What a nice sight 😀

So white, so pure. Maybe I should retrobrite my CM-32L because it looks like it belonged to a heavy smoker (maybe it was, who knows)

Nice find btw. Can I ask how much you paid for it?

Thank you. 180 euros final price from a music store. They had it in their warehouse.

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2020-07-29, 13:33:

Thank you. 180 euros final price from a music store. They had it in their warehouse.

Nice .

Makes you wonder how many other treasures are sleeping in possibly un-inventoried warehouses around the world .

darry wrote on 2020-07-29, 15:00:

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2020-07-29, 13:33:

Thank you. 180 euros final price from a music store. They had it in their warehouse.

Nice .

Makes you wonder how many other treasures are sleeping in possibly un-inventoried warehouses around the world .

That's correct. Yesterday late night i built from the beginning my midi tower 😀.

Omg I'm so jealous of that tower! Though admittedly MU50 is too low for me, I'd personally go for at least MU128 since i already basically have the same base covered by S-YXG50. It decidedly does look very neat though.

I also "only" have a MU50... you take what you can get ^^ can't be too picky there.

Meowdori wrote on 2020-08-13, 13:51:

Omg I'm so jealous of that tower! Though admittedly MU50 is too low for me, I'd personally go for at least MU128 since i already basically have the same base covered by S-YXG50. It decidedly does look very neat though.

Thank you. I had already the Roland MT32, the Roland Sound Canvas SC55 and the Roland Sound Canvas SC88. So I wrote to a site regarding music stuff that I am looking for various Yamaha models and I found the MU50 from someone. 😀

Meowdori makes a good case for the higher end Yamahas on the first page. But if the MIDI tower is basically for gaming, the MU50 is an excellent addition just to experience GM outside of the Roland realm, and happens to look pretty sweet paired with the SC-55.

And it's higher end than my TG100 😁

Pierre32 wrote on 2020-08-14, 05:44:

Meowdori makes a good case for the higher end Yamahas on the first page. But if the MIDI tower is basically for gaming, the MU50 is an excellent addition just to experience GM outside of the Roland realm, and happens to look pretty sweet paired with the SC-55.

And it's higher end than my TG100 😁

I agree. I use the midi devices only for gaming and i bought the Yamaha because i read in vogons that you may have nice and different sound. I can say that i really love Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road with the Yamaha. Also games like Doom and Heretic. Yesterday i ran for the first time The Settlers 2 and it was also very nice.

It's good to have various options. I have read lot of times regarding the CM32L (including the CM64) and the extra sound effects. One game that became alive is Lure of the Temptress. Dogs, birds, water sounds, even at the start of the game the sound of the closed and locked door is so realistic.

Regarding some games like Day of the Tentacle, you have different sound with Roland Sound Canvas SC55, different with the Yamaha MU50 and different with the Roland MT32 or CM64. Three different sounds where all are amazing and you cannot choose the best one!

For sure 😀 I added a new MIDI toy to my collection last week, but an internal one - a PCI sound card with Yamaha YMF744 DS-XG chip. It is a great sounding card. One of my favourite tests is Descent, and it's a brutal test because nothing really comes close to the SC-55. The YMF744 was superb in the menu music, but in the level 1 music, it was oddly off the mark with some incorrect instruments. But this is the fun of trying different stuff.

Pierre32 wrote on 2020-08-14, 08:01:

For sure 😀 I added a new MIDI toy to my collection last week, but an internal one - a PCI sound card with Yamaha YMF744 DS-XG chip. It is a great sounding card. One of my favourite tests is Descent, and it's a brutal test because nothing really comes close to the SC-55. The YMF744 was superb in the menu music, but in the level 1 music, it was oddly off the mark with some incorrect instruments. But this is the fun of trying different stuff.

GM/GS/XG wise, I have a Yamaha MU500, a Roland SC-55 MK1, a DreamBlaster X2, a Monster MIDI 4MB GS , a Roland SC-88VL, a Creative Labs AWE64 (28MB), a Creative SB Live! and a Gravis Ultrasound in my retro setup.

Of all those, my general-purpose favorite, at this point, is the SC-88VL in native mode, followed by the X2 . XG specific stuff sounds best on the MU500 and all the other synths have songs where they may subjectively sound better due to either my nostalgia or some novelty factor .

