Roland Sound Canvas VA Software Synthesizer with DOSBox and ScummVM 

100% pure nostalgia! 😢 Excellent video, very very well explained! Congrats and regards from Buenos Aires, Argentina! Gabriel.

Great vid, and another great find. Nowadays, I fine with just using soundfonts for my DOS games, but it's always neat to see something like this being made.

This is a fantastic synthesizer. This was also a very good & easy to follow tutorial.

Thanks for this Video, helped me very much. Doom with the SC-55 Music is just awesome.

I just got this working the Steam Version of X-Wing Collectors CD. Pretty awesome.

Hey Phil, you said there is a reset bug that defaults the device to the SC-8820 when it receives a MIDI reset command. Well, if you use the SAVIHost, you can filter out MIDI messages under Plugin/Filters. There check "System reset". That should be a good workaround.

I just manged to get the VST to run under Linux, with Dosbox. I had to use Reaper, a full fledged DAW to get it working but I am so glad.

Many thanks ! It works perfectly !

Thank you so much! This works too with the emulator of Sharp x68000: XM6

YOU ROCK!!! Thank you so much for this video!

Wonderful ... Thank you so much ..

This is awesome!! You've just been subbed sir.

Thank You for this tutorial!

Ohhh, my god!! The price is hefty, but it is totally worth it. This is way too cool and I can hook it up to guitar pro. Thanks Phil for introducing me to this wonder, it is going to be a very good part of my little home studio in a few month.

I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL! AMAZING STUFF ON HERE!!

the latest Version 1.1.6 sounds absolutely incredible

Nice video!

This is really great Phil! This has got me thinking though. If I get the Serdashop MIDI adapter board, I may be able to run my Dreamblaster X1 in Windows 10 with ScummVM or DOSBox somehow.

Great content!

I got it fully working in DOSBox, but it doesn't work when I try to play MIDI files in MPC. Luckily I got a workaround by using the Sound Canvas VA VST in FL Studio and I play the MIDI files in FL Studio with that. I still don't know if I like more the SC-55 sounds or the SC-8820, both sound so much different, I like both, but I think I like the SC-8820 more because it sounds more "rich", even better if in the options of the VST I set it as "GM2" instead of "GS", it sounds much better and richer than in GS mode, but since I never heard a real SC-55 or SC-8820, I dunno which is more appropriate for DOS games, although if I must go with what I like more, then it's definitely setting Sound Canvas VA in "GM2" mode and as soundfont using the SC-8820.

Thanks!

Thanks for this guide. But is there any way to force dosbox to output sound blaster music to the sound canvas?

nice video. now i use loopMIDI and SAVIHost too, to play mid files with vanBasco's Karaoke Player. some midi squenzers are not fully compatible with sound canvas va (for windows only cubase 7 and 8 are) i used cakewalk music creator 7 but gs midi files were played like normal gm files with it because bank and programm changes were not send to the vst properly. (only normal 128 gm sounds were used) with these 2 tools (loopMIDI and SAVIHost) everything is working now :-)

It sounds nice. The going rate for a sound canvas device in the Netherlands is about 50 euro. seeing a real SC playing.. It just has something :-)

I managed to make it work on ScummVM. Although, using ScummVM some midi notes seems to cut short. It is doing it on games like Leisure Suite Larry 6 or King's Quest VI. But if I use DosBox on the same games, all the notes are played correctly. Do you know what could be causing the problem?

Hello Phil. Does this roland sound canvas va has a midi to mp3 converter?

I followed all the instructions you gave in your video, I downloaded all the software and installed it, I created the virtual MIDI port and set LoopMIDI to start whenever I turn the computer on, I checked the device ID and according to DOSBox the ID was 1, so that's what I set up in the DOSBox config file for Hocus Pocus. I've set Hocus Pocus to General MIDI, but when I run it, Hocus Pocus is still sending out data to the Microsoft Windows GS synth, I do have SAVIHost running and I can play notes in SAVIHost and I hear sound coming from the sound Canvas plugin. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've heard there's also another way to map MIDI to various devices and that's using MIDI Mapper, I wonder if I should give that a try. I've only tried with one game so far, I've yet to try this in SCUMMVM.

