Lucky you!

My MT-32 is also first gen, i bought it from Australia. Looks quite worn but at least it's working 😊

I'd like to pair it with an SCC-1 ...

right about shipping cost.

Do you have an external Sound Canvas already?

Or maybe a Sound Canvas wavetable card would be easier to find (also much cheaper shipping usually under 10 bucks as a letter)...

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Do you have an external Sound Canvas already?

Or maybe a Sound Canvas wavetable card would be easier to find (also much cheaper shipping usually under 10 bucks as a letter)...

no, i have no external SC, only the MT-32. I haven't seen much Roland SCD cards on ebay though.. maybe they show up when i'm not looking

External SC-55 and SC-55 MK 2 are much much easier to find...

You only need 1 midi card I believe, as you can use the "midi through" port

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem … e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Hehe posting this will surely drive the price up 😁

oh well... seems like they manage fine without MY efforts, at $76! 😳

Anyway, here are some more stuff (I get bonus from the sellers!..... kiddin! 😜 )

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Roland-SC-7-General-Mid … Synthesisers_CV

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem … e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Nice 😁

eh... maybe you're right about the driving-up part - spooky as it seems, the prices on the US$ items suddenly went up to the extremes...

SCC-1 from $76 to $102.50!
And the CM500 from $162.50 to $285!!

Ok, so I better stop posting then....? 😅

and bestemor has just brought the stage forth ... 😏

the SCC-1 (B it seems, from the manual) is the reason i'm asking questions here today 😜

i wanted it so bad that i was ready to spend $150 total w/ shipping (which is about the cost of an SC-55MkII w/ shipping), but the better part of me wins hehe. i'm not going to use it for quite some while anyway, and there is just this theory i want to test myself...

Thanks for all the tips Maulwurf! (and a belated welcome!) 😀

Hehe 😁

Yea ebay is very very pricey for most of these items...

That SC-7 could very well go for a small price. There are a lot of midi modules that have the same functionality. E.g MT-100 is a second generation MT32 with midi sequencer.

Or there are Sound Canvas versions without display (CM-300 or CM-55ST or SD35)...

So there are lot of options if you look outside of the "really hot items".

I have difficulties understanding the price of the CM-500 however. I read some information on wikipedia and on queststudios and the CM-500 has a different DAC which is also factory trimmed. A faster vibrato seems to be one of the consequences...

The CM-500 came out just around the same time when General Midi / Sound Canvas started to be used in games. So IMO it is the least desirable midi module for playing MT-32 games...

I guess a lot of people aren't aware of these subtle differences and they just like that it's a MT-32 and a Sound Canvas in a single box...

archsan wrote:

🤣 that was two years ago and i hope you've already forgiven bestemor, Robert 😁

anyway, how much do you think it's worth it now, the SCC-1/A/B ?

looks like the days of SCC-1 giveaways are already long gone, isn't it...

🤣 Yeah, that was 2 years ago. How time flies. I'll be honest here - the GUS PnP was the worst purchase in terms of monetary value I have ever made. So, in one sense, Bestemor was right. The SCC-1 cards are very good, if not the best. They are worth it! Sometimes you still see them complete/boxed. If you're not bothered about the packaging etc, I would concentrate on a cheaper bare card. I've never come across a defective one, even though they are old now, and they really look old! I would say a bare card is worth a minimum of 50-60 US dollars. I'm not sure what the -A / -B models are worth because they rarely appear on ebay.

BTW, I have an SC-55 unit, but not a MKII unit. Is this a problem? I saw a MKII unit appear locally on ebay a few months ago, but I got outbid. I think I bid approx 100 US dollars (using conversion here), and the winner just beat me.

According to wikipedia the MK 2 has more voice, more tones and a higher resolution output...

Which one is better? Well that really depends on your definition of better...

Every synth sounds different. That's just how it is.

Ideally we would need to know which synth was used to create the score of whatever game it is you are playing...

The MK 2 came out 1993, so any General Midi game that came out before was usually composed on a original sound canvas.

For games after 1993, well who knows. You really would need to ask the composer. I haven't heard the differences between these two synths, so maybe someone else with more knowledge could enlighten us.

As for me, I see myself as someone who values authenticity above all followed by whatever was the "defacto standard". e.g. there is a lot of talk about which Soundblaster or Soundblaster clone is the best (often hunting down really exotic cards, which had little relevance back in the days).

So for me that's an easy choice, I seek out a Creative Soundblaster card despite any flaws that might come with choosing Creative. And usually the top model available at the time of whenever the game got released.

Specifically that would be a Creative Labs Soundblaster Pro 2.0 for FM audio and 8 bit digital sound games and a Soundblaster AWE 64 Gold for 16 bit digital sounds (FM is not important as all these games had either MT-32 or General Midi anyway)

Thanks a lot for the info. Is the following correct -

SCC-1 = SC-55
SCC-1A (or B) = SC-55 MKII

When I use the symbol = (equals sign), I mean the phrase "technically and audibly equivalent". Thanks.

retro games 100 wrote:

Thanks a lot for the info. Is the following correct - […]
Show full quote

Thanks a lot for the info. Is the following correct -

SCC-1 = SC-55
SCC-1A (or B) = SC-55 MKII

When I use the symbol = (equals sign), I mean the phrase "technically and audibly equivalent". Thanks.

Well according to the wikipedia article, YES!

And the difference between 1A and B seems to be just a different software package or bundle (Also according to the wikipedia article)...

I am curious as why you are interested in sourcing a SCC-1? The way I see it is that it limits you to using an ISA machine and you don't get a LCD screen (which is nice to look at when music plays)...

