SCP-55 in Windows XP

[Great Hierophant]

The SCP-55, for those who do not know, is a Sound Canvas on a PCMCIA card.  Specifically it combines the midi capabilities of the Roland SCC-1B and the digital audio capabilities of the Roland RAP-10.  It has proper drivers for up to Windows 95/98 only.  

Is there a way to fully use the midi capabilities of this card in Windows XP without a driver?  This includes the MCB-3 midi control box to communicate with external midi modules.  I possibly plan on buying one and using a PCMCIA to PCI adapter.  Unfortunately, I don't know whether or how it will work in Windows XP without a Windows XP driver.

[Tom]

Won't Win98 drivers work under WinXP?  My Santa Cruz sound card is using Win98 drivers, as is my Asus Graphics card, on an XP system.  Other than the obigatory 'not certified for XP' warning stating "it may not work", everything has worked fine from day one.

[moturimi1]

I heard of many users that sold the SCP-55 on ebay, cause they couldn't get the card to work under Windows XP.
I don't think the Win98 drivers will work. Are there any WinNT drivers? Maybe this works. I installed my old AWE-32 under WinXP (with the WinXP drivers) and could get the original Creative software (doesn't work under WinXP) e.g. Soundfont loader working using the NT Software with some Crack I found on the net.

If someone can get the card working under WinXP, let me know.

[Great Hierophant]

I thought of using NT drivers, but there aren't any as far as I know.  So much for that idea.

[shad0wfax]

The lack of Windows 2000/XP support for great but old hardware is a very sad thing, but unfortunatey it happens quite often. I don't know if SCB-55 will work under winXP, but other great hardware just don't work, such as Maxi Studio ISIS sound cards, for example. Those cards are great and have a really good external I/O module, but many people are selling those cards for very little money because they are only W95/98 compatible.

[Tom]

I don't know if SCB-55 will work under winXP

Works just fine for me under XP, which is why I thought the SCP-55 would, too.  My SCB-55 sits atop my Santa Cruz, which uses Win98 drivers.  If it didn't, I'd surely revert back to Win98SE.  (I haven't found any advantage in XP over 98SE so far, anyway, except that XP makes it easy to setup a LAN.)

[Great Hierophant]

I have thought of a way to get an SCP-55 to work in Windows XP. It is a bit complex, but I think my theory is sound.

First, you will have to sacrifice its digital audio RAP-10-like recording and playback capabilities. No big loss considering today's sound cards can do much better. Second, you must have its custom MCB-3 breakout box for this to work. Tough to find.

In my design I insert the card into a PCI slot with an adapter, though you could still use it in a laptop. The adapter does one thing, provide power to the device. Next, I use a USB midi interface like the Edirol UM-1X and I connect it to the midi input of the MCB-3. The card should receive the midi data, generate the proper sounds and output them via the audio jacks in the MCB-3 unit. To use more midi devices requires a midi splitter or connecting the UM-1X midi input to a module with a midi-thru port (the MCB-3 does not have one)

Its essentially midi through the back door, but its the only way I can think of unless some brave soul feels like writing some Windows XP drivers for the device. Is my theory sound?

One last thing. Using a SCP-55 is not my ideal method of GS synthesis. Even assuming it has 18-bit DACs, the tight confines of a type-II PCMCIA card can lead to a lot of electrical noise, especially for an analog device like a sound card. Couple that with a tiny midi breakout box and it could become noise city. Don't forget that the SCP-55 was manufactured with mid-90's technology, and sound cards usually preferred more space than the form factor could provide.

This general theory is sound for using LAPC-I and SCC-1 or MPU-401AT + SCB-7 or SCB-55 cards in Windows XP.  However, in this case you will need to use a secondary PC with ISA slots for power.  You should get a midi splitter for the job, of course and use a gameport-to-midi cable for the LAPC-I.  All you should have to do is to turn the PC on and and you should be able to use the cards.  No need to hook up a monitor or populate the system with anything more than what it needs to boot (CPU, RAM, Video.)  Get a small, cheap and quiet old PC.  I would suggest a small form factor PC but they don't come with ISA slots.

[menkau_ra]

I've heard that some people made it work under XP with 98 drivers. I've tried and I couldn't.
Also, this card doesn't have a DMA, and even under 98 it doesn't work as RAP-10 with DOS games - my PC freezes. But MIDI works perfect.
Will it work under Linux? 

[shad0wfax]

It's quite ironic that the least problematic way to use a synthesizer/module with a computer is using the oldest tehcnology, the good ol' midi cables. All other systems (ISA, PCI, serial port, USB, etc.) have led/will lead to problems as technology evolves.

[Great Hierophant]

I've heard that some people made it work under XP with 98 drivers. I've tried and I couldn't.
Also, this card doesn't have a DMA, and even under 98 it doesn't work as RAP-10 with DOS games - my PC freezes. But MIDI works perfect.
Will it work under Linux? 

I thought that Windows XP would at least be able to detect the device as a MPU-401 Interface, whereby you could access the GS sound hardware, but not the digital sound. 

[menkau_ra]

My WinXP can't even install drivers for SCP-55...

[Great Hierophant]

My WinXP can't even install drivers for SCP-55...

Windows XP should be able to make it work with the Microsoft MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device driver.  Look in Sound, Video and Game Devices.

[menkau_ra]

Windows XP should be able to make it work with the Microsoft MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device driver.  Look in Sound, Video and Game Devices.

Nope, it doesn't work just did. In Device Manager my scp-55 looks like mpu-401 compatible midi device, and has yellow "!" on it. There are no conflicts with any other devices.

[menkau_ra]

Will SCP-55 work under DOS? There are drivers for Win3.11, I've tried to install them under DOS, but got a message that it couldn't find all needed files. After that I used "enabler" and "scpena". It says that it should work, but the resources I've got are "0" and "F"... How can I change them?

[Great Hierophant]

Will SCP-55 work under DOS? There are drivers for Win3.11, I've tried to install them under DOS, but got a message that it couldn't find all needed files. After that I used "enabler" and "scpena". It says that it should work, but the resources I've got are "0" and "F"... How can I change them?

I would not think you needed drivers to use the card in DOS.  It should function without device drivers as a General Midi or Sound Canvas device.  The application should provide the proper driver.  However, I do not think digitized sound will work because I know of no DOS application or game that would support the SCP-55.  Digitized sound apparently is only for Windows. 

[menkau_ra]

That would be awesome!!!
But what about resources? What numbers should I put in games?

[menkau_ra]

I've spent so much time trying to make SCP-55 work under DOS and got no results Non of games can access to it directly. I've tried to use a different laptop too, but it didn't work: still says that I don't have all needed files.
Does anybody have the original floppy drivers? The ones that I have are from Roland web site, and they don't work under DOS.

[menkau_ra]

I want to buy a PCI or ISA adapter to PCMCIA to use it with a SCP-55. Will it work in Win31?