Roland D-50

There is no software for the D-50 that is accessible to me at the moment.

The D-50 presets are variable. The strings and synth lead sounds are very good. Some of the brass sounds are pretty bad though. For some reason my D-50 has different presets than normal and the usual reset procedure of "0" and "data transfer" do not make a difference even when write protect is off. Otherwise some of the presets are amazing and very usable. great. Editing presets are a little confusing until you figure it out but once you do, there is so much you can create once you get the hang of it. I do not use a patch editor due to my vision impairment. No accessible program yet. Its very helpful that there are buttons for U and L and partials 1 and 2, it makes it easier to find them and program with instead of total menus.
The manual did not come with mine and there isn't one in braille of course so I just go without one and research info online with text to speech program. To bad there isn't one for synthesizers!

There is 8 to 16 note polyphony. I do not feel limited by this though.
The keyboard action is ok. Some of the keys have sensor problems and always stay at a high volume level so I MIDI it to my A-90 or my CZ-5000 and use their keys. Pitch bend transmits fine but velocity will not if the recieving/sending keyboard like the {CZ-5000} does not send or receive this data. The built in effects are very cool. I really like the chorus/reverb section as well as the "chase" feature, very cool.
The D-50 accepts cards and can save to cards as well. These give the user more patches/sounds and more external memory space.
As far as using MIDI and a sequencer with the D-50, I was really surprised when I recorded a few tracks from the D-50 through MIDI to an old but awesome Yamaha QX 3 midi data recorder. I recorded perfectly with not track switching issues. Im guessing maybe they work well together becuz they are both from 1987. who knows. With the QX 3 the D-50 has 16 tracks and can be saved to a floppy disk through the QX 3. The D-50 does not have its own sequencer though.

The more realistic sounds are the strings and wind instruments. Very Sweet sounds!
The brass sounds are not too good though. The wind PCMs are not bad and could be very helpful in forming a more realistic wind instrument.
I believe the D-50 can work for most types of music styles but new age, trance and techno and non-melodic pure synthesis music would probly benefit the most. It also depends on the programmer/musician using it.
I find that the D-50 reacts decently to playing and the pitch bend is pretty good too. The velocity and aftertouch are as good as some of the newer synthesizers of today.

The D-50 is VERY reliable and turns on ready to work without any crashing and glitches. The LCD is getting a little dark with age but that is ok since I can not see good enough to use it. Also if you find that the LCD is fading on yours, the best thing to do is to make a written copy of all the menus and make detailed programming notes so that when and if the LCD fades too much or stops working, you can refer to them and still use and enjoy the D-50 the non-visual way. Also it is helpful to hold down one of the keys so that there is a constant sound being heard and when you make any changes with the joy stick or the buttons you can hear whats going on even if you can not see the numbers on the LCD.
As far as going to a gig, the D-50 is definatly capable enough to be without a backup. Also it works well with the JV-880 and the Roland Juno 1 and A-90.

no opinion

If it were lost or stolen I would be very sad and would want another D-50. A lot of newer synthesizers are too visual based and the D-50 is easier to use with its scroll through/predictable menus. The menus always stay the same no matter what. The D-50 is DEFINATLY worth what I paid for it. I saved it from a store where it was hanging on for dear life on a pile of speakers and left on with its LCD blinking to itself for who knows how long. I have been playing and programming synthesizers for 18 years. I also own a Roland A-90, JV-880, Casio series CZ-101 and CZ-5000 as well as the Roland Alpha juno 1 and Yamaha QX3 and QX 1 midi recorders. Even though I am only a few years older than my synthesizers, they are always used in my recordings and are never to old or outdated to be enjoyed by others.
The only thing I wish that it had is a built in sequencer with a disk drive but like I said earlier you can solve that issue with a computer or the old and wonderful QX3!
The D-50 inspires me in my music, especially for some of my 80's songs that I write, its the classic stuff!
The only other thing I would like to mention is that as far as repairing keys or sensors or cleaning the inside of the D-50, its not difficult at all. I was able to take the main board out and undo the whole keybed pretty easily. Even with low vision, taking out the keys and disconnecting the wires are not too difficult. If you are careful the wires will have a tendancy to stay how they were connected and you can use their length and position around the main board to help you figure out where to reconnect them. Also remember that the brackets that they connect in are all unique sizes that only that one set of wires or connectors can fit into. The keys are held in by springs and a thin plastic strip that keeps them from coming away from the metal casing that they are in. They are easily put back into place with pliers.

the presets from the factory were ok, but this synth can do alot more.
for that you'll need a pc/mac editor for a good overview, because it's filled with tweek parameters.

