486 Trash to Treasure Pt2 | Sound & the Roland SC-88
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
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We continue to turn our dumpster PC into my ultimate 486 gaming machine. Today we're adding a great sound card as well a Roland SC-88VL to take care of Midi music. What do you think of the result? Would you have done it differently? And where shall we go next with our build?
I mention a Phils Computer Lab review and you can find that here:
• Yamaha Audician 32 Plu...
All episodes of this series can be found here: • 486 Retro PC | Trash t...
It is sad to know that those sounds and equipment are gone, it is remarkable how those devices change to gameplay experience of a game, even dough I have no understanding of how it works even for a novice like me IT SOUNDS FANTASTIC.
I got the Roland SC-33 in 1994 and my friend got the flagship SC-88 at the same time. All the sounds on mine were present on his, and both excellent GM modules. I later sold mine and upgraded to a Yamaha MU100R complete with PLG100-VL and VH expansion boards inside as standard; one gives virtual string and wind synthesis, the other is a vocal harmoniser. These days I have four MU100R and six PLG boards, and an old Lenovo Thinkpad Z61p laptop running Cubase with special software that hosts the PLG boards like VST plugins.
Roland SC-55 and Roland SC-88 has the MT32 mode which it will map some the sound back to MT-32 standard so that you dont get odd sound like in the video. To find out how to turn on this mode, just check the manual document that comes with Roland SC-55/88 etc..
I was lucky enough for my father to have an SC-55 with our gaming PC back in the 90s. All my friends were extremely jealous.
I think by pressing a combination of buttons it is possible to
set the SC-88vl to CM-64 mode which is an MT-32 map. You
can easily get a manual online.
Hearing Ultima VII's music butchered by the SC-88 gave me the best laugh I've had in a while, lmao.
it's official the birds in Ultima VII have become telephones.
Had this on in the background and just about fell out of my chair when you said "Hello Roland!"
I love these old game intros. Reminds me of demos from the era.
And yeah, you got me with the roll....
I have only very recently come across your channel, and I absolutely love the Trash to Treasure series! I love all of this hardware, and every time I see you covering something I used back in the day, I can't help but smile! Great work, my friend. Thank you very much, and I can't wait to see what else you cover in the future.
Thank you very much for watching and commenting I'm glad you're enjoying them
Recently setup a good DOS rig for myself, which brought me to this video. Def subbing. Glad there are people into this stuff.
Pentium 75, 32MB RAM, GoTek FDE, 8GB SD w/SD to IDE with 2.5" to 3.5" adapter, ATX to AT adapter with switch, new ATX PSU, Gateway EV700 CRT (got for $2 no distortion), Ensoniq SB16 clone for digital sounds, SC-88ST for MIDI, IBM Joystick, TGUI9680 2MB (prob need a better one, heard these may be buggy), and a NOS KB/M with a PS/AT kb adapter. DTK case. Got lucky with mobo, 4 PCI & 4 ISA slots
Thanks! That's a nice build. I really need to make myself an early pentium era PC soon. What games are you enjoying on it?
RetroManCave
At the moment, I'm playing the super generic ones I played as a kid.
Descent, Doom, Duke Nukem.
I plan on branching out to more obscure ones, but I really haven't played too many DOS games so I have to rely on lists and old gaming magazine scans. I'll take advice if you throw any games out
The Pentium machines are actually not too expensive, the mostly complete DTK was $80 and the GoTek Floppy emulator was like $20.
Also I feel like I need a 386 with a turbo button, so I can play cycle dependent games, to complete my collection as far as PCs go.
This channel is a gem. Thanks for these videos.
+Ryan S thanks for watching!
Wooow...this series really brings tears to my eyes of enjoyment and nostalgia. The 14-year old me would have LOVED that sound setup with the Roland SC-88VL!
Orange backlight on monochrome LCD displays always gives me fuzzy nostalgic feelings.
This is how it should still be done... so much more pleasant to look at than bright blue or white backlights.
Much better than the poor backlighting provided by a single blue LED in most modern products now.
I thought it was amber? But yes, I still hold onto '90s era JVC receivers because of their amber & red Large VFD displays. Ahh, the fuzzys.
Fun fact, those are just green VFD's with a color filter (red?) over them to make the amber color.
