If you are reading this, your browser probably fetched all data it required to display the page directly from my VPS hosted by ConoHa.

Mirror in Japan

(No pun intended)

I set up my own git server half a year ago. Now I've found the perfect use for it. I create the git repository right in /var/www/html on my local server. The remote server has a post-receive hook that automatically pulls in the document root. Any volatile large files are moved to a new virtual host filestorage.chrisoft.org and kept in sync with rsync.

The site also underwent a major cleanup. Many legacy stuff got either removed or relocated.

Generally this means you should experience major speedup visiting this site. If, however, you are exeriencing problems, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The reverse proxy is now moved to rp.chrisoft.org. It's not yet accessible at the time of writing because my local server is hidden super stealthily under multiple layers of NAT.

An Eruditus from Waseda and An Illiterate in China

Everyone except me has made significant progress.

I was actually shocked to learn that he's now majoring in something related to aviation machinery.

Shame on me, I guess.

A world in which everyone can program

I shall probably quit programming and move on by then.

Googlephobia

The world of smartphone...

... is now a wasteland. Literally all flagship models are mutants from the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Googlephobia

Shit. They are probably also watching me writing this.

Thanks to (?) the GrandeFreakWitless, my reliance on Google is not that strong -- nope. It's actually my general fear and distrust of those tech giants.

My fear was magnified by my recent findings of just how much Google knows about me -- they probably know me better than myself; and again by Louis Rossmann [1].

When those Google fanboys are still enjoying the great convenience they provide, I'm already planning to flee from Google. It's probably just me being hyperallergic, but it also could be Google doing something really unfair to their users.

Software Subscription Model Sucks

Reading through Roland Cloud's product page triggers me everytime: I sincerely cannot figure out why they make it a subscription service rather than a one-time purchase (with a fee for each upgrade).

Usually people subscribe for:

As claimed by the Sound On Sound review, the editor for SD-80 is very similar to the one for XV-2020. The editor exposes a generic sample-based synthesis engine quite comparable to the one found in HALion (with more restrictions, of course). It lets you take full control of the synthesis engine and even create new patches not found anywhere else.

The synthesis engine consists of four layers (with up to two samples [7] for each layer, plus frequency modulation), four filters (one for each layer), eight envelope generators (amplitude EG and filter EG for each layer), two LFOs [8] and a 4*4 modulation matrix. There are also 90 post-processing effects (some of which are combinations of multiple simple effects, hence the name 'MFX') to choose from for each channel.

Restrictions aforementioned include inability to use external samples so you are essentially locked in to 589 built-in waveforms (which is probably fine because it's not what the STUDIO Canvas line is aimed at), limited number of envelope nodes, limited modulation routing, restricted number of different MFX's that can be used at the same time (3).

The editor has quite terrible user experience. Guess it's common for such decades-old software.

The editor has quite terrible user experience. Guess it's common for such decades-old software. It comes with a twenty-page pdf manual (which contains a lot of excerpts from the XV-5080 owner's manual), which focus on the internals of the synthesizer, and a html manual, which focus on the interface of the editor.

I've also tried editor software for other STUDIO Canvas modules using the same generation of XV engine. The SD-20 editor works seamlessly with SD-80, and it only offers basic parameters editing just like TTS-1. The SD-90 editor, despite being extremely similar to the SD-20 editor, doesn't work at all, which is not surprising as it's essentially the SD-20 editor plus an editor for the audio mixer and audio effects processor found in the SD-90, which the SD-80 lacks.

By the way, if you have hi-dpi display and use Windows 10, be sure to use 'System (Enhanced)' scaling behavior for the SD-80 Editor. It scales perfectly that way.

I'm not going to scatter the post with even more pictures, so please follow the links for selected screenshots of the editor:

The SD-80 is GM2 compatible. However many midi files you randomly find may not play on it even when the device is in GM2 mode. If the midi file being played has any sort of bank selection event not recognized by the SD-80, the corresponding part will produce no sound at all.

If your midi file has NRPN messages, things will get even worse. These things are essentially undocumented for the SD-80. All I could say is good luck keeping your eardrum intact. [9]

The manual says 'This set ("classical" set) is also used when GM2 data compatibility is important'. However upon receiving the GM2 on message, the module automatically selects 'contemporary' set for every part. It seems impossible to change this behavior.

The XG Lite mode has way more instruments available than what the manual has listed. Bank 18 patch 1 gives you 'Piano 1d' (persumably 'Mellow Grand Piano' in XG specification), which is not listed in the manual. It actually has 489 normal patches, 49 sfx patches, 2 sfx kits and 9 drum kits [10]. It's quite irony to find out that they have more patches for their competitor's standard than their own legacy standard. However these sounds are relatively lame when compared with authentic YAMAHA XG synthesizers of the same period. Particularly some sounds in different variant slot of the same patch number sounds almost identical. Roland obvious put less effort in these sounds in terms of sound designing.

MIDI timing messes up if events flood in within a demisemiquaver worth of time. This quirk resembles the problem QMidiPlayer for Windows suffered from in its early days. But I'm pretty sure the cause is completely different. [11] Also this could be a common issue of old MIDI devices, as my old YAMAHA keyboards does the exact same thing.

The sound generated by the SD-80/90 is phasey as could be heard in ZUN's early works. If unsure, take a look at the spectrogram.

The module, as all electric appliances do, generates heat. The manual says "A small amount of heat will radiate from the unit during normal operation", and the chassis do get quite warm even when it is completely idle. This didn't become an issue until later.

MIDI and USB indicators blink on any screen with the top row saying Program Updater. Selecting a source makes the corresponding indicator constantly lit and the other go out.

If this mode is entered with the combination SYSTEM + PAGE◀ + PREVIEW, INST, EFFECTS, SYSTEM will do nothing instead. This combination is probably reserved for consumers.

Sound generation does not work in the program updater.

Persumably the update MIDI files are similar to earlier models: stream of system exclusive events containing firmware blobs. No program update could be found for the SD-80 on the Internet.

Persumably the update MIDI files are similar to earlier models: stream of system exclusive events containing firmware blobs. No program update could be found for the SD-80 on the Internet. There are update files for the SD-90 however, which updates its system software to version 1.03.

Chrisoft

Blog

Mirror in Japan

Mirror in Japan

An Eruditus from Waseda and An Illiterate in China

An Eruditus from Waseda and An Illiterate in China

A world in which everyone can program

A world in which everyone can program

Googlephobia

The world of smartphone...

Googlephobia

Software Subscription Model Sucks

Software Subscription Model Sucks

Messing around sans the chassis

Chart A

Newer Roland sound modules?

If you want to learn more ...

Chrisoft

Blog

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