16 voice with two full setups of osc,filter and complex env.generators, EQ, two chorus and one delay/reverb FX. keyboard has been great, except for the hard after touch action. it's easy to save sounds to internal or card memory, but you can also transmit/receive sounds thru MIDI cables. worked well as a master keyboard for my old MIDI setup

if you don't have the patience to make your own sounds, ther are alot of sounds thru user forums. the FX are chorus/flanger, some ROM presets with delays and reverbs.the reverb sound reveales that it's a synth from -87. I tweeked some wonderfull sounds of my own with an editor for my Atari St1040fm computer when I bought it new.It produces good synth bass, strings, pads and brass sounds.

It has been very reliable the first 10 years, but then the keyboard keys needed simple cleaning up from dust and oxide on the rubber contacts under the keyboard, and I broke a pitch bender. the display is showing signs of age, with lowered contrast and background light.

very nice people at roland scandinavia helped me with spare parts for both the D-50 and my Jupiter-6 at the time. I even got the service manuals for both instruments when I won their D-50 patch competition ;-) back in 1989.

The D-70 got my interest later with better filter emulation, but that one was focused on sampled sounds and lacked vital synth parameters that the D-50 had, like PWM modulation of oscillators. it remainded my central sound unit fot 10 years, together with my samplers for drums and vintage samples.

A decent (for it's day) 40x2 LCD display and plenty of buttons make it pretty easy to get around. The manual isn't too bad and it certainly points newbies in the right direction. The presets are great, but since they've been used to death you'll probably want to start tweaking straight away.

Again, when it was launched it had a pretty impressive feature set and was one of the first (the first?) to have proper FX built in.

8 or 16 voice poly is the go and never really seems to be an issue.

Some people (audiophile types, I suspect) complain that the FX are crap, but I think they're fine and really add sparkle to the sounds. The keyboard action is typically Roland, which has always been pretty darn good.

Oh boy, this is the business! The D-50 was, and will always be, one of the most unique and special sounding synths ever. Even now, 20 years after it first turned up, there are sounds that NO OTHER synth can come close to. Even some of the presets still bring a tingling to my spine and a tear to my eye - thinking of "Glass Voices"! Truly a special machine, one of, if not THE best.

Tough as old boots. Should last longer than most of the people using them!

Hmm, never having dealt with Roland, I can't really comment, but people I've talked to (regarding Roland Australia) have nothing but praise, so I suspect they're pretty good.

I bought one of the first D-50s in Australia, back in 1988 and sold it about 6 months later. I always missed it and now, 19 years later I've just picked up another - and this one I'm KEEPING! A truly special and groundbreaking synth. A future classic and no mistake!

For what ?
Better than anything since the 18 yrs that I've owned it
Easy - dont need an editor
dont need the manual

not so good when splitting the k/bd
mainly reverbs
External cards not sure about internal memory
in/out thru
Nah.. This is a kbd for the user to play

Only organs / strings
Rock / New age
ok
ok
ok

18 yrs & still going - Except the screen is starting to go..
I do

Not from Roland

Could never be replaced... unthinkable
25 yrs. The only other kit I use now is a piano module to compensate for the crap piaNOS
Love strings hate pianos
Nope.. Class of its own
real grand Piano. 64 note poly
how can you ask that?
Not my D%) that's for sure

Turn it on and play the sucker, that's what it's about.

There are alot of patches on the net, to mix with the mostly great but of course by now overused presets.

No knobs, typical 80:s thing, but a joystick for mixing partials.

Pretty cool modulating possibilities 3 Lfo:s/tone=6 Lfo:s/patch and PWM(on square and saw waves),different synth/output structures,EQ etc
which makes it sound FAT, BIG ,etheral and atmospheric.
Try to layer it with a DX-7 II/TX-802..or an analog.Uber Gorgeous !!!

As mentioned above it sounds great. It has a true charachter to it, more alive and Fatter and not as harsh as most romplers.
One reason for this is that I think it generates the saw and square waves(with PWM) as opposed to romplers where they are sampled. Although they are not really analog sounding, something great happens.
When the M1 came out and I looked at the specs, I said to myself, now this is gonna be the shit, this is the way to go, real long pcm samples so goodbye D-50 right? Well not really...The D-50 almost always sounded more natural, ballsier and better than the romplers (except for piano,choir etc due to the multisamples in those ) until maybe the Motif came...and the Kurzweils of course, since they are much more than just romplers.
It does great pads, brass and leads, bells, and unique sounds impossible to nail on another synth.

