Pabloz wrote:1) should i avoid the SC-55 ? the SC-55mkii is better?
Absolutely do not avoid it, especially for a good price. I bought one from Japan and it sounds great. Based on the research I did:
- SC55M2 does general midi. But this is a subset of GS which SC55M1 does, so the SC55M1 technically does it as well.
- Like all midi devices, the instrument patches might be slightly different. It doesn't make them better or worse, just different. Even different batches of the 55M1 may sound different to each other. Some games sound better on different devices. There is no one "true" midi device that sounds best on all games. You would need a stack of them to achieve that, and it's probably just not worth it.
- The Roland MT32 emulation is no different on the 55M2 to the 55M1 - which is to say not great and try and avoid it. I connect my DOS computer to the 55M1 using a standard joystick-to-midi adapter, and then connect the THRU of the 55 to a modern computer using a Roland midi-to-USB adapter, then run Munt for real MT32 emulation. Works a treat and even better I get both the visual display of the 55 and the sound from Munt (I use a mixer to silence the audio out of the 55). You either need a special card or a bit of software that allows games to make use of MT32 mode though.
- there is a version I almost bought, the SC55ST - which does NOT have a screen! I almost could not tell from the photo, and only at the last second realized this so I could avoid it. It has a clean face, and probably sounds great, but I love seeing the 55's screen reflect the midi music being played.