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Streamlined version of the classic D-50 series. Simplified synth engine but multitimbral, and still with many features, including effects and on-board PCM drum machine.
The Roland D-10 offers many classic L.A. (Linear Arithmetic) sounds, including excellent vox and string pads, organs, basses and FX.
The sequel to the classic D-50 (even though it was really more like an upgrade of the U-20 – or “U-50” as found on the motherboard).
The D-70 is a wonderful synthesizer, that captures the spirit of the classic D-50, and takes it to a new dimension. This is a quality synth from a bygone era.
Great features include 76 keys, sound layering, and a very expressive aftertouch.
Like the D-50, Eric Persing and team did an unbelievable job with the sounds of the D-70. Patches like “Ghosties”, “Prologue” and “SpaceDream” are masterpieces of synth sound design. The sounds in ROM have a very punchy, full, “complete” sonic character that sounds great even today. The on-board effects are also of very high quality.
Roland D-70 audio demos
Roland D-70 factory demo – “Schizoid” by Eric Persing – copyright 1990 Eric Persing:
Note: You may need to slow down the transmission rate of the sysex, and the D-70 will receive it.
You can also press 5 when powering up and it will offer the menu to load sysex, but I found you don’t need it really… the D-70 receives the sysex from the main screen as well (which right now you see as a garbled mess – it’s okay).
The key in my case was to slow down the sysex transmission to very slow.
You can use any sysex software you like, but the shareware Bome’s SendSX or MIDI Ox worked well for me:
Go to Options–>Settings and set the “Speed of Sending MIDI” to the lowest position
In the same menu, set “Wrap long sysex messages upon loading”.
Also don’t forget to select the MIDI interface that you are using, in the Bome’s “Midi Out” menu.
Connect the MIDI out from your computer to the D-70’s MIDI In
On the D-70, press Edit –>System Setup and set the “Exclusive RX” to ON and the Unit Number to “17”
My first “real” synthesizer, so it will always have a special place in my heart. I bought this used in a small Rome music store in 1987.
I upgraded to the wonderful world of “P.D.” (Phase Distortion) synthesis from my trusty Gem DSK-8, which my aunt bought for me (thank you, aunt!) on 5/22/1986 (still remember the day!), because even though the DSK-8 was capable of “realistic”, that is- pcm sounds, and even some mean weird sounds, I had occasion to play a Korg Poly-800 that belonged to a school mate, and fell in love with it.
A “real” synthesizer sounded so warm, full, interesting, and “polished”, as opposed to the “plastic-sounding” home keyboard I was used to.
So, for the modicum sum of 300,000 lire (back then the Euro was still in the dreams of some European functionaries) I became the proud owner of a Casio CZ-1000.
I spent many nights programming new sounds with it! I still have a notebook full of hand-written patches. I was totally in love with the CZ-1000, and literally fell asleep programming patches and recording the outcomes on my VestaFire 4-track cassette recorder!
I higly recommend reading the CZ-1000 (or CZ-101, it’s the same) manual if you are starting in the world of synthesizers!!! There are two books, and in the first there is an excellent explanation of how synthesis works, hands on examples, etc… it is how I learned!
The CZ series came after the mythical Yamaha DX7, so Phase Distortion sounds similar to FM, but does have a character of its own.
Don’t forget to check out the “Internal” presets! They are beautiful! To recall them, turn your unit upside down, and press the reset button with a toothpick or similar object: Ta-da, the Internal sounds are back.
The CZ is capable of a myriad of interesting sounds, the Factory and Internal sounds are only scratching the surface of what the PD synthesis can do…
I also have a couple of CZ patch books around, I have to find them…
Casio CZ-1000 audio demos
Note: I didn’t have my Indigo I/O with me when I recorded these samples, so I recorded through the laptop’s internal audio card. There is some background noise due to the laptop’s card, and also to the CZ-1000 – the AD/DA converters and the technology of the mid-80s weren’t so perfect yet.