I can't think of any benefit over the external units to be honest. Is there one?

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I am curious as why you are interested in sourcing a SCC-1? The way I see it it limits you to using a ISA machine and you don't get a LCD screen (which is nice to look at when music plays)...

I can't think of any benefit over the external units to be honest. Is there one?

Although I can't answer your question with absolute certainty (because I lack the technical knowledge), I believe there is no benefit to use the ISA card instead of the external unit. Please note that I am no longer interested in getting an SCC-1 ISA card because I now have one. I do think they sound excellent. I would recommend them. Actually, perhaps there is a tiny difference between the ISA card and the external unit. But it's just my perception, and so not to be taken seriously - I remember listening to the SCC-1 using headphones and thinking "that sounds excellent", and then listening to music from an SC-55 with the same pair of headphones and not thinking "that sounds excellent", but instead thinking "that sounds good". It's difficult to describe. It's as if the music from the SCC-1 really "sings", but the music from the SC-55 sounded a tiny bit "flat and lifeless". Perhaps it's just me and I just need my ears syringing! 🤣

Hey it's possible... Every synth does sound different 😁

I heard a few General Midi recordings on Quest Studio and although General Midi is a standard, every synth sounded different...

Now it's possible that this is because of many people doing the recordings on different machines with different recording devices, so who knows 😁

But they all sound fantastic IMO and that's what matters 😁

archsan wrote:

yeah, there are some Roland MPU-401 boxes without the interface card on eBay, yet they're priced at more than $ 80! :sealed: […]
Show full quote

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I prefer the external modules over the ISA cards. They are more flexible, I can use them in DosBOX machines with USB midi ports and they are easier to find...

The ISA cards often got chucked out with the PC, whereas the external boxes often got "saved" from the bin.

The SC-55 and SC-55 mk 2 have a nice LCD display, it's definitely worth getting 😁

yeah, there are some Roland MPU-401 boxes without the interface card on eBay, yet they're priced at more than $ 80! 🤐

SC55/MkII is nice indeed, but usually more expensive, especially for int'l shipping. want one too someday ...

Plus i haven't owned a real 'smart' MPU-401 interface yet for my MT-32 🙁

I was looking at getting one of those but without a card that you can use it with, it's not much use and the cards are almost always expensive unless you manage to find a seller who doesn't know what they have and puts it up for a ridiculously low BIN which usually gets snapped up within minutes of being listed. 🙁

retro games 100 wrote:

🤣 Yeah, that was 2 years ago. How time flies. I'll be honest here - the GUS PnP was the worst purchase in terms of monetary value I have ever made. So, in one sense, Bestemor was right. The SCC-1 cards are very good, if not the best. They are worth it! Sometimes you still see them complete/boxed. If you're not bothered about the packaging etc, I would concentrate on a cheaper bare card. I've never come across a defective one, even though they are old now, and they really look old!

they sure do. fortunately they are much less risky than power hungry graphic cards. Plus they just have some good Japanese quality i guess. 😉

I would say a bare card is worth a minimum of 50-60 US dollars. I'm not sure what the -A / -B models are worth because they rarely appear on ebay.
beat me.

well, some people think it worth more than $100 today it seems 🤣 ... the SCC-1 in the ebay link above looks like the "B" version, if you look at the manual pic, where you can find "Bonus Pack", "Band-in-a-box", and "Ballade GS software".

Plus here's a good FAQ about SCC-1/A/B, lots of info about them:

http://ftp.cs.uu.nl/pub/MIDI/DOC/FAQS/SCC1-FAQ

there's also info on how to check if your SCC-1 has 317 or 354 voices

the thing is, bare SCC-1/A/B cards look mostly indistinguishable from each other, and i'm clueless on the numberings. unlike first/second gen MT-32's which are easy to ID from their serial numbers. so ebay sellers are usually clueless as well, unless they are selling complete package and really know the differences.

retro games 100 wrote:

SCC-1 = SC-55
SCC-1A (or B) = SC-55 MKII

When I use the symbol = (equals sign), I mean the phrase "technically and audibly equivalent". Thanks.

also SC-55's and SCD-15/SCB-55 have more voices (28 vs 24 in SCC-1's), dunno if it does matter much though.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Hehe :-D […]
Show full quote

Hehe 😁

Yea ebay is very very pricey for most of these items...

That SC-7 could very well go for a small price. There are a lot of midi modules that have the same functionality. E.g MT-100 is a second generation MT32 with midi sequencer.

Or there are Sound Canvas versions without display (CM-300 or CM-55ST or SD35)...

right, Sound Canvas is nothing to worry about. i found an online store (Thailand iirc) showing stacks of SC-55ST, white and black. Btw, black does age much better than white plastic. I just don't like the way white plastic turn yellow with age. Maybe that's why i'm not too interested in CM-500 😜 they usually look less than great

edit: my bad, those SC-55ST's are already sold out 🙁 http://www.tokaimusic.com/product.detail_24027_en_180093

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

I am curious as why you are interested in sourcing a SCC-1? The way I see it is that it limits you to using an ISA machine and you don't get a LCD screen (which is nice to look at when music plays)...

I can't think of any benefit over the external units to be honest. Is there one?

well, for me, i actually won't bother with SCC-1 as long as i can get a 100% Roland MPU-401 compatible interface (yes, for an ISA machine 😉). If going for SQ i'd rather get SC-55ST and maybe SC-88VL.

Btw you'll see that most people in Marvin don't mind tinkering with "ISA machines" hehe -- yeah they like building their own museum i guess. 😁