Roland D-50
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| W × H × D (mm) | 974 x 94 x 332 mm (keyboard)[1] 480 x 90 x 410 (rack unit)[2] |
|---|---|
| Rack units | 2U, full width (D-550 only)[2] |
| Weight | 10.5 kg (keyboard)[1] 6.5 kg (rack unit)[2] |
| Type | Linear Arithmetic synthesizer |
| Keyboard | 61 velocity and channel aftertouch sensitive keys (D-50 only)[1] |
| Manufacturer | Roland |
| Release date | 1987 |
| Parts | 1[1] |
| Max polyphony | 16[1] |
| Normal presets | 64 Patches[1] |
| Expansion | Optional Card Library PN-D50 card series 1-3[1] Optional RAM Slot M-256E Duplicate of internal[1] |
| Effects | Reverb (16 types)[1] |
The Roland D-50 is a synthesiser released in 1987. It is notable for being the first synthesiser to employ the linear arithmetic synthesis, or LA synthesis for short, as a method of producing sound, which employs 4 tones that can either be analog-like voices with subtractive filtering or PCM tones, which were usually reserved for transients or short acoustic type sounds. A rackmount version, known as the D-550, was released as well.
The D-50 and D-550 could interface with Roland's own PG-1000 synthesiser programmer, designed to provide hands-on control to all synthesis parameters. Nowadays it is also possible to upgrade the firmware to various third-party solutions to give it more features.[3]
It was, and is still regarded as an influential synthesiser. Many of its presets, such as Fantasia, Pizzagogo, DigitalNativeDance and so on have seen a lot of use throughout the late 80s and 90s media, and the synthesis engine would go on to inspire the creation of the D-70, which itself would go on and ultimately lay a foundation to the Roland JV series. Its synthesis methods would also be transformed and shrunk down for use on the Roland MT-32 and other related products. Many of its sounds would also go on to be recreated on numerous Roland products, as well as other manufacturers (such as E-MU Proteus/1 featuring a "Phantazia" patch, for example), and notably some of its sounds would form part of the General MIDI specification.
The Roland D-50 on other synths
Roland V-Synth
The Roland V-Synth is able to access recreations of D-50 patches when the Roland VC-1 card is installed. The V-Synth XT rackmount module comes with the card built-in.[4] The patch recreation job, according to users, were a mixed bag, with some good recreations and some not-so-good ones.[5]. This seems to be due to stereo imaging/field differences, and a different frequency response. All 64 original D-50 sound patches are included, as well as extra patches from the D-50 and D-550 sound libraries, plus a brand-new selection of 64 patches, which use 28 new waveforms that were not present on the original synth.[6]
Roland INTEGRA-7
A small selection of D-50 sounds was made available on Axial via the D-50 collection. This provides the INTEGRA-7 with 11 new tones.[7]
Re-releases
As part of the D-50's 30th anniversary, Roland put out two separate products to celebrate this.
Roland D-05
The Roland D-50 got a reissue in 2017 starting with the Roland Boutique D-05 synthesiser - it is in essence a compact module variant, still exposing all the controls of the keyboard, and includes an extra 5 banks of patches, as well as user storage space for up to 8 banks of 64 patches each.[8] It has since been discontinued.
Otherwise, the feature set would stay the same, with the same polyphony limit and same selections of sounds and filters.
Roland Cloud D-50 (VST instrument)
Also in 2017, Roland reissued the D-50 in software form via their Roland Cloud subscription service.[9] This is the first time that Roland would officially issue a complete emulation of the D-50 in software form. It allows for SysEx files from the D-50 to be loaded as banks of patches as well, and because of how banks are stored, allows for theoretically unlimited user banks to be stored (however, each bank is still limited to 64 patches total).
As of 2025, this plugin is still available via Roland Cloud, and users may either purchase a monthly subscription to access the plugin, or purchase a lifetime key to own the plugin for as long as Roland Cloud's servers are maintained. Like the boutique D-05, the feature set is very similar if not identical to both it and the original units.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Roland D-50 Owner's Manual, pg. 29 - Specifications
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Roland D-550 specifications via Roland support page (archived 16-05-2025)
- ↑ Paul Ward via Sound on Sound, June 1997 issue (archived) - "Several operating-system upgrades were made available by third-party companies. The Musitronics M-EX is probably the best known, and gives the D50 multitimbrality among a host of other useful features."
- ↑ Wikipedia's Roland V-Synth article, under the "Models" section.
- ↑ Gearspace forum post by Don Solaris (archived)
- ↑ Paul Nagle via Sound on Sound, May 2005 issue (archived) - "The VC1 is supplied with all of the D50's original presets, plus the sound libraries for the D50/D550. In addition, 64 new patches are supplied using 28 extra waveforms that were too large to fit into the original synth..."
- ↑ Axial D-50 collection page (archived)
- ↑ Roland Corporation, D-05 specifications (archived)
- ↑ Ben Rogerson via MusicRadar news, 23rd June 2017 publication, "Roland celebrates 30 years of the D-50 synth with a plugin version in the Cloud" (archived)