That is sincerely impressing me in 2017 and I can't believe it.
Absolutely, but don’t forget this was very high end hardware back in the day, costing hundreds of dollars - beyond reach of the average PC gamer’s budget.
This is why I subscribe to you. Your personal interest in the topic bleeds over to my enjoyment watching it. Cheers! ^__^
The SC-55 is my favorite MIDI sound module.
Love the bass and use of L and ar channels to immerse the retro gamer then current gamer
I own that! Super proud to see you make a video about that!
♡ Thanks for taking care of me & my puppies!
The music samples, takes me back to my rebellious music age. Thank you.
That USB adapter and dos box basically sold me and I bought a Roland SC-88VL because it! I look forward to its arrival!
Just bought one of these. Freaking love it
Incredible stuff, Clint! I was always hypnotized with these items that I could never afford! Thanks for sharing!
+LGR *The end of the Roland® Sound Canvas track is a rackmount:* The 2U-sized SC-880 GS™/General MIDI 2, 128-voice/32-part Sound Module, which packs two stereo outputs, two MIDI chains, and a four-mode serial interface.
YES a Soundcanvas video! Thank you Clint!
Holy crap, that brings back memories. I think I actually still have the first version in a closet somewhere along with my Roland GP-16 guitar effects. I seem to remember that I had some Roland midi demo files as well that turned the screen into a simple Scramble game animation. I think I have lost those files a long time ago though. :/
The panning it produces is mesmerising. I wish I had one of these just to play game OSTs on!
This pleases me...... You have done well young one.
I used to play Rise of the Tried just for the soundtrack. Descent is a long-forgotten classic - I went through tons of joysticks, and STILL play it on my Linux system.
Another great LGR vid! I coveted (and still do) a Roland system of this sort, but I have to say I was happy with my old AWE32, and later AWE64 from Creative. They did a damned fine job of doing the Midi "thing" at a relatively affordable price - both back then and now!
I wish I could find more channels like this I love this channel so much :(
Check out 8-bit Guy, Nostalgia Nerd, Techmoan, and Retro Man Cave!
SundaysEffect Try Phil's Computer Lab and Retro Machines
So many songs in the nineties made only with the SC55 and SC88... :)
Our professor at University for audio engineering was so into midi, we just called him "the General"