Roland D-5

The manual explains it all and once reading it, you have it under control. The presets are very oldschool and don't sound that good (if you ask me). I haven't done a lot of editing so i can't say much about it.

The Keyboard has and arpegiator and a few other add-ons. It has a pitch/mod stick. Mine was made in 1989 so it's features can only hardly match today's standards.

The sounds are not particularly realistic. maybe they were in 89' but today it's a totally different story. Some effects are original and sound nice, but the standard sounds like strings or brass are not to my liking. the piano is not bad.

It's not a very helpful tool since i also have a KORG X5D and can make anything with the korg what I could with the Roland and it sounds about 3 times better. It's good if you are a starter or if you don't use a lot different effects but It's just not my type of synth.

2nd Version has i bought it after hearing a friends.
The sounds are good has i've used it to make quite a few tracks.
The editing is quite easy but a patch editor is much better ,has it is easy to edit more sounds at any time.
The manul is quite good has it did'nt take me long to work the synth after reading it.

It is a multi-timbral unit and the keyboard action is good..
There were no built in effects.
It could accept a memory card and the keys are pressure sensitive.
There is no on board sequencer but is use a computer and other sofware to do that job..

Velocity and aftertouch are ok to use.
I find alot of the instruments realistic to use.
I have used it to make all types of music from funk to garagehouse.
The reaction to my playing is very good

I have always found it to be reliable.
I would use it in a gig situation but would have to use other instruments also to back it up.

I have not dealt with the company has it has always been a good instrument to use.

If it was stolen i would look for another one.
I have been playing creating music since 1989 and have a K1R an Akai S3000.
I find it reliable has i have had other keyboards and have sold them.
I chose the keyboard has it was the only one i felt was worth having at the time i bought it back in 89.
When it comes to making the music i get inspiration from the sound of the mix i am creating at the time...
All the music i have made using the synth from 89 upwards is still good to listen to..

Presets are ok specially the brass,strings, percussions. Piano presets don't sound well except the electric pianos. Good in making special sound effects. Difficult to edit voices/partials but an editor really makes a difference. Manual is easy to learn.

I was in a band and the chase effect is cool for live gigs. But needs more polyphony. Has a memory card slot but you'll have to be alert to replace the memory battery or you'll lose all your created sound. Its easy to use. No on-board sequencer. Maybe it was designed for live band performances.

Yes the sound is very realistic still except for the acoustic pianos. Works well i think for rock, dance and jazz music. Chase is the effect i often use, similar to echo, and very useful in creating "thick" sounds when playing in a live band.

Yes it is reliable and can still be used on gigs without back-ups. Its built tough and hardy suitable for traveling musicians. But my D-5 is very old and patch selection is a problem. Hope there still is a replacement available for the push-button assembly so that it won't gather dust in my cabinet. My D-5 has developed some sentimental value to me because its the first synth i bought with my hard earned money. My heart, soul and perspiration in my younger,trying-hard days as a musician.

No customer support in my country during that time (1990's). I still have my D-5 around but not using for years. I still have that problem with the push buttons getting stuck inside the chassis. Also have a problem with the volume controls (sliding). Tried to replace it myself but no similar replacement here in the Philippines.

I bought it when i was starting to be a musician and I think its worth more than its price then. But with all these modern synths around i would'nt buy it again. It looks very professional (still is)doesn't have that toy look. I wouldnt be ashamed, walking with other musicians, carrying it without its cover case.

Yeah, yeah, you've read all about how much the sounds suck....Keep in mind that this was an ENTRY-LEVEL synth - the bottom of the D-series line. Basically if you wanted to buy a synth in the late '80s and wanted something reliable for about $500, this is what you got....It's a bitch to program - even with the PG-10 programming module (which I own too...). This was the first synth I ever bought, and I have to say that I was really happy with it at the time as it was a great intro., to midi/synths.

It has very few features. It will load D-110 sounds so you can add to it assuming you have a RAM card, but those sounds aren't much better....

