Ok, you guys, Um. This is an old thread.

Anyway... so... recently I got a Roland SC-88 Sound Canvas off of eBay. Have no fear, it came in record time and as advertised. From Tokyo. I frankly coveted the SC-88 in my youth but found my funds to be much... lacking... in those days. The good old days. Well, that's why I bought the cheaper Roland off-brand-- the Boss DS-330 Dr. Synth. This was something like an entry level GS synth.

It's the damndest thing, though. My Dr. Synth sounds incredibly better than the SC-88 I bought. I mean, the SC-88 doesn't sound bad... it doesn't sound defective at all. But it sucks in comparison to the lowly DS-330. It can't even play some of the songs in the SC-88 demo zipfile included earlier in this thread. For example, there is a guitar EFX midifile which the SC-88 can only play some of the notes. The DS-330, OTOH, plays everything. WTF? Other midis sound more or less fine on the SC-88... but way better on the DS-330, somehow. Again.. WTF? What am I doing wrong? Is there a secret SC-88 manual? Or did the Boss guys snicker to themselves while secretly including very superior hardware in their poverty-class Dr. Synth?? Please wake me from this bizarre dream. (FYI, it's an SC-88 I bought, doesn't say anything about PRO that I am aware of)

you realize that the SC-88 and SC-88 Pro are different devices, right? the 88 doesn't have the EFX feature so there's nothing wrong here. you may achieve similar playback results to the DS-330 by setting the unit in GM mode, but there's not much point in playing 88pro-targeting files on either unit.

by the way, do yourself a favor and check for bad capacitors on the SC-88 digital board, there's a high chance these are already leaking.

auron wrote on 2021-05-12, 22:59:

you realize that the SC-88 and SC-88 Pro are different devices, right? the 88 doesn't have the EFX feature so there's nothing wrong here. you may achieve similar playback results to the DS-330 by setting the unit in GM mode, but there's not much point in playing 88pro-targeting files on either unit.

by the way, do yourself a favor and check for bad capacitors on the SC-88 digital board, there's a high chance these are already leaking.

Nice, this sounds like progress. I reckon I don't know much about about the differences between the pro and the regular SC-88. I only know that it says "GS" on in, and I demand Roland sticks to its standards!! I mean, the DS-330 doesn't have EFX at all, but it still plays the file just fine.

Tell me how to check those leaky badboy capacitors, and I will haunt them until they wish they hadn't been born. That sounds hardcore; like we didn't cover this capacitor stuff in Mr. Clark's 6th grade math class when I was dreaming about having my little Roland synthebitch. Will I need a colostomy bag? 😉

Hi,

I have record many vintage synth demo songs, including Roland SC-88 & SC-88 Pro, both MIDI & MP3 are available here: https://www.dearhoney.idv.tw/midi-music/colle … d-module-demos/

YouTube version :

Roland SC-88 Demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7BIlnblCG4
Roland SC-88 Pro Demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHN0mOGSbDo

Hope you all enjoy it. 😀