9646gt wrote on 2020-04-21, 16:54:

I bit the bullet and bought a SC-88VL. I'm wanting to hook it up to the game port on my sound card, but still be able to use a gravis gamepad. Could someone point me to a reasonably priced cable that will allow this?

Also, I know it's off topic but would I need to remove the DreamBlaster S2 from my Yamaha Audician32 sound card in order for the sc-88 to function properly? And if I bought a 100v Japanese model with the AC adapter included, would this function on American outlets ok since the difference between our 110 and the 100 is minimal?

Any other setup tips you may have are welcome. Any cabling or hardware I'm missing? I'll probably use the line out from my sound card ran to the inputs on the sc-88 to combine output to the speakers as I think this is how I visualize it from looking at the connections. Just need adapters to change everything to RCA. It will be used between a 486 overdrive system, a Pentium 200 system and a 500mhz P2 class (Celeron). I'll either eventually get a switch to manage changing inputs our just move it from one PC to another.

Congratulations on your purchase of an SC-88 . The power pack you will get may be 100-240V capable . If it is 100V, I wouldn't risk it . A new Roland brand PSU is less than 20$ US .

As for needing to remove the DreamBlaster, I am not sure whether you would need to (maybe check the manual), but if you leave it in, you will need to mute it as it will respond to the same MIDI data as the SC-88 .

Good luck finding a gameport MIDI cable cable . The only ones I see available these days are the crappy ones without any electronics (no opto-isolator) , you can usually recognize them by the shiny screw-on metal connector. The good ones were usually covered in molded plastic , not sure if the ones currently available are any better. They usually all have a passthrough for the gameport connector . I had the same issue when I wanted to buy a spare one . "Quality" gameport to midi cable availability and testing

darry wrote on 2020-04-22, 03:51:

Congratulations on your purchase of an SC-88 . The power pack you will get may be 100-240V capable . If it is 100V, I wouldn't risk it . A new Roland brand PSU is less than 20$ US .

Doesn't the SC-88 have a built-in psu (a power cord directly attached to the unit)?

Salient wrote on 2020-04-22, 04:58:

darry wrote on 2020-04-22, 03:51:

Congratulations on your purchase of an SC-88 . The power pack you will get may be 100-240V capable . If it is 100V, I wouldn't risk it . A new Roland brand PSU is less than 20$ US .

Doesn't the SC-88 have a built-in psu (a power cord directly attached to the unit)?

You are right . I was thinking of the SC-88VL .

Probably safer to get a step down transformer. 120V vs 100V is 20% . In doubt, I would ask Roland. They are very supportive of their older gear .

Here are a few gameport / midi adapters that have an opto-isolator:

Midiman - mine has a Sharp PC900V but there is also a silkscreen for an HP 6N136:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MIDIMAN-SOUNDCARD-SO … LE/164152342963

Gravis - has an HP 6N138:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Advanced-Gravis-Ultr … ds/164166977097

Creative Labs - I don't actually have one of these, but the construction looks like it should have one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sound-Blaster-Midi-K … PC/143579690329

Search terms on eBay don't always come up with what you are looking for... I even tried the exact words in the title of the Creative one and that listing didn't even come up.

Was going to just say what to search for but I had to try a bunch of different things and go through multiple pages of random listings for those to show up.. except for the Gravis one.

Edit: Guessing this Voyetra kit has one but it is molded so no easy way to tell for sure:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Voyetra-Computer-Mus … es/274338061903

This random one might as well:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Joystick-Sound-Card- … ED/303532849443

Maybe this Casio one: (Amazon review seems to think that this one doesn't)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Casio-Universal-PC-M … EW/312731186583

Basically stay away from any new cheap crap adapters that come out of China.

The opto isolator is used for MIDI in to the computer so it's not critical for midi out - the output is supposed to have a buffer but it's no big deal if it's missing. I got a crappy cable like in the picture. It did have an opti isolator, but no buffer for the output. However, a bigger issue was that the resistors used were completely wrong. Was a pain in the ass before I found out that was my issue, and I've read of others having the same problem.

Soundcard midi cables are suprisingly hard to find, you can get obscure adapters for anything storage related but I had a hard time even finding this one.

Oetker wrote on 2020-04-22, 06:39:

[...]

Soundcard midi cables are suprisingly hard to find, you can get obscure adapters for anything storage related but I had a hard time even finding this one.

Not too surprising: back in the day everyone had storage, but only a very select few actually had the external MIDI devices many lusted after - and not many of the people who did (mainly serious musicians) would have hooked them up to iffy sound cards via this sort of cable.

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I guess I will need to source a correct AC adapter as the SC-88 I bought is the VL model/version. And I never thought it would be difficult to find the cables to hookup to my sounds card! Guess I better start shopping!