After shipping and everything else I have seen MK IIs on ebay for around 400$. That looked like the going rate when I was casually browsing. All of them coming out of japan.

I use the Roland VSTi plugin instead, and then pass midi instructions to my modern PC using the Roland UM One USB midi interface. Much cheaper, especially if you can "find" an older version of the VSTi plugin online.

mothergoose729 wrote on 2021-06-24, 17:24:

After shipping and everything else I have seen MK IIs on ebay for around 400$. That looked like the going rate when I was casually browsing. All of them coming out of japan.

I use the Roland VSTi plugin instead, and then pass midi instructions to my modern PC using the Roland UM One USB midi interface. Much cheaper, especially if you can "find" an older version of the VSTi plugin online.

I guess I should have jumped onto the retro hardware bandwagon when it got popular a few years ago.

I'm starting to think the same - use the Roaland VSTi plugin instead; I found an old version too 1.0.3 - unfortunately Roland seems to have hidden their release notes so I don't even know what the latest release is.

What are you using to host your VSTi plug-in? If I go this route, I iwould prefer to have a simple application so I don't need to fudge too much to play a few games or try out a few sounds.

Thanks for the quick reply.

coolspot wrote on 2021-06-24, 17:27:

I guess I should have jumped onto the retro hardware bandwagon when it got popular a few years ago. […]
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mothergoose729 wrote on 2021-06-24, 17:24:

After shipping and everything else I have seen MK IIs on ebay for around 400$. That looked like the going rate when I was casually browsing. All of them coming out of japan.

I use the Roland VSTi plugin instead, and then pass midi instructions to my modern PC using the Roland UM One USB midi interface. Much cheaper, especially if you can "find" an older version of the VSTi plugin online.

I guess I should have jumped onto the retro hardware bandwagon when it got popular a few years ago.

I'm starting to think the same - use the Roaland VSTi plugin instead; I found an old version too 1.0.3 - unfortunately Roland seems to have hidden their release notes so I don't even know what the latest release is.

What are you using to host your VSTi plug-in? If I go this route, I iwould prefer to have a simple application so I don't need to fudge too much to play a few games or try out a few sounds.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Falcosoft midi player. You can do a lot with it, like send commands over the midi interface to switch plugins or sound fonts. There is a plugin for Yamaha XG and MUNT as well making it a great all-in-one solution.

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/roland-midi- … project-20.html

mothergoose729 wrote on 2021-06-24, 17:24:

After shipping and everything else I have seen MK IIs on ebay for around 400$. That looked like the going rate when I was casually browsing. All of them coming out of japan.

I use the Roland VSTi plugin instead, and then pass midi instructions to my modern PC using the Roland UM One USB midi interface. Much cheaper, especially if you can "find" an older version of the VSTi plugin online.

They are way cheaper on yahoo than on ebay, not many for sale at the moment though.

A good option is to import one form Japan. There are plenty on sc-55 units for sale on Yahoo auctions. The price is around USD 100 + shipping+fee. You'll end up with something like USD150. There were also variations of sc-55 - sc55st and sc-55k, they are cheaper, but make no difference if gaming is what you want it for. The former lacks some extra ports and screen, the latter is a karaoke version, has no screen but has all ports and is in fact a sc-55MKII.

Some sold examples https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/closedsearch/clo … +sc-55&b=1&n=50

Edit:
for sale right now sc-55k BIN USD60 https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/p859466792

I would look into the Dreamblaster X2GS.

The Dreamblaster X2GS is indeed a very nice choice but to be honest there is a really nice SC-55 soundfont too:

https://archive.org/download/SC55EmperorGrieferus

I recently received my MP32L and tried this soundfont with several games and I am actually quite pleased with it.

And if you keep in mind the MP32L also runs Munt, which does a 99.9% great job of emulating the MT-32 and CM32-L, for a Pi 3A+, 32GB microSD, MP32L HAT and a small 2.5A PSU... for about 100 euros you have everything you need 😀

The sound font solution is not at all a bad way to go. Very few games have a sound canvas mode, and even the ones that do, they often sound exactly the same as general midi on an SC-55 anyhow. You can find very good fonts that fit under 2mb.

I got lucky and got a working SC-55 Mark 1 (some front panel controls are a bit sticky, but I don't care for my use case) for 80$ at a local (Montreal) pawn shop last winter . Ironically, they had had it for months before anyone showed any interest and actually knocked 20$ of the 100$ asking price to entice me .

This pawn shop, like several other in my array, has a searchable inventory on its web site, so anyone in the area could have found and bought it months before me . I actually stumbled upon it by sheer luck ( I was looking for something else and decided to check for Roland/Edirol gear for kicks).

Anyway, I admit I was really lucky, but searching online locally is never a bad idea, IMHO.

Case in point, around the same timeI found online and purchased an RA-50 for under 100$ from a guy who lives maybe 10km away .

My first SC-88VL about 4 years ago,AFAICR, was a 40$ purchase. I found it lovally as well thanks to an add on Kijiji .