Never crapped out except once when the pitchbend lever got worn out and sent weird pitch messages to my other modules through my Midi-patchbay.

No problem when I needed spare parts (Sweden)

Don't buy this it you want it to be your do "everything" workstation, 'cause it's not.it's a digital fat sounding thing with an identity.
When you put on your headphones or of course plug it to a good PA, there is a VIBE to it that my triton and K-2000 won't always give me.
Simply put: a great synth for what it does (and that's alot)

This is my first synth and I will never sell it.

Quite good. For playing, its so simply that a 6 year boy could easily operate it. To choose a patch, you press at most 2 buttons, and there are a joystick to control balance of the parts.

Otherwise, editing sounds take a while to learn. There are a lot of functions and parameters, but most of them are hidden in menus, and all are abreviated... So without the manual, will be a frustracting experience.

Low poliphony (16 or 8, depends on mode), but the acoustic pianos are so bad that you wont need more. 3 lfo for each part of voice, a lot of parameters, envelopes to everything, modulation too. It really have a unique sonority. There's a card slot too, but i cant find a cheap one. Lacks sequencer and arpegiator.

GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! Oh God, i've never heard so beatiful pads! EPs are great too, organs emulate Hammond decently, incredible Syths leads. You can mix guitar sounds (good) with synths and get a guitar-synth sound like Jordan Rudess, wich is great for solos.

Although, Ac. Pianos are useless. It cant even be called ac piano. Looks like a sax mixed with xilo. Strings pad isnt that great too.

Well, it is too old as me (18 years now), and the only problem is the aftertouch (ill fix it soon). It's as solid as a tank, i think it could resist even to radioative exposition, because its case is made of solid and heavy steel. Realy strong.

Roland? pfff... I never needed them with this gear, but i know it is really bad...

I loved it. Every single patch i start to play, i can still playing for a lot of time. It make you play from the deep of your heart. If something happen with it, i would search another one in a heartbeat. I bought just a week ago, but i fell in love. It would have decent ac. pianos, orch strings and drums, because you will miss them.

If you have the chance to buy one, do. But if you will use it as the only keyboard in your setup, forget it, unless you play only Digital Pads, synths and organs. If you have other machine to play pianos and etc., it really worth each cent.

My three cents worth:

I got mine over 2 weeks ago, at first it was a little awkward to use, without alpha dial and cursor keys you'll need to get used to "scrolling" pages and typing values (with annoying messages if you type it wrong- too little or to much), or "increase"/"decrease" buttons- there's also joystick to enter the data, but it's very unreliable.

You need to get used to editing, but after a while it's pretty straightforward (there are controls to select/mute/compare and copy parts).

As for playing: no reason to complain, it works great for playing either by keyboard or MIDI.

16 voice polyphony isn't a blast, but keep in mind it was released 18 years ago!

Midi implementation is good, however there's one remark: dumping banks and patches is separated to totally different pages- which can be misleading and confusing (to dump patches, go to MIDI page and scroll to Sys-Ex, ON is the ability to receive patches, P-Dump makes D-50 dump patch thru MIDI when it is selected). After that, receiving and dumping patches is easiest cake. Warning, this synth is monotimbral! Also remark on previous comment: there are two MIDI modes D-50 can handle with bank dump: send-ahead (now the default for modern devices) and handshake (remote device must acknowledge every packet sent- this being the default on D-50).

The essencial of patch in D-50 are two tones, each consisting of two partials (basically synthesizer blocks), partial can be PCM source (no filter then), or synthesized sound (Sawtooth/SQUARE with PW and filter). You can use only one tone (you'll get 16 voices), two tones split (each 8 voices), dual (8 voices max) or separations with monophonic parts.

Pretty good chorus, you can use two programs separately for each tone- lack phase shift though.

