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Alternatives to a real Roland SC-55

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First post, by BraveToaster

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Updated May 28 with the suggestions from the thread

Hi,

I'm trying to get an overview of what the current options are to get MIDI that's as close to a real SC-55 as possible.

What I'm aware of at this point is:

  • Roland Sound Canvas VA, about $70 for a lifetime key, needs a Windows machine or Mac (ideally with a Roland UM-ONE). As close to the real thing as it gets.
  • Dreamblaster X2GS, a wavetable board for 85€ with a Roland license. It's quite close to an SC-88 from what I read, but I'm not sure what that means in how close it gets to a real SC-55.
  • Some Dream-based Waveblaster boards were similar enough for Roland to sue them. Not a 100% copy though, e.g. Serdaco's Yucatan FX.
  • There are several soundfonts that try to emulate the SC-55, such as the ones linked from the MT32-Pi Wiki, as well as some that ripped the samples from a real unit. All of them have their shortcomings from my understanding though.
  • Roland SCC-1 / SCC-1A ISA sound card, although that is quite rare and thus usually quite expensive.
  • The SC-55ST can often be picked up for less than the SC-55 itself. It lacks display and many buttons, but playback is identical to an SC-55 mk2.
  • TTS-1 / Hypercanvas for Windows in Cakewalk. Free and very close to an SC-88. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIxQvwJO7kM

I am waiting for my order of the PI-MIDI to ship, so I already have a Raspberry Pi ready with MT32-PI, so being able to use a soundfont with that device would be really nice and put everything into a box. The X2GS would be another alternative, since that might allow me to switch to the "internal" wavetable (for GM) and the external MIDI (for MT-32) using the mixer settings in DOS.

And of course there's a 32 Bit Yamaha VSTi plugin S-YXG50 which is considered "Abandonware", which at best could mean that Yamaha doesn't really care enough anymore, but is certainly not legal to acquire. From what I can see, it is quite a nice module as well that sounds quite nice in several games, but of course it's not Roland, and not close to the SC-55. And there's tons of other SoundFonts as well, but that's not what I'm after.

Is that a complete overview or am I missing something?

Last edited by BraveToaster on 2021-05-28, 21:04. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 9, by cyclone3d

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You can also get an older version of Sound Canvas VA. It shows up on eBay sometimes. That way you don't need the cloud app.

The S-YXG50 came included with a ton of different sound cards and if you have Final Fantasy VII, it came with the S-YXG70.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 3 of 9, by darry

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There is also this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIxQvwJO7kM&t=1s AKA TTS-1 /Hypercanvas . This is more of an SC-88, AFAIU, but if it works and is both free and fully legal, it might be of interest .

It is mentioned here Re: Modern way to get Roland Sound Canvas for your old PC or DOSBOX!!! and here Re: Modern way to get Roland Sound Canvas for your old PC or DOSBOX!!!

Reply 4 of 9, by jheronimus

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There are also some Dream-based Waveblaster boards that were similar enough for Roland to sue them. Not a 100% copy though

Can't tell you the exact chips from the top of my head, but Serdaco's Yucatan FX is based on one of those chips.

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 5 of 9, by mistermister

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There are alternate external MIDI devices that support GM/GS that may sell for less $ than an SC-55. I purchased a Roland SC-33 from that auction site in 2020 for $45, there are threads that discuss this one and other compatible devices. It sounds just like an SC-55 to my ears. I had to buy the gameport-MIDI cable which was another $15 or so, still an affordable option. Note that with my SC-33 I do not see the MIDI messages like a real SC-55. I have a miniPC which I also use for MIDI emulation (MT32 mainly), I have used it with a small 2nd display to see the messages if I feel the need. They are linked together to both receive MIDI signals.

Reply 7 of 9, by darry

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darry wrote on 2021-05-27, 15:44:

There is also this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIxQvwJO7kM&t=1s AKA TTS-1 /Hypercanvas . This is more of an SC-88, AFAIU, but if it works and is both free and fully legal, it might be of interest .

It is mentioned here Re: Modern way to get Roland Sound Canvas for your old PC or DOSBOX!!! and here Re: Modern way to get Roland Sound Canvas for your old PC or DOSBOX!!!

I would like to add that the version of TTS-1 that came bundled with the copy of Sonar 6 included with my Roland UA-25 workalike works fine with Synthie ( http://www.1manband.nl/synthie/index.htm ) , a third party DXI host for Windows, which I just bought for about 12 CAN$ . The interesting part is that TTS-1 DXI synth works even if I am unable to activate Sonar due to the backend being EOL/terminated and I am past the 30 day grace period for activation .

Unless the TTS-1 plugin provided with the Bandlabs version of Cakewalk is significantly different from the one I have, this likely means that its TTS-1 will still work with a third party DXI host even if Bandlabs decides that Cakewalk is no longer free to use (AFAICT, Bandlabs requires you to use an online account and requires periodic online checks/activations in order for their free version of Cakewalk to keep working).
EDIT: Testing confirmed the online activation requirement . Also, apparently the version of of the TTS-1 DXI plugin is 64-bit and I don't know any 64-bit DXI capable inexpense srandalone hosts .

The point of all this is that using TTS-1 with a DXI host on a non Internet connected system/appliance (possibly even under Wine under Linux), without fear of it being terminated some day is at least technically possible . Whether this is legal and/or EULA compliant is another question, at least for the Bandlabs version .

In my case, having a paid (bundled with hardware I bought) perpetually licensed version of Sonar 6 that I cannot activate (through no fault of my own) but whose functionality at least partially works nonetheless is more of a grey area, IMHO, as no DRM circumvention (it just works) is being attempted and a valid license for the product is in effect, AFAICT . Interesting times we live in .

EDIT : Some sample recordings of the TTS-1 with default settings (tried using MAP change SYSEX commands (to switch to SC-55 or SC-88 map )that work on an SC-8820/SC-D70 , but results sounded really strange, so I left it at default) .

Filename
doom_e1m1_tts1.ogg
File size
1.88 MiB
Downloads
76 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
Filename
duke3d_grabbag_tts1.ogg
File size
1.28 MiB
Downloads
71 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 9 of 9, by Wanderer

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Hello,
Roland VSC (Virtual Sound Canvas) was a series of software synths for Windows which emulated a few sound modules including SC-55.

See this topic for some info: About Roland Virtual Sound Canvas 3

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