The D-50 is an all-time favorite digital synth that's still just as popular today as when it first came out in '87. Once Roland's hottest digital synth, it competed against the Yamaha DX7, and was much easier to use. By joining 8-bit PCM samples with "LAS" synth-generated sounds, the D-50 is capable of unique and complex sounds. The PCM samples contained the attack transients, while the rest of the sound came from the Linear Arithmatic Synth (LAS) section which sounds very analog, with subtractive-style synthesis and low-pass-resonant filters. Built-in chorus and (for the first time) digital reverb are also included for giving your sounds space and life! It also has a joystick controller for real-time timbre manipulation. The D-50 was great for new and non-acoustic, percussive, ethereal and beautiful pads & sounds.

Roland D-550 Rack Version

Both the D-50 and D-550 benefit from the PG-1000 external controller which gives you very plain and simple slider/fader type control of all adjustable parameters of the synth. The D-50 includes MIDI on all 16 channels but because it is monotimbral you can only use one channel at a time. There is an upgrade which will give the D-50 and its rackmount version a full 16 channels of simultaneous MIDI multitimbral data communication. This popular synth has been widely used in all forms of music. Eric Clapton, Enya, 808 State, Jean Michel Jarre, Vince Clarke, Apollo 440, Eat Static, LTJ Bukem, Fluke, Information Society, Lab-4, Gary Numan, Rick Wakeman, Kitaro, Rush, Vangelis, Richard Barbieri, Boston and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran are just a few of the many satisfied users.

R Bell Music

June 10, 2013 @ 7:55 am

Its great to see so many people still discovering this classic. and it was exactly that. it had a real gritty unique sound and it was for me, the best example at this time for melding one shot samples to synth tones. if you can break past the need to judge it for its over used presets, get some sysex banks online and discover what it can REALLY do in todays context.
it still has the stones to produce some stunning pads and fx patches. and they are practically giving them away on ebay.

dee-j

May 31, 2013 @ 10:41 pm

This synth is nice. As stated a million times or more, it is noted for it's warm thick crystalline digital sound that is unique amongst all other digital synths. It actually has a sonic personality onto itself that can be likened to a dream about walking into an alien crystal cave and just hearing these pleasant sounds all around you. It's just soothing and ethereal. The presets are a bit dated, overused, and the whole synth is overrated in some instances but contrary to what most people believe, the 'dated' factor all depends on how you use it in a composition.

bobby h.

May 30, 2013 @ 5:18 pm

Phil Collins used one of these fine boards around the time of 'But Seriously'. The intro to 'Paradise' was played on the D-50 as well as the chorus. It was used more sparingly on other parts of the record as well.

Carlo

May 13, 2013 @ 7:06 am

The preset sounds are very nice, but there are a lot of nicer sounds as sysex on the web, so you can avoid to use the already, over-listened sounds, even if i think that..... for new generation used to Hip Hop and "WOB WOB" basses the D50 sounds could also sound very new! :)

born2synthesize

May 10, 2013 @ 11:37 pm

One of its coolest, and very rare, features is aftertouch. And this is the reason you want the keyboard version.

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