All $ amounts mentioned are Canadian funds .

Good luck!

EDIT : This strategy is more likely to be effective in a densely populated urban area, it goes practically without saying .

darry wrote on 2021-06-24, 20:01:

I got lucky and got a working SC-55 Mark 1 (some front panel controls are a bit sticky, but I don't care for my use case) for 80$ at a local (Montreal) pawn shop last winter . Ironically, they had had it for months before anyone showed any interest and actually knocked 20$ of the 100$ asking price to entice me .

EDIT : This strategy is more likely to be effective in a densely populated urban area, it goes practically without saying .

I'm in the GTA ... nothing in Kijiji, I guess with the city opening up and lockdown ending, I can finally go out and checkout some stores 😀

darry wrote on 2021-06-24, 20:01:

Case in point, around the same timeI found online and purchased an RA-50 for under 100$ from a guy who lives maybe 10km away .

Ah, the "poor-man MT-32". I have two (of which one may leave), both with the hardware modification for 100% compatibility.

You might keep an eye out for a wavetable card or daughterboard with the Crystal CS4112 ROM set. Supposedly, this set consists of "stolen" Roland samples compressed into a 1MB ROM. It's pretty good when you can find it on a card for $50.

boxpressed wrote on 2021-06-25, 15:27:

You might keep an eye out for a wavetable card or daughterboard with the Crystal CS4112 ROM set. Supposedly, this set consists of "stolen" Roland samples compressed into a 1MB ROM. It's pretty good when you can find it on a card for $50.

I have two cards with this ROM;
The Aztech CS9233 (probably not it's official name) and the IBM Aptiva S-W1/C and although they indeed both sound very similar (with some subtle differences most likely due to different components on the cards) it's nowhere near a Roland soundset.

The ones that do come quite close (obvousily) are the ones with the Dream GMS963200 chip . As far as I know this is only on the 4MB version of the Diamond Monster Sound, Cancun FX, Yucatan FX (cancun fx clone by serdaco) and in the Anteg EasyMIDI EM-100 external module.

There are a ton of non-Sound Canvas modules which are a SC-55 or variant, too. Boss DR-330, Roland MT-90, MT-120, and several others I can't recall right now. Not to mention SC-33, SC-50, SC-55ST, SC-55K, etc etc.

Bottom line - these often go for a lot less money.

Over here in Australia I've seen a lot of cheap SC-55 compatibles like those I mentioned - but the SC-55's and mkII's go for a lot more.

Are you searching the US eBay? I'm looking at sold listings, and I'm seeing a few that sold for $130-150 after shipping within the last 30 days.

Just setup a watch and get a deal, within the last year I got a SC-50 for $100, and a MU-500 for $136. The only one I feel I slurged on was a SC-D70 for $185. You just need to wait, and tell yourself if it's over $X it's not worth it.

Sellers will put outragous prices with buy it nows that will sit for months in hopes that a sucker will pay the full asking price without researching. You can also try putting buy offers to some of the high listings and see if you get any bites.

You can get an SC-88ST for about $120 on ebay from Japan.
Just remember that Japan is 110v, and USA is 120V and get a converter.

DNSDies wrote on 2021-06-27, 06:59:

You can get an SC-88ST for about $120 on ebay from Japan.
Just remember that Japan is 110v, and USA is 120V and get a converter.

Most AC adapters are variable voltage? I always thought Japanese equipment typically has enough variance to run between 100-120V?

But good point I’ll check the included AC adapter.

coolspot wrote on 2021-06-27, 21:29:

Most AC adapters are variable voltag? I always thought Japanese equipment typically has enough variance to run between 100-120V?

But good point I’ll check the included AC adapter.

You should always check, but the Japanese MIDI gear I've gotten has all been 100-240V.

The SC-D70 was my biggest concern as it has an internal PSU versus a brick. But I was able to dig through the manual and it confirm it as 100V-240V as well.

If you are concerned, you could always just get a new adapter for your correct voltage for anything with an external power adapter. I recommand staying away from the travel adapters.

SScorpio wrote on 2021-06-25, 22:24:

Sellers will put outragous prices with buy it nows that will sit for months in hopes that a sucker will pay the full asking price without researching.

There are also many people living in countries where purchasing and shipping options are either limited, and/or quite expensive.

e.g. when I bought my Sound Canvas 1-2yrs ago, as a New Zealander, almost every ebay auction is categorised as "Will not ship to your country", or with shipping fees rivalling the item price itself. The same could be said for almost every marketplace.

In that context (which, by-the-numbers, most of you will thankfully never have to worry about!), the choices are twofold: spend a lot of time and effort monitoring and trawling marketplaces (including niches like amibay), and trying in turn to convince each prospective seller to deal with your difficult minority ass, or just bite the bullet and press Buy It Now on one of the very very few market options to offer service and less-than-exorbitant-shipping to your small, remote country.

I hope that doesn't make me a "sucker". 🤣