To clarify 'live to tell' was produced in 1986 and D50 was released in 1987. You can imagine lot harder to do at that time using multiple synths (DX+analog synth). But intro sounds great on D50. Well played.
Great demo! I have a few 80's keyboards, (DX7II, Korg DS-8, Roland MT-32) and I am thinking about getting one of these next. Thanks for refreshing my memory on this thing
does anyone know how to reset the keyboard to its original sounds? i bought mine used and some of the original ones are not in there, i heard that a reset would bring it back. thanks
I really had problems to work without my D50s. But as the keyboard only has 5 octaves and lousy mechanics (plastic and non-weighted keys, sound comes too late) I got the VC1 card and I hardly hear the difference to the real thing. Anyway - the D50 is one of the very few synths that can´t be reproduce by any other synths.
Great video .. I just got this beautiful synth yesterday and I am so happy.. I was wondering is it possibile to load via sys-ex the content of a card overwriting the default patches, without actually having any card...?? I mean overwriting all the patches on the internal memory? thank you!
@VintSynth I agree. Only the D-50 sounds like the 'real' thing. All the other D series were in name only and were no where near as enigmatic. Great Synth but I sold mine (and now miss it!) ;)
@culturaleyes I also have this problem and was able to find detailed instructions (w photos); since I can't post the url, just type these keywords in google: "repair Roland d50 key contacts" (the site is busted gear)
If the preset doesn't begin with the letter "I" (internal) before the number, it's not included on the main unit. Those patches that begin with the letter "C" before the number is on a card ("C"=card).
Que hermosas teclas vintage!!! Roland D50, sonidos como la intro de Bad love de "Eric Clapton" o los calliope de la peli de terror "IT" en fin unos de los mejores Syntes!
@culturaleyes I have the same problem on mine, that's why I mostly play it via MIDI nowadays. I am planning to repair it, though. Some time ago, I did the same thing on my Juno Alpha 2. It wat the first time I ever did this job and it worked out perfectly. I think it won't be that different on the D50. I did make a manual on the repair job of the Juno, you can find it here: frankjacobs dot nl/vintsynth/roland_alpha_juno-2_repair.html
Yeah, it is a beautiful instrument. One of my favorite instrument, if not the favorite of all. I also like the DX7 and Korg M1. But the D-50 is truly special. And what a skill of Eric Persing to program all these factory sounds. Fantastic! I think he also selected the sounds for the PCM memory. But what makes the D-50 sound so unique and warm is the SAW and SQUARE synthesizer waveforms. I mean, they sound warmer then the Minimoog Voyager OS, at least to my taste.
No. You need to buy the V-synth and the D-50 Card which is a PCMCIA Card that slides in the top of V-synth. Best thing is just get yourself a used D-50 Keyboard and also buy 5 empty voice crystal cards and all you can do is you can transfer all the data using Sysex Data dump. That is done with a computer and your D-50 Keyboard and MIDI In/Out cable.
All the original sound card patches PN-D50-00 to PN-D50-04 plus many other great banks are available free from the Bobby Blues web site. Just google "bobbyblues.recup" and choose D50 PERSONAL PATCHES. Check out the two sysex downloads. And at the bottom of the page is a link: "D50 Soundbanks listing", which will take you to the original soundbank downloads. Recommended sysex loaders are: MiDI OX, sysexbox and D50-LDR, also free.
I have owned 2 of these babies, the last one, I got of Ebay, it wasn't as described. It was fillfy, the seller couldn't even Bother to clean it, and, it didn't work.. I'm just about, to buy my 3rd D50, Hope this time, it works fully. can anyone tell me, where I can get cards fort this synth?. and, how many patches can be loaded in total?. thanks for an excellent Demo. Please be careful, I once bought a Roland JD 800, of the net, second hand, from ashop in readding, terrible tatty condition con
I don't get the sudden interest in the D-series synths lately. These synths were essentially paperweights just a few years ago... I know, I've owned one for about 20 years now. They're incredibly difficult (and annoying) to program and almost none of the presets sound good anymore. These synths are only decent if you have the knowledge and will power to actually dig in and reprogram them. Once you do that, they can sound great and quite unique, but most people won't get past the presets.
