best roland D-50 VST alternative

[rubez]

hi i am looking for the best D-50 alternative.

mainly what i am after is that smooth, warm, crystal-like sound... with partials - i.e. layers.

i think the D-50 had 4 partial/layers?

there is the cloud version but f**k that noise i couldn't even get the trial installed after two hours of messing around, then you need to wait a year till it's yours.

is there anything?

[quantum7]

You really should try the Roland Cloud again. Most people, myself included, have not had issues installing it. I compared it to a real D50 and it’s pretty spot-on and sounds great!

[AdvancedFollower]

I asked about this on another forum, and my impression was that Roland Cloud doesn't yet let you keep any synth, that feature is still "in development". Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, there's no way I'm paying rent for software that's already installed on my computer, so that option went completely out the window for me.

I ended up getting Digital Synsations by UVI. It's sample-based, so you can't get in there and program your own sounds, but all the presets sound great, and are immediately usable in a production. It includes sounds from the Korg M1, Ensoniq VFX, SY77 and D-50, so it's all the early 90's cheese you'd ever want.

One option is actual hardware. The Boutique D-05 is pretty cheap and has a small footprint. If you decide you no longer want it, you can sell it and get most of the money back. You can probably still find the original D-50/D-550 for a reasonable price, though using 30 year old hardware is always a bit dicey.

[Turello]

http://flowstoners.com/wp-content/uploa ... toners.zip

http://www.irishacts.com/?download=infi ... izer-la-50

[rubez]

http://flowstoners.com/wp-content/uploa ... toners.zip

http://www.irishacts.com/?download=infi ... izer-la-50

so you know if D-50 sysex patches compatible with any of these?

[rubez]

You really should try the Roland Cloud again. Most people, myself included, have not had issues installing it. I compared it to a real D50 and it’s pretty spot-on and sounds great!

i will try again but i got caught in some kind of update loop and constantly said it needed updated right after being updated and wouldn't work because of that... not really keen on keeping the cloud software installed and running in the background on my PC just for one VST though... if possible.

no reason the cloud version wouldn't sound spot on since it was all digital to begin with?

[rubez]

I asked about this on another forum, and my impression was that Roland Cloud doesn't yet let you keep any synth, that feature is still "in development". Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, there's no way I'm paying rent for software that's already installed on my computer, so that option went completely out the window for me.

I ended up getting Digital Synsations by UVI. It's sample-based, so you can't get in there and program your own sounds, but all the presets sound great, and are immediately usable in a production. It includes sounds from the Korg M1, Ensoniq VFX, SY77 and D-50, so it's all the early 90's cheese you'd ever want.

One option is actual hardware. The Boutique D-05 is pretty cheap and has a small footprint. If you decide you no longer want it, you can sell it and get most of the money back. You can probably still find the original D-50/D-550 for a reasonable price, though using 30 year old hardware is always a bit dicey.

what are the pad patches like on the UVI?

the boutique died on the vine for me with the crappy 3.5mm jacks and worse the vector stick doesn't send out MIDI... very disappointing.

[planetearth]

http://flowstoners.com/wp-content/uploa ... toners.zip

http://www.irishacts.com/?download=infi ... izer-la-50

so you know if D-50 sysex patches compatible with any of these?

They're not, and outside of official Roland VSTs (such as the Roland Cloud D-50 or the D-05 boutique synth), you won't find anything that's SYSEX-compatible with the D-50.

Steve

[planetearth]

I asked about this on another forum, and my impression was that Roland Cloud doesn't yet let you keep any synth, that feature is still "in development". Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, there's no way I'm paying rent for software that's already installed on my computer, so that option went completely out the window for me.

I ended up getting Digital Synsations by UVI. It's sample-based, so you can't get in there and program your own sounds, but all the presets sound great, and are immediately usable in a production. It includes sounds from the Korg M1, Ensoniq VFX, SY77 and D-50, so it's all the early 90's cheese you'd ever want.

One option is actual hardware. The Boutique D-05 is pretty cheap and has a small footprint. If you decide you no longer want it, you can sell it and get most of the money back. You can probably still find the original D-50/D-550 for a reasonable price, though using 30 year old hardware is always a bit dicey.

what are the pad patches like on the UVI?

the boutique died on the vine for me with the crappy 3.5mm jacks and worse the vector stick doesn't send out MIDI... very disappointing.

I have Digital Synsations, and while I've used the Korg, Ensoniq and Yamaha sample-based instruments in a few tracks, the D-50 sample-based one didn't do much for me. And UVI didn't help the matter when they re-named the synth and changed the GUI a year or so after releasing it (probably due to pressure from Roland). For all I know, they may have modified some of the patches, too. I can't be sure, and when I asked UVI's support, they said they hadn't changed any of the patches, just the name of the synth and the GUI. They wouldn't say why the did all that.

Steve

[pdxindy]

hi i am looking for the best D-50 alternative.

mainly what i am after is that smooth, warm, crystal-like sound... with partials - i.e. layers.

is there anything?

If you are mainly after a particular sound character, various VST's can get there... and no need to deal with that Roland subscription crap. If you want specific D-50 sounds, that is another matter.

[electro]

The TubeOhm Vintage was supposed to be following D50 LA Synthesis architecture, but aren't their synths still 32bit?

[Cinebient]

Funny that the best thing here is a 5 dollar iPad app called Digital-1 (inspired but not an exact emulation or so....it´s actually better).
VST? Not sure.

[flugel45]

Not a VST, but if you have Kontakt or Reason, Pink Noise offers a lib called Deep Flight that's based on the D50:

http://www.kontaktbanks.com/kb_deepflight2.html

[fmr]

Funny that the best thing here is a 5 dollar iPad app called Digital-1 (inspired but not an exact emulation or so....it´s actually better).
VST? Not sure.

Actually, no. The best thing here (by a huge margin) is the Roland Cloud version. Actually, it's probably BETTER than the original

[Turello]

http://flowstoners.com/wp-content/uploa ... toners.zip

http://www.irishacts.com/?download=infi ... izer-la-50

so you know if D-50 sysex patches compatible with any of these?

No dude, different architectures, sorry...