It is a known discussion about old, rare and demanded things.
You can buy it today for 390$ or in one year for more than 500$ or maybe for 10$ on a garage sale.
For my 2nd SCB-55 i payed 200€ five years ago and this was a little over the average price this days.

There is no correct answer to your question for the value of a thing, which gets rarer every day.

PS: I would trade one of my SCB-55 for a running SCC-1 or a MPU-401/AT near Berlin (Germany).

PC-Engineer wrote on 2020-04-18, 18:48:

It is a known discussion about old, rare and demanded things. You can buy it today for 390$ or in one year for more than 500$ or […]
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It is a known discussion about old, rare and demanded things.
You can buy it today for 390$ or in one year for more than 500$ or maybe for 10$ on a garage sale.
For my 2nd SCB-55 i payed 200€ five years ago and this was a little over the average price this days.

There is no correct answer to your question for the value of a thing, which gets rarer every day.

PS: I would trade one of my SCB-55 for a running SCC-1 or a MPU-401/AT near Berlin (Germany).

Yeah you may be right - looks like someone bought that $390 one a few hours after the listing went up.

I'm just surprised as I was expecting this thing to be more like $100 USD than nearly $400.

Try and find one of the monster sound 4MB midi boards. it sounds essentially the same as the SCB-55 and is like 1/4 the price.

They are about in the same category as an Adlib Gold or a FX5800 Ultra. I.e. some of the most expensive parts when they become available.

peg wrote on 2020-04-19, 18:44:

Try and find one of the monster sound 4MB midi boards. it sounds essentially the same as the SCB-55 and is like 1/4 the price.

You mean one of these ?

I would have to re-listen to mine (have not heard it in 20 years ).
I did not have a sound canvas to compare it to at the time, but was not impressed by it.

I would not go hunting for one if I did not have it .

That card has the 4MB (32Mb) Roland samples on it according to ftp://retronn.de/docs/pc_hardware/wavetables/dream/9703.pdf
Maybe the CleanWave set sound better .

I've got the Monster midi (4MB), a SCB-55, and SCB-7 and honestly I can barely tell the difference between all 3 of them.

Having the same sample ROM as the SC-55 doesn't make a wave table sound the same.

I think I may have found a solution - seems the SCB-55 was also sold as an SCD-15, and under that part number it was part of a European MIDI player device called a Charlie Lab Megabeat One. I can find those on some European sites, and for a lot less than $400 USD.

darry wrote on 2020-04-19, 21:17:

That card has the 4MB (32Mb) Roland samples on it according to ftp://retronn.de/docs/pc_hardware/wavetables/dream/9703.pdf
Maybe the CleanWave set sound better .

Dream got in trouble for that.

gdjacobs wrote on 2020-04-21, 02:40:

darry wrote on 2020-04-19, 21:17:

That card has the 4MB (32Mb) Roland samples on it according to ftp://retronn.de/docs/pc_hardware/wavetables/dream/9703.pdf
Maybe the CleanWave set sound better .

Dream got in trouble for that.

I really have to compare mine to my SC-88 in SC-55 mode, because as mentioned previously, I really did not like it back then . When/If I'm feeling up to it, maybe I can record some comparisons .

EDIT : Here's some info about that trouble : http://www.os2museum.com/wp/of-g-men-and-farmers/
Only the 1MB version of the bank was mentioned , the card I have has the 4MB Roland version .

Well, curiosity got the best of me, I plugged the monster midi into my Audiotrix 3D/XG , set the jumpers properly for a daughterboard without analog input and PC boots with a stuck note every time and a hum on the output . I cold power cycle, hum and stuck note remain . Testing with Duke Nukem 3D clears the stuck note and plays correctly but with hum and low volume. I take the daughterboard out, put 3D/XG back in with correct jumpers for no daughterboard and hum remains . I try speaker out rather than line and I still get hum. Volume is quite low on both outputs . Seems like my Audiotrix 3D/XG has developed an issue . For reference AWE64 in same machine has no hum and is much louder . Looks like the testing will have to wait .

Tally for last 7 days :
- 2 crapped out hard drives
- 1 crapping out monitor
- 1 crapping out sound card (to be investigated) .

I'm going to bed .

Could not sleep. Ordered an Acermagic S20 . First Opti 92x card in 25 years . Apparently works in Windows 9x at least with Turtle Beach Monte Carlo drivers . It has a wavetable header, so I should be able to properly test that Monster Sound .

What the hell, while I was on a roll, I made a successful offer on a Turtle Beach Monte Carlo too . In theory , I would have preferred a YMF-71x as it is more integrated and has less things that can go wrong, but nothing remotely affordable showed up .

Anyway, getting back to OP's question, all these cards are good for a MIDI daughtercard or external synth .

darry wrote on 2020-04-21, 15:29:

What the hell, while I was on a roll, I made a successful offer on a Turtle Beach Monte Carlo too . In theory , I would have preferred a YMF-71x as it is more integrated and has less things that can go wrong, but nothing remotely affordable showed up .

Anyway, getting back to OP's question, all these cards are good for a MIDI daughtercard or external synth .

ahh I was only asking about the Roland SCB-55 daughterboard. I *think* that the device I mentioned will be the cheapest way to acquire this given the scarcity and popularity now.

I'll update once I've been able to successfully pay for one of those to be shipped and can confirm that it contains the daughterboard, as well as that the board works properly when installed on my Aureal Vortex 2.

If you must have a GS daughterboard, try to get an SCB-55 . I can confirm upon preliminary re-listening to the Monster Midi with Duke Nukem 3D midi files that, although it is better than I remember, it is distinctly different from my SC-88 with SC-55 map on many instruments and not in a good way . Considering the trouble I went through, I am going to keep it installed and run further tests.

From what I know, SC88 in SC55 mode isn't completely authentic.
I have access to SCB55 and couple Dream based cards (SAM9233 with 1 and 4MB bank and SAM9733 with 4MB GS bank) and they are close enough that if you aren't intimately familiar with them all you aren't gonna tell the difference. CleanWave set is completely different and its own thing on the Dream things.

Tiido wrote on 2020-04-23, 19:48:

From what I know, SC88 in SC55 mode isn't completely authentic.
I have access to SCB55 and couple Dream based cards (SAM9233 with 1 and 4MB bank and SAM9733 with 4MB GS bank) and they are close enough that if you aren't intimately familiar with them all you aren't gonna tell the difference. CleanWave set is completely different and its own thing on the Dream things.

Good point about the SC-88's SC-55 map , but at least on Waterworld in Duke Nukem 3D, one of the samples on the Monster Midi sounds quite horribly aliased. I hope that's not how a real SC-55 sounds in that track .

Here's a recording from a Roland :
FLAC : http://www.tmeeco.eu/BitShit/WaterWorld.flac
OGG : http://www.tmeeco.eu/BitShit/WaterWorld.ogg
I suppose you mean the low cymbal sound ?