There are various card. I have PN-D50-00, PN-D50-01 and PN-D50-02. Spacey Voices is in PN-D50-01. Look around on the internet, that's where I found mine. Actually, PN-D50-00 is a copy of the preset voices in I-bank, so that's only use as a backup.
The D50 is a nice sounding keyboard and I owned on in the 90's but is it really that great? I'm not really hearing anything here that an JV1080 can't do or Korg Wavestation/M1. Slight difference in the patches and admittedly a few classics in the D50 but I really think its possibly being way overhyped. I'd take a Korg M1 over this any day.
It is the pizzicato used by Enya. When you play that sound with the actual D-50 is like listening in high definition 1000 times better than the CD. The D-50 is the most amazing keyboard ever. I just got one and I was playing it a moment ago with the Roland JD-800 and my-God... no wonder was and still so popular, you have to get one if you call yourself a keyboard player.
I got mine from eBay 4 months ago with the PG-1000. I got the multitimbral upgrade as well that added 2 more banks. It is an amazing keyboard. I have to replace the battery now. I just have to spend more time with it, I have 9 keyboards now, including an M1, Emax II, Ensoniq ASR 88, JD 800, Matrix-6. Each one with their amazing suprises.
I own a D-50 (and yes, it's awesome, best $200 I ever spent) but my presets are slightly different than yours; example: 'Cathedral organ' is I35, not I38, and 'rock organ' doesn't seem to exist. I guess they varied the presets a bit from time to time? There's a great choral patch on mine called 'Nuns', C86, which is my favorite.
I have the chance of getting a D110 for about 90EUR, which I believe is similar to the D50. Is this a good price? Also I'm a newbie to vintage synths but I can use VSTs easily and would love to get into the hardware side.
Great demo. Do you have any experience with having the key contacts cleaned? I have a few misbehaving keys and am not sure if I want to spend a lot to get them fixed. At the same time however, cleaning them doesn't really seem like a beginner's job. Do you have any advice? thanks.
That is easy to repair by any electronic repair shop. Every single keyboard in the world uses regular remote controll switch, totally unexpensive. The labor is to put apart the keyboard to get to the front, that takes hours and a lot of screws but is nothing special to repair it.
Recently have seen a video on how to remedy the dirty key syndrome on youtube ,kind of a pain, but worth it! The D-50 I have at present is out of tune,But global tune says 444A DON'T SEE HOW TO CHANGE THE PATCH TUNING! HELP!!!
That depends on where you are. In the Netherlands, a good one will do around 350 euro's. But make sure the aftertouch is okay, because that's a weak point. It can be repaired though.
I'm also planning to get one for around 180 euro, but the owner said 'utone' button is not functional, how hard to reparing it ? Do You know any weak points I should check before buying ? Thanx in advance.
You can do a System Restore using the Data Card if you have it. Or if not you can do a Sysex data dump using a computer and the software using MIDI in/out cables.
To clarify 'live to tell' was produced in 1986 and D50 was released in 1987. You can imagine lot harder to do at that time using multiple synths (DX+analog synth).
But intro sounds great on D50. Well played.
Great demo! I have a few 80's keyboards, (DX7II, Korg DS-8, Roland MT-32) and I am thinking about getting one of these next. Thanks for refreshing my memory on this thing
were you playing live to tell in the beginning?
thank you so much.
does anyone know how to reset the keyboard to its original sounds? i bought mine used and some of the original ones are not in there, i heard that a reset would bring it back. thanks
I would like to buy D50. So, how much does it cost?