Ay Phil i just tried this Technique with the X68000 emulator XM6 typeG and now the sound is on friggen point especially with the capcom games like daimakaimaru. im using munt for mt-32 and CM-32l/64 sound. Thank you so much for posting this id never had known the difference.

Hi Phil! Could i hook my computer with sound canvas va installed, with my mister fpga? All two are usb... Thank you!

Thank you for the very helpful video! Which is better for music the MT-32 or the Sound Canvas VA? Im a noob just re-discovering all my old dos games again. Cheers!

Awesome video as always, Phil. Will this work what that Roland USB to MIDI device? I just finished my own Retro4 in 1 last weekend but right now I've only got a Sound Blaster 16 in it. I want to step up my midi game and deciding the best way to do so.

I use the roland sound canvas va plugin. In the plugin itself, I set up the sound in the tone editor, but when I re-enter the project, the settings are reset to default. Moreover, all the knobs that I screwed up are in the same place, but the sound itself is default. What to do, I don't want to adjust the preset every time

Do they have a Sound Canvas version that can run on Mac Classic or even Mac Power PC? I have an old Sound Canvas emulator version but think it is just for PC.

Will you keep us up to date in case a fix arrives for the MIDI reset? This definitely went straight on my to-buy list, but gonna wait a bit and see.

Don't know if it's a recent regression or a misconfiguration on my part, but ScummVM and SCVA don't play nice with General MIDI games. The correct notes are sent to the soft synth, but the decay seems disabled and most instruments are cut short (like the percussions and electric guitars in the intro of Quest for Glory 4). The same software setup (LoopMIDI > VSTHost > SCVA) works perfect in DOSBox. My CM-500 has no problems either.

Hi Phil! Thank you for this great Video. I am testing the VA right now, but found out that the volume output level is way to low. In most games there is a big volume gap between Soundblaster sounds while playing MIDI Music in the backround. Do you have any ideas how to raise the volume?

Thank you for the great tutorial. I am able to get (very nice) MIDI output in Windows ports like GZDoom and Blood: Fresh Supply. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get output from DOSBox, even with the .CONF file edit from your video. Any thoughts?

Great video again Phil and playing with it myself, I only have one major complaint about it so far. Compared to the actual unit, some aspects of it seem a bit off, namely the drums being a bit flat compared to the real unit. As far as Roland SC-55 emulation is concerned... this is the best it has gotten so it is worth looking into.

Herman Seib's VSTHost is powerful tool for MIDI enthusiast and is free :-) I use it with Yamaha XG - at least have no time limitation ;-)

Are you sure those loopmidi and savihost programs you downloaded are safe to use on Windows operating systems

I am trying to build a pc to run the Infinity Engine games like Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale and Arcanum etc. what would be your opinion.

Roland Sound Canvas VA: Roland sound for your 25+ year old games for the same price of your entire GOG collection of the games you'd be using it on!! yay.

Can you use it on a win98se machine?

I really miss the point and click adventure games!

damn nice. Is there some solution for the nice synth gems like the MT-32? I rly like the retro hardware, but a soft synth could be some huge improvement in quality. I wanna try to keep all the stuff digital, till it gets to the point for some decent audio equipment.

Is there way there to do with old games threw stream?

Doom 2 seems to be missing that classic RSC guitar in your video. Is that something that can be fixed via tinkering with Sound Canvas VA?

I know it's an old video but, I can't no longer download the free trail nor buy it, it has been replaced with "join" do I have to buy a membership or what is it?

Do you have any instructions or a link to get Sound Canvas VA set up properly with MidiPlayer 4.2? Seems that has more appropriate functionality for this purpose, like automatically loading the SC-55 mode of the VSTi on launch without having to configure it each time. Thanks for your awesome guides on getting this stuff set up for some proper emulation. It really has made the process a lot less painful than the alternative of pouring through manuals and forums.

Still working as of today, just getting or buying the canvas VA is a PITA. Since Roland took down all the trial downloads, you either have to sail a bit (there should be plenty of old download links), or navigate their confusing mess of a launcher that is Roland Cloud Manager software to purchase it (there's an option for a lifetime key so you don't need to subscribe just to use this) and download through that. In my case the launcher puts the plugin in c:\PROGRA~1\Vstplugins\Roland\Sound Canvas VA once installed, and Sound Canvas VA.dll is still included as usual. From the looks of it the last update it ever received is Nov 14th 2019. At least the price is now $69.00 instead of like... $109 previously?