The only band I've ever heard of that used it was Jesus Jones. I don't think they used it for the sounds - I think they used it because it was cheap and you could bash the living hell out of it and it took quite a beating. It would probably work well for cheezy '80s new-wave music. The drum sounds are actually pretty decent - some of the bass sounds are usable - the organs are actually quite nice. Stay away from the piano presets....Oddly enough, the built-in demos actually sound pretty cool proving that you can get some useful tones out of it.

I bought mine new in 1989 or 1990 and it's still going strong. I let my kids beat up on it now and everything still works fine. The army ought to buy a bunch of these and attach them to their Hummvees - I'll bet they could take a bullet and keep on playing.

I own a bunch of Roland stuff - tons of Boss foot pedals and a W-30 - I've never had to call tech support. Say what you want about Roland but their stuff is about as indestructible as you can get.

I wouldn't buy one again since I no longer use it. I think it would make an excellent keyboard for someone younger that is just learning - you can probably pick one up used for less than $100. I've been playing guitar/keys for about 22 years (mostly guitar). All of my synth gear is old and outdated, except for my Matrix-1000 which I still love. As I said, this was my first synth and I was thrilled with it and thought it was a good value until samplers started becoming affordable. Call me sentimental but I just can't bring myself to sell my D-5....

This keyboard is very simple to use, set up like any modern master synth. There are two soundsets, A & B. Within each latter, there are 8 sound banks, each with 8 sounds (128 total sounds). Each sound has a bank and a sub number (So Set A, Bank 3, sound 5). It's very easy to master fast sound changing.

Volume and pitch bend controls are standard, and has easy access to key-change and the arpeggiator. Not very many controls, and since the keyboard is so hard to manually program, you can ignore the "programming" section (only 5 buttons anyway).

You cannot easily edit patches on this machine, but you can MIDI it up to your computer and edit the patches EASILY with a free downloadable program (simply do a google search for D-5 and hte program is a min hit result). The software program shows waveform and you can scroll up and down through the ENV's and LFO's just as you would on a knob-based analog synth.

The keyboard is pretty standard in terms of no-frills music-makers. It has 8 note polyphony, and velocity keys. There are no real effects, but there is a delay and an arpeggiator which are cool. The keyboard is very organ-feeling (very plastic, springy keys, no weight to them at all) which can be good, but can be bad. They are sturdy, not flimsy.

The D5 has the roland PC card-shaped expansion slot on the back, and cards are fairly plentiful and cheap on eBay. WITH THE AFORMENTIONED FREE SOFTWARE, YOU CAN UPLOAD NEW SYSEX PATCHES TO THIS SYNTH. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF COOL SOUNDS ONLINE FOR YOU TO DOWNLOAD!

The synth has standard full-operatind MIDI in/out/thru (all channels, not just channel 1 as in older synths).

There is no sequencer or storage, just the synth section. This unit would make a very good MIDI controller as well!

I personally really like the sounds on this unit. DO NOT BUY IT IF YOU PLAN TO PLAY PIANO OR USE THIS BOARD IN AN ACOUSTIC-RECRATION SENSE. It is a SYNTHESIZER, meant to create new and unusual synthesized digital sounds.

The D5 has a large range of cool/odd sounds, including very good electric piano and Fender Rhodes sounds as well as some decent Hammond organ/jazzy organ presets. In a pinch, it could be used with a jazz group due to the above useable instruments.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, this board has ALL the cool de-tuned saw and sine horns/strings/lead synths that you hear in hard techno music like trance, industrial, and darkbeat/ebm. Also has all those droney high-pitched noises heard in trip hop styles (Think Portishead). Also does the "booms" and "alien spaceship" sound effects. This is a GREAT board for someone who is writing electronic music on their computer ala Acid/Cool Edit/Reason. It puts out some awesome electronic sounds, and also is a die-hard MIDI controller. A good stage board to link up to a computer or to play along with a techno backing track.

The only annoyance is the cheap 9v DC jack (the 3-prong cords found on most synths are desirable). Aside from this, the board is made out of cast plastic and aluminum in a very sturdy, small, rectangular box. No weird bulges or curves, very much a standard looking board. Built tough.

I've called Roland about guitar effects before and they were helpful. I wouldn't count on getting support for the D5, though, as it was made well over 10 years ago. Luckily, there's not much to break on this sucker!

