VOGONS


Roland SCB-7 , thoughts?

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First post, by keropi

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Hiya!

a friend asked me for advice whether he gets an SCB-7 daughterboard or not for gaming needs. Obviously it's a GM-only card but is there anything special we should know? I believe its a nice GM card that will behave OK in doom/duke3d/gm games, am I correct? Or there will be limitations/bugs/whatever in playback?

TIA for any info! 😊

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Reply 2 of 32, by carlostex

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In my opinion it really depends. Will he get it cheap? If he is gonna drop 60€ on one i think it is much better to spend a little more on a SC55. If he can get it cheap it's another story though.

Reply 3 of 32, by d1stortion

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I find those DBs chronically overpriced for whatever reason. I guess they are more rare compared to modules and some people are into that.

As far as limitations go, well, we just recently figured that out at least for Duke3D/Doom, haven't we? Not saying that it's a huge deal though 😀

Reply 4 of 32, by F2bnp

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I have an SC-7, which is the external module, but practically the same unit. It's basically almost as good as an SC-55, it totally lacks all the MT-32 samples which isn't really a big loss. Some games may sound a teeny tiny bit different, but I'd say you'd have to be an audiophile to truly notice.
I'm guessing the quirks that apply to every daughterboard apply to the SCB-7. If he finds a nice deal (I got the SC-7 for 50 euro a few years ago), I'd say go for it.

Reply 7 of 32, by Artex

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Or get a CM-500 and have all your bases covered. 😀

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Reply 8 of 32, by noshutdown

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Artex wrote:

Or get a CM-500 and have all your bases covered. 😀

that thing is also at insane prices 😒

Reply 9 of 32, by Artex

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noshutdown wrote:
Artex wrote:

Or get a CM-500 and have all your bases covered. 😀

that thing is also at insane prices 😒

Just bagged one for $125 shipped!

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Reply 10 of 32, by keropi

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^ nice find!

got the SCB-7 for testing:

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It appears to be patched so the L/R channels are indeed Left and Right (IIRC)
At any rate, it's just great. Tried it with tilakat's GM driver updates for DOOM family/DN3D and it sounds 98% the same as my SC-55. You can't really tell the difference IMHO... so it's a great card, didn't expect it to be that good tbh!
It also keeps the same "levels" as the SC-55 , on yamaha synths for example you get louder/deeper drums that overlap other instruments, this one is the same as the SC-55 in that aspect (don't know how to describe this better). For me it sounds more correct than the yamaha ones....

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Reply 11 of 32, by bestemor

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vetz wrote:

I had a SC-7, but I sold it. Tbh I thought it didn't sound as good as my SC-55mkII. I say skip it and get a real SC55.

Now, why didn't you tell me this when I bought it.... ? 🤣 🤣

Reply 12 of 32, by vetz

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bestemor wrote:
vetz wrote:

I had a SC-7, but I sold it. Tbh I thought it didn't sound as good as my SC-55mkII. I say skip it and get a real SC55.

Now, why didn't you tell me this when I bought it.... ? 🤣 🤣

Finally you reveal yourself from the lurking shadows! I've been wondering to whom here on Vogons I sold it to 😜

Tbh, keropi is right, there are small differences, but they can only realistically be heard if you compare side by side.

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Reply 13 of 32, by ratfink

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I have an scb7, it sounds great. Somehow the comparison sites don't seem to do justice to how a lot of hardware sounds in real life. Like gus, SB, awe, sc7.

Reply 14 of 32, by Mau1wurf1977

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I had a wavetable Sound Canvas as a teenager and once I got a SC-55 it sounded exactly like that to my ears and the world was ok again 😀

I had two of these NEC boards die on me so now I just use external devices. Got a Yamaha one as well 😀

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Reply 15 of 32, by carlostex

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Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Got a Yamaha one as well 😀

Which one?

Reply 16 of 32, by keropi

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well, I liked that SCB-7 so much that I got a boxed one and a MU10 from the same local source 😀
was also given 2 lpt mpu devices but I am unsure if they can be used outside production programs... will post pics later on the correct thread 😁

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