Trying to get this to work with System Shock Enhanced Edition from GOG. I installed loopmidi, and the VST host. I see my loop midi sound canvas in the audio menu of the game, but the audio doesn't switch I think. Any ideas?

I have been using an older Roland Virtual Sound Canvas software (v3.2) for ages now it also works with W95/98, XP and on Pentium III and DOSbox too :D

i want one sooo badly! where can i find one? it has put a big smile 2 my face :D

cosa this work with JACKserver?

Well, it seems that installing CoolSoft MIDI Mapper got it going in DOSBox for me, Rise Of The Triad never sounded better.

Thinking of purchasing this for both my retro gaming and experimental music purposes. Does the software have an activation limit on how many machines you can run it on? I assume Roland makes it available as a download with an activation key, but I'd like to know if it will cause any trouble if I possibly will install it on multiple machines at once.

hey man ! is this better than VirtualMIDISynth

What about DooM source ports where I can't change midi driver or it's just thereisn't Sound Canvas VA? Cause they play default midi device and in my case it's soundfont in CoolSoft VirtualMidiSynth and because of Windows 10 I can't choose default midi device :)

Hi @PhilsComputerLab, I've been looking into purchasing Sound Canvas VA, but with the move to 'Roland Cloud' these are now only sold by a handful of online retailers as 'lifetime keys', no longer by Roland themselves. Reading up on their new cloud model, it seems like everything needs to be online at least every 30 days to 'renew' the license... is this the case with the VA as well? Have you noticed needing to reactivate or reconnect every once in a while? Seems pretty inconvenient if intending to use this on a dedicated, mostly offline mini-pc... :(

grazie

Yet, according to Roland: "The Sound Canvas VA is not designed to play Standard MIDI Files. Depending on the data in your music files and how it’s processed with the host application, the mix balance, tone, and timing may vary slightly from the sound of the original hardware."

Is it possible that the product is now no longer available as standalone version and you have to subscribe to the Roland Cloud service?

How can I set up the MT-32 mode in Sound Canvas VA?

I ended up passing on this. I was able to find an SC-55 sound font that was as close as I felt it needed to be (EmperorGriferus 113 MB). I know it isn't exactly the same thing and some people really want full accuracy. I didn't grow up with any of these devices, though-- I was finally able to afford a hand-me-down Sound Blaster 2.0 when I was 20-- so I have no nostalgia for 100% accuracy, and I was trying to build out my MIDI synth emulator for as close to $0 as I could. Roland has also switched to a subscription model, and I just can't see paying for the rest of my life for 100% accuracy when there's a 95% solution readily available. Don't get me wrong, it's a cool offering, but FWIW if I were going to spend real money on this project, I would want real hardware.

With SaviHost(64 bit), the { SC-8820 > Ensemble > Jazz Scat } instrument crashes my stuff for some reason. The ones before and after don't, and it also works when I load it as a regular VST instrument in OpenMpt... weird Hope it's just me or that not too many old games use { SC-8820 > Ensemble > Jazz Scat } lol

Hi thanks forthe help..my question is that , Can i play Midi files with this software?

Any version that doesn’t require a ****ing monthly/annual subscription to Roland’s cloud service?

It's too quiet for the games I play I want to play touhou 2 and 6 with Sound Canvas VA but it's too quiet

cool! that does not suck at all :)

NICE VIDEO. I INSTALLED IT PROPERLY BUT IT TAKES ONLY 10 MINUTES PLAYING. THE TRIAL VERSION EXPIRED. WHAT SHOULD I DO TO MAKE IT RUNNING. TNX IN ADVANCE

The problem I have - it is so damn quiet (only tried ScummVM for now > Windows 10). But its the same with other games as well which use midi output. I also noticed that with other software synths like VirtualMidiSynth.

I have a problem, for me it wont change to sc-55, it always sounds like one of the sc-88 options no matter what i choose, damn and roland expect $115 for a buggy emulator no thanks

I downloaded the trial and it never stops playing xD

FYI, if you are installing Savihost 64 bit edition you need the Visual studio 2008 redistributable files which have many broken links, here is a working link www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=15336

This has got me thinking.. Windows 10 Tablet (Not RT) + Sound Canvas VA + Roland UM-ONE.. Any similar ideas for making this external with visual interface?

