Quick answer on the psu since I am on mobile, you need a 1A 9v DC psu with center negative , pay attention to the polarity.
Then you will need a quality usb midi adapter like a Roland one for example, don't get the cheap Chinese ebay stuff.
Being a GS unit won't trouble you so don't sweat over it. Personally I prefer my MK1 units to be gs only 😀

Thanks for the answer. I'll be going with the Roland interface, then. Are there any specific power supplies to be avoided, or are most of the ones you can find on amazon going to work?

just get a good quality one , avoid the 5$ wonders

I use Leicke power supplies. Bot sure if they deliver outside of Germany. But they are excellent value for the money.

BetaC wrote:

Thanks for the answer. I'll be going with the Roland interface, then. Are there any specific power supplies to be avoided, or are most of the ones you can find on amazon going to work?

And let me re-iterate keropi's comment.

!! CENTER NEGATIVE !! <-- This is a VERY uncommon configuration for power supplies
9 volt
1 amps (or more)

I usually get regular center positive power supplies and just replace the tip and invert the polarity.

I think that back then center-negative was a common thing - at least in Japan: Roland, Sega, NEC, Nintendo all used this configuration in their devices.
One needs to double-check polarities - I usually label the PSUs in order to avoid mistakes - I've plugged the wrong polarity a couple of times 🤣 🤣 🤣

What's wrong with the cheap Chinese MIDI-USB adapters? I've been using one for years ...

But why hook it up to a modern machine anyway? It makes much more sense to use it on an older system with an ISA sound card and connect it to that so you can use the sound canvas with the actual games.

keropi wrote:

I think that back then center-negative was a common thing - at least in Japan: Roland, Sega, NEC, Nintendo all used this configuration in their devices.
One needs to double-check polarities - I usually label the PSUs in order to avoid mistakes - I've plugged the wrong polarity a couple of times 🤣 🤣 🤣

Yeah, I bought an SC-55 from a guy who did exactly that. The unit didn't work anymore, and even killed the stock power supply once he plugged that one back in.
Basically there seems to be some protection/zener diode right after the choke that shorts itself if power is applied backwards. This caused the unit to kill any unprotected power supply plugged into it thereafter.

I replaced the diode and all was well. 😀

dosgamer wrote:

What's wrong with the cheap Chinese MIDI-USB adapters? I've been using one for years ...

maybe you got a good one , there are a couple threads here about these chinese adapters and their missing components that you need to add back to make them passable

For power supplies, center negative 9V with .5A or better. Make absolutely sure it's center negative unless you want something to blow up.

Look into buying a Roland UM series device if you want the best experience with MIDI. Don't worry about getting the latest model (UM-ONE), all of them work identically.
I own two of the UM series devices, a UM-1G and UM-1SX, and they've both served me really well. Right now there's one on bid starting at $5 or BIN for $20. Not a bad price but I got my 1SX for $15 so you can do better. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Edirol-UM-1X-USB-MID … le/292653478615

dosgamer wrote:

What's wrong with the cheap Chinese MIDI-USB adapters? I've been using one for years ....

Many of them can't handle SysEx commands properly. If you just use an SC-55 you probably haven't run into any games that use SysEx, but those adapters suck for games that take advantage of additional features or sound editing on synths, namely a lot of games changing sounds on the MT-32.

You should be able to find a Roland UM-one for less than $20-30 used.
Why gamble with cheap parts.

That's like building a beast of a gaming PC but getting a cheap mouse and keyboard.

SpeedySPCFan wrote:

dosgamer wrote:

What's wrong with the cheap Chinese MIDI-USB adapters? I've been using one for years ....

Many of them can't handle SysEx commands properly. If you just use an SC-55 you probably haven't run into any games that use SysEx, but those adapters suck for games that take advantage of additional features or sound editing on synths, namely a lot of games changing sounds on the MT-32.

Pretty sure it does fine with SysEx, I've used it a lot with DOSBox and ScummVM and an MT-32 and a CM-32L (I use the CM-32L for the sound and the MT-32 just for the text display 😎 ). It's always worked fine.

I bought my adapter some 10 years ago though, maybe the newer ones are different.

dosgamer wrote:

[...]
I bought my adapter some 10 years ago though, maybe the newer ones are different.

That could explain it. I bought several sata->ide adapters a decade ago - they all work as expected to this day in older systems and consoles. New ones you can buy for 5$ are pure garbage, I had some recent experience with a couple and an OG XBOX console 😵
My old one was fine , the new ones just didn't work.

dosgamer wrote:

SpeedySPCFan wrote:

dosgamer wrote:

What's wrong with the cheap Chinese MIDI-USB adapters? I've been using one for years ....

Many of them can't handle SysEx commands properly. If you just use an SC-55 you probably haven't run into any games that use SysEx, but those adapters suck for games that take advantage of additional features or sound editing on synths, namely a lot of games changing sounds on the MT-32.

Pretty sure it does fine with SysEx, I've used it a lot with DOSBox and ScummVM and an MT-32 and a CM-32L (I use the CM-32L for the sound and the MT-32 just for the text display 😎 ). It's always worked fine.

I bought my adapter some 10 years ago though, maybe the newer ones are different.

Also, the OS/drivers you use with it can matter. I know the Linux USB MIDI driver is patched to fragment long SYSEX messages on those adapters so they send properly.

Finding a 9v center negative adapter is not as hard as everyone makes it sound. Most 9v adapters ARE center negative. I bought a universal adapter from walmart and it works, although it's super cheap and I don't really trust it. Any decent quality universal adapter should work so long as you can set the polarity with a switch or by reversing the tip. Just make sure it can handle at least 500mA.

Also, the Yamaha MU2000 is a USB midi interface with passthrough. It's extreme overkill, but if you're building a collection, why not? It fully supports sysex and some songs I've played even show animations!

techweenie wrote:

Also, the Yamaha MU2000 is a USB midi interface with passthrough.

How did you get it working? Assuming you're talking about MIDI thru on the MU2k. I have a 1000 and could never get the MIDI thru to work on mine.

To be honest I haven't tested the passthrough. I just assumed it would work. I can test that theory tonight.

When MU units are running in USB Mode other ports are disabled.

It's been a week or so since I posted this, so thank you guys for the responses. I ended up going with the power supply below, mostly because it explicitly mentioned being compatible with the ACB/I-120.

https://www.amazon.com/Roland-PSB-120-Power-A … /dp/B073WM6WBW/

And I ended up going with a new UM-ONE mk2 for my MIDI to USB adapter, mostly because I was able to find a good deal on it. I've got them all hooked up now, and They're working quite well. Duke Nukem 3D via DOSBox even sends the specific SoundCanvas information to it, it seems.

I am incredibly happy with this, though. I can finally say goodbye to the mimic soundfonts.

dosgamer wrote:

What's wrong with the cheap Chinese MIDI-USB adapters? I've been using one for years ...

But why hook it up to a modern machine anyway? It makes much more sense to use it on an older system with an ISA sound card and connect it to that so you can use the sound canvas with the actual games.

I've built a general purpose XP machine because I don't really have the space or the money to get hardware that old. There's also a distinct lack of people donating and or selling older parts locally here, but that's most likely thanks to me not living in a place that's all that densely populated.

Believe me, if I could, I'd have a late DOS machine to play Dark Forces on.