I use this module today, too :) Yes i use this for my live set on stage at my Keyboards for some sounds :)
Having lived thru the era, I'm unlikely to revisit.. but so glad that you do. Ultima in particular was ahead of its time.. but had its glitches. Brings back so many memories of making DOS games work with available hardware, config and memory. Jumpers, IRQs.. those were my childhood. So great to see someone share what it was like. This was a dream setup, though beyond the average gamer on PC. Keep it up.
WHOA!!! Everything sounds so much better coming through the Roland
Ultima 7 - The Phone Returns
And sends my cat running across my desk ..
Those birds are a bit "phoney"
SOMEBODY ANSWER THAT BIRD
Did not expect that phone tone at all.
LGR mentioned this channel and I'm loving the content I've been watching so far. I have a new channel to bingewatch now!
I'm so glad I found your channel. Super interesting videos and your background music is always on point. This dumpster find is incredible.
I most fell to the floor laughing on Ultima 7. Such an aggressive phone ringing! It was hilarious. Great video!
When you played doom that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck i may have to get one setup just to play that intro on repeat :-). Great video ty for sharing!!
You're welcome, thanks for watching
You can buy the Roland Sound Canvas app for iOS which is a perfect software emulation of the SC-88 hardware and listen to your favourite game music through that on an iPhone or iPad, it sounds awesome, just like the real hardware. Highly recommended, I’ve been playing Doom and Monkey Island soundtracks on it on repeat.
Eren Kotan thanks 😊 going to try that now 👍
Doom sounded truly amazing.
Thanks for the Rick Roll at the end Neil lol. Are you a 9gager? This is all amazing. I lived in complete ignorance of old PC sound until you did the sound card video then I realised there was more to it all. At the time my friends and were completely ignorant of the possibilities so I wasn't alone thankfully. I will be looking for such devices in future for my old games. Thanks again as always
That pisstake at the end made me sub :) very clever, keep up the good work mate
Joel Kendrick Another victim :) Thanks for joining I hope you enjoy future content
Damn. Rick-rolled right at the end! :-)
I had a Roland card with 401 capability at some point in this era. I was a musician but not a MIDI synthesizer user, so it was "just another soundcard" to me, though a good one. Following this series I remember how excited I was just to get X up on probably an old Trident, and maybe Alsa. Great series, love seeing how you're maxing this one out.
That is awesome! I miss my 486... I need to go back to Mum's house and retrieve it from the attic.
I never used any of those MIDI devices back in the day, but after watching videos like this and LGR's, I'm afraid I may just have to get one one of these days ;)
Very pleasant voice, great backing music, and interesting content. Good job, that man.
+Jonathan Golden thank you sir
Charming review with charming technologies
I'd love to hear the intro music for F-19 Stealth Fighter. Whoever made the MIDI music sure went through a lot of trouble for such a small portion of the game audience. It sounds great!
Dude, Thank You. I thought I was the only guy who ever played games with my Roland SC-mkII, I still have it and sounds GREAT, Drums, Guitars and all sounds are great, except for the acoustic pianos which were intentionally designed without the wood box sound, like toy-pianos
+True Rebel It's funny because I never had one at the time and yet it still makes me feel nostalgic, something about those sounds just screams early 90s and coupled with familiar tunes it's just great
Orch hits on the Doom theme actually sounds awesome! Suits it really well. I’m going to try that switch on my SC55.
The MT-32 that preceded the Sound Canvas was a good device as well. Somewhere around the house I have a Yamaha TX-81Z. Basically a keyboardless DX9. Never used it with the PC but used to take it on live gigs all the time.
I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down,
I'll still come around, to watch you
(well, your videos I mean)
I still use a Roland SCC-1 that my dad bought in 1992. Same thing as a SC-55 but much less hassle.
Did I just get rickrolled!? this channel is great by the way, keep it up :)
Thank you sir, I will, I'm never going to give it up or let you down
I wish I had a setup like that. I might start looking for a project like this myself - you've inspired me!
+Kev Maverick lovely to hear Kev, let me know if you do get stuck into something and how it goes
I certainly will. Here in the Midlands we have a regular computer fair, and some dealers do specialise in vintage equipment. Let's not forget Ebay of course!
One of the coolest things I ever seen.
I laughed way more than I should have when that phone replaced the birds' chirps
Im usually, a function before looks guy, but I'd definitively remove the stickers from that case..regarding your question what I would have done differently ^^
The rest ist absolutely awesome, don't change it^^
Now they are like $200 online :( and the MT-32 are going for over $500 this retro craze is pumping up the prices for sure. As well as the equipment becoming rare.
