Roland D-50
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| Manufactured by | Roland Corporation |
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| Dates | 1987-1989 |
| Price | $1895 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | 16 voices |
| Timbrality | 2-part Timbrality (bi-timbral) |
| Oscillator | 4 partials per voice |
| LFO | 3 |
| Synthesis type | Linear Arithmetic synthesis |
| Filter | 1 VCF referred to as a Time Variant Filter (TVF) |
| Aftertouch | [1] |
| Effects | reverb, chorus, eq |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 61 keys |
| Left-hand control | Pitchbend / modulation lever |
| External control | MIDI in/out, pedal switch |
The Roland D-50 is a polyphonic 61-key synthesizer produced by Roland. It was released in 1987. Its features include Linear Arithmetic synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analog synthesis-styled layout design. The external Roland PG-1000 Programmer could also be attached to the D-50 for more complex manipulation of sounds. It was also produced in a rack-mount variant design, the D-550, with almost 450 user-adjustable parameters.[2]
The D-50's capabilities could be modified through the addition 3rd-party products by Musitronics, most notably the M-EX which made the D-50 multitimbral (the D-50 was bi-timbral), as well as a chip that improved the D-50's response to incoming MIDI commands and a system for burning custom PCM cards with user samples for playback in the D-50.[3]
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[edit] History
The D-50 was the first affordable synthesizer to combine sample playback with digital synthesis, a process that Roland called Linear Arithmetic synthesis. The engineers at Roland determined the most difficult component of a realistic instrument to simulate is the attack, so the D-50 included almost 100 sampled attacks in ROM. The synthesizer played back an attack and used the synthesizer section to create the sustain of the sound. This dual-use method was required in 1987 since RAM was so expensive. Roland did, however, incorporate a number of "texture" samples that could be mixed into the synthesized sustain-part of a patch. These sustain samples gave many D-50 patches a lush and airy quality, particularly with its heavy use of choir, wind and string samples.[4]
The Roland D-50 was awarded a TEC Award for outstanding technical achievement in musical technology in 1988.[5]
[edit] Technology
Although the D-50 was among the first non-sampling machines to be able to produce sounds with sample-based characteristics, it was not long before many synthesizers on the market began using similar methods to create sounds. Roland later released a series of lower-priced keyboards and modules that allowed musicians who couldn't afford the relatively expensive flagship D-50 to have some of these sounds (Roland D-10, D-20, D-5, MT-32) Roland later produced the 76-key, 6-octave D-70, although it has little resemblance to D-50, being named D-70 to rather capitalize on huge commercial success of D-50. D-70 was a sample playback instrument derived from U-20, though multitimbral, with more realistic and natural sounding samples, especially acoustic piano, but missing extensive D-50 sound synthesis tools. There were even rumors that it was originally named U-50, but later changed to D-70 after huge D-50 success. Sadly, the D-70 was rushed in production too early to catch up with KORG M1 and T-series, it was just too raw to become the next Roland flagship synth. The true successors of D-50 can be named the JV-80 and JV-90, multi-timbral synths with better PCM sound samples and much more capable JV sound engine (a highly successful JV and XP series synths).
The D-50 produces a hybrid "analog/digital" sound: one can use traditional fat analog waveforms like saw, square, sine (though digitally sampled) together with PCM samples of actual acoustic instruments and famous analog synths of the past, filtered through full analog-style processing (LFOs, VCF, VCAs, ring modulator, effects, etc). This breakhrough led to the creation of totally new sounds never done before on neither pure analog synths or samplers.
