Last week I wrote how I basically used my new Atari STE to recreate my father’s professional music setup to let it once again play back the music I created between 1992 and 2002. But while C-Lab’s Notator software ran so that I could load and edit the files, one thing was still missing: A Roland SC-55mkII Multi-timbral Sound Canvas:

Neatly tucked away sits my Roland SC-55mkII in the previously unused space below the monitor

Or at least, something that would actually play the music so that I could hear it. The SC-55, being one of the MIDI devices that was recommended to me by the Atari community as one that plays nice with games that support MIDI, was not cheap, but does create a very high quality MIDI sound. On eBay, I found a Japanese shop simply called Books and Music, and they carried one. In the package they send me, they included a cute anime styled leaflet with a 10% off coupon code valid until one minute before the end of this year.

Perhaps, if they have a 240 to 100 volt adapter, I might buy it from them, because at the moment the SC-55 is occupying the only one I have, which means my also Japanese Sony MSX2+ is currently without power.

According to soundprogramming.net, the SC-55mkII is the successor to the SC-55, mostly adding some samples and increasing sound resolution from 16 to 18 bits. It can do 28 sounds at the same time, has an orange backlit LCD screen, pulls 9V and 900mA, is 218 mm x 233 mm x 44 mm small, and weighs 1.4 kg.

The Roland SC-55 MK II, front

When it turns on, the SC-55 presents its type number through a fancy little animation. Below the power button is a second MIDI in port. Incoming signals from this port are mixed with those received by the first MIDI in port in the back. This way, a computer can play a song through the SC-55 via port one, while a pianist can add impromptu accompaniment over port two.

To the right of these are a volume dial and a 3.5mm headphone jack, but inserting headphones won’t cut the output from the output jacks in the back. To the right of the screen are the “all” and “mute” buttons. To mute all channels, press both, to mute a single part, press “mute” and select the part with the parts buttons.

The other buttons come in pairs that change values, such as reverb, pan, or instrument, up and down. This can be done for all channels at once or, using the parts buttons, for one or more parts. The values can be seen in the left part of the LCD screen. The rest of the screen is filled with a bar graph with one bar for each of the 16 parts, where each part is a MIDI channel.

Originally, this device came with a small remote control, but mine didn’t. It doesn’t matter. I need it as much as the buttons on the front panel, not at all, that is. My sequencer, C-Lab Notator, has a much more convenient interface for everything these buttons can do.

The Roland SC-55 MK II, back

The rear panel has stereo audio input and output ports at its far left. What comes in through the input ports is mixed with the sound created by the SC-55, so this is where I connect my Atari STE’s stereo output ports to. The result is a perfectly balanced combined audio signal that continues to my little mixer panel that also has incoming cabling from my MSX and its many audio expansions.

Centred in this panel are three sad looking MIDI ports, the one at the far right labelled “IN 1”, which is what I connect the MIDI out port of my Atari STE with. Unlike the Atari, the SC-55 has a proper Thru port, which sends a duplicate of whatever the “IN 1” port receives further downstream.

There is a switch that lets you use other input mechanisms than MIDI and at the right is the AC adapter jack with a cable hook to prevent accidental disconnects. I don’t use it, but I can imagine it being a lifesaver on stage.

It’s funny to see how little is needed for a computer that is barely fast enough to play an MP3 file to drive a device like this. C-Lab’s Notator allows you to do edits while playing your song, all the while updating its progress numbers without pause. Considering there were even MIDI sequencers for 8 bit 3.5Mhz MSX computers, this is hardly surprising, but impressive nonetheless.