I'm glad I snagged my MT-100 from a Chuch Sale. Yes sometimes that still happens, but that's getting rarer and rarer too. In fact I think the MT-100 is rarer than the MT-32.
Well now I want one, even more.
We've since discovered thanks to commentators that we can put the SC-88 into CM-64 mode and the SC-55 into MT-32 mode by holding a button down. If you're going to buy one the SC-55 can be had for a good price for the best of both worlds
Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to keep an eye out locally, but might need to keep tabs on eBay.
the sound of roland is very impressive, i like retro sounds. Cool viedo bro! :-)
I wonder if there's a MIDI version of the 'Monty On The Run' soundtrack knocking about. I used to love that tune!
Another great video, keep them coming :)
On the origal SC-55 and SC-88 (and maybe the SC-88 Pro) you could switch the device to a MT-32 compatibility mode, so the game music optimized for the original MT-32 plays better.
For great GM soundtrack check LucasArts' original X-Wing game.
It's always amazing how complicated audio is for PCs.
Goddamnit! Got rickrolled.
Yes! another one chalked up :)
Rick Astley is excellent! Love getting Rick-Rolled!
not true - you got rick-rolanded. Decide for yourself, if that's better or worse :p
The birds are calling again
snowboarderjohn Bu dum tss
The Denon will answer them. "Hello".
Well, you ask what choice I'd make for my sound, and... I recently bought an SC-88VL off of fleaBay for my DOS machine. I don't think I actually OWN any games designed for the MT-32 at present, so the GM and GS support was far more important to me.
My actual soundcard is an AWE32 I managed to scavenge off of someone's spare parts pile, so I've got the options of AdLib FM synthesis, Creative AWE synthesis, or Roland SC88 synthesis. And the SC88 contains the option to load samples to simulate an SC55 or (basic) MT32.
This is my first MIDI module, and honestly, the 486 I had growing up had a (particularly weird) SB16 clone. So a lot of these games sound like entirely new titles(though I can always switch back to FM for the nostalgia).
Man that Roland what a great piece of kit :)
Great video, thanks again. Loved the recommendation of the DENON UD-M30, I sought and found one with a pair of Mission 781 speakers for £40 !! Cheers :)
In love with that shirt bro! :)
I can now die in peace having been rick-rolled via a Rolland SC-88. Not something I'd ever consider to be a thing, but there it is.
i like the ultima 6 intro on the MT-32, it would be interesting how it sounds with the SC-88VL
That 'Aces of the Deep' music sounds uncannily like some of the It Came from the Desert incidental music...
and I had an actual MT-32... for music, not for games, missed something there obviously!
DAMN! That Made a Killer Difference. Also the comment about that being the firt Card in that ISA Slot.... *MICHAEL SCOTT**** THATS WHAT SHE SAID!
Great video!
Nice!
Love your upgrades. I had a Digital Equipment Corp. 486/66 with the CPU on a daughter board allowing upgrade of the CPU to later Pentium &c. However, they never issued any upgrade boards... loved it though.
It sounds like it really has potential, but at 8:02 you can tell the mappings are wrong--it sounds like drum tracks are playing as synth notes (out of key and on the upbeat). According to a video using SC-88 with Doom, you have to get the instrument mappings from the SC-55 and put them on the SC-88. I don't know if that will fix it or not. Maybe there are pre-GM mappings you can put into the SC-88 somehow. I won't link it or my comment may get blocked as spam, but the title is "Doom (1993) Soundtrack | Roland SC-88 (SC-55 map) | PC MS-DOS".
14:31 you evil sob.
+novoiperkele another victim!
i git rick rolled where I least expected it lol
Back in the day I had SoundBlaster Pro and Roland LAPC-1, perfect combination until SoundBlaster AWE32
That last bit of meme magic lol
11:48 I like that version more XD
Awesome "Rick-Roll"
Would you recommend the SC-88 for making drum and bass music?
Well... You *roll'd* that quite smoothly if I may say so.
Amazing!
Thank you Sir for great video
I know this video is a year old but there are fan patches which add General Midi support for Ultima 7 that I found with a Google search. I doubt there are patches for every game though.
+RetroManCave
Would have gone with a SoundBlaster AWE64, kept everything inside the case and loaded sound-fonts as needed, which is actually what I did back then. Nice Rick-Roll BTW!
