Roland SC-7
 SC-7 (powered on) with an SC-88VL (powered off) for comparison. |
|
| W × H × D (mm) | 168 × 35 × 203[1] |
|---|---|
| Rack units | ~0.79U, ~0.34 wide |
| Type | GM sound module |
| Manufacturer | Roland |
| Release date | 1992 |
| Standards | General MIDI |
| Parts | 16[1] |
| Max polyphony | 28[1] |
| Normal presets | 128[1] |
| Drum presets | 6[1] |
| Effects | Reverb/Delay, Chorus[1] |
The Roland SC-7 is a General MIDI sound module by Roland, released in 1992. Unlike other SC series devices, it is not Roland GS compliant. Perhaps for this reason, it is not branded as a "Sound Canvas", only a "sound module".
Its sounds and feature set are very similar to the Roland SC-55, particularly the SC-55mkII, but with some notable omissions:
- No panel controls or display (just a volume knob and blinking LED)
- No MIDI out port (SysEx responses might be receivable with the serial port?)
- No GS variation tones (GM1 capital tones only)
- The JAZZ, ROOM and SFX GS drumkits are missing
- No MT-32/CM-64 map
- Mostly does not respond to GS System Exclusive messages (not even GS Reset)
- Non-drum voice editing NRPNs are not supported
Compared instead to basic General MIDI, it adds:
- Reverb/Delay and Chorus effects with per-channel sends (controlled by same CCs as GS) and editable parameters (controlled by SC-7-specific SysEx)
- Five extra drumkits: Power, Electronic, TR-808, Brush, Orchestra
- Drum editing via NRPNs (must be enabled via SC-7-specific SysEx)
- SC-7-specific SysEx configuration of Channel Aftertouch behaviour (can be set to control filter cutoff, allowing cutoff sweep effects)
- Voice reserves (same SysEx format as SC-55)
It is physically considerably smaller than the SC-55, and is beige rather than black. It has feet on one side, allowing it to stand vertically as well as horizontally.
For controlling the SC-7 via SysEx, hikari_no_yume's SoundPalette tool may be useful.