Re: Roland SC-88 Pro (hopefully) helpful hints

Posted on 2023-05-02, 02:45

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Well, of course a MIDI file can do the same and change the mode, but that's not the point. Besides, you can also switch modes while playback is already running. Doing it during playback after program changes have already occurred, will set every channel to pianos, but that can be fun in its own way …

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Re: Most realistic sounding sound module for General MIDI games?

Posted on 2023-04-25, 22:50

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

This was a hard lesson to learn back in the 2000s. I had been chasing the holy grail with AWE32 and Live! Sound Fonts for years, and finally got a real synth module: An Ensoniq MR Rack. The demos sounded amazing. GM files sounded... not amazing. As it turns out, to get spectacular results, you have …

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Re: Sound Canvas (and related) comparison project (UPDATED: 22nd March)

Posted on 2023-03-31, 04:07

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Just found this thread, and would like to find some time to contribute some recordings. Is there a list of particular midis or should I use whichever I would like? I have SC-155, SC-55mkII, SC-88 ST Pro, SC-880, and an SC-8850 to throw in for comparisons. I also have a Serdaco Yucatan Fx which has …

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Re: Fixing the Roland CM-500 Vibrato Bug

Posted on 2023-03-25, 18:45

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

It's just the opposite, rather. There's an occasional behavior that I'm experiencing in Mode A with my v1.00 units that is presumably resolved with ROM version 1.02 (based on some vague information I'd received from Roland Japan a couple of decades ago). When you receive your ZE80482 unit, can you …

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Re: Fixing the Roland CM-500 Vibrato Bug

Posted on 2023-03-18, 21:54

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

This is the best outcome. :) I agree! :) It's just the opposite, rather. There's an occasional behavior that I'm experiencing in Mode A with my v1.00 units that is presumably resolved with ROM version 1.02 (based on some vague information I'd received from Roland Japan a couple of decades ago). …

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Re: Fixing the Roland CM-500 Vibrato Bug

Posted on 2023-03-18, 20:10

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The last four digits of the serial number seem to loop based on some predetermined counter, and are probably only meaningful concerning production comparisons within the same month or year. In other words: ZD83743 < ZE13000 < ZE80482 Unless it was swapped for reasons unknown, the ZE80482 model you …

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Re: Fixing the Roland CM-500 Vibrato Bug

Posted on 2023-03-18, 04:21

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Separate from the LFO/vibrato issue, I am currently troubleshooting yet another errant CM-500 behavior, this time related to the MIDI switching/handling function of the Mitsubishi 7702 MCU. If anyone happens to have a CM-500 with a serial number greater than ZE13000 (with corresponding "CM-500 1.02 …

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Re: Sound Canvas (and related) comparison project (UPDATED: 22nd March)

Posted on 2022-12-15, 04:29

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

As for hearing Jaffa, the only time you can really hear MT-32 noise is when a MT-32 recording is normalised without noise reduction - something you rarely hear in casual operation of the unit, perhaps with the exception of speakers turned up loud and MT-32 powered on outside of a game or while no …

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Re: Sound Canvas (and related) comparison project (UPDATED: 22nd March)

Posted on 2022-12-09, 04:59

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Here's an almost fifteen-year-old thread regarding the Roland FG-10, including recordings of all of the demonstration sounds/tunes common to it and the FG-1000: https://web.archive.org/web/20140910062731/www.queststudios.com/smf/index.php/topic,2457.0.html Thanks for the info :) Made a small video …

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Re: Fixing the Roland CM-500 Vibrato Bug

Posted on 2022-11-27, 00:46

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

holy _this will rattle out and short something_ batman I like to think that I took precautions for that, and so I highly doubt it. These are stiff wires and solid solder connections, but my modules mostly stay put and we don't get earthquakes in Wisconsin. A tornado could occur, but then my CM-500 …

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Re: Fixing the Roland CM-500 Vibrato Bug

Posted on 2022-11-26, 23:22

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Here's my CM-500 modification, which should allow for easy reversion for posterity and the original vibrato bug. I put the oscillator crystals on a switch, although it's a tight spot, so I probably should have insulated the oscillators' exteriors with heat shrink tubing too. I used my Hakko FR-300 …

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Re: Fixing the Roland CM-500 Vibrato Bug

Posted on 2022-11-16, 08:07

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

For anyone interested in performing this modification, I am willing to send, at my expense, the requisite 8 MHz crystal, IC socket (where needed), and modified ROM IC; just provide me with a shipping address via PM. You are so generous! I've already been sourcing everything for the modification, …

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Re: Apparently not all GS-only sc-55s are the same, some are GM

Posted on 2022-10-29, 19:13

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The AWE64 should have the same hardware synthesizer as the AWE32, but in a single chip. There were a few revisions of the AWE64 EMU itself as a separate chip, but these were just minor hardware revisions. I also thought that this CTF revelation was interesting. Maybe the patent didn't apply in the …

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Re: Apparently not all GS-only sc-55s are the same, some are GM

Posted on 2022-10-25, 20:02

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

1. Sound Blaster HW Synth has built-in capital tone fallback support. This means that in case of non-existent variation tones in the soundfont file it plays the same numbered program from bank 0 (the GM bank). Synthgm.sbk (as its name suggests) is a pure GM soundfont without any variation tones. So …

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Re: Apparently not all GS-only sc-55s are the same, some are GM

Posted on 2022-10-25, 05:59

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

This is pretty helpful. If this drum kit CTF behaviour holds true for all CM-500s or for even less widely documented Roland GS devices like the SCC-1 card, then those games in the first list I posted with the invalid drum kit PC messages were likely to be have been composed or programmed with those …

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Re: Sound Canvas (and related) comparison project (UPDATED: 22nd March)

Posted on 2022-10-09, 05:01

by

by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Here's an almost fifteen-year-old thread regarding the Roland FG-10, including recordings of all of the demonstration sounds/tunes common to it and the FG-1000: https://web.archive.org/web/20140910062731/www.queststudios.com/smf/index.php/topic,2457.0.html The audio links are all still valid; just …

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Re: Sound Canvas (and related) comparison project (UPDATED: 22nd March)

Posted on 2022-10-06, 08:09

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Hello, new guy here :) Does anyone know what soundset/rom is in the Roland FG-1000, it has a soundcanavas soundset i think. https://midisoft.de/Studio/Roland-FG1000.htm I didn't know it existed until you posted, but according to its manual, page 29 says it's compatible with "Roland's new GS format …

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Re: Apparently not all GS-only sc-55s are the same, some are GM

Posted on 2022-09-30, 05:16

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thanks! I was not aware of that. I will give it a read-through . I have finally finished updating my .qmr files for sub-tone fallback, and have added the RA-50 All Notes Off feature you requested: https://www.midimusicadventures.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17790&start=20#p18702 The new "Expand …

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Re: Apparently not all GS-only sc-55s are the same, some are GM

Posted on 2022-09-29, 04:49

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Implementing the MIDI OX translation map that james-f made https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=501046#p501046 in something lightweight that can run on Linux on a Pi Zero or even something slower might allow for a cheap and simple to use "MIDI filter" installable in-line with a MIDI cable. This …

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Re: Sound Canvas (and related) comparison project (UPDATED: 22nd March)

Posted on 2022-09-17, 23:01

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by jaffa225man

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Any interest in recording the sounds of a CM-32LN before I mod it? What kind of mod do you mean? There's a fix for the Vibrato issue being too fast for the CM-500 and CM-32LN that reprograms the control rom and replaces an oscillator. So it changes the sound to what's expected from the CM-32L. I am …

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