Introduction
88 Edit
is a system exclusive message generator for the Roland Sound
Canvas SC-88. It provides a convenient interface to the functions
of the SC 88, and easy way to save the sound settings for use in
your sequencer. 88 Edit will also generate
system exclusive messages compatible with older Roland GS Sound
Canvas products.
Some of the features intended for the SC-88 are not supported by
older GS modules and messages generated by 88 Edit
relating to these functions will be ignored. Some system
exclusive messages that are supported by older GS modules may
have a different range of valid values, or produce different
sounding effects.
The manual for your sound module should be consulted for
detailed descriptions of what effects the various controls
produce, and if the controls are supported on your model.
About Windows MIDI drivers
Both Windows 3.1
and Windows 95/98 will only allow one program at a time to send
information to a MIDI output port. This means that the first MIDI
program to open the port can send to the MIDI device, but no
other programs will be able to send to the MIDI device until the
first program has closed. If you run a MIDI sequencer and 88
Edit at the same time, start the sequencer first. 88
Edit will run with out access to the MIDI port, however
none of the MIDI commands will be sent to the sound module, and
you will have to save the system exclusive messages and load them
in the sequencer later.
There are several MIDI drivers available that allow a MPU-401
compatible MIDI port to be used by more than one program at one
time. P.G. Music makes a very affordable
replacement driver, and 12 Tone Systems ships a
replacement driver with Cakewalk. If you install one of
these multi-client MPU drivers you will be able to run a
sequencer and an editor at the same time. Regardless of the
driver used, the Windows MIDI Mapper can only be opened by one
program at a time.
Both the P.G. Music and the 12 Tone
Systems multi-client MPU drivers were designed for
Windows 3.1, but they will work with many Windows 95 sound cards,
and both have been tested with 88 Edit. These
drivers may not work with Windows 98, contact their developers
for information about possible updates.
Another multi-client MIDI driver ‘MultiMID’
is available from Hermann Seib, this should work with any Windows
compatible MIDI interface, this driver also works with Windows 98
See the Web Addresses page for multi-client driver contact information.
If you are unable to get a multi-client MPU driver to work in
your system, another option is to take advantage of the second
MIDI input on the SC-88 by installing a second MIDI port on your
computer. With two MIDI ports, your sequencer can send to one
port, and 88 Edit can send to the other port. In
this configuration, 88 Edit should be set to
edit ‘B’ parts, and Sysex messages should be saved with
the A/B swap option.