Well, mixed feelings:
- it's so classical and overused that it's pretty easy to distinguish D-50 on your tracks,
- The sawtooth wave is not actually a sawtooth, but sine cut in half (that CAN have it's advantages, but not always).
- the filter has a very unique feeling (reminds somehow of FM synthesis feedback loop), hard to do something very inventive without messing with EQ and chorus. You can't use filter on samples too...
- the LFOs are tied to "tone" (the base building block of D-50 patch), so you get three LFOs total to use across all voices in tone (2 partials) and another three to second "tone"- only one LFO per "tone" can control pitch of all partials and the control is negative or positive influence only.
- Don't seek good samples on board, most are lo-fi attack samples.
- EQ is a joke (well, it works, but basically it just cuts, not boosts).
- Reverb simply is... enough said... (the only control you have is program and balance)
- Keyboard is a little spongy/rubbery- though pretty reliable for dynamic playing. Wavestation's is much better here.

on the other hand:
- Excellent PWM- very clean, not really digital sounding.
- Pretty good LFO sync (which is a nightmare on Wavestation for example), you can use LFO to do pulsewidth, filter and amplifier modulation- which in conseequence can be used as an arpeggiator. Excellent random modulation.
- Warm sound, filter is pretty good (see remark above, though), resonant.
- 5 stage envelopes, aftertouch and keyfollow on every aspect of synthesis.
- Can seamlessly balance mix petween parts in tone and tones in patch with joystick.
- pitch bend lever is very reliable and precise.

A workhorse: can play for several hours without problems.

Built like a tank, I was imagining it pretty fragile and light, but in reality it's a heavy-duty steel casing with plastic wrapped.

You won't necessary loose your work even if you don't save it- there's a key combination to recall your work even if you accidentally switched patch.

N/A, never had problems so far...

Manual is full of flaws though...

Considering it's an 18-year old synth which everyone's used ;-), it's a great machine. However expect certain flaws. Definitely worth having- among with Wavestation and Fairlight, it's a blast!

Thinking that over 3/4 of J.M.Jarre's "Revolutions" was done using D-50, it's a great recommendation- and the album is really about D-50, great sound effects, fat analog sounding strings.

What I love about it: It's a D-50! What I hate? It's only D-50 ;-)

Doing my part here to contribute to this great database. Reviewing my favorite "classic" synth, the mighty D-50. Easy to use for a live performer. It's a bit of a specialist's item for the home recorder, though. It plays only one patch at a time (which is fine for me since I multitrack), but what warm and "alive" sounds it creates.

One thing that might be useful: It requires "handshake" mode to do midi patch sends and receives. To do this, you need to press (and hold) the 'Data Transfer' button with one hand. While holding, you can select dump or receive. Hold the DT button down until it starts sending or receiving and you'll be in business.

Another similar comment. This synth is from 1987, so you may need to "slow down" the rate at which your sequencer sends sysex patch data. (There are usually configuration options, sometimes hidden in some ".ini" file if you use a software seq such as Cakewalk, as I do.) In some sequencers, if you send data too rapidly to the D-50, it gets confused and your patches may come across as garbled. It took me forever to figure these last two things out, so I wanted to share.

Low by today's standards, but very high by 1987 standards. You buy this because of the great sounds it is capable of, not for the spec's.

If you are a rock keyboard player fancying music from the Marillion, Rush, prog-rock genre, this is a great board to buy. Main comment: I bought a ROM card made by Voice Crystal - it's their "Keith Emerson" card, I think it's model VC-03. Holy cow, waaay better than the presets. I kid you not, I was a big tweaker until I got this card, and I've literally been using those (unedited) patches since mid 1993 to write song after song. I have entire compositions that just flowed from my fingers based on inspiration from these sounds. If you have a D-50, try to hunt that card down!

Like others said, the piano is horrible and unusable, and I always thought the board lacked in the low frequency department. Beyond that, it's all good. If you like "rock synth" sounds (think Journey "Separate Ways", that sort of thing), then this board will keep you occupied for years. (Mine has been a mainstay in my studio since early 1993.)

It's also great for evolving, atmospheric, "soundtrack" type sounds.

The synth sounds have a meat to them that todays $2 grand and up boards lack. I will never part with this thing.

The "brains" are as solid as a rock. (Still running on the original 1987 battery!)

The only weak point (as others mentioned) is that the contacts under the keys can get a bit unreliable. I've had 2 or 3 keys that haven't worked for years. No worries for me, though, as I use it as a module and control it via a 76-key master.

I've tried to take it apart to clean them a couple times, but I admit that I always get a bit daunted - I'm afraid I will mess something up. So I just live with it.