This synth is worth it for a good price. I would suggest lookign for one in the range of 75-150.00. In this price range, the synths going against it would be: Yamaha DX21, Ensoniq ESQ1, Korg Poly800/DW6000, Kawai AX60. Out of these, I would suggest looking for an ESQ1 first due to it's sweet analog filter section. This board, however, despite many of it's bad reviews, is definatly a contender amongst the lower-prices 80's synths, ESPECIALLY if you are doing neuwave, techno, or indy rock and need all those sweeping, sometimes cheezy horn and synth sounds. I have used a whole lot of synths, and I must say, I found some sounds on the D5 that I couldn't be without... and remember, if you hate the sounds, all you need is a MIDI cable and there are thousands of newer, sweeter sounds just waiting for you to download them off the www!

Hit a note and play the presets, they suck. Really 80's and very unrealistic. Only usable in a dated rockband. Editing patches is hell. Browsing thru menu's sucks. Not intuitive. And also its filters are very weak. The editor works (search google), but isn't a masterpiece.

Polyphony should be enough. No sequencer,No built in effects, but heej... who needs an 80's reverb?????! Midi-features are good, especially chord play which makes it possible to play complete chords by one note. Thats about all its features!

Well, the sounds are really 80-ish. None of the instruments are realistic nor usable in ambient or experimental music. Maybe a dusty rockband could get away with its CHEESY sounds!

Its never gonna die. Made out of hard plastic with a solid metal plate on front. Some say the keys are broken, but i think they have been hard on this thingy. No problems here.

Never dealt with, but i think they suck.

I sold mine, because i only used it as a master keys, but i now own a yamaha cs1x with 6 midi controller knobs: lets freak! If you can get it cheap use it as a midi keyboard, if you dont need a midi keyboard, THEN DONT BUY IT!!! I give it a 5 because its very solid en looks nice. But the thing aint useful as a synth!

Hard Hard Hard. Life's too short to sit in front of this thing 'navigating' menus, so either get yourself the add on unit (can't remember its name but it tends to be quite expensive!), or get the D5 Editor availible from the web, and a MIDI cable. It's free and does a great job, you should be on your way to creating some ace sounds.

I love the action on this thing, my girlfriend also commented it waa a bit different from other synths and keyboards we had used. Not realistic or weighted... just... nice. It looks nice and unobtrusive, they resisted sticking too many big red / yellow buttons and squiggly typefaces which would have made it look really dated. It has MIDI, which was why I bought it in the first place, and transmits pitch bend, velocity, modulation and so on. You can expand it but I doubt I'll be doing that.

OK the sounds are technically quite crap (yes, the piano is SHIT!), but I find them charming and a refreshing change... no onboard FX but that shouldnt be a problem these days. I can't imagine the sort of band that would use this but bear in mind it will lay in a mix better rather than being a solo instrument. If you take that view, then it's good for organs, strings and swooshy synths.

Built like a brick sh#thouse (what IS a brick sh#thouse, by the way?!?!?)...

The guy I bought it from claimed the PSU was faulty, but I suspect it was just his actual 'wall wart' where the problem lay. It works fine with mine. And therefore I got a pretty nice reduction because of the 'fault'!

The case is brilliant. 'Tank' really does spring to mind here.

HA HA HA. Yes I am going to phone up and ask them about this. I believe roland employees have a neural cleansing every 3 years, to make sure any older products are wiped from memory. Thank god for the 'net.

To be honest I bought it as a MIDI controller, didn't know much about it, and was really pleasantly surprised by the sounds that came out. It looks nice and neat, feels good, has 'character' soundwise (might be good or bad dep. on your opinion!), and for #50 was a real bargain. If it were lost or stolen I might look into some of the other 'D' series of LA synths, as I believe I have stumbled across a very underrated series of instruments.

Easy to use and program. The programming/synthesis style is very similar to that of today's synth's. The only thing is that you are limited to using a small 1 inch by 4 inch screen, so it is not very intuitive. Easy to learn, but slow. The manual is NOT (in my opinion) that difficult to understand. Then again, I am quite well versed in "sound synthesis terminology" so I suppose that helps.

