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Trying to help my Dad out here. He was using and old Roland daughterboard that attached to an ISA Soundblaster 16 sound card. The card, or perhaps the slot stopped working. Upgraded him to a newer system.. Problem is he doesn't like the sound of the Forte, or TTS-1. I tried hooking up his Roland SD-35 via USB MIDI interface and that works, however, it often gets a bFL error message which means buffer full. The folks at Roland told me to turn off "soft thru" on the SD-35, but when I did that, then I got no sound at all. So I don't know how to fix this buffer full problem that comes up randomly. Is this common when using a hardware synth via USB MIDI interface? What other options are there? Are there any sound cards that exist that have good sounding general midi sounds built into them? It's hard to believe that the old Roland sounds from the 1990s sound better than the stuff in existence today.. What am I missing here?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Have you tried tinkering with the thru settings in BiaB? This may help with the buffer overflow. It is not a common problem to my knowledge so some setting is likely causing it.
Turning off the thru on the Roland shouldn't cause it to stop making sound, just to not send MIDI out the out port. Are you *sure* you are hearing the SD-35, and not the softsynth in BiaB (via midi coming back from SD-35)? Is reroute MIDI to softsynth turned off in BiaB?
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hi, I don't know much about the program, so no, I haven't tinkered with any thru settings in BiaB. The only setting I changed was the MIDI driver setup to use the USB MIDI interface. What do you suggest I change the BiaB settings to? I don't know why the sound stops when I turn the thru off on the SD-35. Apparently that's not supposed to happen if it's supposed to be the fix =(
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Check if you still have the 'reroute MIDI to DXi' box checked. If you chose the USB out, and shut off the thru on that USB device, this *may* prevent the MIDI from reaching the soundsource (which would be a softsynth)via MIDI in. This would explain the sound stopping when thru is disabled in the SD-35. Otherwise I don't understand how shutting down MIDI thru on the SD-35 would result in no sound. How are you monitoring (listening to) the SD-35? Unless you have connected the 'audio outputs' of the SD-35 to a mixer or speakers, you are not hearing it in the first place. It does not transmit audio over the MIDI connection.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I went into the midi options and turned off any midi thru boxes that were checked. I was unable to locate any reroute MIDI to DXi checkboxes though. After unchecking the thru boxes, I turned the thru back off on the SD-35, and still no sound. So I had to change the thru on the SD back to in1 to get sound. I have the speakers connected to the left and right outs of the SD-35. Not sure yet if I'll get the buffer full message, I'll update if we do...
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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There should not ba a cable attached to the THRU port at all in this setup.
--Mac
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I think on some Rolands the 'soft-thru' setting he mentioned lets the Thru signal go out the MIDI Out port as well as the hardware thru port.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I don't have a cable attached to a thru port, on the back there's only in and out. I think what rharv said sounds like what I read in the manual.
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Yep! This is most often true when the physical thru port is not built in.
Everything working so far?
If the out of the SD-35 is connected to speakers, your next issue will be when he wants to render a song..
Last edited by rharv; 11/13/11 12:24 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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So far so good, haven't had the buffer full error come up yet after unchecking those boxes in BiaB. Rendering the song is not a problem because he uses the SD-35 to play the MIDI files. This actually brings up the main issue he has with all the new technologies: The nice thing about playing MIDI files on the gig is that you can change the tempo, key, etc. on the spot with the SD-35. If he switches to a soft synth or real tracks, these songs have to be rendered to wave audio and then you don't have any control over tempo, key.. So what is/was nice about the old roland daughterboard is that you had the same sounds while composing that you would have on your gig.
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That's great for live .. but if he ever wants to record a demo it would become an issue. Glad to hear it is working as expected now.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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To clarify why I asked the question, if the SCD-15 is only a pl;ayback synth, and therefore not used as a keyboard or anything like that, he only needs ONE MIDI cable connect from Output of the computer to Input of the synth. If done like that, the Thru settings in either the synth or BiaB are a moot point.
--Mac
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Unlike mute points which I can't hear. (:
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Quote:
To clarify why I asked the question, if the SCD-15 is only a pl;ayback synth, and therefore not used as a keyboard or anything like that, he only needs ONE MIDI cable connect from Output of the computer to Input of the synth. If done like that, the Thru settings in either the synth or BiaB are a moot point.
--Mac
Very True. I believe it has it's own sequencer onboard (thus a use for the MIDI out jack), but for use in BiaB only one connection (MIDI In) would be preferred, especially when troubleshooting the buffer issue.
I see where you were headed with that now. 
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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The SD-35 is actually a sound module and midi file player built into one unit. It plays midi files on a 3.5" floppy disk. I have a unit where the player part of it is bad, however, it can still be used for the sound module portion. So far so good, I haven't gotten the buffer full problem. I have only the MIDI In connected with the USB interface. The SD-50 just came out last year and it's the replacement for the SD-35.. Why it took Roland so many years to come out with a replacement is beyond me. It looks to be a pretty nice unit though!
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After reading your original post, I dusted off my Roland SC-88 Pro and played a few midi files and then some BIAB files through it.
I would have to agree that it is miles ahead of Cakewalks TTS-1, Forte or any other virtual GM synth. I started out with a SB-55/SC-55 combination, moved up to a laptop/SC-55 and then to a Laptop/SC-8 Pro.
The SC-88 is now about 17 years old and is still in the same condition I bought it and is still playing strong. Still have the original box and packaging.
Cheers
Kevin
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Now you guys see why I'm a Roland fan? The sounds last many years, the hardware just as long .. I have replaced the floppy drive in a couple units; that seems to be the weak point. However, that said, some of those sample/sequence units allow connecting a SCSI hard drive. Much larger, more reliable and faster.
Anyway, glad to hear others hear the same thing. The hardware Roland stuff gets the job done.
I'm sure other brands do too, but I have had such great luck with Roland units I just stick with them as a preference. The menus and such make sense from unit to unit. Can't say the same about Yammie stuff; it just gets too frustrating (and time consuming) for me at times. Nice sounds but I don't want to spend all day getting the track down (and people don't want to pay for all day either!).
For the record, mc3997 , the SD50 also does audio, which the SD35 never did. It doubles as an audio recording interface.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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rharv, my Dad would agree with you about the Roland gear. I don't even know if there are any units comparable to the SD-35, and now SD-50? I'd like to hear how the tones in the SD-50 sound actually.. Have you made any recordings with that unit in BiaB?
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I do not have an SD-50, sorry. I just know it also added an audio interface to the SD-35.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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