Preset bank
Internal bank
Casio CZ-1000 specs
Year of release
1984
Polyphony
8-voice
Sound generation method
Phase Distortion (PD)
Preset memories
16 Preset, 16, Internal, plus optional on cartridge
The Equinox is Generalmusic’s last effort (so far) in the world of pure synthesizers (they do keep producing professional accompaniment keyboards, and to tell the truth, nowadays the difference between the two is blurring more and more).
The Equinox starts pretty much where their previous synthesizer, the incredible-sounding S-series, left off. This machine is absolutely full of features: here’s a concise list of what’s available (from the manual:
• An immense database (16 Mb samples) with over 1000 preset Sounds and user memory locations to store more than 2000 new sounds. 112 Performance memories and a Groove machine featuring over 1000 user-programmable Grooves. • Unique Drawbar mode for instant access to vintage electronic organ sounds using the 8 panel sliders as drawbars with key-click, percussion, overdrive, etc..
• 250.000 event, 16 track sequencer with advanced song editing facilities. • Advanced Sound editing facilities with 64 note polyphony,128 digital filters with resonance, up to 6 oscillators per voice, 3 Lfos and up to 21 independent Envelopes with 10 segment resolution. • Sample Translator to create user-samples and load new samples of the most popular formats (Wav (PC), Aiff (Mac), Akaiâ„¢, Kurzwailâ„¢, Smp, Snd. Future os versions will allow loading of Rolandâ„¢, Ensoniqâ„¢ and Emuâ„¢ samples. • Full MIDI implementation – The Equinox is the perfect Master Controller for advanced MIDI set-ups (32 MIDI Channel control, 16 programmable Midi Zones, 8 programmable Sliders, 2 programmable Wheels, 3 assignable Pedals). • Flash-ROM memory which allows the instrument’s memory to be instantly upgraded by simply inserting a special floppy disk in the drive. • The Equinox can be fitted with optional memory (8 Mb backed Sample RAM and up to 32 Mb SIMMs), an internal Hard Disk (2 Gigabytes) and a SCSI port (compatible with CD-ROM, Zipâ„¢, Jazâ„¢ external hard drives).
As you see, there’s a lot to this instrument!
What strikes me most about this synth is that it can definitely sound analog (just like its predecessor did). While it’s purely sample-based, there’s something about the way the sounds come across, that make it sound warm, not digital. The quality effects also help a lot in producing some of the best sounds on board.
This is definitely a strong contender to the other workstations that came out at the same time, like the Korg Triton, Yamaha EX5, and Roland original Fantom. For some reasons it wasn’t popular enough, apparently due to the first OS that could have been better. By the time the OS was improved, other workstations had come out and this ended in the forgotten back of the music store – until now! 🙂
Hit a button, and the Equinox becomes a full-fledged Hammond!!! Besides the sliders/drawbars, there are controls for click, percussion and Leslie speed. You can also save your own organ creations, of course. Very realistic 🙂
Drum Kits
Several great-sounding drums on the Equinox. Here are a few examples.
Grooves
A great feature on the Equinox is that you can create and assign full grooves to each single key. Here are a few examples of what is possible to achieve:
Misc. sounds
Arabic
On the Equinox, you can set a the Tuning Scale in different ways: Equal tempered, Inverse, Mean Tone, Werckmeister, Arabian, and you can make your own. For the Kanoun example, I used the Arabian scale to give it a more realistic vibe.
I LOVE THE D-50. After my Casio CZ-1000, it’s the first “professional” synth I ever bought, and it still ranks as my favorite synthesizer ever.
