Not all demo songs of the SC and SD modules are included in the devices' ROMs; most usually came with the driver disks or CDs.

Of course, the 88Pro MIDIs and many things designed for that module don't work properly on a 88, due to a bunch of missing instruments, effects, and parameters 😜

Anyways, I've uploaded the SC-88 (and as a bonus, the SC-55 and the GS All-Stars) demo MIDIs. Those for the 88Pro, 8820, 8850, SD-20, SD-90, and Virtual Sound Canvas are also available on request.

Thanks for uploading this!

DX7_EP wrote:

Not all demo songs of the SC and SD modules are included in the devices' ROMs; most usually came with the driver disks or CDs.

Of course, the 88Pro MIDIs and many things designed for that module don't work properly on a 88, due to a bunch of missing instruments, effects, and parameters 😜

Anyways, I've uploaded the SC-88 (and as a bonus, the SC-55 and the GS All-Stars) demo MIDIs. Those for the 88Pro, 8820, 8850, SD-20, SD-90, and Virtual Sound Canvas are also available on request.

Wow, fantastic! Thank you!:)

So, I have a quick followup. Demos sound strange now as well. My unit sound very different from this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX5lYHbEVmI

I have a 88vl, but I was led to understand that it is the same as 88, but without the extra buttons on the panel. So my unit should sound like this. I have reset to factory settings and I'm initializing for GS playback, but I get different sounds all round, and a crazy flute that steps in sporadically.

Has anyone had this happen to them? What can I do to troubleshoot?

I've uploaded a video to demonstrate:
https://youtu.be/g5H3v8WwNBk
It seems that perhaps some instruments are lost and being adressed to other instruments. As if the song plays on 32 channels but the signal the program sends is just the first 16 channels, or 16+16 channels sent to the same instruments on the device (poorly explained). Does anyone have any ideas?

Ok, I think I get it. The midi player I am using is only sending out signal on ONE midi port (which only handles 16 tracks). The demosong I was playing uses a full 32 track setup so things are getting botched.

I have been searching for hours now without luck. Does anyone know a MIDI player for windows that I can use to send all 32 tracks on the two midi ports on my soundcard?

EDIT:
Nope, thats not it. I tried the demo called Skatey Eight now. It opnly uses 16 channels, but it also sounds off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3upTDHmI_iQ

Does your soundcard support 2 midi out ports? Most only have in/out/thru. Some sound cards let you switch the thru port to an out 2 port, but you usually have to select this via driver settings.

Another option is to use the serial input on the 88. One serial cable can handle 32 channels with ease. Of course you will need a roland serial-midi driver installed, but this should be easy enough to find assuming your OS is compatible.

As for using the 88, just do a factory reset only. Do not do a manual GS reset.

SuperDeadite wrote:

Does your soundcard support 2 midi out ports? Most only have in/out/thru. Some sound cards let you switch the thru port to an out 2 port, but you usually have to select this via driver settings.

Another option is to use the serial input on the 88. One serial cable can handle 32 channels with ease. Of course you will need a roland serial-midi driver installed, but this should be easy enough to find assuming your OS is compatible.

As for using the 88, just do a factory reset only. Do not do a manual GS reset.

Thank you for the reply. I have two MIDI outputs on my soundcard (RME UFX), but I have not been able to find a midi-player software that sends 32 channels out on two midi-ports. By "factory reset only" are you reffering to the manual factory initialization? Power on the unit while holding both "parts" buttons down? I did this, and it does not make these problems go away. Is there another factory reset that might?

MIDITrail can use multiple output ports:
https://osdn.net/projects/miditrail/
(Unfortunately my midi player FSMP can only handle 32 channel files in bassmidi soft synth mode)

But even MIDITrail cannot play these 32 channel demo files correctly but can play other 32 channel files like this:
Salamander 2 - Sensation [SC-88Pro 32ch].7z:
download/file.php?id=36470

The whys require some explanation and correcting some misconceptions:

Ok, I think I get it. The midi player I am using is only sending out signal on ONE midi port (which only handles 16 tracks). The demosong I was playing uses a full 32 track setup so things are getting botched.

I have been searching for hours now without luck. Does anyone know a MIDI player for windows that I can use to send all 32 tracks on the two midi ports on my soundcard?

Tracks and channels are 2 different things. A 'Track' is only an organizing concept in SMF (Standard Midi File) files an totally independent from channels that are part of the Midi protocol. E.g. You can have 65535 tracks in a midi file that still use only 16 channels and players can play such a file without problems. Also Type 0 SMF files only use 1 track but can use all 16 channels in the only 1 track.
The Midi protocol itself is restricted to only 16 channels, you can only encode channels 0-15 in a midi message. The upper 4 bits in a status byte are the event type and the lower 4 bits are the channel information. E.g. '0xC2' is a Program change message (0xC0) intended to channel 2 (0x02). So channels can only be 0x0 - 0xF.
Then how 32 channel playback is possible? Only by using more than one port (16 channel domain). It does not matter if the connection is serial or midi cable/USB one domain/port cannot handle more than 16 channels.
The problem is a midi player has to know which tracks belong to which port. This information has to be present in the SMF file as a meta event. There are 2 kinds of events that multi-port capable players understand: 1. 0x21 'MIDI Port preference' and 0x9 'Device Name'. Unfortunately these demo files use none of them, but only contain information in the 'Track name' meta event such as ': PartA 1ch.' and : 'PartB 1ch.' Unfortunately no players understand this automatically. So the only way to play these files correctly is to use a sequencer and assign/route the different tracks according to this 'Track name' information.

