Help with Roland SCC-1 in Windows 3.1 \ VOGONS

Help with Roland SCC-1 in Windows 3.1

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First post, by boxpressed

Posted on 2020-01-23, 22:11

boxpressed Offline

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Joined: 2014-05-20, 18:29
Location: Wisconsin, USA

I'm trying to get my Roland SCC-1 to play .mid files in Windows 3.1. The SCC-1 works fine in DOS when I test it with the Duke3D setup program.

I set the switches to address 330 and IRQ 2 (also tried IRQ 7).

I downloaded the "MPU-401 Windows Driver" from the Roland site (https://www.roland.com/us/support/general_apps_tools/).

The file contains four folders, one for WIN31. When I put those on a floppy and add new drivers from 3.1, I get the option of installing two drivers: the MPU-401 MIDI driver and the serial MIDI driver.

I installed the MPU-401 MIDI driver only and couldn't play the canyon.mid file using Media Player. I get an error saying something about the MIDI Mapper not being correct.

When I install the serial driver (not sure what this is for) too, Windows doesn't even load.

I also tried loading the MPU-401 driver that comes with Windows 3.1, and that doesn't work either. All of this is from a clean install of Windows 3.1.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Reply 1 of 3, by keropi

Posted on 2020-01-23, 23:09

keropi Offline

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first of all the serial driver is not needed at all since it's for a different card
in the README.TXT you need to do the last step:

* Before attempting playback with an application such as the Media Player,
first select the "MIDI Mapper" icon under Control Panel and create a new map.

then the card can be used... at least this is how I remember things!

🎵 🎧 ⏳ ⚡ MK1869, PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 2 of 3, by boxpressed

Posted on 2020-01-23, 23:35

boxpressed Offline

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Joined: 2014-05-20, 18:29
Location: Wisconsin, USA

Thank you, keropi! I was hoping you'd reply. It works now. Here's how I got there, in case anyone else has this issue.

I used the "General MIDI" setup and then got this error:

But I did not see the "Edit" button the first time around (partially obscured by the MIDI Mapper window).

When I clicked "Edit," I saw this screen and realized that all of the channels were assigned to a Sound Blaster 1.5 (must be the default). Once I changed them all to the Roland MPU-401, everything worked!

I'm creating a new setup for the SCC-1 rather than using the General Midi setup.

Reply 3 of 3, by boxpressed

Posted on 2020-01-24, 02:51

boxpressed Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1438
Joined: 2014-05-20, 18:29
Location: Wisconsin, USA

I decided to pair the SCC-1 with a Sound Blaster Pro 2 for sound effects and speech and had my first experience with the SB install deleting your existing config for MIDI Mapper.

I had to route the SCC-1 output into the Line In on the Sound Blaster, however. This seems like it would degrade the quality of the MIDI, no? I guess one solution would be an external mixer.

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