486 Trash to Treasure Pt2 | Sound & the Roland SC-88 

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.

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 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.

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..

Had this on in the background and just about fell out of my chair when you said "Hello Roland!"

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.

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.

I love these old game intros. Reminds me of demos from the era. And yeah, you got me with the roll....

I'm so glad I found your channel. Super interesting videos and your background music is always on point. This dumpster find is incredible.

WHOA!!! Everything sounds so much better coming through the Roland

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!

This channel is a gem. Thanks for these videos.

I use this module today, too :) Yes i use this for my live set on stage at my Keyboards for some sounds :)

Ultima 7 - The Phone Returns

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.

Very pleasant voice, great backing music, and interesting content. Good job, that man.

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

Doom sounded truly amazing.

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!

Charming review with charming technologies

Great video!

That pisstake at the end made me sub :) very clever, keep up the good work mate

One of the coolest things I ever seen.

the sound of roland is very impressive, i like retro sounds. Cool viedo bro! :-)

I most fell to the floor laughing on Ultima 7. Such an aggressive phone ringing! It was hilarious. Great video!

Orange backlight on monochrome LCD displays always gives me fuzzy nostalgic feelings.

Thank you Sir for great video

Amazing!

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.

Man that Roland what a great piece of kit :)

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 ;)

That is awesome! I miss my 486... I need to go back to Mum's house and retrieve it from the attic.

In love with that shirt bro! :)

Nice!

wow quality sound

I still use a Roland SCC-1 that my dad bought in 1992. Same thing as a SC-55 but much less hassle.

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)

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.

Orch hits on the Doom theme actually sounds awesome! Suits it really well. I’m going to try that switch on my SC55.

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.

Inspiring video!!! :-)

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 :)

I wish I had a setup like that. I might start looking for a project like this myself - you've inspired me!

i like the ultima 6 intro on the MT-32, it would be interesting how it sounds with the SC-88VL

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!

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!!

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

Damn. Rick-rolled right at the end! :-)

Did I just get rickrolled!? this channel is great by the way, keep it up :)

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 :)

I laughed way more than I should have when that phone replaced the birds' chirps

Well now I want one, even more.

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^^

That last bit of meme magic lol

Back in the day I had SoundBlaster Pro and Roland LAPC-1, perfect combination until SoundBlaster AWE32

It's always amazing how complicated audio is for PCs.

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

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!

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).

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.

Goddamnit! Got rickrolled.

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.

Amazing quality

Would you recommend the SC-88 for making drum and bass music?

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 :)

Awesome "Rick-Roll"

11:48 I like that version more XD

Do you know the specs for the power adapter for the SC-88? I know the rating, but wondered about the plug size? Thanks.

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 ?

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.

Do those MT-32 display messages work on SC devices?

The birds are calling again

Well... You *roll'd* that quite smoothly if I may say so.

That 'Aces of the Deep' music sounds uncannily like some of the It Came from the Desert incidental music...

i git rick rolled where I least expected it lol

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.

14:31 you evil sob.

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).

Rickrolled right at the end

Hi There, Great Video, do you have a link to purchase a gameport MIDI cable? Regards...

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!

Dear Retroman, do you know where to buy a gameport to midi cable?

where do you get the midi cable that plugs into the sound card... dont see that anywhere

Cool stuff. Better then sb16 ^^

+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!

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

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!

I thought LGR has done an excat review

Got Rickrolled at the end.

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.

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".

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

Why is the sc88 cheaper than the roland mt32?, which one sounds better for sierra or Lucasfilm games.

Are those Denon speakers shielded? I guess it doesn't matter for CF, but other viewers be careful using bookshelf speakers.

I have that denim hifi. Unfortunately the CD player stopped working but it had a wonderful sound.

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?

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.

Why didn't you try cm64 mode?

I think every SC can be switch to MT32 with some key combo