It’s the work of genius: at the time (1987), ROM was still expensive, and samplers were a lot more expensive than synthesizers (at least those samplers in the ‘high’ leagues, such as Emulator, Fairlight, Synclavier). The solution from Roland was to incorporate in ROM small snippets, very short “attacks” of real and classic instrument waveforms, place theme at the beginning of a sound, and finish off with standard, oscillator-based analog/digital synthesis. Since the first portion of a sound is the one that strikes us with a first impression of realism, L.A. (Linear Arithmetic) synthesis was very successful because allowed incredibly realistic results with very little ROM. The Korg M1 followed the year later with an improved ROM set, and was even more successful than the D-50 ever was. Short loops very also incorporated in the D-50’s 100-block ROM. Famous “snippets”, or transients as they are called include PCM 33 – Steam – useful to build wind instrument patches; PCM39 – Lips1 – used in many great trumpet and trombone patches; PCM 47 – Pizz – from which the great “Pizzagogo” patch is built upon; PCM 68 – Spect1 – classic example of LA synthesis, many patches use the Spectrum waveforms; PCM 95 – Loop19 – you’ll recognize this as being used in the famous “DigitalNativeDance” patch; PCM 98 – Loop22 – a complete, cool loop; and finally, the two “regular”, old style analog waveforms on board, used to “finish off” the patches (and sometimes, depending on the structure used, they are by themselves), WaveSAW – typical saw-tooth waveform, and WaveSQU , typical square waveform.
The D-50 is – in my opinion – together with the Yamaha DX7 and Korg M1, one of the three classic mid-range digital synthesizers of the ’80s. I fell in love with this synth the moment I heard the factory patch “Staccato Heaven” at the store, and had to have it. The sonic characteristics of this wonderful-sounding synthesizer are very particular: digital, with short loops that remind of early samplers, and analog-warm at the same time. A marriage made in synth-heaven.
The first patch one hears when powering up the synth is the very famous “Fantasia”, an amalgam of digital bells and warm synths, with a slightly detuned flavor. This patch is a perfect example of the sonic character of the D-50. Other famous patches include “DigitalNativeDance”, “Soundtrack”, “Pizzagogo”, and “Glass Voices”.
Also there were four factory sound expansion cards, that observed the following guidelines: Sustain Group, Decay Group, Sustain Group II, Decay & S.E. Group II (i.e., mallets, drums, reeds etc.)Â Go to the four Factory Sound Expansion Cards pages
New Age great Enya’s use of the “Pizzagogo” patch is an example of how well-suited to ambient/new-age (but not only, of course!) this synth is.
The D-50 was also the first synth to incorporate an on-board reverb/multi-fx unit, a fact that contributed to its legendary sound. Previous manufacturers (i.e., ARP with spring reverb on the 2600; Korg with Chorus/Ensemble/Phaser on the PolySix, Flanger on the Trident, DDL delay on DW-8000; Yamaha with _____ ) had started implementing effects to some extent, but Roland went full out – and Korg actually outdid them the year after with the best-selling M1.
The character of the D-50 sounds is one of richness, analog mixed with crystalline digital perfection, warmth, and an overall aural beauty that’s hard to follow. Recently, Roland’s own V-Synth reminded of the D-50 thanks to (in a few cases) the low-grade samples, the sonic character, and the amazing editing possibilities it offers -and now even includes a virtual D-50 in a card that you can boot off, to transform the V-Synth in a complete D-50.
Initializing the D-50: turn on while pressing “DATA TRANSFER” and “0” at the same time. This will clear the internal cache and solve MIDI problems.
LOADING SYSEX BULK DUMPS FROM CAKEWALK SONAR: The Roland D-50 is an older generation machine, so I found that when I’m sending sysex data from modern sequencers such as the one I use, Cakewalk Sonar, I get the “MIDI transmission error” message, because the synth cannot handle the speed at which the sequencer is sending the sysex data. The solution, found on Sonar’s sysex Help section, is to tweak the “TTSEQ.ini” file in the Sonar folder – basically setting the “SysxSendPacketSize” to 64 as shown in the screen print below. This makes the flow slow enough that the D-50 will be able to handle it.
