I haven't found any specific games that utilizes the CM-32 or CM-64. Also, to start any emulation I'd need the roms from the module. I was able to get them for the MT-32, but I don't know about the CM-32/CM-64.

Hi canadacow,

Will you make an emulator of the Roland Sound Canvas SC-55 module?

According to Quest Studios, the Microsoft Soft Synth sounds a bit "cheesy" and isn't completely faithful to the SC-55.

Could it be possible to make such emulator?

Regards.

Heh... wow. A whole other emulator beyond the MT-32. Getting decent MT-32 emulation has been quite a challenge. Unfortunately, I'd need a good deal of incentive to get me to write an emulator of a more recent product.

There is already Virtual Sound Canvas 3.21 for Windows so another emulator is not needed 😉

Hi,

Well, I understand that embarking on another emulator project right now would be really exhausting. But I thought it would be very nice to have an SC-55 emulator that could be used in VDMSound and dosbox.

Quest Studios says:

The Roland Sound Canvas has been considered the General MIDI standard for nearly a decade. Most other reputable sound card manufacturers strive to emulate this synth in instrument and sound balance, though many fall short. In the past, game publishers most often used the SC-55 to write General MIDI soundtracks for their games, including Sierra On-Line, Inc. And still, in 2001, I consider the SC-55 a great sounding synth.

As there are many games that support only General MIDI music, I think that an SC-55 emulator could be useful. Right now we can emulate General MIDI music with the Microsoft Soft Synth, but it is not a perfect emulation.

What do you think canadacow? Would it be worth the hassle?

Regards.

Leolo wrote:

Right now we can emulate General MIDI music with the Microsoft Soft Synth, but it is not a perfect emulation.

Emulate General Midi ? No, i think you speak bout emulating the Roland SC55. There's some Soundfonts for the SBLive owners wich got the sc55 samples.

There's more than just the samples, dude. The SC-55, IIRC, used GS, not GM.

More than just sample! It depends on "engine" of the synthersizer very much. The MS soft Synth have the Sound Canvas Sample but still sounds some different to a real Sound Canvas ... "cheesy"!!! I don't believe having SC sample as a DLS would give any impressive result.

GM/GS is pretty well specified (unlike "MT-32"), but still stuff like envelope generation, volume scale and reverb algos (not to speak of samples) can be (WT_, *are*) very different and unspecified. 😀

V.

micro wrote:

More than just sample! It depends on "engine" of the synthersizer very much. The MS soft Synth have the Sound Canvas Sample but still sounds some different to a real Sound Canvas ... "cheesy"!!! I don't believe having SC sample as a DLS would give any impressive result.

Hi,

Let me lobby for SC-55 emulation again 😀

canadacow, I think there's another incentive to make an SC-55 emulator.

Foobar2000 developers are looking for a good Software Synth to add MIDI playback support in their player. The SC-55 would be a great option for them (but sadly there isn't any emulator available)

Here's the thread:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?showtopic=13107&

So, an SC-55 emulator would be very useful both for playing old games and for playing most MIDI files!!

Do you consider it likely?

Best regards.
Ciao.

Leolo wrote:

Do you consider it likely?

Best regards.
Ciao.

The Microsoft SC-55 softsynth's source is available. Moreover, Microsoft actually encourages building one's own softsynth starting from their implementation. I would suggest to that group that they simply integrate the MS softsynth into their program. Such an implementation would be compatible both with the default DLS (Instrument library) provided by Microsoft, or another soundfont that more closely approximates the sound they are looking for. The source, of course, can be found in the Windows DDK. If they are sincerely interested, they can contact me and I'll get it to them.

Snover wrote:

There's more than just the samples, dude. The SC-55, IIRC, used GS, not GM.

Isn't GS a superset of GM (General MIDI)? What does GS stand for anyways?

Yes. And good question. General Synthesis[ing/er], perhaps?

GS stands for General Standard. It's an extension to GM level 1. It adds extra controllers and instruments.

Leolo wrote:

Hi canadacow, […]
Show full quote

Hi canadacow,

Will you make an emulator of the Roland Sound Canvas SC-55 module?

According to Quest Studios, the Microsoft Soft Synth sounds a bit "cheesy" and isn't completely faithful to the SC-55.

Could it be possible to make such emulator?

Regards.

In my experiance the virtual soundcanvas doesn't sound as good as the real thing.

Any Yamaha XG synth (including their softsynth) have a GS compatible mode (the program layout is actually SC-88 compatible, it has all the SC-55/SCC-1 sounds plus a bunch more). That's what "TG300" mode is, the TG300 was a GS compatible module Yamaha made in the early 90's. For whatever reason they added a TG300 mode to their XG compatible modules. They are unusual in that (as far as I know) they're the only non Roland "GS compatible" devices that support GS sysex commands (voice parameters etc.)

Still doesn't sound quite like a real roland device, but it's better than any other non roland device for roland MIDI. If you really want an SCC-1, just track down an SC-55, it's the same thing in an external box (like the MT32) They don't cost all that much these days.

micro wrote:

More than just sample! It depends on "engine" of the synthersizer very much. The MS soft Synth have the Sound Canvas Sample but still sounds some different to a real Sound Canvas ... "cheesy"!!! I don't believe having SC sample as a DLS would give any impressive result.

No "GS compatible" synth I know of (with the exception of XG modules in TG300 mode) understand GS sysex, they just duplicate the mapping of the sounds and drum kits and have the same reverb and chorus effects. You can't adjust the voice parameters.

Lobivopsis wrote:

they just duplicate the mapping of the sounds and drum kits and have the same reverb and chorus effects. You can't adjust the voice parameters.

Exactly for all the MT-32 compatible device out there or those MT-32 DLS, they just duplicate the mapping of the sounds. Without the MT-32 LA engine to understand those Sysex, we can't adjust the voice parameters and hence it will sound really odd.