Spacy voice it's not Madonna ?
lol enya :-)
I definitely need a D-50. It would probably go really well with my DX11.
Amazing sounds. Are you dutch by the way?
Indeed :-)
I really had problems to work without my D50s. But as the keyboard only has 5 octaves and lousy mechanics (plastic and non-weighted keys, sound comes too late) I got the VC1 card and I hardly hear the difference to the real thing.
Anyway - the D50 is one of the very few synths that can´t be reproduce by any other synths.
Good synth, good demo, and very good intro : i think i've recognized Madonna's "live to tell" intro at 0:02 !
Got one!
That first synth sounds familiar from one song, but i just can't remember which.. could someone help me?
Used by Prince on sign o the times. His "organ" was really a d50 with a hammond patch.
Great video .. I just got this beautiful synth yesterday and I am so happy.. I was wondering is it possibile to load via sys-ex the content of a card overwriting the default patches, without actually having any card...?? I mean overwriting all the patches on the internal memory? thank you!
not only revolutions waiting for cousteau to
@VintSynth I agree. Only the D-50 sounds like the 'real' thing. All the other D series were in name only and were no where near as enigmatic. Great Synth but I sold mine (and now miss it!) ;)
I bought a D20 back in 1990 because I could not afford the D50. Now I have both and indeed, the D20 is nothing compared to the D50. Far too thin.
madonna
Are these all built-in patches or are these user created? Just curious as I'm looking to buy one of these.
Those are all factory patches.
Rock Organ is the best :)
I have. . . a tale. . . to tell. . .
Ok I reply to my self yes it is :) thank you for the video anyway! :)
@culturaleyes I also have this problem and was able to find detailed instructions (w photos); since I can't post the url, just type these keywords in google: "repair Roland d50 key contacts" (the site is busted gear)
If the preset doesn't begin with the letter "I" (internal) before the number, it's not included on the main unit. Those patches that begin with the letter "C" before the number is on a card ("C"=card).
Que hermosas teclas vintage!!! Roland D50, sonidos como la intro de Bad love de "Eric Clapton" o los calliope de la peli de terror "IT" en fin unos de los mejores Syntes!
@culturaleyes I have the same problem on mine, that's why I mostly play it via MIDI nowadays. I am planning to repair it, though. Some time ago, I did the same thing on my Juno Alpha 2. It wat the first time I ever did this job and it worked out perfectly. I think it won't be that different on the D50. I did make a manual on the repair job of the Juno, you can find it here: frankjacobs dot nl/vintsynth/roland_alpha_juno-2_repair.html
Yeah, it is a beautiful instrument. One of my favorite instrument, if not the favorite of all. I also like the DX7 and Korg M1. But the D-50 is truly special. And what a skill of Eric Persing to program all these factory sounds. Fantastic! I think he also selected the sounds for the PCM memory. But what makes the D-50 sound so unique and warm is the SAW and SQUARE synthesizer waveforms. I mean, they sound warmer then the Minimoog Voyager OS, at least to my taste.
SO many good memories.
No. You need to buy the V-synth and the D-50 Card which is a PCMCIA Card that slides in the top of V-synth. Best thing is just get yourself a used D-50 Keyboard and also buy 5 empty voice crystal cards and all you can do is you can transfer all the data using Sysex Data dump. That is done with a computer and your D-50 Keyboard and MIDI In/Out cable.
All the original sound card patches PN-D50-00 to PN-D50-04 plus many other great banks are available free from the Bobby Blues web site. Just google "bobbyblues.recup" and choose D50 PERSONAL PATCHES. Check out the two sysex downloads. And at the bottom of the page is a link: "D50 Soundbanks listing", which will take you to the original soundbank downloads. Recommended sysex loaders are: MiDI OX, sysexbox and D50-LDR, also free.