ALSO IMPORTANT: When setting up the D-50 to receive the sysex data: MAKE SURE YOU HOLD DOWN THE “DATA TRANSFER” button when you press “(B.LOAD)”. Then you can release the two buttons and finally press “ENTER”. If you don’t keep the “DATA TRANSFER” button pressed at the same time, the bulk load won’t work. Finally, sometimes the D-50 will freeze after completing the data transfer. Not to worry. Just turn it off and on again, and it will go back to normal, with the new patches you just loaded in memory ready to play.
ALSO NOTE: SOME MIDI INTERFACES DON’T SEEM TO WORK WITH THE D-50 – This had me scratching my head! I was trying to load patches from Sonar to the D-50 via an M-Audio “MIDISport Uno” interface: I have used this handy little interface extensively with my laptop and never had any problem. BUT, with the D-50, THE “UNO” DOES NOT WORK, no matter what settings on the ttseq.ini file. After an hour of trying and getting MIDI errors, I switched to my older M-Audio USB MIDISport 1×1, and that WORKS FINE. In the past, I used an Opcode MIDI Translator that also worked fine. And I will try with the MIDI on the M-Audio FireWire 1814 and will report about that one.
Patch analysis: recreating the “Soundtrack” sound
It’s not an easy task… as usual with a lot of D-50 patches, it uses 4 partials, so it can be complex to recreate perfectly, but I’ll write down the most important parameters and most of all – provide audio examples (single note at useful range for this patch – C3, C4, C5, C6) – so you can try to emulate it on another synth.
Keep in mind that this is just an approximation, because there are several other parameters that would take forever to analyze… for instance, the envelopes of Lower and Upper Partial 1 changes dramatically by velocity release… Pitch envelope and pitch modulation… slightly different tunings per tone… there are different LFO rates… there are EQ and Chorus settings… there is slight filter aftertouch etc. etc… AND there is the on-board reverb processor, which modern processors or plug-ins are way too hi-fi to reproduce… I’d suggest getting a $50 older unit such as the [url=http://www.synthmania.com/rex50.htm]Yamaha REX50[/url] – You’ll have to ‘eyeball’ these parameters by ear as best as you can – and you really are going to need to see the patch on an editor to see what’s really going on. Anyway, here it is – To help a bit more, I recorded dry and reverbed versions.
Its electric piano became a standard sound in ballads and “smooth jazz” genres. Its bass was the standard bass sound, typically played in bouncy octaves. Its crystalline timbres were such a departure from the world of analog, that this synth was a super-hit for Yamaha in 1983, and spanned a long family of FM-based products.
The DX7 came out in 1983, sporting the new MIDI interface. The high quality of its digital sounds, velocity + aftertouch, the expandability, the thoroughly professional look, and the complicated programming interface, made the DX7 and FM synthesis take off in a way the was unknown before for synthesizers. Thousands of units were sold, and thousands of records have that distinct DX7 sound (especially for the electric piano, the bass, marimba and glassy, crystal-type sounds).
The DX7 was also the first synth that originated a huge “patch creation” business. Since it was cumbersome to edit, many programming houses were established, ready to feed the hunger for new sounds that players all over the world craved. Today, there are literally thousands of sounds available for the DX7.
Bottom line: together with D-50 and M1, the synthesizer of the ’80s
Yamaha DX7 audio demos
Factory internal presets (ROM-1 A MASTER GROUP)
ROM 1-B KEYBOARD AND PLUCKED SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 2-A ORCHESTRAL & PERCUSSIVE SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 2-B SYNTH, COMPLEX & EFFECTS SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 3-A MASTER GROUP
ROM 3-B KEYBOARD & PLUCKED SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 4-A ORCHESTRAL & PERCUSSIVE SOUNDS GROUP
ROM 4-B COMPLEX SOUND & EFFECTS GROUP
Yamaha DX7 photos
Yamaha DX7 patches
Don’t forget to press FUNCTION (SPACE) and then Nr. 8 to switch from UNAVAIL to AVAIL when loading patches from your sequencer, or the DX7 won’t receive the MIDI sysex.