I have made a modified version of Y4002_02.MID with the necessary meta information included so that multi-port capable players (including MIDITrail) should play it correctly:

@Edit:
I have also made a video about playing the modified file:
https://youtu.be/IqbXzYb_O7g

NevilClavain wrote:

I have been searching for hours now without luck. Does anyone know a MIDI player for windows that I can use to send all 32 tracks on the two midi ports on my soundcard?

Fummy's TMIDI Player does support 32ch mode through ports A & B. It's my player of choice, although it's quite old now and in Japanese.

Kaminari wrote:

NevilClavain wrote:

I have been searching for hours now without luck. Does anyone know a MIDI player for windows that I can use to send all 32 tracks on the two midi ports on my soundcard?

Fummy's TMIDI Player does support 32ch mode through ports A & B. It's my player of choice, although it's quite old now and in Japanese.

Even TMIDI cannot play correctly the unmodified SC-88 32 channel demo midi files uploaded by DX7_EP since none of them contains the meta information required by the player.
Affected files in SC88_SC55_demos.zip are some files in 'SC-88 Disk' folder:
Y4002_01.MID
Y4002_02.MID
Y4002_05.MID
Y4002_06.MID
Y4002_07.MID

You either have to play them in a sequencer/DAW or insert Midi Port preference = 0 meta events into each track that has a Track name starting with 'PartA' and Midi Port preference = 1 meta events into each track that has a Track name starting with 'PartB'.
This way both TMIDI and MIDITRail as well as XMPlay, Foobar and FSMP (the last 3 in soft synth mode only) can play the files correctly.

This has been extremely helpful. Thank you to everyone who responded! I think I have an understanding of things now and I've started using the device with my 386. It's a lot of fun 😀
I do find that not all games load with mt-32 selected, but I'll make a separate post about that. This community is really great! 😀

Thanks again!

NevilClavain wrote:

I do find that not all games load with mt-32 selected, but I'll make a separate post about that. This community is really great! 😀

you do understand its not compatible with mt32 right? I mean, you can select the mt32 sound map but mt32 has ram you can load patches into, sc88 does not.

SC88VL is great for things needing GM. MT32 is for things needing MT32. It is its own thing.

BloodyCactus wrote:

NevilClavain wrote:

I do find that not all games load with mt-32 selected, but I'll make a separate post about that. This community is really great! 😀

you do understand its not compatible with mt32 right? I mean, you can select the mt32 sound map but mt32 has ram you can load patches into, sc88 does not.

SC88VL is great for things needing GM. MT32 is for things needing MT32. It is its own thing.

Yes, I am aware!:D It won't sound right, and in some cases it will sound terrible, but it should work in the sense that it shouldn't just stop at a black screen with a mouse pointer.

NevilClavain wrote:

Yes, I am aware!:D It won't sound right, and in some cases it will sound terrible, but it should work in the sense that it shouldn't just stop at a black screen with a mouse pointer.

doesnt sound like anything to do with the SC88. midi out is one way, and no games I know of, use midi in, so its basically an open drain, they throw data at the port. done. there is no waiting for a return result / acknowledgement.

unless its expecting intelligent mode mpu maybe.

DX7_EP wrote:

Not all demo songs of the SC and SD modules are included in the devices' ROMs; most usually came with the driver disks or CDs.

Of course, the 88Pro MIDIs and many things designed for that module don't work properly on a 88, due to a bunch of missing instruments, effects, and parameters 😜

Anyways, I've uploaded the SC-88 (and as a bonus, the SC-55 and the GS All-Stars) demo MIDIs. Those for the 88Pro, 8820, 8850, SD-20, SD-90, and Virtual Sound Canvas are also available on request.

Don't you happen to have any of SC-8820's demo MIDI files (especially I'm looking for WallfiveMix II)

Speaking about this, how common are 32 channel MIDIs? The ones listed here are, in fact, all that I have found.

DX7_EP wrote on 2018-04-21, 06:47:

Not all demo songs of the SC and SD modules are included in the devices' ROMs; most usually came with the driver disks or CDs.

Of course, the 88Pro MIDIs and many things designed for that module don't work properly on a 88, due to a bunch of missing instruments, effects, and parameters :P

Anyways, I've uploaded the SC-88 (and as a bonus, the SC-55 and the GS All-Stars) demo MIDIs. Those for the 88Pro, 8820, 8850, SD-20, SD-90, and Virtual Sound Canvas are also available on request.

Now please give me all the demo song files for the SD-90!

SLON wrote on 2019-02-02, 20:54:

Speaking about this, how common are 32 channel MIDIs? The ones listed here are, in fact, all that I have found.

Probably not very common with demo songs, since they can basically only be used over a module's serial connection.

However, for compositions made in a DAW, you can basically use more than 16 MIDI channels for any composition, as long as you have the MIDI OUTs over which to send the data.

yawetaG wrote on 2020-04-01, 18:04:

Probably not very common with demo songs, since they can basically only be used over a module's serial connection.

You can use both MIDI Ins at the same time to use all 32 channels. That's how it is supposed to be done. You don't have to use the serial connection. I'm not even sure if you can use more than 16 channels over the serial connection, as the data rate is not high enough for that...