Roland D-50
| synthesizer | |
|---|---|
|
|
| General | |
| Surname | D-50 |
| Manufacturer | Roland |
| Sound synthesis | digital, LA synthesis |
| Period | 1987 - 1990 |
| Price (year of publication) | approx. 4000 DM |
| properties | |
| Polyphonic | yes (16 or 8) |
| Multitimbral | 2-way |
| filter | Low pass with resonance (digital) |
| LFO | 6th |
| Keys | 61, velocity sensitive with aftertouch |
| Int. Game aids | Pitch, modulation joystick |
| Ext. Controller | 2 pedals, 2 switches |
| Effects | Chorus, reverb, echo |
| Interface (noun) | MIDI |
| Sequencer | - |
| D / A converter | Burr-Brown PCM54HP 16 bit |
| Samples | 100 (8 bit ) |
| ROME | 0.5 MB |
| R.A.M. | - |
| Ext. Memory | Memory card |
The D-50 is a digital synthesizer from the 1980s made by Roland .
history
The D-50 with 61 keys and a maximum of 16 voices polyphony (single / dual / split play mode) was launched by Roland Corporation in 1987 as a competitor to the Yamaha DX7 . It became a sought-after synthesizer in the 1980s and is one of the best-selling alongside the DX7 and Korg M1 .
Sound generation
The D-50 is based on what Roland called LA synthesis . LA synthesis uses the effect that the human ear particularly perceives the first fractions of a second of a sound. Conceptually, short samples (8 bits) for the attack are mixed with a sound generation based on different basic waveforms. A large part of the sound generation corresponds to the structure of the subtractive synthesis , which can be understood intuitively, unlike the more complex FM synthesis of its main competitor DX7. In addition, at the time of its presentation, the D-50 was one of the first synthesizers with a built-in effects device ( chorus , reverb , echo) and an equalizer . The “pizzagogo” sound of the D-50 can be heard e.g. B. listen to Orinoco Flow by Enya .
handling
The data input is either menu-driven and supported by a joystick or via the Roland PG-1000 programming device, which was optionally available at the time and which greatly simplifies the process with many sliders. Working with editor programs, which usually also offer an external storage option for the sounds, is also much clearer than using the display. The internal 64 memory locations for your own sounds can be expanded by a further 64 using the battery-backed Roland M256 memory card. Roland also offered five ROM cards PN-D50-00 to PN-D50-04, each with 64 different sounds, with the first card containing the factory sounds of the D-50.
For the D-50 / D-550 an extension of the company Musitronics called M.EX is D-50 / D-550 Expansion Board available which an up to 8-fold multi-timbral allows operation provides 128 additional memory locations and the Midi timing improves .
variants
The rack version of the D-50 is the D-550 . With the synthesizers D-10 , D-20 and the rack module D-110 , inexpensive versions of the D-50, which are less powerful, came onto the market in 1988. Some sounds and expansion cards are partially compatible with the D-50. The D-50 was replaced in 1990 by the slightly differently designed D-70 . In contrast to this successor, the D-50 is now considered one of the neo-classics in the field of digital synthesizers.
Web links
- Vintage Synth Explorer: Roland D50 Data, Facts and Illustrations