Terrible. I bought mine used ($600 or so in early '93) and it came with no manual. The store thew in a Bo Tomlin instructional video, which helped a lot. I spent 20 minutes long distance on the phone with California to order the manual, for which they want $40. I receive it, and (a) it's photocopied pages(!) and not a book, and (b) it's the most useless thing ever. No instructions at all, just a bunch of hard to read charts and graphs. Plus, the worst "engrish" ever. DO NOT order the manual! Save yourself the headache. The "manual" is truly worthless.

Best synth-related money I've ever spent. It has propmted or inspired me to write some of my best work. It sounds just fabulous doing what it does best, which is big, fat synth chords and leads (and I have two analogs from "the day": a Moog and an Oberheim to compare it to). This thing will be essential to "my sound" forever. If you see one (or it's rack counterpart, the D-550) and have the scratch, jump on it. Surf the web for the Keith Emerson Voice Crystal card (or download as many patches as you can find and assemble your own batch of favorites - I did this too, and it was definitely time well spent).

It doesn't do everything, and it's definitely not a "bread and butter" board, but it just does certain things better than any other board I've heard (and I do try to keep familiar with what's out there).

Definitely a recommended buy.

Yeah - Another D50 review
I'm going to keep it punchy and simple. The D50 by any standards is easy to use. It is a nice machine with a good feel. You can download a multitude of patches off the net so it is quite well supported.

Here is the main thing that I am concerned about....

PROSPECTIVE BUYERS!!! Check the keys and the keyboard very carefully before buy your D50. I have have owned 4 of these over the years and every single one that I have had has developed problems (or already had) with keys dying and not playing or aftertouch on the keyboard giving up.
My latest one was hardley used and it is in mint condition. I am so paranoid about the keyboard stuffing up that I have it controlled by another keyboard. I play the D50 keyboard every now and then to keep it in shape.
I guess they are over 15 years old now but I have other keyboards the are older and are played more that have hung in there - DX7

Hey! It's a D50. Everyone knows what it sounds like.
Good bell noises. Good pads. Biting leads. Good 80's analog. Average bases that lack punch in my opinion by today's standards. GREAT ORGANS!!! Love the D50 organs

LAME, LAME, LAME electric pianos and no piano sound worth mentioning. If anyone has an ep sound that is remotely playable please let me know. (Patch 88 Reluctant EP is rude!!!)

Yeah it seems solid except for the brittle keys. It is getting old now so needs a little babying ie - Dont take a shower with it.

HA HA HA! It's roland man!

I love my D50 and I cherish it as a classic. It still gets a fair bit of use but it is not gigged and hardly is used as a first synth. It is nice to have there in the background and it thickens some thinner modern (xp60)sounds nicely.
Unless you specifically want one or you find one cheap I would get something more versitile. It is pretty limited by todays standards and I believe the DX7 has stood the test of time better in my opinion.

I'm using Roland D50, XP60, U110, (seriously hate the fantom series, c'mon roland! Make something that is not a repackaged 1995 Rompler!!)Korg poly 800, 05rw, T3, Triton Studio, Yami DX7, Ensoniq ESQM

I'll cut to the chase for anyone interested in buying. The D-50 is a digital synth, once the flagship of the Roland family..it's 61-note keyboard is a soft, expressive, immensely playable board which has never been improved upon. It is a real players keyboard. Almost every sound on it has been featured throughout 80s chart music, film scores, TV themes and instrumental albums. This of course dates it and at the same time makes it a total classic. It has no multi-timbrality (although there was a quadro-timbral add-on invented, but this diminished the quality by assigning each of the four oscillators to a separate MIDI channel), and only 16 notes polyphony. It is a collectable classic, up there with the DX7 and the Korg M1, but not at all a practical tool by todays standards. Most of the sounds have been reproduced by later Roland technology (although I would argue that none of them have the warmth or the charm of actually playing them on the D50s beautiful chassis). In fact, if you scan the pads of any good GM menu you will find a few signature D50 sounds right there (Fantasia for example). This is a self-indulgent buy for the gigging keyboard player, but perhaps arguably a sensible investment for any collectors out there. It has to be a few years off being an offical Vintage Keyboard. I would only suggest you buy if you really do have plenty of money and want to decorate your studio with antiquated, charming, beautiful, but slightly impractical synthesisers. I love this keyboard but I'm never going back there. Currently I own a KORG MS-2000, Triton PRO-X, Triton classic, Roland JV1010 with Session and 60s/70s and a Yamaha Clavinova.

Great keyboard feel, limited features.

Warm sounds, not many of them.

Pretty dependable.