I have been a Sound Canvas (SC) enthusiast for more than two decades now. Back in the uni days, my first GM module by Roland was the humble SC-7. It was eventually replaced with the popular SC-88Pro. Later on I traded it for the flagship SC-8850 (which remained as my best ‘hardware SC’ to date). Due to improvement in personal computing power and with the introduction of VST plug-ins, these had put a complete stop on future development of the physical Sound Canvases.
Even though there were a few attempts to emulate the SC series as virtual instruments in the early 2000s, none had achieved similar sonic fidelity as their older hardware counterpart. With the release of Sound Canvas for the iOS app in early 2015, Roland signalled the revival of the SC based on the exact sound engine from the SC-8820.
It wasn’t until the major announcement for the SC-VA plug-in made in Tokyo late last year that really got me excited again. And the path that I’ve chosen to share over this blog is based on this SC-VA.
Anyway over a decade ago I’ve learnt so much from the Japanese community on the amazing capability of the SC for composition & arrangement. Today I still believe we have yet to realise the full potential of this classic software synthesizer.
Sound Canvas Purist 