![roland sound canvas roland sound canvas](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/915ZyMT8aKL._AC_SS450_.jpg)
Polyphony is dynamically allocated, so you don't have to pre-assign voices to particular Parts. You can create thicker textures by assigning more than one Part to the same channel, and one or two Parts can be designated as drums, which use their own entirely different set of sounds. It organises its sounds into 16 Parts, each of which responds on its own MIDI channel. (Compare this with the MT32, which can play 32 partials, but since many of that unit's instruments use three or more partials, the practical polyphony is somewhat lower.) Each voice is a 'partial' the majority of the patches ('instruments') in the unit use only one partial, but quite a few use two, and with those instruments the polyphony is accordingly reduced. The Sound Canvas can respond simultaneously to all 16 MIDI channels, and produce 24 voices of polyphony. A bracket for rack-mounting the unit is available from Roland, which will also hold a Sound Brush in the same rack space.
![roland sound canvas roland sound canvas](http://img.tarad.com/shop/t/tokai/img-lib/spd_20050829232658_b.jpg)
The remote also operates the Sound Brush, with which it is far more useful in that it can select, start, and stop sequences. The unit is provided with a credit card-sized wireless remote, which is fun but not particularly important.
#Roland sound canvas full#
It is entirely possible to operate the Sound Canvas almost to its full capability via MIDI, without touching any of the front panel controls except the power switch and volume knob. The buttons are small, but well-labelled. There's also an orange LCD display, and nine pairs of programming buttons. On the front panel is a power switch, a volume control, a miniature stereo phone jack, and a second MIDI In jack which merges data coming into it with the rear panel MIDI In jack. Since the external sounds are not processed in any way, this may seem a little odd, but when you realise that many multimedia users might want to mix computer-generated sound (such as digital audio from a hard disk) with MIDI sound, and not want to pay for a separate mixer, it actually makes a lot of sense. The input jacks are for mixing an external audio source with the sounds generated by the Sound Canvas. On the rear panel are MIDI In, Out, and Thru jacks, an input for a DC power supply (which is provided), and one pair each of RCA input and output jacks. The Sound Canvas is a half-rack, 1U size box, nine inches deep, weighing in at 3.1lbs - in other words, it's very compact. The Sound Brush is intriguing, but we'll have to save it for another time. Roland are also releasing the Sound Brush, a physically similar sequencer module which will read and play back MIDI files recorded on DOS-format floppy disks. The Sound Canvas combines all of the capabilities of these products, at a much more attractive price (just under £500). These offshoots were also aimed at the multimedia market, but were a little too early and a little too expensive to be overwhelmingly successful. While the Sound Canvas has many new features, it is a direct descendant of earlier Roland multi-timbral modules, such as the MT32 and its offshoots the CM32L, CM32P, and CM64 modules, as well as the LAPC1 card. It is also the first device on the market that conforms to the new General MIDI standard, which itself is designed to move MIDI into new realms. It should take that market by storm, because it is at once an extremely powerful, excellent-sounding miHti-timbral synthesizer and sound-effects unit and an idiot-proof, no-brains-needed box for reproducing MIDI files from any source, whether that source is a sequencer, presentation program, or CD-ROM.
![roland sound canvas roland sound canvas](https://static.roland.com/assets/images/products/gallery/sd-50_back_gal.jpg)
The SC55 Sound Canvas, while of great interest to musicians, is aimed largely at the still-undefined 'multimedia' market, in which the technologies of computers, video, and audio are supposed to come together to provide all-new forms of entertainment, education, and information dissemination. Roland are countering this trend by going after new markets, outside of traditional music circles. While this has undeniably benefited users, it has had a mixed effect on the manufacturers: the equipment is so good, and so many people feel they now have everything they need, that in many areas buying has slowed down dramatically. Since 1983, MIDI equipment has progressively become cheaper and better.