If Roland made a D50 vst emulation, would you purchase it?

[Kumi_27]

Of course it's possible, Roland was just lazy and did not ported this part of the main CPU code, or wrote an equivalent.

But my joke, that at this time at Roland no one understands the old µPD code anymore might not be that far from the truth...

[Ingonator]

Today at Facebook Roland posted this about the upcoming loyalty program and about a future option to use a license without being connected to the internet:

Roland Cloud With the forthcoming Roland Cloud loyalty program, you'll be able to pick instruments and tools that you will have access to forever, regardless of your subscription status.

Roland Cloud The details of the forthcoming Loyalty Program will explain how it all works
regarding subscriptions, etc. We're looking into non-network based authentication systems, but for now it is tied to the internet. More details soon.

[sinemotor]

It's an old digital synth, if you like it awesome, get the Roland cloud, you'll be in heaven. I'm just not convinced that it's as unique as nostalgia seems to want it to be.

Yes it's old technology and yes one of the main selling point is nostalgia. But don't underestimate it. Look at how is the market : HW companies are re-releasing analog synths from the 70's-80's, soft devs are making emulations of vintage hardware. Like how many Minimoog clones do we have now ? There is a massive market for new "vintage" gear. Why ? Because the demand is high. But also because that old gear is our legacy, a part of our musical culture and owning it means we keep that legacy alive.

a LOT of musicians are driven by nostalgia because it's really inspiring, playful and it always has a place in our music. Just like anything else.

I wasn't even born when the D-50 was produced but I listened to many demos and I find its lo-fi-ish quality (by today's standards) really appealing. Also the sounds remind me many songs from the early 90's that I'm discovering right now. It's an old synth but to me it sounds fresh and new in a way. What can be interesting is to use the D-50 into modern production. Mixing vintage with cutting-edge sounds and you create something unique and fresh.

[Ingonator]

After using the plugin for some days now today i finally had a look at the D-50 plugin manual which is available here:
https://www.rolandcloud.com/catalog/leg ... ynthesizer
direct link for PDF:
https://www.rolandcloud.com/getattachme ... S&ext=.pdf

I would recopmmend reading this for those interested in the plugin but laos to those who already use and/or own it.

There ar ealso informations abou keyboard shortcust for the bank/patch browser.
For example with CTRL+C you could copy a patch and paste it with CTRL+V.
This also work to copy a patch from one bank to another one (including a newly craeated bank).

Like described in the manual it is also possible to move a patch to a different location inside a bank with using drag&drop. For that you click on a patch in the browser and hold it with the mouse button pressed. You could then move the mouse to the desired location and release the mouse button. The patch is now moved to the new location. The patch loaded previously at the new location is flipped with the original location of the patch you just moved. This means no patch is "lost" while moving them inside a bank.

For renaming a patch you could click at the "Rename" button at the lower right of the browser. A more simple way while the desired patch is selectd in the browser is to press the SPACE key at your computer keyboard which has the same function as the "Rename" buttton.

When pressing the DEL (Delete) button at you computer keyboard the currently selected patch of the bank is deleted. Selecting a patch coudl be done with a single click and loading the patch either with a double- click or pressing the RETURN (or ENTER) key at your computer keyboard. Using RETURN (ENTER) will load the patch and then close the browser. A double-click wil leave the browser open.


FWIW a similar browser seems to be included with most Roland plugins now including e.g. the Jupiter-8 and the same "tricks" do also work there.
In the D-50 the browser is opened with "PATCH" at the lower left below the display at the main GUI and other Roland plugins got a PATCH button at different places too (in Jupiter-8 the button currently is white)

[beely]

This is also good:

D50 Creative Book:-
https://www.cultofd50.org/Roland_D-50_Creative_Book.pdf

I have an XV5080 which beats the D50 in just about every way imaginable, while still doing that Roland character thing.
I still like the D50 plugin, despite it being not a great synth these days in any objective or technical measure...

[fmr]

I have an XV5080 which beats the D50 in just about every way imaginable, while still doing that Roland character thing.
I still like the D50 plugin, despite it being not a great synth these days in any objective or technical measure...

AFAIK, the XV-5080 is still considered the pinnacle of the Roland ROMplers. No wonder you like it.

