The following games run also with Roland Sound Canvas via Quicktime:

Capitalism
Dark Seed II
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

You should add the machine the game is working and the os behind it. Like LC475/7.1.3...

Every game using QuickTime for music should also work with any MIDI device, because that's just how the Mac works. QuickTime uses its software wavetable by default, unless you tell it to use something else. Btw, the software wavetable sounds different with every version of QuickTime.

On Macintosh LC475 I run the games with system 7.5.3.

On the Macintosh Performa 6116CD I use Mac OS 8.1 for the Sierra games that already have Apple midi drivers and and support Roland MT32 and General Midi. The same with the Power Macintosh G3 Minitower. They run better than newer OS like Mac OS 8.6.

For the Canvas via QuickTime I run especially Mac OS 8.6 with 100% success on the above games on the Macintosh Performa 6116CD. It works also with Mac OS 8.1 but I have to search it a little because a msg comes on the screen regarding the modem port.

LC475 7.5.3 ? Why not 7.1.3 it's much faster and lacks nothing essential or am I wrong here?

7.1 is very primitive and not really up-to-date for a 68040-based Mac. Differences between 7.1 and 7.5 are huge, even if they are not visible at first glance.

7.5.3 works really great with my LC475. I have also Mac OS 8.1 installed only for copy of games from cds that System/Mac OS 7 cannot read because of the format. Unfortunately i do not have space in my office because i have two kids so i have only the Dos/Windows PC and the Macintosh Performa 6116CD there. The other stuff (Lc475, Powerbook 540c, Power Macintosh G3 Minitower x 2, Imac G3 and Powermac G4 MDD) are in my basement. I miss some of these, for instance i would like to have also my LC475 for the motorola games and i also have an external 4x scsi apple cd rom drive which works perfectly with the LC. But with two computers and three midi devices (MT32, SC55, SC88) i am good 😀.

Regarding the 8.1 and the roland canvas that i wrote above, i solved it. A msg was appearing all the time while i was running the game saying about the modem port. From the extensions i disabled the apple midi driver and it worked. But i have to enable it again when i want to run a sierra on line game that supports roland.

If you can burn HFS CD's then your LC475 can read them with 7.x. Keep in mind: http://www.knubbelmac.de/themen/kompatibilita … uebersicht.html
For filetransfer to the lc475 I am using an iomega zipdrive. The zipdrives are FAT fileformat, but I have installed this tool in order to read them. should work with PC-CD's too. https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/dos-mounter-plus-40
I stick to 7.1.3 because it has all that is needed and is much faster then 7.5 and above... therefore my LC475 clocked at 33Mhz does not boot anything higher then 7.1.3.

This tool seems nice. I will have it in my mind for the future. I have also two iomega zip drives, one for mac and one for pc but they are also in my basement.

The following also run with Roland Sound Canvas via Quicktime:

Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover

Sim City Classic

System Shock

Return of the Incredible Machine - Contraptions (this games was tested with my Power Macintosh G3 Minitower. The game has 3 options for music: Digital, Midi and None. Sound canvas runs perfectly with the midi option. )

Please note that the process that i did for the quicktime is to install the OMS (open music system) program, i searched for midi devices and then i manually chose the Roland Sound Canvas SC88. The canvas and the macman macintosh midi interface that i use for the connection with the computer (modem port) must be on. I saved my setup and then i went to quicktime music settings and i added an extra option named General Midi (or Canvas or whatever you like) where i chose the canvas for the music. So the music comes from the canvas for the above games that i tested. Even the Mac's midi sound is good, with the Roland is better.

Another game running right now with Roland Sound Canvas SC88 music via quicktime:

Outpost of Sierra Online.

