Unable to replicate Romantique_Tp's excellent playback on SC-88 Pro

Cubase
1

Hey there. First time poster here with a very frustrating situation.

I saw @Romantique_Tp’s excellent youtube video in which a song from Konami Power Disk 6 entitled “The Tragic Prince” is played in Cubase to an SC-88 Pro: YouTube video ID is UuAaCb_lkgs.

I, too, have an SC-88 Pro, and I tried playing the same song in Cubase. It sounded wrong. Discordant notes, incorrect instruments… it was most of the way there, but the 5-10% it got wrong was extremely jarring.

What’s bizarre is that I’ve had the same problem attempting to play this song in other players as well. No matter what I do, I can’t get it to sound right (i.e. like @Romantique_Tp’s output).

The version of the file I obtained was posted on archive dot org in a file named konami-midi-power-pro-1-7.7zip.

I have found the same midi file, with the same size (probably same checksum, but I was too lazy to check) elsewhere.

I’ve also found another variant of this file which seems to be limited to standard GM, not GS.

But this GS version is, presumably, the version @Romantique_Tp played, because it was noted to have been obtained from the Konami Midi Power disk.

Any help would be very much appreciated. I’ve been going to great lengths trying to make this track play correctly on the SC-88 Pro.

2

Welcome to the forum.

This is a 32‑channel MIDI file and will require two MIDI output cables to play correctly.

Since you’re experiencing the same issue with other software, it’s likely related to how your module is connected to your computer. Are you using a hardware MIDI interface?

3

Hi!

I’m using a Roland UM-1 USB to MIDI cable, which has only one USB out connector.

I do have another USB interface with multiple output ports.

So would I have to use that, then plug both outputs into my SC-88 Pro, and configure the player to talk to both?

What software did you use to play this file? Cubase or something else?

4

I used Cubase Pro 8.5 to record this one at the time.

The Roland UM-1 unfortunately wont be enough to play this file correctly. While it does have two MIDI connectors, one of them is used exclusively to receive MIDI input from an external device such as a controller.

For the best MIDI timing, you will want an USB interface with two MIDI outputs . These should connect to the MIDI IN A and MIDI IN B ports on the back of your SC-88Pro module.

You might have some luck with one of those cheap USB-to-MIDI “converters” from eBay. If the note timing doesn’t match your UM-1, you can try fixing that by adjusting the Track Delay.