For the SC-50, two presses of the power switch will reset the module, but it will not change the mode. Changing the mode from GM to GS or vice versa is usually not necessary. If the game requires GS mode, it will send the appropriate command. Most MIDI files will start with a GM reset or GS reset.

For the MT-32, you can press the MASTER VOLUME and the RHYTHM buttons at the same time, then press button 1 to reset the device.

Great Hierophant wrote:

For the MT-32, you can press the MASTER VOLUME and the RHYTHM buttons at the same time, then press button 1 to reset the device.

Is there any difference between this and power off/on? (is it the same as in SC-50 case?)

robertmo wrote:

Great Hierophant wrote:

For the MT-32, you can press the MASTER VOLUME and the RHYTHM buttons at the same time, then press button 1 to reset the device.

Is there any difference between this and power off/on? (is it the same as in SC-50 case?)

A little. Most of SC devices are in standby mode when their power is off (button is on the front of the device), but pushing the power button on the MT-32 (on the back of the device) initiates a full power cycle. It just saves a little on the electrical wear and tear on the device.

Great Hierophant wrote:

For the SC-50, two presses of the power switch will reset the module, but it will not change the mode. [...] For the MT-32, you can press the MASTER VOLUME and the RHYTHM buttons at the same time, then press button 1 to reset the device.

Thanks, this is already more convenient than what I was doing, but it would still be interesting to know how to do this via sysex from a command line; neither modules are within arm's reach in my setup.

I had a similar issue, this thread can maybe help you.

d1stortion wrote:

I had a similar issue, this thread can maybe help you.

I'll give gsplay.exe a try later today, but would that require me to know whether a game requires GM or GS mode beforehand?

Also: as both devices are daisy-chainend, does sending a sysex mean both devices receive it, or are these (as the name suggests) exclusive to one and ignored by the other?

Can't answer your second question, but for the first I can say that most games do not send a reset, the exception here being Doom. At first I thought that GM is the way to go for all games, but then I had a case where it sounded off and GS sounded right.

So from my testing on XR385 (Yamaha DB60XG clone) I'm not sure if there is a "right" or "wrong" way how a particular game should be played. It may be like that on the Sound Canvas too and individual testing may be required...

I would recommend individual testing. I thought that GM versus GS mode didn't make a difference until I recently tried listening to Daggerfall MIDIs both ways on my SC-88; I found the GM mode sounded better.

I'm not sure why this happens. Maybe GM mode picks the "best" single set of patches, while GS patch bank 0 may have some "sub-optimal" patch variations (at least with regards to playing back GM compositions)?

The solution of using gsplay from a batch file indeed works fine (thanks!). Not sure if I configured the .cfg file correctly, but it appears to work.

There is indeed audible difference between GM and GS modes for some games. Does anyone know what the 'default' mode is the SC-50 starts in after a full reset? And is there a difference between a 'full' reset and resetting in either GM/GS mode?

I would expect a factory reset on a Sound Canvas synth to default to GS mode, since the SC family launched the GS "standard". If you can find a song that sounds distinctly different in each mode, you should be able to listen after doing a full reset to determine which mode it's using.

A "full" reset probably clears out other parameters in addition to per-channel/instrument settings. On my SC-88, for example, it also resets the in/out/thru settings for the MIDI A/B ports. However, most of those settings shouldn't be something that can be controlled via SysEx, so you should be safe doing a GM/GS reset.

In case anyone with an SC-55 is reading this thread: I just noticed on Wikipedia's Sound Canvas article that the original SC-55 misinterprets the GM reset command as a GS reset.

HunterZ wrote:

I would expect a factory reset on a Sound Canvas synth to default to GS mode, since the SC family launched the GS "standard". If you can find a song that sounds distinctly different in each mode, you should be able to listen after doing a full reset to determine which mode it's using.

A "full" reset probably clears out other parameters in addition to per-channel/instrument settings. On my SC-88, for example, it also resets the in/out/thru settings for the MIDI A/B ports. However, most of those settings shouldn't be something that can be controlled via SysEx, so you should be safe doing a GM/GS reset.

In case anyone with an SC-55 is reading this thread: I just noticed on Wikipedia's Sound Canvas article that the original SC-55 misinterprets the GM reset command as a GS reset.

A factory reset will turn the GS system on. In fact, there is no way from the SC-55 panel to turn the GM system on. It must be done with a system exclusive message and the unit must have a General MIDI logo on it. Early units did not.

I am not sure about the early SC-55s with only the GS logo, but units with the General MIDI and GS logos understand the General MIDI reset command F0 7E 7F 09 01 F7 and will process it accordingly.

Interesting, I always thought that the differences on the front of SC-55 units are purely cosmetic. There exist at least 3 revisions from what I've seen: One with just GS, one with "GS Standard" and one with GS and GM on that black part with the "All" and "Mute" buttons. I wonder if there are even more hardware differences between those...

The author of gsplay (Mark Fontana) released an updated version in oct. 97 called MFPLAY, it's impossible to find online so send him an e-mail, his homepage is http://dp70.dyndns.org/

What benefits does it have?

Here's his reply to an e-mail I sent in 2011 asking for an updated version of gsplay:

Hello, […]
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Hello,

I'm amazed to hear from you - nobody has asked about GSPLAY in at least ten years!

Back in the late 1990s, I did produce a few more updates of the program, but I haven't worked on it lately since very few people are still using MSDOS.

The first version (the one you have) was called GSPLAY, but a game company threatened to sue me for using this name. They had a game "Gunship 2000" whose .exe file was named GSPLAY.EXE, so I changed mine to MFPLAY.EXE (for MIDI File player, or Mark Fontana's player, either way).

I've attached the latest version of MFPLAY in case you will find it useful. Let me know if you have any questions about it. As I recall, it does have some new features, so check out the config file and documentation.

Best regards,
Mark