I imagine that this may change over time as I used to have a thing for Yamaha stuff, but I have largely gotten over that (XG optimized stuff being an exception). For now, however, I feel there is something almost magical about the SC-88 .

Here's my little tower. I sure wouldn't mind adding an SC-88 some day. There's a Rock Band guitar in the shot for fun - a very cheap and fun instrument that plugs right into any MIDI module.

Out of shot are a Roland PMA-5 and a Midiplus MiniEngine, both of which I bought for an easier way to noodle with MIDI guitar/keyboard without having to fire up a PC or the MIDI mountain. One of these days I'll try hanging those off a PC for some GM game music as well.

So nice to see all these devices! Amazing score Dimitris1980!

HandOfFate wrote on 2020-07-29, 13:31:

So white, so pure. Maybe I should retrobrite my CM-32L because it looks like it belonged to a heavy smoker (maybe it was, who knows)

Nice find btw. Can I ask how much you paid for it?

Well I was in the same boat, my CM-32L was definitely the worst device I've ever owned in term of yellowing and the heavy smoker was also my first assumption! Or as the front was definitely more impacted than the backside, I suppose this may simply have been sitting as a demo device behind a store window or something. Yellowing doesn't bother me that much, but this very device was so impacted that I really wanted to try and bring it closer from its former glory.

I started by buying some specialized plastic cleaner in the local equivalent of Home Depot, sprayed some of the stuff then gently scrubbed it under running hot water. To my surprise, the more yellowish/brownish part melted in seconds and the difference was already spectacular! (too bad I didn't take some before pictures...sigh). Then went with a regular retrobrite, and now it's a happy little device looking pretty good with the rest of its happy family 😁 not as white as a brand new device but still looking pretty good imo!

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2020-07-29, 12:17:

Roland CM64 sound module new and sealed came today to my office 😀

What. How.

Boohyaka wrote on 2020-12-14, 12:20:

3.jpg

Mixers out the ears! I've got a pair of those Edifiers too, going largely unused in the loungeroom. I plan to move them to the retro PC setup at some point.

kolderman wrote on 2020-12-14, 18:41:

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2020-07-29, 12:17:

Roland CM64 sound module new and sealed came today to my office 😀

What. How.

Agreed.

I sent an email to 7 music stores asking them if they have in their warehouse a Roland CM64. Two of them answered me that they don't have, the other never answered me and one told me that they have new and sealed bought years ago from USA 😀.

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2020-12-14, 20:56:

I sent an email to 7 music stores asking them if they have in their warehouse a Roland CM64. Two of them answered me that they don't have, the other never answered me and one told me that they have new and sealed bought years ago from USA 😀.

Fortune favors the bold.

Good for you on your initiative. I hope you get a lifetime of enjoyment out of your well-deserved CM64 .

Cheers!

darry wrote on 2020-12-14, 21:28:

Fortune favors the bold. […]
Show full quote

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2020-12-14, 20:56:

I sent an email to 7 music stores asking them if they have in their warehouse a Roland CM64. Two of them answered me that they don't have, the other never answered me and one told me that they have new and sealed bought years ago from USA 😀.

Fortune favors the bold.

Good for you on your initiative. I hope you get a lifetime of enjoyment out of your well-deserved CM64 .

Cheers!

Thank you. This has really helped me a lot. Almost the same way i used to find some retro stuff. For instance a little time before i get the CM64, i sent an email to a site where i wrote that i am looking for midi devices like Roland Sound Canvas ST and Yamaha modules. After two days a guy wrote me that if I am interested he can sell to me the Yamaha MU50 for 70 euros, so i got it.

The same with my Macintosh LC475. I sent an email and a guy answered me after one-two days. He sold the LC475 for 40 euros only. I have nothing to loose so I try and you never know 😀 . I have the MT32 since 2009 and in 2020 i bought another 4 midi devices. I wanted so much to use the MT32 for dos gaming and now sometimes i cannot decide which device to use because some games have different sound but simultaneously all are great (for instance Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max). Lots of people here and on Instagram inspired me with their midi tower pictures. Honestly they have done a great job and I love watching their photos or videos.

project "midi tower" is slowly taking shape ^^

excuse the black bars, but the forum software doesn't like portrait orientation images for some reason.