Roland Sound Canvas VA
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| Type | GM/GM2/GS software synthesizer |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Roland |
| Release date | 2015 |
| Standards | General MIDI General MIDI 2 Roland GS |
| Parts | 16[1] |
| Max polyphony | 64[1] |
| Normal presets | 1608 + 256 user presets[2] |
| Drum presets | 63 + 2 user presets[3] |
| Effects | Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Two-Band global EQ, Global insertion FX based on BOSS effect units. |
The Roland Sound Canvas VA is a Sound Canvas (SCVA for short) software synthesizer released in 2015. Notable for its solid attempt to bring the de facto standard desktop sound module into the modern era and being a software-based emulation of the Roland-ED SC-8820. The Roland Sound Canvas VA is available as both a VSTi and AU software synthesizer for modern computers.
Roland Sound Canvas VA was first released standalone, then included with the Roland Cloud software-as-a-service subscription. This was discontinued on the 1st of September 2024, where it was no longer available for purchase.
Oddities
Discrepancies between Roland Sound Canvas VA and Roland-ED SC-8820
The Roland Sound Canvas VA is a software-based emulation of the SC-8820 Sound Canvas unit, utilizing the EPROM files from the original hardware. This means that the Sound Canvas VA is designed to be a theoretically identical software replica of the Roland-ED SC-8820, offering the same sound and functionality in a virtual format. However, certain tones and filters may sound different or lack the accuracy of the original hardware unit. Additionally, there are discrepancies in specification information between the Sound Canvas VA and the SC-8820 as noted in their respective manuals.
A list of few discrepancies and oddities
- The user drum[4] presets are not referenced in the SC-8820 or Sound Canvas VA manuals. Although the user drum presets work perfectly fine in the SC-8820 and SCVA, but you will need to use GSAE (GS Advanced Editor) to program them.
- Roland Sound Canvas VA only has 16 parts though Roland-ED SC-8820 has up to 32 parts.
- The Roland Sound Canvas VA does not properly handle Assign Mode[5]; it is always set to full multi on drums.
- Random resonance attacks (According to MJG0117. Needs confirmation)