Just found another one running with canvas:

Odyssey - The Legend of Nemesis

Hi Dimitris,
I read with interest. I’ve just brought a sound canvas SC-88 from ebay with the intention of using it exclusively on my vintage Macintosh SE/30, i’ve actually had a macman adapter for years as i’ve been meaning to play around with some music programs or play old games with midi sound support for sometime now but the cost of the units and not knowing if they worked on old mac held me back until reading your posts. I can’t say I’m musical in any way but always intrigued by these little Roland devices and getting it to work on my vintage machines. Have you tried it on older macs? I do have a 6200CD and 6500/275 as well but really wanted to use it on the black and white compact mac. Any advise as I’m a complete novice? Neal

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2021-01-19, 09:13:

Please note that the process that i did for the quicktime is to install the OMS (open music system) program, i searched for midi devices and then i manually chose the Roland Sound Canvas SC88. The canvas and the macman macintosh midi interface that i use for the connection with the computer (modem port) must be on. I saved my setup and then i went to quicktime music settings and i added an extra option named General Midi (or Canvas or whatever you like) where i chose the canvas for the music. So the music comes from the canvas for the above games that i tested. Even the Mac's midi sound is good, with the Roland is better.

nealpalmer1974 wrote on 2022-01-05, 11:42:

Hi Dimitris,
I read with interest. I’ve just brought a sound canvas SC-88 from ebay with the intention of using it exclusively on my vintage Macintosh SE/30, i’ve actually had a macman adapter for years as i’ve been meaning to play around with some music programs or play old games with midi sound support for sometime now but the cost of the units and not knowing if they worked on old mac held me back until reading your posts. I can’t say I’m musical in any way but always intrigued by these little Roland devices and getting it to work on my vintage machines. Have you tried it on older macs? I do have a 6200CD and 6500/275 as well but really wanted to use it on the black and white compact mac. Any advise as I’m a complete novice? Neal

Dimitris1980 wrote on 2021-01-19, 09:13:

Please note that the process that i did for the quicktime is to install the OMS (open music system) program, i searched for midi devices and then i manually chose the Roland Sound Canvas SC88. The canvas and the macman macintosh midi interface that i use for the connection with the computer (modem port) must be on. I saved my setup and then i went to quicktime music settings and i added an extra option named General Midi (or Canvas or whatever you like) where i chose the canvas for the music. So the music comes from the canvas for the above games that i tested. Even the Mac's midi sound is good, with the Roland is better.

Greetings from Greece.

I am sure that you can use the SC88 with the systems you have. There are some videos on youtube as i checked. I have also a friend from facebook who's a musician and i think he uses a Macintosh SE for music so i believe that you may use the Mac SE for midi music. Please note tha the SC88 is a general midi device which was released later and there aren't any old games that support general midi (you may check the list of supporting games on the top of this theme). For games you should buy also an LA Synthesis like Roland MT32, CM32L, CM64 etc but unfortunately they are expensive. There aren't many games on Mac that support these devices, but if you own a Mac and a Roland device then you do the difference because it seems unknown to people 😀

The Roland/General Midi quality is really amazing. Most games sound fantastic with these. Also, the sound is different between them. For instance i like Freddy Pharkas more with the Roland MT32/CM64 and Gabriel Knight more with the Roland SC88. The CM64 (like the CM32L) has extra samples where on some games there are sound effects that do not exist with the MT32. Examples: Lure of the Temptress, Ultima Underworld, Larry 5 etc.

For games, the only thing that you have to do is to copy the apple midi drivers on you system folder and then restart the Mac. These drivers are in the directory of some of the Sierra Online games that support Roland. You do that and you are ready for a great gaming experience 😀.

As i have written above, i have followed a process just by an inspiration that came to my mind in order to use General Midi device through quicktime. This works perfectly on my Macintosh Performa 6116 and on some games the music comes from my SC88. I have tried exactly the same process on my Powermac G3 Minitower where i have a CM500 connected but i have some issues. For instance Heretic runs perfectly but on Doom 2 i don't have music at all so i restore the quickitime settings to default.

It is very nice to see Mac users getting into Roland stuff. This really makes me happy. It is something that i started back in 2009 where i had my first retro Macs and while i was copying games, i saw the sound/midi options on some Sierra Online games. You may check the following video from Jeremy. He has done a really amazing job and i am sure that thanks to his video lot of Mac users will be inspired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buHZa85CO08

The following game runs also with Roland Sound Canvas via Quicktime:

Harry the Handsome Executive

Awesome info here!!

I have (old mac wise) an apple IIGS w/floppyEMU and internal CF, Mac SE which I fully recapped and has scsi2sd with system6 and os7, A couple Powermac 7500s (with G3 upgrades), a pismo laptop, a 1st gen pink iMac, and a white G4 CRT eMac

Module wise I have an MT-32, MT-100, SC-55 1.21, SC-55 2.xx, and a Yamaha MU50.

