Roland/Edirol Sound Canvas lineup is a series of

General MIDI General MIDI (also known as GM or GM 1) is a standardized specification for electronic musical instruments that respond to MIDI messages. GM was developed by the American MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) and the Japan MIDI Standards Commi ...

(GM) based

pulse-code modulation Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the a ...

(PCM) sound modules and

sound cards A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external aud ...

, primarily intended for

computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...

usage, created by Japanese manufacturer

Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has f ...

. Some models include a serial or USB connection, to a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tech ...

Products

Sound Canvas

In some cases also sold as "Edirol" rather than "Roland" as the brand name.

Sound Canvas Personal Computer Products

Computer Music Products

Sound Canvas and Keyboard

The following combine a sound canvas module with a built in MIDI keyboard

Edirol

Roland sold GM/GS products under its Edirol brand. The samples contained in the ROMs of these units do not in all cases mirror the original SC-7 / SC-55 GM/GS samples. GM2 is downward compatible with GM. The SD line was also sold under the "Roland" brand.

Virtual Sound Canvas

There is also the VSC, Virtual Sound Canvas, range of PC software which provide GM and GS synthesis on Windows PCs. Many versions of Cakewalk's

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

software came bundled with a copy of VSC, though from Sonar 4 onwards they ship with the improved TTS-1 softsynth, which Roland has sold previously through its Edirol subsidiary as the HyperCanvas.

Microsoft GS Software Wavetable Synthesizer

The Microsoft GS Software Wavetable Synthesizer, included in instances of

DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direc ...

as an integral part of

DirectMusic DirectMusic is a deprecated component of the Microsoft DirectX API that allows music and sound effects to be composed and played and provides flexible interactive control over the way they are played. Architecturally, DirectMusic is a high-level set ...

, and on every Windows computer since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, is an offshoot of the Roland Virtual Sound Canvas with the GS sound set, licensed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

in 1996. A four-megabyte file, titled "GM.DLS", contains the sample set in DLS format.

Apple QuickTime Software Wavetable Synthesizer

In 1997, Apple licensed the complete Roland Sound Canvas instrument set and GS Format extensions for improved playback of MIDI music files in

QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is a ...

3.0. This replaced the limited set of instrument sounds licensed from Roland in QuickTime 2.x.

Distribution

North America

*Roland Systems Group U.S.

Europe

*EDIROL Europe Ltd., London, UK

References

External links

Another Roland timeline

Private Owner On Line Roland Museum

VSC-55 details

Roland GS history page
{{PC sound standards Sound cards Sound modules S