Polyphony is 32 partials (equal to "tones" in modern terminology). No built in effects or expansion capabilities. The D-5 is velocity sensitive, but not aftertouch sensitive. In my opinion, the D5 is a very basic synthesizer- the bottom of the totem pole when is comes to the D series.

Personally, I think the sounds are VERY DATED. The D series synths were ahead of their time back in the 80's, but by today's standards, no, I'll pass. I can emulate the EXACT SAME SOUNDS on any modern synth such as the Roland JV-80 or XP-30.

The metal casing is built fairly solid. However, these things have problems with broken keys...mine has 3 busted up keys already and I do not think this synth is worth fixing. I would not gig with this peice of crap.

From what I understand, if you have a question regarding equipment over 5 years old, roldand's customer service is just a waste of time. They should have a subdepartment spacificly geared towards older or vintage gear.

If it were stolen, it would only be a minor inconvenience. I would not buy another. Hell, any D series synth is OVERRATED anyways...I go by my EARS, not by senseless hype and "collectability". I bought this synth thinking LA was really a different kind of synthesis (like the difference between FM, subtractive, granular, etc). I was sorely disappointed. Anyone who says that is mislead...ALMOST ALL OF TODAYS ROLAMD SYTHS ARE LA SYTHESIZERS-- look at the architecure...On any JV synth, program the TVA on a PCM sample so you hear only the attack portion and a very short decay. Then, layer that with a square, saw or pulse waveform. Alter the synth waveforms any way you wish, freely using LFO's, TVF's (Resonance must not go higher than 50 or so, and do not apply the TVF to PCM instrument samples-- keep it off or use the LPF at about 105), PEV's and ring modulation. Now, listen. Suddenly, you XP or JV sounds like a D!! Duh!...This keyboard is CRAP, plain and simple. Good in it's heyday, but now it is outdated.

I've bought this one in 1995. This synth is very basic. Editing the patches is quite straighforward, since the D5 lacks a kinds of fancy effects. Yet, for such a simple instrument it sounds great!

When you hate the way the D5 sounds (different tastes) you can still use it as a full size master keyboard. Pressure sensitive, pitch, etc. It works fine with 16channeled GM-Midi, thought the D5 only uses 1 through 9 plus a rhythem channel. Memory cards for extra patches, no sequencer.

I especialy like the basssynth, which - in my humble opion - are as fat as a 303. I have used the D5 with all kinds of Dancemusic, but also in a punk/ska-band. The organsounds are very suitable for a rockband.

You can trow your D5 out of window and it'll still work. Two minor flaws: the buttons get jammed after a while (but you can always select patches via midi). 2nd of all: the adaptor isn't that well.

You probably have to own a D5 to appreciate it. It doesn't sound as realistic as a modern synth and the interface is bothersome to say the least. But once you've heard the sound of a D% you'll sold.

it was my first real synth, after some yamaha preset (DSR2000) keyboard, and i had no experience in programming sounds. Interface is is the way of constructing a boat in a bottle, but you soon get used to this. Now i have full sinth + 32kb ram card of my own sounds.

polyphony per sound 32 gets lower as soon you start to construct the sound. whilw you try to put some heavier sound into it with owerlaying the parts, polyphony goes down the drain. no effects, part of the repeating style presets_harmony, delay, basic down/up arpegio. no sequencer - workstation is just not the purpose of this synth.iwe get used to these plastic feeling keys. i liked it more than those hammer mechanic things on my other synths.

it is digital, but it uses the digital controled analog oscilators in cooperation with s+s. samples are outdated, so i completelly replaced my setup with only analog type patches,that i programmed, and maded mostly filter-velocity sensible. in conjunction with outer effect units, particullary the owerdrive, delay, phasing, flanging style effects it sounds heavy and fresh as any modern dance station.

i bought it used, and then it was already bumped on side, after that i used this for 7 years, and this still works, only the buttons seems to go little non sensitive...but it works perfectly. wonderfull workmanship. and that for ther cheapest D series synth!

i never needed one. even the battery inside still works.