The SC-8850 was the first sound module to incorporate the new General MIDI Level 2 standard.
The SC-8850 uses a PCM sampling engine based on that of the SC-88 Pro, and supports 128-voice polyphony with 64-part multitimbrality.
The Roland SC-8820 model lacks the large LCD screen and extended controls of the SC-8850.
Roland later released the SK-500 in 2000, a version of the SC-8820 with a 49 keys keyboard and no MIDI input, requiring users to use either the USB or RS-232C connections to send data.
The Sound Canvas VA plugin emulates an SC-8820 with minor inaccuracies.