+TheCaptain I bet that sounded good. The audition can have a daughter board added to achieve the same effect. One nice thing about the external devices is that I can plug them quickly into other machines. I never made it past Awe32 to experience a 64
+RetroManCave
Aww, man you missed out. I used that card well into the Windows XP days. Mine was the now rarer AWE64-Gold. Phil did a few videos on it here; ruclips.net/video/kXb3gNj--yo/видео.html and here; ruclips.net/video/D9iyi7_BNRQ/видео.html
He did a good job demonstrating what the card could do. I actually liked the sound of it better than the Roland equipment. But the Roland equipment came first, was optimized and very well loved.
Why is the sc88 cheaper than the roland mt32?, which one sounds better for sierra or Lucasfilm games.
wow quality sound
Rickrolled right at the end
Got Rickrolled at the end.
Amazing quality
sadly, everything we heard was in SC-55 mode. :( Having it in full SC-88 mode used FAR better instruments!
Press ALL, and make sure SC-55 map is OFF.
...........6 years ago. :P
Dear Retroman, do you know where to buy a gameport to midi cable?
Are those Denon speakers shielded? I guess it doesn't matter for CF, but other viewers be careful using bookshelf speakers.
They are.... and yes if your monitor starts turning green you're a little too close!
I love these videos, I like the ones about amiga and the other kinds of computers, but "this is my thing", I love this era of PC, it "my era", it feels familiar and "like home".
I guess people that grew up using amiga feel about amiga 500 the same I feel about PC since XT up to 486 or pentium.
by the way, call me crazy but I prefer the "normal" adlib/soundblaster kind of music, hahaha, I know midi with those devices sounds better, but it "feels" weird, like "that's not the real music from the game, it doesn't sound like that!!" hahaha. I'm too used to how sound blaster (and clones) sound!.
something like that happens to me with graphics too, if a game is very old and I used to play it on my green monochrome XT, then it "feels weird" in color. I'm like "that's not how the game is supposed to look" hehehe. (games like rick dangerous, robocop or double dragon, in my mind those games "look better" in green monochrome! hahaha).
Sorry but for Monkey Island (I know, very old video,) I prefer the AdLib sound by a fair margin. Also, the Sound Canvas "birds" in Ultima VII sounded like my old Trimphone telephone from the 80's. That did make me smile. I still much prefer the Adlib over the Sound Canvas. Maybe because that is what I grew up with. Adlib just sounds more natural. Though, the Sound Canvas does sound like a poor man's Amiga sound chip, and I really liked the Amiga sound despite only having a poultry 4 channels. It should of had at least 8 like the Archimedes had. Shame about that.
so.. THAT'S what Ultima 7 has to do with doorbells... growing up I had a similar setup and always wondered wtf was wrong with my games... now I know!
Inspiring video!!! :-)
Ultima VII - Pick Up The F***ing Phone
I just picked one up at a Japanese flea market for 20 bucks... No idea if it works, but I've wasted more money in less, so heres hoping it works!
The yamaha chip on the adlib and the sb 1-2 is the same (so no adlib or sb mode). The gm released in 1992, they start to support 92-93. The sc is not mt32 compatible, you cannot emulate well with wavetable based midi, mt32 can play mt32 midi.
Hah! We got rick rolled!
Great video!! Subbed! :). I'd love to hear the soundtrack of "Lotus: The ultimate challange"... man that soundtrack ruled! Or Rise of the Harkonnen in Dune2 :)
Do you know the specs for the power adapter for the SC-88? I know the rating, but wondered about the plug size? Thanks.
I have that denim hifi. Unfortunately the CD player stopped working but it had a wonderful sound.
Cool stuff. Better then sb16 ^^
Hehe well I didn't want to reply earlier and ruin your surprise
How about some Black Midi? I asked LGR when he did his Roland set up. He said it would be interesting but never did it. Do you think an old machine would be up for the task?
Chedarmentos Brown always a giggle. Any black tracks in mind?
RetroManCave The Destroyer TSMB2. Or any thing you think that 486 can handle.🐙⚡💥👾 Thanks for all the great edutainment.
Why didn't you try cm64 mode?
Rick rolled by RMC! xD
Hi! i connected the cable and set it to midi like you did in the video. Unfortunately i didnt get any midi passthrough. any advice ?
Hi There, Great Video, do you have a link to purchase a gameport MIDI cable?
Regards...
Thank you, sorry I don't as I had a cable already. Ebay might be a good shot
Could anybody help me with a driver file for the Roland SC-88 for Windows XP....Thanks for any help. This video really explains very well how to connect the SC-88
I thought LGR has done an excat review