Roland D50 Synth

[Archangel]

Guys i just bought a roland d50. Anyone know this synth?. I want to play some progressive stuff etc. Is it good choice for start :roll:

[Over The Edge]

That Linear Arithmatic synth (circa 1987) had great
ethereal pads and chiff fluty leads. Inescapable sound
and signature of that era.


Great starter keyboard BTW.


FL
www.franklucas.net

[Shreddy]

I have one of those, it was my first Roland and it happily replaced an Ensoniq ESQ-1 (crap was in the shop all the time). The board has some great sounds on it, you will hear many of those sounds in movies due to its popularity back in the day. The feel of the keys are pretty good as well.

There is a programing module called the PG-1000 for D-50 (D-550 rack). It allows you to program all the settings on the unit via sliders. I dont remember if there was a PC Editor app for that board.

http://www.cassiel.com/gearhead/d550.html

That keybaord has a memory slot as well, you can possibly find some memory cards for it on ebay.

Ed

[merijn]

Pictures, anyone ?:roll:

[Drusillus]

http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/images/d50.jpg

http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/images/pg1000.jpg

The D-50 was the first "real" synthesizer I ever played, it's forever etched in my memory :) I did a "Rock Organ" solo on it during a high school stage band competition.

[Over The Edge]

Dude,

You had an ESQ-1.
I used to have one too. It was great when it worked.
Mine was at Gand Music and Sound's repair dept.
every other month it seemed.



FL
www.franklucas.net

[Shreddy]

Yeah the sad thing was how much money those damn Ensoniqs costed. One of my co-workers at the time was willing to sell me a 1966 Mustang for a couple hundred more than the board.

I think I paid $1200 for that thing, talk about a rip off. I got my D-50 used with a case for less than $500 a couple years later.

You might want to look at getting an effects processor for your D-50 to add some distortion to your lead tones. There is a good stock lead on that board as well, I think its I46?

[Shreddy]

Here's a pic of mine.

Its the bottom board in the first stack.

http://www.pbase.com/image/18301752.jpg

[keyboard hunger]

hey Shreddy you have some great keyboards you seem to have a Roland Juno too i had that too do you use that for leads how about you post some solo.mp3s on this forum.

[Shreddy]

Thanks,

Its a fun having all the boards but I mainly find myself playing just the XV88 and the Juno6. I dont use the Juno for anything other than messing around. I'm going to post some leads but I've been busy getting ready for a couple shows and recording new material.

Ed

[Kirby]

@ Schreddy:
Where did you get the parts for the holder of the keyboard under the XV88?

[Shreddy]

Its a stock Ultimate IQ-2000 stand with an extra tier. They are so much more adjustable than Quicklocks (which only have the joints at the end of the tubes). I spent a couple hours coming up with that configuration, then I started putting the boards on it and re-adjusting everything for another hour.

[merijn]

Ok, looks cool! Now that I see it, I know my teacher (keyboarteacher) has a D-10, quite old, but it works. Anything special about that thing? He only uses it to teach people how to play ''multi keyboard''.

[wiz_arwald]

I might get d-50 for 350 euros, and i´d like to know if anyone have sound samples of it?
Could this be good for some progmetal, some ambient stuff and spacemetal like Arcturus? And is it good for synth leads?
I have Korg X5 already, and D50 would become my second keyboard and controller for modules and sequencers.

[Georges]

Guys i just bought a roland d50. Anyone know this synth?. I want to play some progressive stuff etc. Is it good choice for start :roll:

D-50 was my first synth, a very good starter keyboard with some excellent presets which still kick ass today: e.g. cathedral organ, pizzicato strings, shamus theme, tine wave, rich brass, Intruder FX, Fantasia, Spacious Sweeper, Nightmare, Marimba, etc. I loved it, ok, it's a very good live synthesizer.

For progressive patches: Number 38 is very close to Kevin's Pull Me Under lead; Fantasia is a typical Roland sound used by Micheal Pinnella on Divine Wings Of Tragedy and later; etc.

If you want any soundbanks to load into the D-50, I still have them all, including the card sounds (the cards are no more available). Tell me ...

[Lucas]

I've D50 and alpha juno1 synths too. I played a Roland E600 keyboard some time ago, but the sounds was too "Nightwish-like" and I couldn't change anything in patches or create lead sounds. These synths are old (mine are about 16 yo, and I've found them in basement, luckly they were in hard cases :) ) but I like their sounds still.

But in fact you are not able to create realistic pianos on D synths because the PCM one-shot samples of piano are too short. But you can use enveloped EP_loop to create nice rhodes ;). Other disadventage is lack of multitimbrality :(

http://sysexd50.xsl.nl/ You can download a patch editor from this site. There are some banks with program too.

www.vintagesynth.com on this site you can download a *.pdf manual for D50.

http://www.dreamtheater.art.pl/old/gfx/galeria/jr/p_rudess_8.jpg

I think that Jordan was playing D50 too.