I've been messing with Sound Canvas VA again.. and for some reason can't get the GOG version of Duke Nukem 3D working with it. It seems to be defaulting to something other than what I specify in actual settings (Sound Canvas) No bits coming thru loopMIDI even. I set the correct midi device in dosbox conf file. Any thoughts?

How am I just finding out about this now? Would love to try this on my Dosbox setup... $125 😱

What was the song at the start of the video?

Only $125US for the full synth package? That is only twice what I paid used for my actual SC-55 at the local pawn shop! :D If only they could realize the entirety of their LA-synthesis line as a VST.. Same for Yamaha with their XG synth line.

Roland's just announced they're discontinuing SCVA in Roland Cloud (though apparently it's already announced in JP 4 days ago). Can't say I'm surprised since they haven't touched the thing since 2019. VST2 being deprecated for awhile now certainly doesn't help. Though if all you need is to emulate SC-55 for the early 90s games, there are already decent emulators for it now, like Nuked SC-55 and emusc (the latter still needs a lot more work).

with nukem and doom games u will need coolsoft midimapper

You can avoid all the VST Host and MIDI Loop procedure by using mulord's VST MIDI driver. Works like a charm. You can also use the Yamaha SyXG50 VST synth if you want XG instead of GS sounds.

does it with with windows 98 or me

Great video, as usual :-) Sound Canvas VA Sounds good ! How much CPU does it take? Any native XP games that support General MIDI music ? I wonder if it would work on your windows XP gaming pc ? And Win 98 ? According to Roland, it will not : The Roland website says : SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (WINDOWS) Operating System : Microsoft® Windows® 7 SP1, Microsoft® Windows® 8/8.1, Microsoft® Windows® 10 * This does not work with the Windows® RT., * This does not work with the Windows® Phone., * This does not work on the virtual machines such as Hyper-V, Virtual PC, or Boot Camp. But as this is a VST, maybe you can get it to work on earlier OS, if it makes sense ?

where can we donload de programs?

0:02 Music Name???

Strange, SAVIHost gives me an error stating its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Am I doing something wrong?

How accurate it to a real device? is it 100% sounds like real SC-55? I have in my collection Yamaha DB60(actually it's NEC 385 - clone of Yamaha DB60 which I buy after I saw your old video General Midi Roland vs Yamaha on your old RU-vid channel where you show this NEC. It's sounds great and I wanted to thank you for that video :)) and I have Sound Blaster AWE32(CT2950 I think best revision of AWE32 when Sound Card was big like modern high end video cards :)) and bunch of other sound cards but I still haven't Roland SC-55. Today I looked on eBay and there not so much of them so I think to buy Roland SC-55 while I can buy. They costs exact the same 100$ (sometimes shipping costs 50$ too in some countries. So I wonder which best - this Sound Canvas VA or real one?

does this work with windows games?

How do you get System Shock Enhanced edition to work with this?

So would you recommend this versus using VirtualMIDISynth? Is there a sound font that VirtualMIDISynth can use that come pretty close to the SC-55? I wish Roland would come out with a MT-32 emulator. I know there is MUNT but Roaland would make a better emulator I think.

It has been removed :( When you try to download it you get 404 message , Anyone having any luck was hoping there was a torrent but there is nothing.

I can't figure out for the life of me how I can have DOSbox setup to play the games midi to my Roland sk88

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cDPCf_LdYnI.html The previous version 3.2.x of Sound Canvas archived and reviewed.

+8bitguy, have you seen this?

I found this to be totally incompatible with Digital Performer, on multiple computers and multiple versions of DP. Sucks!

To me this is Roland trying to rip-off retro gamers with a buggy software especially considering that guy from Belgium producing very good MIDI-hardware for half the price.

I use the roland sound canvas va plugin. In the plugin itself, I set up the sound in the tone editor, but when I re-enter the project, the settings are reset to default. Moreover, all the knobs that I screwed up are in the same place, but the sound itself is default. What to do, I don't want to adjust the preset every time