Each D-50 sound (tone) was made up of 2 "partials" with 2 tones, making a "patch". The D-50 consists of an upper and a lower part, both fully featured. Each partial could be either a "synth waveform" (pulse or sawtooth waveform) or a digital PCM waveform (sampled attack transient or looped sustain waveform). The partials could be arranged in a number of algorithms with a combination of either a PCM waveform or synthesized waveform, with an option to ring modulate the two partials together. The synthesized waveforms could be pulse width modulated and could be passed through a digital 4 stage Low Pass filter allowing for subtractive synthesis. The lower and upper part can be split or play in dual on the keyboard. The dual configuration allows an 8 voice polyphony bi-timbrality while only one partial playing, which allows for 32 voices.[6]
Not only the synthesis method was new; D-50 was arguably the first commercial synthesizer to include digital effects such as chorus and reverb, adding to the characteristically bright, rich, lively and sometimes realistic sound, featured on countless records of the period. Each of those effects had 10+ variations with editable parameters usually found in dedicated rack effect processors rather than keyoard synth. It was also on the forefront of the change of the look of a typical keyboard player on stage: instead of being surrounded with multiple instruments, with more versatile instruments and the stronger adoption of the MIDI standard, they were starting to appear with only one or two keyboards, typically a D-50 with either Yamaha DX-7 or KORG M1.
The D-50 was fully MIDI compatible, though it transmits on only one channel. The keyboard was velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive, and the keys were slightly "weighted" with metal for a higher-quality feel. It included 64 patches on-board, and 64 more patches were available on the expansion RAM card that was included.
For its sound and build quality, and the unique synthesis method it featured, the synthesizer has remained popular to this day. Its synthesis engine, in more or less updated forms was used in Roland's JV and XP series keyboards, among others. Furthermore, in the year 2004, Roland released a VC-1 expansion card for V-Synth and VariOS synthesizers. It contained a modeled and updated D-50 synthesis engine and the original operating system, including factory and all Roland "expansion cards" patches. Since newer DAC chips sounded different (cleaner), it included the option to simulate D50s "rougher" output.
[edit] Legacy
The D-50 was introduced in 1987 as the popularity of the Yamaha DX7 was declining, resulting in the D-50 being the most popular synthesizer on the market until the introduction of the Korg M1 the following year.[7] The D-50's synthesizer-on-top-of-samples-and-through-effects innovation was an influence on the M1, which went on to become the best selling digital keyboard of all time. In fact, this scheme was a common method of digital keyboard sound creation for more than a decade, until ROM and Flash RAM were finally inexpensive enough to store entire samples or multisamples.
In the case of the D-50, for sound synthesis, the use of PCM samples can be bypassed completely when using Synth Partials only as the basis for sound creation. This effectively gives 4 DCO subtractive synthesis (resonant filters), which can produce some very analog like sounds that later synths could not do due to their sole use of PCM samples, or 'more digital' sounding synthesis methods (such as FM or PM) as the basis for their sound creation. This digital subtractive synthesis method of sound production gave a similar, but colder and more clinical, sound when compared to the analog technology employed by previous Roland synthesizers, e.g. the previous flagship JX-10.[8]
The presets of the D-50, authored by Eric Persing and Adrian Scott, were well received by artists' community, and most of them can be heard on numerous commercial albums of the late 80s. The D-50's factory presets have enjoyed a long legacy, as patches like "Digital Native Dance," "Fantasia," "Glass Voices," and "Living Calliope" are so common they border on cliché. Some other D-50 presets live on in every machine that conforms to the General MIDI specification, including "Soundtrack" and "Atmosphere".[9]
[edit] External links
- D-50 owner's manual
- D-550 owner's manual
- Roland D-50 in Jean Michel Jarre's music
- Roland D-50 MP3 sounds
[edit] References
- ^ Julian Colbeck, Keyfax Omnibus Edition, MixBooks 1996, p. 97-100
- ^ "Roland D50", Sound On Sound, Jul 1997
- ^ Mark Vail, Vintage Synthesizers, Miller Freeman, 1993, p. 63
- ^ "Roland D50", Sound On Sound, Jul 1997
- ^ 1988 TEC Awards
- ^ Julian Colbeck, Keyfax Omnibus Edition, MixBooks 1996, p. 97-100
- ^ Mark Vail, Vintage Synthesizers, Miller Freeman, 1993, p. 251
- ^ Julian Colbeck, Keyfax Omnibus Edition, MixBooks 1996, p. 97-100
- ^ "Roland D50", Sound On Sound, Jul 1997
