Roland D50 VST

[1-2-Many]

Wow I had a 1040 ST...and an MT32....Lot's of other hardware gear as well (Still have my ESQ-1, U-220 and R-5)..........I always wanted a D-50 and have eyed a few used ones over the years. I'd like to have a D50 vsti for nostalgia if for nothing else........

I had a D-50 since 1987. Bought it new. Sold it last year for $650 some time after I bought the Roland Varios with the VC-1 card on the $300 deal. Some peeps say the Varios D-50 didn't quite capture the sound. I thought it did, and I played them side by side to convince myself. Nice too were the 28 new waveforms they added and the new soundbank.

As for my Roland VST fantasies, I'd rather see a JD-990, or even an XV-5080, but that won't ever happen for the same reasons. Thank god for hardware

[bwwd]

m1 vsti sounds very averagew compared to hardware samples and videos, JD-990 sounds for me like d50 wannabe without character cause clearly something is missing.

[deastman]

m1 vsti sounds very averagew compared to hardware samples and videos, JD-990 sounds for me like d50 wannabe without character cause clearly something is missing.

Apples and oranges. The JD-990 is a far more powerful synth than the D-50 ever was. And it has an actual filter. I would take a 990 over a D-50 any day. But the architecture is completely different, so I wouldn't really expect them to sound the same. I have a JV-1080, which was a fairly pedestrian module compared to the 990, but again sounds nothing like a D-50.

As for the M1 VSTi, I think it sounds way better than the real thing, in no small part thanks to the inclusion of an actual resonant filter.

[JPTinAshland]

I have a Roland XV5050 module, and it's a terrific thing to keep around in addition to all of the AU/VST wonder-synth/samplers out there. The 5050 does indeed have "the best of" the D50 timbres, and whenever I need "that" bell pad sound, the infamous "Soundtrack", "Heavenals", and stuff like that which really has the D50 signature on it, the 5050 module really delivers.

You can find them pretty easily and cheaply on eBay. I'll probably never sell mine, as it's small, lightweight, has a great Mac editor/lib app for detailed editing, and really sounds great. I use it all the time, and as I've sold off my other synths over the years, this is the one I'll keep. A real versatile workhorse, in addition to the D50 impression it does so well.

[grabme]

And the prices are getting silly like most Roland prices seem to.

[crimsonwarlock]

Wow I had a 1040 ST...and an MT32....Lot's of other hardware gear as well (Still have my ESQ-1, U-220 and R-5)..........I always wanted a D-50 and have eyed a few used ones over the years. I'd like to have a D50 vsti for nostalgia if for nothing else........

Hey Tek, that's cool
I had a 520ST-FM for years (I upgraded it to 1 meg of Ram) and
Master Tracks Pro, plus at different points in time: a CZ-101, a DX-21, a D-4 drum module, and my brother let me use his D-110 module too.

Still have my Mega-2 lying around (complete with a Midex). Did have an ESQ-1 as well, but sold it years ago together with most of my other synths (DX7, DX100, some drummachines, Teisco 110F.... still knocking myself for loosing that last one). Still have a D4 as well, and a Kawai K1rII but don't use them anymore.

Never warmed really to Roland stuff back in the days, apart from a Jupiter-8 and a system-100, both which I couldn't afford.

[DevonB]

Some peeps say the Varios D-50 didn't quite capture the sound. I thought it did, and I played them side by side to convince myself. Nice too were the 28 new waveforms they added and the new soundbank.

There is two modes on the VariOS for the VC1 card; one that's cleaner, and one that is more 'accurate'. I cannot remember the parameter name since it's been like 2-3 years since I fiddled with it. Did you switch back and forth between those? I think that parameter is the reason people think it's "not like the real thing" as if I recall, it defaults to the cleaner mode.

Devon

[1-2-Many]

Some peeps say the Varios D-50 didn't quite capture the sound. I thought it did, and I played them side by side to convince myself. Nice too were the 28 new waveforms they added and the new soundbank.

There is two modes on the VariOS for the VC1 card; one that's cleaner, and one that is more 'accurate'. I cannot remember the parameter name since it's been like 2-3 years since I fiddled with it. Did you switch back and forth between those? I think that parameter is the reason people think it's "not like the real thing" as if I recall, it defaults to the cleaner mode.

Devon

Right - I pretty much keep it in D-50 mode, and had it there when comparing with my real D-50. The parameter is "Sound Character" under the System menu. I really can't hear a difference when switching it back and forth, but maybe it doesn't take affect until you exit the menu? If that's the case maybe I should do some side by side recordings of the same presets... when I'm really bored.

[DevonB]

Right - I pretty much keep it in D-50 mode, and had it there when comparing with my real D-50. The parameter is "Sound Character" under the System menu. I really can't hear a difference when switching it back and forth, but maybe it doesn't take affect until you exit the menu? If that's the case maybe I should do some side by side recordings of the same presets... when I'm really bored.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct05/a ... ynthxt.htm

The VC1 Card
In the diagram on page 88, I've illustrated the test setup that I used for this review. As you can see, my original D50 synth provided both MIDI control over the XT and the opportunity to test the VC1's sonic authenticity.