I have owned 2 of these babies, the last one, I got of Ebay, it wasn't as described. It was fillfy, the seller couldn't even Bother to clean it, and, it didn't work.. I'm just about, to buy my 3rd D50, Hope this time, it works fully. can anyone tell me, where I can get cards fort this synth?. and, how many patches can be loaded in total?. thanks for an excellent Demo. Please be careful, I once bought a Roland JD 800, of the net, second hand, from ashop in readding, terrible tatty condition con
I don't get the sudden interest in the D-series synths lately. These synths were essentially paperweights just a few years ago... I know, I've owned one for about 20 years now.
They're incredibly difficult (and annoying) to program and almost none of the presets sound good anymore. These synths are only decent if you have the knowledge and will power to actually dig in and reprogram them. Once you do that, they can sound great and quite unique, but most people won't get past the presets.
There are various card. I have PN-D50-00, PN-D50-01 and PN-D50-02. Spacey Voices is in PN-D50-01.
Look around on the internet, that's where I found mine. Actually, PN-D50-00 is a copy of the preset voices in I-bank, so that's only use as a backup.
Neither can it do these synthesizers:
*Moog Minimoog
*Moog Polymoog
*Moog Memorymoog
*Yamaha CS80
*Yamaha DX7
The D50 is a nice sounding keyboard and I owned on in the 90's but is it really that great? I'm not really hearing anything here that an JV1080 can't do or Korg Wavestation/M1. Slight difference in the patches and admittedly a few classics in the D50 but I really think its possibly being way overhyped. I'd take a Korg M1 over this any day.
It is the pizzicato used by Enya. When you play that sound with the actual D-50 is like listening in high definition 1000 times better than the CD.
The D-50 is the most amazing keyboard ever. I just got one and I was playing it a moment ago with the Roland JD-800 and my-God... no wonder was and still so popular, you have to get one if you call yourself a keyboard player.
I got mine from eBay 4 months ago with the PG-1000. I got the multitimbral upgrade as well that added 2 more banks. It is an amazing keyboard. I have to replace the battery now.
I just have to spend more time with it, I have 9 keyboards now, including an M1, Emax II, Ensoniq ASR 88, JD 800, Matrix-6. Each one with their amazing suprises.
I own a D-50 (and yes, it's awesome, best $200 I ever spent) but my presets are slightly different than yours; example: 'Cathedral organ' is I35, not I38, and 'rock organ' doesn't seem to exist. I guess they varied the presets a bit from time to time? There's a great choral patch on mine called 'Nuns', C86, which is my favorite.
I have the chance of getting a D110 for about 90EUR, which I believe is similar to the D50. Is this a good price? Also I'm a newbie to vintage synths but I can use VSTs easily and would love to get into the hardware side.
Great demo. Do you have any experience with having the key contacts cleaned? I have a few misbehaving keys and am not sure if I want to spend a lot to get them fixed. At the same time however, cleaning them doesn't really seem like a beginner's job. Do you have any advice? thanks.
That is easy to repair by any electronic repair shop. Every single keyboard in the world uses regular remote controll switch, totally unexpensive. The labor is to put apart the keyboard to get to the front, that takes hours and a lot of screws but is nothing special to repair it.
Can I use this as a midi controller?>
Yes you can.
Recently have seen a video on how to remedy the dirty key syndrome on youtube ,kind of a pain, but worth it!
The D-50 I have at present is out of tune,But global tune says 444A DON'T SEE HOW TO CHANGE THE PATCH TUNING! HELP!!!
That depends on where you are. In the Netherlands, a good one will do around 350 euro's. But make sure the aftertouch is okay, because that's a weak point. It can be repaired though.
I'm also planning to get one for around 180 euro, but the owner said 'utone' button is not functional, how hard to reparing it ?
Do You know any weak points I should check before buying ?
Thanx in advance.
You can do a System Restore using the Data Card if you have it. Or if not you can do a Sysex data dump using a computer and the software using MIDI in/out cables.
