I believe for gaming that SC-88 is an overkill. But, if you can find one cheap, why not, get it right away!

Recently I've been playing a lot with midi music and games across all the 90th decade of the last century.
I found that the SC-55 family is more suited for the first half of the 90s while a latter models like SC-88 and up, suited more the second half of the 90s.
The first reason for that is the composers (most probably than not) used the latest hardware for that year.
The second (and related to the first) reason is some games use more sound polyphony than the SC-55 family can provide, therefor may cut some sounds if an earlier unit is used.
Another reason to own one unit from the 55 family and one from the latter, is because the latter (88 and up) does not sound exactly like the 55 on the 55 Map, it is 90% there if I would have to estimate.
The latter sound canvases like 88Pro, 8820 can sound EXACTLY like the 88, but not exactly like the 55.

King's Quest 6 is from 1992 and most probably was composed on the SC-55 or equivalent, therefor a SC-88 would be not what the composer intended for you to hear.
But games like Warcraft 2, Age of Empires, Duke Nukem 3D (second half of 90s) definitely would benefit from a SC-88 and up.

In the end it's a matter of taste even if you play with the "incorrect" unit.
But I would suggest keeping the 55 and buying a 88Pro (skip the 88) if you can afford it.
Some latter Japanese games (well into the 2K years) and various midi compositions use the 88Pro features.
If you are a musician or a keyboard player, the 88Pro has tons of useful beautiful sounds.
EDIT: If you are not locked on a hardware unit, the Sound Canvas VA (VST Plugin) will cover all ground.

Bug Y2K killed MIDI (figuratively speaking), but it will always live forever here on Vogons.

Thanks for the feedback. Looking at the prices of the SC-88 it is competing closely with the Roland Sound Canvas VA which people appear to be raving about. Other than missing the feel of having a physical unit, will this Sound Canvas VA deliver true SC-88 sound? Any drawbacks to choosing this over a physical unit?

brentvw wrote:

Other than missing the feel of having a physical unit, will this Sound Canvas VA deliver true SC-88 sound? Any drawbacks to choosing this over a physical unit?

The SC-VA is just a 8820 in a plugin.
It will deliver exactly the SC-88 performance but as you say, you'll loose the mojo... 😎
With SC-VA you'll get 90% of SC-55, and 100% of 88/88Pro/8820.

Personally, I own the SC-55 MKII and the SC-VA to cover all my midi needs, musically and retro gaming.

I own both the SC-55 MK1 (with the version 2.00 ROM, if I recall correctly) which is the one with also the GM logo.
I've owned an AWE64 since December 1996, but was never impressed by some of its MIDI samples (particularly the trumpets).
Since most games of the early 90's were written on an SC-55, I decided to "bite the bullet" and bought my SC-55 a couple of years ago (I think I paid back then about £65 for it).
My SC-55 is still in very good condition and has been well look after by its previous owner.
I'm very satisfied with the MIDI sounds of this unit (from a gaming perspective), except for maybe one or two instruments.

I little while later, by a stroke of luck, I came across an SC-88 Pro and managed to buy it (locally) for about $35.
However, this unit has seen some "abuse", but the unit itself is still functioning fine.

I compared the sound playback of the SC-88 Pro to that of the SC-55 and, for the most part, they sound very much the same (in terms of quality of instruments).
However, there are differences in some instruments that I could pick up.
For example, when I played back the Doom E1M1 soundtrack, I felt that the electric guitar sounded much better on the SC-88 Pro than on the SC-55, but this is based on my own personal preference.

I bought the SC-88 Pro purely as a "backup" unit in case my SC-55 decided to stop working one day. So, at the moment, it's not in use.
But, I might in the near future start it up again and play around a bit more with it.

Can anyone who owns one of these do me a favor? I need someone to record some MIDIs off of this thing. I have the MIDI files for one game that were on the original author's website, and he says that it was arranged for Roland SC-55 before being redone for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. I want to hear the files in this mode. I know I don't ever come to this forum, but I am an active member of Sega-16, NintendoAge, and several other gaming sites, and was referred to the Vogons community through them. This is for a certain project I'm doing. Would be greatly appreciated.

I'll do it.
Attach them in a zip.
Specify the format or else MP3 320kbps.

It is done. Here's a copy and paste of what I said on Sega-16:

The Dyna Brothers soundtrack project which I have been trying to realize in the last week has finally come to fruition. Download the package here:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/86gt9qfmfsl … range_Album.zip

Basically, the original composer created arranged versions of selected tracks from the soundtrack and offered them on his website. However, to hear them as they were meant to be, he suggested listening to them on a Roland SC-55, which was one of the first general MIDI sound modules and quite popular with PC gamers back in the days of DOS. Our friend from Vogons, James-F, kindly recorded them through his own personal SC-55 hardware, edited them for consistency, and then sent me the files in FLAC format as I suggested, from which I then tagged them. So here they are. Let me know what you think and feel free to ask any questions about Dyna Brothers and further the topic of this thread. 😀

brentvw wrote:

Thanks for the feedback. Looking at the prices of the SC-88 it is competing closely with the Roland Sound Canvas VA which people appear to be raving about. Other than missing the feel of having a physical unit, will this Sound Canvas VA deliver true SC-88 sound? Any drawbacks to choosing this over a physical unit?

I do have an original copy of Edirol softsynth package. Be careful with the SC-88 Pro simulation, its instrument mapping seems to be off.
The normal SC-55 and SC-88 do work fine, though. As far as I know, it is DirectMusic compatible. Never had any issues with it except for the Pro thing.