MiSTer FPGA Forum

Recently got a Roland SC-55, connected with a Roland UM-ONE-MK2 with UART>MIDI>USB set. Was curious to see how it compared with the MT32-Pi, so I went through the MiSTer starter pack on IA to see how compatibility fared.

This isn't an exhaustive list of compatible games, I can maybe check more games later if there's a demand, but I imagine people have already made lists on Discord or somewhere.

List mostly based on https://bitchinbits.foolproofdesigns.co ... -settings/

Note that some games need the CPU set to Normal in the MiSTer menu, otherwise music will be too fast.

Works with both MT32-pi and SC-55 (has menu selections for both):
Akumajo Dracula
Angel Dive
Asuka 120%
Detana Twinbee
Garo Densetsu
Garo Densetsu 2 (buggy menus/backgrounds)
Garo Densetsu Special (buggy menus/backgrounds)
Gradius II
KU2

Works with MT32-pi but SC-55 sounds weird/off:
Atomic Robo-kid (hold F1 on keyboard while booting for Midi)
Genocide 2 (buggy graphics)
Grenada (right-click on mouse and hold 登 key on OSK while booting for Midi)
Motos (M1 mode sounded pretty good with the SC-55 though)
Sol-Feace (right-click on mouse and hold 登 key on OSK while booting for Midi, music sounded drowned out by some sound effects, maybe this can be adjusted with the MiSTer main menu?)
Thunder Blade (press F5 on main menu for options)

MT32-pi works, SC-55 untested:
Arcus Odyssey (right-click on mouse and hold 登 key on OSK while booting for Midi, buggy backgrounds during opening but game seems to play OK, another version I tried in a multi-game hdf didn't have the buggy opening but I couldn't figure out how to get the controls working)
Dino Land (right-click on mouse and hold 登 key on OSK while booting for Midi)
Parodius Da (press F3 on title screen for options)

Works with SC-55 but MT32-pi sounds weird/off (might sound better if you play around with sound fonts):
Carat (opening/menu graphics are buggy but game itself seems playable)
Cynthia V2
Hellhound (no sprites when I tried it but music can be played in sound test and is pretty nice, MT32-pi works and doesn't sound too bad)
Star Luster (buggy graphics)

Works but sounds weird/off for both SC-55 and MT32-pi:
Die Bahnwelt (press Alt on keyboard to get to menu)

Games I couldn't figure out how to enable Midi, or don't work:
Daimakaimura (hangs after selecting Midi)
Etoile Princesse (controller unresponsive after selecting MIDI (BOARD) in menu)
Final Fight (hangs after selecting CHARACTER SELECT after selecting Midi)
FZ Senki Axis (couldn't get OSK to appear)
Geograph Seal (no music after selecting "MIDI:BOARD")
Mahou Daisakusen (no music after selecting MIDI, but the Bitchinbits page says the game is only compatible with the SC-55MkII and SC-88)
Nemesis '90 Kai
Overtake (address error after selecting SC-55 in menu)
Square Resort (couldn't figure out how to enable midi)
Xenon 2 (couldn't figure out how to enable midi)

Here is another list of games with MIDI support.

https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Li ... arp_X68000

It's missing games like Bosconian which has separate MIDI version of disk and you get to choose MIDI option when loading.

I don't have any MIDI devices so can't say for sure but MT32 Munt sounds great when comparing to recordings of real devices. But there is no perfect SC55 soundfont as far as I know. I went through this big pack of SC55 from Archive and the one I like the most and instrument complete is SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up.sf2. It still sounds pretty off compared to real SC55 family of devices but it's good enough for me for now.

I compared those soundfonts with Akumajou Dracula BGM against real recordings. This soundtrack is really great for testing because it uses tons of instruments. Theme of Simon Belmondo uses over 20 instruments. A lot of soundfonts fail to render all of the instruments correctly. A person in Discord also confirm that SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up is pretty good with Doom so I'd say it's a pretty reliable and good sounding soundfont.

Edit: I tested more X68000 Akumajou Dracula GS tracks and SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up also fails on some on instruments and sound rendition. There is no soundfont that can play this soundtrack properly as far as I know. Please share any SC55 soundfonts that's close to real devices.

KennyL wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 5:19 am

Here is another list of games with MIDI support.

https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Li ... arp_X68000

It's missing games like Bosconian which has separate MIDI version of disk and you get to choose MIDI option when loading.

I don't have any MIDI devices so can't say for sure but MT32 Munt sounds great when comparing to recordings of real devices. But there is no perfect SC55 soundfont as far as I know. I went through this big pack of SC55 from Archive and the one I like the most and instrument complete is SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up.sf2. It still sounds pretty off compared to real SC55 family of devices but it's good enough for me for now.

I compared those soundfonts with Akumajou Dracula BGM against real recordings. This soundtrack is really great for testing because it uses tons of instruments. Theme of Simon Belmondo uses over 20 instruments. A lot of soundfonts fail to render all of the instruments correctly. A person in Discord also confirm that SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up is pretty good with Doom so I'd say it's a pretty reliable and good sounding soundfont.

Edit: I tested more X68000 Akumajou Dracula GS tracks and SC-55 Roland SOUNDCanvas Up also fails on some on instruments and sound rendition. There is no soundfont that can play this soundtrack properly as far as I know. Please share any SC55 soundfonts that's close to real devices.

My favorite SC55 soundfont for fluidsynth is one that came out last year at doomworld by author zz_dennis. https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/1 ... k-samples/

Unlike many other SC55 soundfonts, this one appears to have been authored specifically for fluidsynth. In the thread the author provides recommendations for fluidsynth configuration settings. I use his "Heavy Effects" configuration. The only downside is that it doesn't support GS. The author considered adding GS, but backed off when he believed it would expand the size of the soundfont to 500mb.

If I'm using VirtualMidiSynth or any software that uses BassMIDI, I typically use the Masquerade55 or EmperorGreiferus SC55 soundfonts. Unfortunately, both sound a bit "off" to my ears when they're being used with fluidsynth.

EDIT

I typed too soon.

EmperorGrieferus recently released an updated version of his soundfont that sounds much better with fluidsynth.

There's also a new SC-55 emulator that's in very early development. Not quite ready for primetime yet, but could show promise in the future. Only compatible with x86 hardware currently.
https://github.com/skjelten/emusc/releases

Both skjelten and dwhinham have expressed interest in bringing emusc to the mt32-pi. We just need to wait for emusc to mature more.

If you want a preview? of emusc, Trevor0402's soundfont is pretty interesting. Its likewise based on direct ROM dumps from SC-55 mkII hardware, not recordings, but there's quite a bit of extra effort needed to clean things up that probably isn't ever happening to the SF2. There's a slighty tweaked version here that lowers the chorus/reverb defaults and sounds pretty good for a 10m soundfont.