@Forsure3333 Hardly at all. Compared to the D50, the D70 is rather weak, whatever it is the name suggests. The D70 is more related to the U20.
Still Very nice sound Roland made such Great Quality Synthies even now most cant match it even though they got more options and effects and stuff.
Still love my D-50 - esp with custom sounds (bypassing PCM for the most part). I will upload a vid soon (check my dx7/jx8p vid for now ;) )
My cousin Franz have this Syntheseizer.
I've played on these Roland with new presets he made.
So the roland D50 has some effects eg bander
I have some Roland products and I can tell you that every patch taken from D-50 is awesome, wonderfull, it's a powerfull machine !
Bottom row buttons, the 3th and 4th counting from the right, saying 'internal' and 'card'. But make sure you have a card installed.
Have yo tried Patch king?.Find them on the net. If you ever want to sell yours, and your in the uk, get in touch. Hhope Iv'e been some help.
Never heart of one. I think the D50 may stille be a bit too young for that, it will have to become more vintage first.
@VintSynth Was "Live to Tell" this late in the game? I thought it was around 1983-84. But it sure sounded like the actual intro.
thank you i just realized that now... is it one specific card or are there many? i love the first sound spacey voices!!!
No.. Even though there is metal blocks glued under the keys to make it easy, and sensitive to touch.
amazing synth (always was, always will be) and extremely beatiful :)
Brings back memories :)
I had a D50 + PG1000... even that rhythm machine was a short while at my place...
i have a d50 i might be putting up for sale soon. i dont know how much they are worth tho. any one know...
Man, that is still amazingly powerfull machine, and you did really nice job here! Respect
@sundenis I have one from my late father that i may sell for 450.00 if your interested
The Madonna's sound it's a preset or create by you ? because i don't see on mine D50, thanks
Looks like a Boss DR-550 mkII in the bg.
Almost. It is the Mk1 :-)
i dunno if i should spend over $150 for the D50 card for Vsynth? Is it worth it
The preset is I-44 Pizzagogo. It sounds like Violin Pizzicato style of playing.
no match of D50...what a great great keyboard...evergreen sound machine...still rules...
@ReneeNme It is 'Live to Tell' by Madonna, coming from the album 'True Blue'.
in the beginning it sounds very much like the soundtrack of the game "the dreamweb"
@remoman - it's Live to tell - Madonna. Great song. (great movie -At Close Range)
d-50 is still one of the best ever made i dont care what anyone says
The D-50 is also inside the V-Synth XT and the original V-Synth D-50 card.
if i recall- the 550 is just the rack mounted version. midi controlled.
You forgot Oberheim 4- or 8-voice, Rhodes Chroma and PPG Wave 2.3
1st song.. it's Madonna.. but I can't remember the song title!!!
i just got this synth. how do i switch between the "c" and "i" banks*?
I love My D50 although it is now 21 years old still I love it.
whats a good price for a mint d-50 with controller and moulded case.
Do all the sounds you're playing come built in or are they patches?
Oh God! thanx I am bidding for one at ebay, let me get it for sure.
Maybe you know what is better sounds korg m1 or this roland?
80's Roland synths were AWESOME. All of them :-))))))
Nothing in particular. I just grabbed some chords.
this machine never dies....legendary keyboard....ever
Hey how many patches does the synth have originally
It is a preset on the external memory card.
1:34 - "C-62 SYNTH LEAD 2" -- what song are you playing which has this sound?
That is the synth solo from the live-version of Magnetic Fields 2 on the album The Concerts in China by Jean-Michel Jarre.
I love the D 50!.
I get mine next week!
Thanks, retrosound72. Same to you!
pretentious video...but amazing synth !
Tell me who does not...
is that song made on D50?,live to tell?
No, as fas as I know it wasn't.
got mine for 90 bucks, lol
Will you do D-20?
Got one, Love it.
Horrible 80s sounds.
live to tell
Roland V-synth XT.
$300-500US