I definitely want to mess with this. I have a couple MacMan midi devices which use the DIN Serial printer/modem port. I've used them on my IIGS so they should work here... Looking at your setup for os 7.x, maybe my powermac 7500 with the macman serial MIDI interface would be my best bet. That's a lot of space though. I also have an M Audio MIDI / 4in/4out USB interface. I wonder if I could use that on the pismo? (space is at a premium, I only have 1 of these set up at a time usually). Would any these games run OK on OS9 at all off the top of your head?

I'll leave this here too, video of my iiGS playing my Yamaha keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HqL2ET2L1g

First of all i would like to say that i checked your youtube video and i like it a lot. It is so nice to see someone doing music stuff with such beautiful retro computers. I am not a musician but i love the great music quality on computer games.I am sure that you won't have problem with the Powermac 7500 and the Macman Midi Interface. The previous weekend i did an update on my Macintosh Performa 6116CD. I erased the partition with the Mac OS 9.04 and i copied Mac OS 9.1 Greek version. I connected my Canvas with the OMS, added it as an option on Quicktime music settings and works perfectly on the above mentioned games. I just copied the Apple Midi drivers from a Sierra Online game to the system folder and again the Sierra games that support Roland MT32 and General Midi work perfectly. I am writing all these because i use mainly Mac OS 8.1 for gaming because i find it more stable than Mac OS 9 on these old games. I use Mac OS 9 usually when i want to run classilla in order to download something from Macintoshgarden and lately for Appleworks 😀. So, i confirm that the games work perfectly on Mac OS 9.1 on Macintosh Performa 6116CD (right now Heretic is running with success).

Regarding the Pismo, i find it as an interesting project because as i checked, it has only usb ports so you need a usb Midi interface. I would follow the same connection proccess. It is something that i want tο do since a long time ago on my Imac G3 (500 mhz, 1gb ram, Ati 16MB) but unfortunately i don't have space and time so i have it in my basement. The truth is that i tried 12 years before in order to run Sierra Online games on Mac OS 9.2 and i didn't manage to do something. I have a usb midi interface. But it was the beginning where i was trying to learn about Roland and all seemed so difficult to me. Now it is different but i don't have space.

The idea of using General Midi device via quicktime came to my mind years later when i've been told that Macs use quicktime for midi music which is licensed by Roland. One day an inspiration came and i thought that maybe there is a way to make the sound coming from the Canvas. So, i did all the above and it worked on the mentioned list of games 😀. Probably there are also more games but i don't have the time to search them all. Mac's midi music is very nice but it sounds better and louder when it comes from the Canvas. The only disvantage is that on some games (like Heretic) when the music starts again from the beginning, there is a little pause (about a second i guess).

The above process work perfectly on my Performa 6116CD but not on all games of the list on my Power Macintosh G3 Minitower where i haven't found yet a solution. For instance Doom 2 doesn't have music at all so i change to default quicktime settings when i want to run it. All Sierra Online games that support officialy MT32 and General Midi and they need only the Apple Midi drivers work perfectly on my G3 (also on my LC475 and Powerbook 540c). Right now i have the Roland CM500 connected with my G3, a great device that combines CM32L and SC55. Larry 5 has a track in the beginning of the game (i think "Salsa this") where you hear someone laughing only on CM32L, not the MT32. I confirm that with my Roland CM64 on PC and with CM500 on G3.

In my basement i have also a Powermac G5 where i bought from a friend of mine some months before. It does not have a hard drive but i am waiting my order to come, ssd complete with assembly kit. There's a possibily to try to connect and test a Roland device with it. 😀. Time will show.

Very neat! And thank you for the kind words. I would like to do more with the IIGS given it's awesome sound chip, but I wasn't able to get as much out of SynthLab on there as I hoped, so it sits for another day.

I do have an old Mac USB MIDI interface from M Audio. It's ancient, so it should do the trick 🤣.

Have you hooked the units that have the serial on the back directly to your macs serial port? or are you also using some midi box inbetween the module and your macs?