[Ingonator]

This is also good:

D50 Creative Book:-
https://www.cultofd50.org/Roland_D-50_Creative_Book.pdf

What i just mentioned above was mostly about certain "tricks" the plugin patch browser found in the plugin manual but that book you mentioend is indeed interesting and includes tosn of informations that could help learning to program the D-50 more efficient. All features seem to be described really detailed there.

Just had a look at the book and what just striked me (might have forgotten it after not having played the real thing for more than 10 years...) is that the hardware D-50 seemed to include 100 PCM waves while the new plugin includes 128 (!!).

Now i guess i do know what someone posting at Facebook meant with "Thanks for the new waveforms".

One of the expansion boards for the D-50 seemed to add 10 new PCM waves but the new plugin includes 28 additional ones compared to the original D-50. As far as i coudl see the additional ones in the plugin are not the same as in the expansion but new waveforms.

[fmr]

Just had a look at the book and what just striked me (might have forgotten it after not having played the real thing for more than 10 years...) is that the hardware D-50 seemed to include 100 PCM waves while the new plugin includes 128 (!!).

I think the waveforms in the original ROM were indeed 100, so, this is a really BIG increase (but the D-50 card in the V-Synth also has 128 waveforms).

[Ingonator]

Just had a look at the book and what just striked me (might have forgotten it after not having played the real thing for more than 10 years...) is that the hardware D-50 seemed to include 100 PCM waves while the new plugin includes 128 (!!).

I think the waveforms in the original ROM were indeed 100, so, this is a really BIG increase (but the D-50 card in the V-Synth also has 128 waveforms).

Here is a screenshot of the dropdown list for the PCM waves #097 to #128 in the D-50 plugin:

https://u53230726.dl.dropboxusercontent ... -128_1.png

[ghettosynth]

Just had a look at the book and what just striked me (might have forgotten it after not having played the real thing for more than 10 years...) is that the hardware D-50 seemed to include 100 PCM waves while the new plugin includes 128 (!!).

I think the waveforms in the original ROM were indeed 100, so, this is a really BIG increase (but the D-50 card in the V-Synth also has 128 waveforms).

Probably where the code actually came from. The extra waves are undoubtedly from the PCM Wave expansion cards.

[Ingonator]

I just found a manual for the VC-1 D-50 expansion card for the V-Synth and both the additional 28 PCM waveforms (see the list posted above) and the patches in the 6 presets banks (= 384 patches) included with the D-50 plugin seem to be similar to that in the VC-1 D-50 expansion card.

[fmr]

I just found a manual for the VC-1 D-50 expansion card for the V-Synth and both the additional 28 PCM waveforms (see the list posted above) and the patches in the 6 presets banks (= 384 patches) included with the D-50 plugin seem to be similar to that in the VC-1 D-50 expansion card.

Yes, I was looking to the list you published, and I can confirm that the extra PCM waveforms are the same.

[ghettosynth]

I just found a manual for the VC-1 D-50 expansion card for the V-Synth and both the additional 28 PCM waveforms (see the list posted above) and the patches in the 6 presets banks (= 384 patches) included with the D-50 plugin seem to be similar to that in the VC-1 D-50 expansion card.

Yes, I was looking to the list you published, and I can confirm that the extra PCM waveforms are the same.

Makes sense right, it's a more recent product and they probably already had to generalize the original code base to run inside of a "host." They just ported it to a new host.

[fmr]

I just found a manual for the VC-1 D-50 expansion card for the V-Synth and both the additional 28 PCM waveforms (see the list posted above) and the patches in the 6 presets banks (= 384 patches) included with the D-50 plugin seem to be similar to that in the VC-1 D-50 expansion card.

Yes, I was looking to the list you published, and I can confirm that the extra PCM waveforms are the same.

Makes sense right, it's a more recent product and they probably already had to generalize the original code base to run inside of a "host." They just ported it to a new host.

And this also reminds me of another thing. I tried to use SoundDiver to edit the D-50 inside V-Synth, assuming that it would be recognized, but I was unable to make it so.

So, perhaps that SysEx part was already removed from the D-50 card, and therefore, when they ported the code, the SysEx was still absent. Actually, the only disppointment I had with the V-Synth was the lack of an editor to remotely program it.

[kbaccki]

Here is a screenshot of the dropdown list for the PCM waves #097 to #128 in the D-50 plugin:
[...]

#SynthPorn