Thanks all for the replies. Very informative!
Falcosoft wrote on 2021-05-22, 01:29:Hi,
No Instrument means invalid bank + program combination. Contrary to original SC-55 the mkII has no Capital Tone Fallback f […]
Show full quote
Hi,
No Instrument means invalid bank + program combination. Contrary to original SC-55 the mkII has no Capital Tone Fallback feature so it remains silent on channels where invalid combination is found.
There are multiple versions of canyon.mid/passport.mid wandering on the net so it would have been useful if you had attached your versions.
I have already met with 2 problematic versions of canyon.mid and one of them can cause the exact problem you described.
It sends Bank MSB 5 + Bank LSB 87 + Program 90 to channel 1 that is an invalid combination on any known Roland gear.
the 2nd one uses Microsoft's proprietary dual authored Base + Extended channel layout thus wants to use channel 16 as drum channel.
Both problems can be cured by using FSMP as Midi player.
Yeah I knew about the lack of CTF on the mkII, I was just rather surprised to encounter this with these MIDI files in particular. The files I'm using are the ones that came with the Win98SE CDROM in the C:\Windows\Media folder. Checking out canyon.mid in a sequencer, it has the exact setup you describe with the bank selects and program change.
Lazer42 wrote on 2021-05-22, 02:09:
In addition to what Falcosoft mentions, I am wondering what you were using to play the MIDI files on these computers. Was it always Windows 3.1, for instance? If so, there might be something off with the MIDI Mapper configuration if it happens to be the same between all of them. Also, in the Windows 3.1 timeframe there were different MIDI channel standards and the one set up by default by most sound card driver installations was not always the one that really makes sense to use with a GM MIDI device. There were some which used channel 16 as percussion vs. the more standard channel 10, some which only gave you channels 1-10, others which only gave you channels 11-16, etc.
I've actually never used Windows 3.1. I was using Win98SE with a Music Quest MPU clone card, and also my Win10 PC with a Roland USB to MIDI cable (UM-One mk2).
auron wrote on 2021-05-22, 05:55:
won't setting the unit to GM mode (power on while holding right PART button) do the trick?
You know what, that did it! Everything got selected properly once I did that combination and it sounded perfect. Guess that's all it needed for both of these MIDIs. I'm still learning these button combinations across a few synths and I have to say, finding them is a chore as I can't find any good references for them. The manual for the SC-55 and mkII do mention some of them at least.
Pentium MMX 233 | 64MB | FIC PA-2013 | Matrox Mystique 220 | SB Pro 2 | Music Quest MPU Clone | Windows 95B
MT-32 | SC-55mkII, 88Pro, 8820 | SB16 CT2230
3DFX Voodoo 1&2 | S3 ViRGE GX2 | PowerVR PCX1&2 | Rendition Vérité V1000 | ATI 3D Rage Pro