I loaded the original factory sound set on both synths, directed their outputs to two stereo inputs on my mixer, matched the gains and defeated the EQ, and then punched the channel mutes as required. The results were unambiguous. To my ears, the two instruments sounded identical, or so close to identical as makes absolutely no difference. I tried all the classic D50 patches — 'Fantasia', 'DigitalNativeDance', 'Soundtrack', 'Glass Voices', 'Nightmare', 'IntruderFX' and so on — sounds that exemplify the original four-partial form of LA Synthesis, and which have never been accurately recreated on any other synth. When tested 'blind', I was unable to tell when a patch was played on the D50, and when on the XT.

Checking the sounds in an oscilloscope, I made some further interesting findings. Firstly, the initial square and sawtooth waves I generated with the VC1 were very close to ideal square and sawtooth waves (unlike those generated by most analogue synths). I noticed something strange about the sawtooth wave, though — its polarity inverted with every successive note I played. To my surprise, when I compared this to my original D50, I found that the polarity of its sawtooth would also suddenly switch unexpectedly while playing a series of notes. After 18 years of happy D50 ownership, this was news to me!

However, it seemed that despite this extremely faithful rendition of the D50's behaviour, something else wasn't right. When viewed through the same scope, the D50's square and sawtooth waves looked quite different to the VC1's close-to-ideal traces; the 'top' of the square wave sloped down considerably, and both waves had prominent initial transients which departed from ideal square and sawtooth traces. But then I realised that these oddities were hallmarks of the early and, by modern standards, low-quality D-A converters used in most digital synthesizers in the 1980s. Suddenly, I had it. If you read Paul Nagle's original review of the VC1 card, you may recall that Roland furnished it with both a standard mode, which transmits the D50 sounds through the modern output stage of the V-Synth unaltered, and also a 'D50' mode, designed to emulate the comparatively low-quality late-'80s output stage of the original D50. When I flipped the VC1 in the review V-Synth XT into this mode, the output square and sawtooth waves changed; the tell-tale transients appeared, and the 'top' of the square wave acquired a distinct slope down. The waveforms from the D50 and the VC1 were now identical. Clearly, the near-perfect waves I had initially obtained from the VC1 were a consequence of it being in 'V-Synth' rather than 'D50' mode. It would be hard for me to fault this emulation.

Devon

[Doug1978]

Co-incidentally, a D-50 was just posted for sale (at a reasonable price imo) two days ago in the SoundonSound Reader's Ads:

http://www.soundonsound.com/readersads?Cat=23
(currently 20th advert on page from the top)


Roland D-50 Immaculate, museum-exhibit quality. This is no merely 'good for its age' example: it has absolutely no scratches and no dings. It has perfect functionality: i.e. no crackly or hard-to-actuate controls, aftertouch superbly responsive, c/w PN-D50-00 ROM factory voicebank card + 2 x Voice Crystal RAM cards with 64 patches each (worth £100). Images available for serious enquiries.
£500. Email (Bristol, Avon) 18/08/11


I would put in an offer myself, but I've just moved from UK to Japan and have no way of checking its quoted condition etc.

[bwwd]

I dont know maybe different people have different demands but for me very 80's sounding is imposcar and sq8l, besides that i dont hear any "80's analog" sounding in vsti world but maybe im missing something.M1 vsti doesnt sound like i hoped it would, some magic disappeared during conversion to plugin version.
Yes i know you can make some basic patches on most vstis to immitate moog nd roland but there is something more and sq8l/imposcar has it.
I had the same with jp-8000, only synth1 comes close to it on proper supersaw detuning from what i tested side by side, other synths are just immitating.
Damn why SQ8L is discontinued

[zomboula]

it's a virus !!!

[zomboula]

Hello,
I'm french^^.
I realized two programs for the D50.
One is called mod edit (free) EXE:
A program in VB 2008 Express (. NET Framework 3.5). It can communicate with the D50, import / export files sysex.
There is a database to sort the different styles of patches.
A graphical interface where all changes are sent directly to the D50.

The second is called MPlugD50 VSTi/EXE:
I just finished the first version with SynthMaker, it is in test.
There are still some bugs, such as CPU load for example.
One thing I did not know how are the Reverse Gates^^.
Many parameters still need to be calibrated. Sounds a little like those of D50 ^ ^.
You can download this on [urlmod edit[/url]
(sorry, my site is in French only for now )

Eric,
Bye

It's a VIRUS !!!

[zomboula]

nice try ...

[Sendy]

I had the same with jp-8000, only synth1 comes close to it on proper supersaw detuning from what i tested side by side, other synths are just immitating.
Damn why SQ8L is discontinued

Really, Synth1? It's a great freebie, but it had that typical "blatty" phasey unison sound last I remembered. If you want the actual JP-8000 supersaw either try JP6k which really is indistinguishable from the real supersaw oscillator, or wait for the Diva update which should hit any time now.