garyglitta wrote on 2021-07-21, 11:34:

Just bought my second one, cost more than the first one did.
Can someone explain to me why the SCC1A goes for so much more than the original SCC1?

It's a newer version like SC-55mkII.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_SC-55#Roland_SCC-1

kixs wrote on 2021-07-21, 12:02:

It's a newer version like SC-55mkII.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_SC-55#Roland_SCC-1

Yep I understand but why it commands such a higher price is still for me a bit of a mystery...

Both are pretty rare, but 1A is rarer. So there you go 😉

I used to have both the scc-1 and scc-1a boxed but sold them about 10 years ago.

To be honest I would never pay prices over approx. 100 euros for one.

There is one for sale on the Dutch “marktplaats” and it’s just a bare card and price is already up to 375 euros. Rediculous in my opinion.

Yep, spotted that one yesterday. It was only half that then but I already noped out. Easy for me to say though, if you (as I do) already have an SC-55(ST in my case), the added value of an SCC-1 is purely bragging rights. I have better things to spend that kind of money on.

I've owned a couple of these over the years and sold my second one recently, the proceeds of which paid for a new mobile phone 😋

They're a nice card and sound great but with options like the X2GM available these days I was happy to let it go.

dionb wrote on 2021-07-21, 19:47:

Yep, spotted that one yesterday. It was only half that then but I already noped out. Easy for me to say though, if you (as I do) already have an SC-55(ST in my case), the added value of an SCC-1 is purely bragging rights. I have better things to spend that kind of money on.

What do you drive the SC55 with, your sound card? Or do you have some other MPU type thing?
For me having an SCC-1 has the benefit of providing intelligent mode MPU, so I can connect my MT32 for older titles.
But yeah, I do love how a SC55 looks. Will have to get one, one day...

Salient wrote on 2021-07-21, 14:59:

To be honest I would never pay prices over approx. 100 euros for one.

There is one for sale on the Dutch “marktplaats” and it’s just a bare card and price is already up to 375 euros. Rediculous in my opinion.

Where do you find one of these for 100 euros? I bought mine for 200+ and I thought I got a good deal. Regularly sell on eBay for 350-600

garyglitta wrote on 2021-07-22, 17:27:

Where do you find one of these for 100 euros? I bought mine for 200+ and I thought I got a good deal. Regularly sell on eBay for 350-600

Probably only with a lot of luck. Which means I’m probably never gonna buy one because imho it’s not worth the outrageous amount of money that is asked/paid for now.

garyglitta wrote on 2021-07-22, 17:11:

dionb wrote on 2021-07-21, 19:47:

Yep, spotted that one yesterday. It was only half that then but I already noped out. Easy for me to say though, if you (as I do) already have an SC-55(ST in my case), the added value of an SCC-1 is purely bragging rights. I have better things to spend that kind of money on.

What do you drive the SC55 with, your sound card? Or do you have some other MPU type thing?

I have my MIDI modules hooked up to a Roland A-880 patchbay. The inputs for that differ per PC. I have a Roland MPU-401AT and two MusicQuest cards for native inteligent mode on the older systems.

For me having an SCC-1 has the benefit of providing intelligent mode MPU, so I can connect my MT32 for older titles.

That's an advantage, but no SC-55/SCC-1/GM/GS title needs intelligent mode, so it's a bit of a mismatch - which is why I prefer the MPU-401AT or MusicQuest cards for old MT-32 stuff.

What's the cheapest MPU-401 card today? Seems they are regularly more expensive than MIDI modules themselves. Hard to justify for a purchaser today.

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-07-22, 22:20:

What's the cheapest MPU-401 card today? Seems they are regularly more expensive than MIDI modules themselves. Hard to justify for a purchaser today.

To some this is probably blasphemy, but I think 99% of the stuff is covered with softmpu to be honest.

Salient wrote on 2021-07-23, 04:55:

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-07-22, 22:20:

What's the cheapest MPU-401 card today? Seems they are regularly more expensive than MIDI modules themselves. Hard to justify for a purchaser today.

To some this is probably blasphemy, but I think 99% of the stuff is covered with softmpu to be honest.

I actually wonder how many games exist that both require an Intelligent mode capable MPU-401 AND are incompatible with EMM386.EXE (will not run in v86 mode). Are there any ?

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-07-22, 22:20:

What's the cheapest MPU-401 card today? Seems they are regularly more expensive than MIDI modules themselves. Hard to justify for a purchaser today.

I've been very lucky/alert to local adverts. Didn't pay over EUR 25 for any one of them. If you need one *now* and/or don't have opportunity to keep an eagle eye over local ads, Keropi's HardMPU is the cheapest. Not dirt cheap, but a lot cheaper than the going rate for SCC-1 or indeed any ot the MPU-401AT or MusicQuest cards on popular auction sites.

*Not that I'm bitter or anything as a New Zealander, where rare digital items are on local marketplaces approx once per Blue Moon*, but everyone in or adjacent to Western Europe/USA is very fortunate in general, when it comes to local advert opportunities. Probably a few other niches too e.g. Japan. If I, here, wait for a local advert selling an MPU cheaply, it is probable that you & I would be dead before one ever showed up. So few ever came into the country in the first place, and the additional scarcity means any blue moon event is priced hard and leapt upon even harder. <sob sob>, not.. I can obtain all I need, even if it is harder or more expensive than I'd ideally like, that's just life. Options exist.

dionb wrote on 2021-07-23, 22:56:

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-07-22, 22:20:

What's the cheapest MPU-401 card today? Seems they are regularly more expensive than MIDI modules themselves. Hard to justify for a purchaser today.

I've been very lucky/alert to local adverts. Didn't pay over EUR 25 for any one of them. If you need one *now* and/or don't have opportunity to keep an eagle eye over local ads, Keropi's HardMPU is the cheapest. Not dirt cheap, but a lot cheaper than the going rate for SCC-1 or indeed any of the MPU-401AT or MusicQuest cards on popular auction sites.

Thanks that's good to know. I'd probably go for a HardMPU bare board and build myself, if/when the time comes. However I'm pretty happy with the software-based options for now, so it may not come to that.

SCC-1 seems to have dissapeared from marktplaats, and now an SC-55 Mk2 showed up for 250 euros!
I guess the seller wants to have his investment for the SCC-1 returned since reason stated in the advert is: due to another soundcard the sc-55 mk2 is not needed anymore). 😀

Salient wrote on 2021-07-25, 09:15:

SCC-1 seems to have dissapeared from marktplaats, and now an SC-55 Mk2 showed up for 250 euros!
I guess the seller wants to have his investment for the SCC-1 returned since reason stated in the advert is: due to another soundcard the sc-55 mk2 is not needed anymore). 😀

I saw that one too! I don't know what that that guy must be smoking to think a SC55 is worth 250 euros

Gotta say the idea did occur to me to try do a reverse engineering job and try to recreate the SCC1. Might be a fun project

garyglitta wrote on 2021-07-25, 11:57:

I saw that one too! I don't know what that that guy must be smoking to think a SC55 is worth 250 euros

I sold one of my SC-55's last week (not MK2 though) for a, it seems, very decent 55 euros. Maybe that's actually a bit low but oh well, let others have a good deal too sometimes. 😀
This was without the PSU though.

I only got an SCC-1 because it was already installed in a computer I bought for pretty cheap.

Glad I got most of my external modules before the prices skyrocketed. Every once in a while I'll still find a really good deal but there are very few modules I don't have that I want to get.